HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A mental math system developed in the 1800's is helping some local students ace standardized tests and win math competitions. But the method isn't taught in most Houston schools.

Vedic Mathematics was written by a Hindu monk, Bharati Krishna Tirtha, and contains a series of 16 sutras (formulae) and 13 sub-sutras (corollaries). Over the years, there’s been a lot of brouhaha ...