In the book, Sir Vaughan said it was highly debatable whether we were teaching young children maths in the best and most effective way.
"People are trying to teach kids broad concepts too early when, in fact, the best way to learn is the complete opposite.
"It is really important that kids learn how to multiply and add, to the point where they are certain they will get the right answer if they do the steps right. Then, and not before, they start to see more aspects of the structure. It is a slow process built on understanding each step."
He disagreed with University of Auckland mathematics lecturer and curriculum reformer Peter Hughes, who said children did not need to learn long multiplication or division any more because they could use calculators.
Sir Vaughan said it was sensible to use a calculator for complex multiplication but ridiculous to say the skill was no longer important because the same reasoning could be applied to adding and even counting.
"So where are we supposed to draw the line and say 'you don't need to know how to do this because computers can do it for you'?"
He said that since the 1980s New Zealand had slavishly followed California in abandoning perfectly functional maths methods built up over thousands of years.
Several teachers who contacted the Weekend Herald after last week's story said they used traditional maths-teaching methods despite the change in policy.