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Easy as PI (Based on true incidents)

by Ramesh Mahadevan
A few days ago I met Rajan Mahadevan. No, he is not related to me. In fact, there is
no one even in my extended family who would do things he does. For about five
years he was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for memory, spitting
out the value of pi to about thirty thousand and odd decimal points. For the
uninitiated, the value of pi is a standardized memory test that many psychologists use
in evaluating long term memory. Fans of 'e' and other irrational numbers might want
to lobby for their causes.
Rajan is an unassuming, rather thin, bespectacled guy who generally has a good time
in whatever company he is in. He is the sort of guy who speaks his mind off, no
matter what others think about of him. The sort of guy who would relapse into
Kondkerian slips even in mixed company. (For those of you who don't know, the
Kondkerian school of philosophy is founded by our Indian metaphysician Dada
Kondke, through his hindi movies filled with double, triple entendres) In fact, he is so
crude, that I could actually relate to him and become friends with him.
After a couple of years of doing engineering at MIT (a.k.a Manipal Institute of
Technology) Rajan dumped it in favor of psychology. Now he is doing a Ph.D in
cognitive psychology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
I couldn't control my curiosity. I asked him "Is it true that you are a wiz in
remembering numbers ?"
"That is true" Rajan admitted. "For example, what is your A. T \& T Calling Card
number. I will remember it for at least twenty years"
"Nice try" I said, watching him light his cigarette.
"I derive a lot of my strategy from Vedic mathematics" Rajan said "I can show you
the book I use. The sanskrit poems are interesting. The same poem can be interpreted
to be in praise of Shiva and also Krishna and it is also simultaneously a bunch of
mathematical techniques. There is an approximation to pi to about thirty eight
decimal places. There are solutions to quadratic equations. Now I hear, it is even
being taught in high schools in India."
>From what I understood, these verses are statements of problems and solutions,
without much actual derivations, in the sense of present day formal logic.
Then it was time for show and tell. He asked one of us to write fifty single digit
numbers at random. It was then read aloud for him. And he repeated it pronto ! Not
only that, a couple of hours later, he repeated the list of numbers one more time. Not
contented, an hour later, he recalled the list again, reciting it backwards this time. It
was utterly disgusting. He said he would remember it for even up to twenty years.
(He always mentioned twenty years as some kind of an upper limit for the volatility
of his memory)
"I guess I have become a sort of a celebrity. One guy (American) even called me and
asked me how one would get a vision of Kali." Rajan said.
"Can you memorize a phone book ?" I asked him, my curiosity perked up.
"Sure I can, provided that it is the phone book for a village, with a name like
Basavannahalli, with just two pages of three digit phone numbers. I am not good at
remembering words - words confuse my system of memorizing. Numbers, I have no
problems at all. I put away huge numbers in something similar to a computer file and
I can recall them even after decades."
He continued.
"I was featured in Larry King live on TV, Readers Digest, in about four hundred
newspaper stories, such as Washington Post, press from Italy, France, UK, Germany
and so forth. People ask me how I am different from a Rainman. I don't figure out
how many toothpicks fall off. I simply memorize numbers. It is only now
psychologists are trying to study these savants, especially the so-called idiot savants.
We have a long way to go in our understanding of human capabilities. I do my
research on memory and cognition. There is always this endless debate on how much
is 'natural' and how much can be learnt."
"Is it true that memory is the second thing to go when you get old, Rajan ?"
"Which is the first one to go ?" He asked me.
"I forget." I replied, with a silly smile on my face. He laughed perfunctorily at my
weak joke and continued.
"They have my picture in Las Vegas. I can't go anywhere near there. Even if I win a
few bucks in the slot machine, the mafia is going to catch me."
"Can you do my taxes for me ?"
"You must be kidding me - I can't even balance my own check book, but then that is
because of monetary reasons. Actually, I am quite absent-minded about a lot of
things."
"But seriously, how does one improve one's memory ?" I asked."Any food habits ?"
"There are several bio theories about nutrition and memory. Eat more bindi says the
conventional desi wisdom. I think some research points to an increased brain power
with increased consumption of carbohydrates. It may have something to do with
glucose in carbohydrates. Eat rice and pasta !"
"Being a true blue southie, I consume more than my share of carbohydrates. I don't
know what it does to my brain, but it certainly induces a blissful sleep later. I guess
the only recourse for me to improve my memory is to buy a laptop computer with
hazaar hard drive and extended RAM. What do you think ?"
"Everybody has talents" he continued. "Different people have different domains in
which they are very, very smart. Most of us (!) wallow in mediocrity, refusing to
believe we can do things and look for those special areas where we are gifted. It is
not enough to recognize these areas, but one should actually develop skills. My
talents are not just gifts. I had to practice. I honed it. It is like when you are starting to
play the violin or learn to ski, the first few times, you are analytical and learn the
technicalities. Then these things become like second nature to you that you can't even
tell someone how you do these things. The US government, (National Institute of
Health) commissioned a study on me at the cost of \$ 176 000 and concluded nothing
about why my memory is good or how I am special."
"Finally, Rajan, can you suggest any easy Guinness Records that mere mortals like
me can break ?"
Somebody butted in. "Sure, if you keep writing your trashy posts for another ten
years, you would have broken the record for the most noise generated on the
network."
Rajan went on.
"When I have nothing to do, I memorize a thousand or so digits of pi. I lost the world
record a couple of years ago and I plan to break it over again. The present record is
forty thousand odd digits (He told me the exact number, but being no math wiz, I am
truncating it to the nearest round figure) I plan to beat it by memorizing up to ninety
thousand digits, once I am done with my Ph. D qualifiers. The interesting thing is the
present record is held by a seventy eight year old Japanese. It took me nearly three
hours to recite the thirty thousand odd digits. It took the Japanese guy over eighteen
hours to recite the digits. This Japanese gentleman had an interesting algorithm to
memorize the digits. In Japan, each number is also associated with a word, like 'hen'
etc. So instead of remembering the numbers he memorized the sequence in terms of
words, then made a story out of it. Of course, it will be a ridiculous story and you
know that the more ridiculous it is, the more easy it is to memorize. When he
recalled, he converted his story into words, then to numbers. He will have a tough
time extending it to beyond his present capabilities. I plan to recite the digits in less
than nine hours."
I wished him luck. We have become friends since then and try to out-eat each other in
all the dinners we get invited to.
But fellas, isn't it amazing ? A whole ridiculous story in just ten words, plus
associated pronouns propositions and simple verbs ? By a man who is seventy eight !
At that age, my grandfather didn't even remember his own name. At any rate, let me
try my hand at a 'story' with only ten words.
(Ten words used in the passage:
Rape, woman, might, right, all, self, demolish, pen, sword, dude)
Might Is Right
Dudes, might is right. Allmighty is allrighty. Self-mighteous is self-righteous. Dude
rape woman. Might is right. Dude demolish. Might is right. Pen mightier than sword.
Pen right ? If dude has sword. Then sword mightier. Because sword demolish pen. So
sword rightier. So rape all, dude, with might and be right. All woman not might. So
woman not right. But right pen might demolish sword and be might and right. Dude
self demolish, not right. So, dudes, pen all, might is right, demolish !

Tatiana Cooley wins title, but she still sweats the small stuff
By Arlene Levinson, Associated Press national writer
Give Tatiana Cooley 15 minutes to memorize 100 faces and names and she'll remember
70 of them in a snap.
Give the reigning and only USA National Memory Champion strings of 4,000 numbers, "70093518
555899 ..." or 500 words: "liquid, dairy, digit, district, garden, hair ..." and she'll repeat them better
than most. Same with a 54-line poem or a deck of cards.
So why does Tatiana Cooley need Post-its?
"I'm incredibly absent-minded," said the tall 27-year-old with a Julia Roberts grin who recently
defeated 16 challengers to keep the title she won in 1997. Her feats of recall also won her a second
trip to London for a spot in a world contest of brains-not-brawn.
But asked how many brothers and sisters she has, she replied "six, er seven, er six." When did she
win the Los Angeles regional spelling bee? Grade school -- but she doesn't remember which grade.
The year she graduated high school in New Orleans, seventh in her class? A pause. "1990."
Fearful of forgetting, she keeps a daily "to-do" list. Her days hang on sticky little notes. "I live by
Post-its," Miss Cooley said.
"I think the ability to memorize things is a different realm," explained Miss Cooley. "It's not at the
same level as remembering to call people."
Modest as well as candid, she insists she's not unique. "Anybody can train their mind to memorize,"
she said.
Miss Cooley said she has two techniques: visualization and association. The first entails looking at
material and mentally photographing it. The other involves making up a story that links random
numbers and words.
She came to be champ by chance.
It was 1997, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Miss Cooley and her boyfriend of a month,
Dominick DeMilio, were looking for fun and found a competition called Memoriad '97 at a
Manhattan hotel.
Eight hours later, she was America's National Memory Champion. She had defeated 17 other
contestants in the first U.S. trials of a similar competition started in England in the early 1990s.
With the two runners-up, she went to London last August to compete in the first international Mind
Sports Olympiad. There she took second place in the women's division in the memory events,
losing to Sue Whiting, an astrophysicist from Radlett, England.
This year's U.S. Memoriad took place on the 19th floor of a Manhattan office building on a bitterly
cold Saturday, watched by several dozen spectators and Miss Cooley's personal cheering squad
consisting of Dominick, her aunt and a sister.
The other contestants included nine high school students from New Jersey, a real estate broker from
Pennsylvania and a computer programmer.
The competitive events proceeded in silence, interspersed with lectures by memory experts about
the brain and using it.
Contestants, each seated at a small table, were handed a page bearing colored photographs and
names, then pages of hundreds of words, then pages with thousands of numbers, then a poem which
organizers said was written for the event by Britain's late poet laureate, Ted Hughes. It began: "A
Knight in armour falls pushed off his star/By the crow of a cock. A wedding ring/Bounced off a
coffin by a finger caught it."
Entrants were allowed to jot notes on a pad of paper. After a set time, the jottings and pages were
taken away and contestants wrote down what they remembered. Each had a judge who used a
complex scoring system that included bonus points for those who broke previous records.
For the final event, after trying to memorize a standard 52-deck of cards in precise order, the
contestants handed the decks to their respective judges, turned away and called out the cards they
remembered. Miss Cooley did best, getting 17 in exact sequence.
When Miss Cooley was proclaimed winner, she bounded onto the stage, braided ponytail swinging,
to receive a glass trophy. She wore corduroys, a white T-shirt emblazoned with a dragonfly and
combat boots. The whole time she had her mother on a cell phone from Texas. "She was just telling
me how proud she was of me," Miss Cooley recalled, "and she was just screaming."
Miss Cooley first noticed her retentive edge while earning a college degree in communications in
New Jersey.
Taking lecture notes was enough to prepare for tests. "It sort of didn't occur to me that it was
anything extraordinary. It was nice. It was just a means to get me more free time."
She credits her mnemonic prowess to her Brazilian-born mother, a political science professor, and
her father, a computer engineer. Though 2 years old when they broke up, she was raised by both in
Los Angeles.
The only television they allowed was news and educational programs. They nurtured her memory
with games. They encouraged her appetite for reading and language. She reads books in Portuguese,
Spanish and French. "This is fun for me, this whole memorization," she said.
"I've always loved to learn. I've been like a sponge my whole life."
A self-described "free spirit," she's an aspiring writer with a memoir in the works and has a new job
as executive assistant to the creative chief of an advertising agency.
In August Miss Cooley returns to London for the Mind Sports Olympiad along with second-place
winner Eric Chang, 16, of Fair Lawn, N.J., and third-placed Coral Parmar, 15, of Elmwood Park,
N.J.
Miss Cooley said an important part of her technique in competition is breathing deeply and
reminding herself to take it easy. She sympathizes with people who feel their memory is slipping,
and blames the pressures of modern life. "People are expected to be more concentrated, and think
more and retain more," she said.
Her advice: "Relax." Photo by The Associated Press
Tatiana Cooley, 27, displays the trophy she won at the 1999 Memoriad, a memory competition in
New York held Feb. 6. She's the United States' champ, but keeps her life organized by posting notes
to herself.

Tatiana Cooley wins the US Memory Championship for the

Third Year in a Row
by Sam Sloan

I was at the US Memory Championship in New York City on Saturday, February 5, 2000.
They would not let me enter because I did not arrive until 10:00 AM and they said it was too late.
Even had I been there earlier, I might not have gotten in because they said that they had closed the
entries on February 1.
It would be nice if I could say that I did not get to the US Memory Championship on time because I
forgot about it, but that was not the reason.

The real reason was that they forgot to put up a web site about it. I
spent three hours Friday night searching the World Wide Web for Early Leader Helen Cho only
information about this event, but could not find anything anywhere. finished 9th

None of the major newspapers such as the New York Times or the New York Post carried any
mention of it.
I finally found it in the New York Press, a free give-away publication. I first became aware of that
publication when they published an article about me in the December 1-7, 1999 edition. However, it
was not until 2:00 AM that I found it and I needed to get some sleep before going to the event.
I am sorry that I did not get to compete because I would like to have tested my raw memory ability
against the well trained kids who had spent months preparing for the event.
The event was won by Tatiana Cooley, who also won in the previous two years. I think she really
does have a superior memory, although she denies it. I think that most of the other contestants were
just average or above average in terms of actual ability.

I stayed to watch and was there to the very end. There

were some obvious problems with the tournament. Tatiana Cooley won for the third year in a row
There were only 20 entries, and of those 14 were from the same high school in Hackensack, New
Jersey, the Bergen Academy.
The reason so many had come from that school is that Frank Felberbaum, one of the promoters of
the event, had visited that school last year. Seven students from that school had entered last year.
This year, some of them had made a serious effort and had spent six months preparing, including
the last three weeks of intensive training.
This effort almost paid off. Students from the Bergen Academy occupied the top places throughout
most of the event. However, near the end, Tatiana Cooley, an advertising executive who has won the
event every year that it has been held, surpassed them and won first prize by a wide margin.
The next nine finishers after her were all from the Bergen Academy, occupying places 2-10. Almost
all of them were 16 years old, except for Edison Hong, the youngest at age 15.
The most beautiful girl in the tournament was Helen Cho of the Bergen Academy. You can be sure
that I was hoping she would win, especially when she was in third place after the first two rounds,
but she fell behind in the numbers and cards competitions. I understand that she and some of the
other contestants will be featured on 20/20 on Network TV this Thursday.
I expected that the same group of people would consistently score high in all of the events. One
thing which I found surprising was that this was not the case. For example, the winners in the first
round of the competition, which was remembering names and faces, was Tatiana Cooley with 85
points followed by Terry Williams with 81 and Joseph Song with 76.
However, in the second round, which was memorizing word lists, the winners were completely
different. Christopher Turner won with 78 words, followed by Edison Hong with 75 words and
Helen Cho with 67 words.
The end result was that almost everybody finished as a prize winner in at least one of the
competitions, so almost everybody got a prize. The explanation is for this that all of them had
trained using memory tricks and devices. However, not all brains are the same. Some systems are
suitable for some people, but not for others.
For example, I am convinced that Tatiana Cooley really does have a naturally superior memory
(although she denies it). In the names and faces competition, she and the other contestants were
given pages of 99 photographs of people with their names. They were given 15 minutes to
memorize the names.
After that, they were given sheets with the same 99 photographs but in different order and required
to write down either the first name or the last name of each person.
Tatiana Cooley got 85 of the 99 names right. I think that this is an excellent result, especially since
that I cannot imagine that there is a trick or system for remembering them.
On the other hand, she did not do well on the second test, which was to memorize a list of random
words. A total of 500 words were provided in columns of 25 words each.
The scoring system was severe. If a person got all 25 words right, the score was 25. However, if
there was even one mistake, the score was 13 and with two mistakes the score was zero.
There were complaints about this. One contestant complained that she lost 12 points because she
spelled "cylinder" wrong. I agree with this complaint. This was supposed to be a test of memory,
not of spelling ability.
Christopher Turner won by getting 78 words right. However, in the similar test of memorizing
numbers, Christopher Turner got zero. So, it seems that Christopher has superior ability with words
but not with numbers.
Another explanation is that the system Christopher uses to memorize the words is better for him
than the system for numbers.
I was able to find out the system for numbers which almost all of the contestants were using. A page
containing 1000 random numbers is provided in rows of 40. If a contestant gets all 40 numbers in a
row right, he scores 40. However, if there is just one error, he scores 20 and with two errors he
scores 0. Five minutes is given to memorize this list.
On the last row, the score is the total number of numbers without any mistakes.
This is the test on which I would have done best. (When I was a little boy, my mother used to tell
her friends and associates that I had a "head full of numbers".) However, most of the contestants
bombed out on this one. Of the 20 contestants, 8 scored zero and only 9 got more than 8 numbers
correct.
The explanation for this surprising result was that the contestants tried to memorize more than they
were able, which caused errors which significantly reduced their score.
The oldest competitor was Barry Surran, age 53, who told me before the competition that given
enough time he could memorize more than 200 numbers. However, in the actual competition, he
scored zero.
He explained that he had written down 60 numbers. However, he had two mistakes in the first row
and two mistakes in the second row. Two mistakes in a row meant a score of zero for that row.
The winner of that event was Joseph Song, who memorized 56 numbers, the same number that
Barry Surran memorized. However, Joseph Song did not make any mistakes, which is why he won.
Second was Tatiana Cooley with 40 numbers. Third was Ryan Giuffre with 37 numbers.
In the case of numbers, the contestants told me what their system was. The numbers were split into
groups of two. Each digit was associated with a consonant. Under the system, which I believe is
called the Loraine System, 1=T, 2=N, 3=M, 4=R, 5=L, 6=H, 7=K, 8=V, 9=P and 0=S.
For example, if the number is 37, that transfers into MK. The next step is to convert this into a
word, such as MAKE. Finally, the contestant tries to take all the words and make them into a
sentence that is easy to remember.
After receiving 5 minutes to memorize the numbers, the contestant had 10 minutes to recall them.
Obviously, with such a complex system, it takes just as long to recall the numbers as it does to
remember them.
However, had I been allowed to enter the competition, I would have used an entirely different
system. I would have divided the numbers into groups of seven and would have treated each as a
telephone number. I remember telephone numbers by remembering the pattern which they form on
the touch tone dialing system. On the other hand, if I am given an old rotary-style telephone, I
usually cannot remember the telephone number which I am dialing.
I am sure that given five minutes, I could easily memorize four telephone numbers, which would
have put me in third place in the competition. It is even possible that I could have memorized 8
telephone numbers, which would have put me tied for first. I will have to test myself on this some
time.
The explanation is that I have a good visual ability. This same ability enables me to remember
thousands of positions on a chess board. I do not have much ability associated with sounds. Hearing
the numbers will not enable me to remember them, unless I transfer the numbers in my head to my
telephone numbers system.
Had I used the same system the contestants were using, such as translating the number 37 into the
word MAKE, I would not have found this system to be of much use and probably would not have
done very well.
When this competition was held, all but one of the contestants started feverishly writing down
words associated with numbers. I found it strange that in a memory competition, everybody would
be writing down words, even though notes cannot be consulted during the recall period. The only
contestant who was not writing anything down was Barry Surran, who had his own system.
I might mention that one person was allowed to enter although she had not entered in advance. This
was SuChin Pak, who had come with her own camera crew, as she is making a cable TV show
about this. I was wondering why they let her in as a last minute entry, but would not let me in (but
of course she is more beautiful than I am). However, I noticed that her results did not count. She did
score 50 on the random words test, which would have placed her seventh, if her results had counted.
On the speed numbers test, however, she could not remember anything, so she gave up and went
home with her camera crew.
Early in the competition, SuChin Pak seemed intimidated by Helen Cho. ("She may beat me this
year, but I will destroy her next year", said SuChin Pak, who called herself "The Sponge".)
At that point, Helen Cho was one of the leaders and everybody thought that she might win (or
perhaps the real reason that SuChin Pak was intimidated was that Helen Cho was the most beautiful
girl, an important consideration, since I overheard that Bikini magazine wants to do an article on
this year's competition!) I was therefore surprised when SuChin Pak suddenly quit the competition
and left.
The fourth test was poetry memorization. A poem was written especially for the event. Again, any
mistake cut the score in half. The winner was Tatiana Cooley, who memorized 180 words of the
poem. Second was Mykie Pidor with 146 words (but Mykie only finished 12th in the over-all
competition). Third was Jeevan Puthiamdathil with 122 words.
By this time, Tatiana Cooley had won two out of the four competitions. She went into the last round
with a commanding lead. It was good for her that she was so far ahead, because she bombed out on
the last test, which was to memorize a deck of cards. The test was that a referee shuffled a deck of
cards. The competitor was given five minutes to memorize the deck. Then, the referee took the deck
back and dealt out the cards, one by one. The contestant was required to name each card before it
was turned over. One mistake was fatal.
The winner was Coral Parmar, who memorized 22 cards. There was a four way tie for second with
18 cards between Edison Hong, Jasmina Nuesa, Terry Williams and Barry Surran. Note again that
the winners list is different here from almost every other test.
In this test, Tatiana Cooley only remembered 9 cards. Only six contestants remembered fewer cards
than she did. Nevertheless, Tatiana still won first prize over all, because of having such a big lead
going into the last round.
The way the scoring system worked is that whomever won the event scored 100 for that event.
Everybody else scored whatever percentage he had of what the winner got. For example, in the
cards competition, Coral Parmar with 22 cards got 100 points. The four contestants with 18 cards
scored 82 each, because 18 is 82% of 22. Tatiana Cooley with 9 cards got 41, because 9 is 41% of
22.
A perfect score would have been 500, if the same competitor had won or tied for first in all five
events.
The final score over-all was Tatiana Cooley, who scored 354, followed by Edison Hong with 337,
Joseph Song with 326, Coral Pomar with 315, Jasmina Nuesda with 314 and Collen Platt with 279.
The top three won a trip to England courtesy of British Airways to compete in the Mind Sports
Olympiad in August.
The way that I knew that this event existed was that on Saturday, January 29, there was an article in
the New York Post about Tatiana Cooley, who first won the event two years ago. The oft repeated
story is she was sitting in the subway train reading Time Out New York magazine, when she saw an
announcement of the event, so she decided to get off the train and attend. She went up and won the
US Championship.
This got her national news coverage in People Magazine and numerous other publications.
Tatiana Cooley claims that she is not a natural born genius for remembering things. She says that
she practices memory by sticking Post-it notes all over her room. ( Post-it is one of the corporate
sponsors of the event. Smart girl, Tatiana!)
In 1998, Tatiana won second place in the female Memory Skills World Championship. (I will duck
before the next controversy starts.)
Tatiana is 28 years old and stands 5 feet 10 inches tall, when she is not wearing her high heels,
which is never.
If you want to contact Tatiana by e-mail, just send a letter to nobody@nowhere.com. How is it
possible that the three-time winner of the US Memory Championship does not even have an e-mail
address? It is difficult to believe, but Tatiana does not have one.
The New York Post article said that this event was being held again on Saturday, February 5. The
problem was that the Post did not give the address where it was being held. This started me on my
long search for the location of the event. When I finally found it at 2:00 AM on the morning of the
event, I needed some sleep because I could not compete in the US Memory Championship without
proper sleep.
I had read in the Post that this event was connected with the Mind Sports Olympiad. When I did an
Internet search for that, what I found was my own web site http://www.ishipress.com/mindspor.htm
Then, I searched for Memoriad. What I found was the results of previous year's competitions, but
nothing about this year's.
Strangely, the event was founded by Chess Grandmaster Raymond Keene along with Tony Buzan of
England. I am in regular contact with Raymond Keene and he should have known that I would be
interested in this, but nobody bothered to tell me about it.
(Of course, the real reason must have been that they were afraid that I would win.)
Sam Sloan

UPDATE: On Thursday night, February 10, there was a show on ABC News 20/20 about the US
Memory Championship.<> Actually, it was a lot of hype but it made a great TV show.
It interviewed at length five participants, all of whom were from the Bergen Academy in New
Jersey.
It gave them credit for far greater memory skills than they actually have.
It said that Helen Cho won a section with 67 points, whereas in reality she finished third in that
section with 67 points.
This of course is fully explained by the fact that Helen Cho was the most beautiful girl in the event.
Sam Sloan

New record on memorizing

Samvel Garibyan broke his personal World record on memorizing words. Ten years
ago Samvel was written to Guinnes Book of Records like a man, who have most
strong memory on planet. To prove it, he must memorize and recall 1000 random
words from ten different languages - like Arabian, Khmerian, Dari, English,
German ...
Try it yourself
Representative of Guinnes Books of Records shuffling cards, on which was
written 2000 Russian words. That time daring challenger Samvel Garibyan
suggest journalists try himself "lifting lover height" - memorizing 20 words.
Best result was 10 words from 20. Winner get medal and book of Garibyan "My
Babylon" - vocabulary original key for memorizing 1300 english words. And
then main memorizer begin show his "muscles" on brain.

- For beginning, - Samvel sad, - I suggest all journalists write 3-4 words, than at
summary will be 100 words. And then I try memorize and recall it.

During writing list of words, Samvel told about himself and answered on
questions.

- I am 37 years old. On nationality I am armenian. On Zodiac - Водолей.

Studied like jurist.

- How you find your possibility?

- Once doctors forbids me half year read and write, but I still was student jurist
faculty on University of Rostov. And I try memorizing lectures and seminars
without notes, by hearing. During exam teachers do not believe me. They
remember I am siting and writing nothing. Suppose I am lazy fellow. And ask
me deeply an all course. But I get exams not bad. After that I work like lawyer
and trained: texts, numbers, geometrical figures, faces, pictures and images. For
all of this I must find my tricks and methods. Probably I made it. I open my
school of memory.

- What the main idea of your

method?
- Main - learn activate memory
throught regenerating emotions.
For this necessary learn use
factors of neordinarity thinking.
On mini-stories, what I invent
during memorizing, hide energy
unusual situations. This energy
made possitive emotions inside,
make bridges and lincs. And
imagine car on slippery road. To get moving, need special equipment on wheel.
And such equipments for brain I invent.

- Can you forget all, what must memorize on such massives? Because it is
impossible keep inside so many "tones" of information.
- Forgetting unusible information are important part of memorizing cultyre. For
example, one methid forgrting looks like: stay right, keep head little back and
concentrate that information in your hands, legs, body. And one minute such
concentrate you get it out, and fiil super comfortable. Make deep inhale, strain
all muscles, move up strong compressed arms and shake up all parts of body. If
you condition closely like trans, than after such shaking you really forget that
information.

- How many peoples stadyed at your school?

- More than 10000 on different countries at the World on different ages and
professions, from school children and students to first faces of Russia.

Record storm
Samvel concentrate. Made couple
resperation exersises. Mystery
pass by hands. Lake a magition or
tricker before show. With
intervals by three seconds
became memorize one word to
another. And time after, almost
without interval recall.
Looks like all will be easy. But
began long memorizing.
Journalists come and out, tolking,
read magazines and newspapers.
 And Samvel memorized. After began recalling. First was fast. But time after
began pauses. Samves ask call 3-4 prompth words, in what can be necessary
word, what he forget. And momentally recall it.

Totally referee count 32 mistakes and more than 100 prompts. But still, such
phenomenally results nobody get on the Earth.

8 december 2000 Newspaper Ural Kurier

Number Pi: Russian record
Russian record of Pi digits made Alexander Belyaev from Chelyabinsk. On one
and half hour with little interruptions Alexander write 2500 digits of number Pi.
Before this record in Russia was recall 2000 signs, and World record was 40000
signs. By words of Alexander Belyaev - chief center developing visual memory,
such exercise with memory can made anybody of us. Important only know
specific techniques of memorizing and periodically training.
Liudmila BATALOVA

Magazine M & W (for Man and Woman)

Record on memory
Alexander Belyaev from Chelyabinsk make new record of Russia on writing
number "pi". For recall and writing 2,5 thousand signs on this number he need
only piece of chalk and school deck. By words of record holder, who also header
of Center developing visual memory, before making this record, he trained one
month.
Source: www.Rbn.ru

Newspaper All Russia

FOLK NEWS
"Chelyabinsk's worker" (Chelyabinsk)
Memory beat records
1 December on Chelyabinsk Alexander Belyaev make new Russian record, by
writing from memory 2,5 thousands signs after point in number "pi".
A. Belyaev head of center developing visual memory on Chelyabinsk. For
making record on writing number "pi" he need only piece of chalk and usual
school desk. On Chelyabinsk's record gone around 1,5 hours, and preparing, by
record keeper words, long month. Result - 2,5 thousands signs written from
memory. A. Belyaev not only successfully beating records, but also success
teach infant prodigy. One of his student - pupil Chelyabinsk's school N1 Semyon
Slobodniyk - last year became champion on Russia on competition "Techniques
of developing memory and logic".

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/05/12/stories/0212000f.htm

Faster than a calculator

 By S. Nagesh Kumar
HYDERABAD, MAY 11. He is like any other adolescent - a bit
gangling, unsure of his future but aspiring to become a doctor. Wait a
minute. A doctor! Isn't he seeking an entry into the Guinness Book of
Records for his speed arithmetic and phenomenal memory.
Yes. G. Uday Shankar of Nizamabad, better known as the `pi' boy, can
recite from memory the first 7,000 decimal places of the decimal
expansion of `pi', both backwards and forwards.
Show him a list of 30 random binary digits for three seconds on a
computer and he can correctly recall all of them in the original order.
He gives the value of the square, cube and fourth powers of any two
digit number faster than a calculator.
He can memorise a set of 10 names of people and their respective 10
digit telephone numbers in 90 seconds. If he is given randomly-placed
letters of the English alphabet, he can recall them forwards and tell the
letter at a given position in the shortest possible time. The 16-year-old
has already had his share of limelight in the media. He has been listed in the Limca Book of Records
for random memorising of `pi' up to 5,000 digits and, lately, up to 7,000 digits. In the process, he has
broken the existing record of 2,000 digits of `pi' held by Prof. A. C. Aitken of the Department of
Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
His next target is the Guinness Book of Records which lists the record of Gert Mittring of Germany for
successfully reciting 27 random digits from memory in the correct order. It may not be long before the
German is unseated from his position. Uday Shankar performed his feat before Prof. K. Vishwanath,
Dean, School of Mathematics & Computer/ Information Sciences, University of Hyderabad, and Dr.
Chakravarthy Bhagvati, Reader, who certified his `amazing' abilities.
They noted that he had achieved the memorisation without any special training such as mnemonics
but just by occasional practice at home. He now finds little time even for practice as he is busy
preparing for next year's EAMCET in a residential college in Guntur.
It all started when his kid sister playfully asked Uday Shankar whether he could repeat `feats of
memory' while they were watching a TV programme in June 1999. To the amazement of both, he
recalled 100 random digits backwards and forwards within four minutes. Since then, there has been no
looking back and recently he was chosen for the `Ugadi Puraskar' - 2001 by the Madras Telugu
Academy which conferred him the title - `digital ashtavadhani'!

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=109043

AP boy enters Guinness Book

HYDERABAD, JAN 2,2002 (PTI)
A teenaged boy of Nizamabad district in Andhra Pradesh has entered the Guinness Book of World Records
for his rare ability to recall over 30 random digits after the numbers were flashed on the computer screen for
just half-a-minute.
G Uday Shankar (18), recently broke the record of Gert Mittring of Germany who had correctly recalled the
27 random digits and entered the Guinness Book of World Records in November last with his feat of 30 digits
in 30 seconds, a certificate issued by the Guinness Book of World Records Ltd said here today.

This phenomentally Mangatayev

About Vladimir Mangatayev and his possibility memorize hundreds of digits we
hear from Ulan-Ude buisnessman, loosed him box of champaigne. "Looser" did
not believe Mangatayev can during one minute memorize 100 digits and
multiple on mind two three numbered digits without mistake.
"Many wrongly thing, they have good brain,
and bad memory. But this is same ..."
Otto von Bismark.
 Not out of scepsis on Mangatayev's possibilityes employees to our editings.
However test, offered us, it has deliver easy, moreover has reproduce random
numerical row as left to right and in the inverse order. Besides, we have heard
that Vladimir Mangatayev pretends on making an own strategy of development
of memory.

- Vladymir, what strategies on the development of memory you used and

the basis of principle of rememberring informations?
- I well know strategy armenian mnemotehniks Samvel Oganesovich garibyan
(mnemotehnik - from greek Mnemozin - a goddess of memory). Without false
modesty say, that has found it, when beside me percent on ninety get ready own
strategy. In base of strategy Garibyan's lies system "eidos" (with greek - image).
For instance, for rememberring the numerals, schemes, words it finds an image:
two - a swan, four - a chair and etc. My system broader. I suggest: the first - a
correspondence system; the second - an assonance system; the third - a system
an eidos and fourth - all these system combination. Then beside me four
different strategies against one beside Garibyan's...

- Sounds beautifully, but all systems of rememberring in principle similar.

Prove that you are author of more perfect strategy, than Garibyan,
themselves understand, nearly impossible...
- I carying it in the last queue. Can only say that in Novosibirsk an Akademcity I
had a creative competition with the cool astrophysicist, he was a best pupil
"Garibyan Schools of Memory". Us "have push" its friend. We have conclude a
bet. Numerical row before one hundred signs, written on the paper, I
memorrized not more minute, but then completely has reproduce its on
memories within five minutes. "Garibyan's pupil" on this was necessary twice as
large time, moreover he had mistakes. I has use its system and "crushed" him.
After, talking for the non-prevailing box of beer, he tell that he are
"mathematician on giving birth" and in the Novosibirsk casino is persona non-
grats, since in the poker won allways. At a last time to him steels softly to refuse
in the play...

- As you go to mastering by skills of quick rememberring, and what need to

do for this?
- Else schoolboy I try find system on multiplying 3-digits numbers on brain.
Naturally, they were unchancy, but I returned it in the institute, and when
already worked. I accumulated skills and variants, and countity goes to the
quality. Certainly, I studied a system of fastreading, but this is because it rather
complex. On my strategy this is easier.

- Can you give easy suggestions to memorizing, because bad memory - a whip of
many people...
- When we get some information, it is write as it were in the block of operative
memory and quickly disappears. This as nail, downtrodden by half, - its possible easy
pull out. To remember for a long time, needed downtrodden this nail to the end - that
is to say bolt information by means of different strategies of rememberring or even
simple repetition. Then information automatically goes from the operative memory in
permanent.
First ever Memory Asiad 2001 (Memory championship)
A three-year-old kid knows the capitals of all the countries in the
world. Strange isn’t it? Aditya proved right all the time. More
such strange performances came to light at a spectacular memory show that was
organized and witnessed by several thousands of people at the Nehru Indoor
Stadium. This event was declared the world's biggest ever show on any mind
sport.

The first ever Memory Asiad 2001 was held in Chennai between 13 and 15 July
2001 and was organized by Madras Academy for Excellence (MAX). During the
first two days, in-camera championships were held which included 10 events
competed by as many as 66 participants from 9 countries. Honible Justice K.
Gnanaprakasam headed the jury and inaugurated the Asiad.

DR. J.N. Reddy, convenor of the event, said that among the participants, Mrs. R.
Lalitha excelled in recalling 2885 digit random binary numbers in just 1 hr. and
50 min. to set a world record. Mr. K. Nishanth has a new national record of 1944
random digit recall. Dr. John Morais, professor, Gurunanak College, broke the
Guinness Record of recognising the day for a given date in 3.8 secs. Of the 10
events, new records were set in as many as 7 events. The Limca book of records
also monitored the championship.

Other winners - Karthik Balaji in Words (228 words and 500 nos.), R.
Janaki in words (362 words in 1 hr. 48 mins.), Bipin Kumar V. in
Digits (1280 digits in 1 hr and 56 mins.), R. Janaki in Speed Objects (149 words
in 30 mins.), Bipin Kumar V. in Speed Digits (197 digits in 10 mins. 9 secs.),
Mrs. Kankgalkhmi Anand in Speed Binary Digits (195 Digits in 4 mins. 57
secs.), John Louis in Shuffled Deck of Cards in (5 mins. 26 secs. with 8
mistakes), Dr. John Morais in Perpetual Calendar (3.8 Average - sec per given
date) exhibited their wonderful talent.

Other performers included Thriukural Srinivasan and Raman

Kutty who could recall the slokas of Bhagavadgita; Sarvanan
who could call out the provisions of any section of the Income tax and Sisra;
Sindura and Abhirami who performed the memory dance narrating the name of
the ragas while dancing. All the actions were a result of extraordinary memory
power which stunned the audience.

The event was co-sponsored by The Hindu, Ryan Group (Delhi) & Traxx. Hotel.
Pratap Plaza hosted the outstation delegates.
Memoria Technica Japonica
 A Study of Mnemonics
Hisako Takahashi
In routing over my wardrobe the other day I discovered a
curious and far from satisfactory circumstance, namely that I
have left all my silk neck handkerchiefs at home. ―― From
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s letter to his sister Mary dated 6
March 1851
“Curious and far from satisfactory ” and sometimes serious circumstances will occur
in one’s daily life by forgetting things, if it is not just forgetting to take handkerchiefs
with one. Life indeed is a succession of remembering things: we have to remember
faces, names, places, spellings, rules, numbers etc. But we forget, and this is where
mnemonic devices come in.
Lewis Carroll wrote Memoria Technica (1875) to help memorise “logarithms of
primes up to 41”. Naturally, as a mathematician Carroll was interested in making a
method to remember numbers which might help study of the subject. Carroll’s
concern with memory, however, was not limited to mathematical numbers. He used
the method to recall the specific gravities of metals, too. To remember gold’s gravity
(19.36), for instance, he made a rhyme: “Would you have enough Gold for your
rents? / Invest in the seven per cents.” The last four consonants (c, n, t, and s in
“cents”) of the couplet represent the digits 1, 9, 3 and 6. To recall the biblical event of
1495 B.C. when the Israelites left Egypt and the year 1455 B.C. when they entered
Canaan, the land of promise, Carroll wove the two years into the second and the
fourth lines in the same way: “‘Shout again! We are free!’ / Says the loud voice of
glee. / ‘Nestle home like a dove,’ / Says the low voice of love.” He also made rhymes
for the foundations of the Colleges, according to his diary (31 May 1877). To
memorise the year of Columbus’s discovery of America, Carroll produced a
mnemonic: “Columbus sailed the world around, / Until America was FOUND.” The
last three consonants (f, n, d) represent the digits 4, 9 and 2 of the year 1492.
Long before Memoria Technica was written, readers of Alice in Wonderland might
have realised the important role memory plays in the Alice books. In the opening
chapter of the first Alice book, for example, the girl, while going down the rabbit
hole, wonders if her family will remember to give her cat milk. Finding a bottle on
the glass table, Alice stops and tries to find out if the drink is safe, thinking of
children getting into danger just because “they would not remember the simple rules”
taught by their friends. The first change of size makes her nervous and lets her
wonder if she might end like a candle. And she tries to imagine something about the
candle, and yet it makes her fancy something “she could not remember having seen”:
what the flame of a candle looks like after the candle is blown out. She then forgets
the key on the table which could not be reached because of her shrunken size. In tears
Alice remembers what she did in the past in such a situation. This is followed by her
forgetting many other things. She forgets the comparative form of the adjective and
says “curiouser and curiouser” instead of “more curious” which is “good English” as
Carroll put it. The curious experience makes her feel as if she lost her own identity.
To identify herself she goes through her own memory tests ranging from what she did
the day before, how she felt, to whether she could remember things she learnt in
mathematics, geography, and music lessons. Forgetting things not only causes
inconveniences but even makes Alice feel afraid of losing identity.
Carroll ends the story of Alice by writing “how she would feel..., remembering her
own child-life, and the happy summer days”. The story was written based not only on
the memories of his personal relationship with the child, but on readers’ memories
which are incessantly tested whether it be school subjects, the rules of grammar, the
rules of everyday life and the rules of a certain place such as a court. Without having
these things correctly in their mind, readers cannot fully enjoy the writer’s nonsense.
Carroll’s nonsense, after all, lies in his witty plays on the knowledge his
contemporaries had in common.
Judging from his methodical ways of keeping records, Carroll was no doubt
concerned with memory in general. Both his diaries and numerous letters would not
have been kept without the purpose of retaining his memory or the fear of losing it. In
one of his letters to his sister in 1849, for instance, Carroll wrote: “For fear I should
forget it I will here mention...” And in 1851, to the same sister, he conveyed his aunts’
love at the beginning of his letter “for fear I forget it again”. The advent of
photography and his great interest in it might have helped him with the new method
of remembering things, for he could capture momentary, fleeting phases of life and
keep his photographs in an album as fast as he could keep notes in a piece of paper.
Memoria Technica shows that Carroll devised this system with considerable insight
into the mechanism of memory as well as deep understanding of language. It also
shows, like his many other devices, a playful mind.
In Carroll’s system each number 1 to 10 is represented by one of the two consonants
he allotted, thus making it possible to turn numbers into letters. Turning numbers into
letters itself is not Carroll’s invention. As he explains himself, his device is a
modification of Richard Grey’s Memoria Technica; or a New Method of Artificial
Memory (1730). The difference is his use of consonants alone instead of vowels and
consonants, both of which Grey used. The merit of Carroll’s device lies in its
flexibility of adding vowels to the consonant scheme to create a word that fits in a
simple rhyme.
Carroll’s key

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

b d t f l s p h n z

c w j q v x m k g r

To represent each number Carroll exercised his knowledge of French, Latin and
Greek together with a visual effect of letters. For number 1, for example, b and c
were given according to alphabetical order. To represent number 2 by “d” from
“deux” (or “duo” in his revised Memoria Technica), number 3 by “t” from “trois” (or
“tres”), number 4 by “q” from “quatre” (or “quatuor”), number 7 by “p” and “m”
from “septem”, number 8 by “h” from “huit” and by “k” from “okto”, he employed
French, Latin and Greek. Other letters were largely taken from spelt out words
corresponding the numbers: “w” for number 2, “f” for number 4, “s” and “x” for
number 6, “n” for number 9, “z” and “r” for zero or 10. His choice of “g” for number
9 was solely visual, “from its shape”.
The intriguing thing about mnemonics is that numbers can be turned into letters.
There are alphabets to represent numbers: I represents 1, and V, X, L, C, D, M
represent 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 respectively. Carroll made use of the Roman
numerals “l” and “v” to represent number 5.
The use of “j” for number 3 was like completing a jigsaw puzzle: other than “t”
Carroll could not find a letter that fitted logically, so he completed all the other
numbers and was left with “j” which fitted as the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
Carroll knew that the use of rhymes helps retain memory easily when he thought of
putting the word in a rhymed couplet and putting it at the end of the line. The
mnemonic for the year 1492 was made by finding the word “found” by arranging the
consonants for 492 (1 left out as obvious) and adding vowels “o” “u”. Obviously the
idea of “discovery” was in his mind to make association with the event and this let
him choose “found” to rhyme with “around”.
Interestingly enough, the mnemonic rhyme Carroll devised is similar to the Japanese
device to memorise the same historic year 1492 except that Japanese one is more
prosaic and practical: Japanese children would chant “I-yo-kuni-ga-mieta” meaning
“Look, we found (can see)a land”. There is no linguistic connection between the
English language and Japanese, but the solutions seem very much alike, describing
the historical event connected with the year in the similar wording.
The similarity does not end there. When children learn the length of each month,
English children have the familiar rhyme which goes “Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November / (February has twenty-eight alone / All the rest have
thirty-one/ Excepting leap-year, that’s the time/ When February days are twenty-
nine)”, while Japanese children depend on a line “nishi(2,4)-muku(6,9)-samurai(11
from the shape of the Chinese character for samurai-warrior) sho-no-tsuki”, meaning
that a samurai-warrior facing to the west, watching a small moon. The use of the
same character for the words “month” and the “moon” in Japanese makes the
association close and unforgettable. Brevity, perhaps, is characteristic of mnemonics
in both languages and in any other languages for that matter.
The Japanese popular mnemonics is not so sophisticated as the one devised by
Carroll in Memoria Technica, but there is a lot of room for anyone without much
talent of composing verses or memory of the system to produce mnemonics. The use
of this kind of mnemonics is often seen in commercials with the intention of giving
the potential or regular customers the companies’ telephone numbers. People come
across such commercials on the train, on television, in the newspaper and telephone
directories. What are the rules working in the Japanese mnemonics for numbers? Or
are there any rules at all?
The Japanese language also can link numbers with its letters, but in a different way.
In Japanese, two ways of writing numbers are employed. One is Chinese characters
called Kanji and the other is Arabic numerals. In the traditional vertical writing in
which the letters are written from top to bottom and lines move from right to left,
Chinese characters are used, while in the horizontal writing which is the way English
is written both kinds of depiction are used. Besides there are basically two ways in
counting numbers from 1 to 10. In the system native of Japan we count from 1 to 10
as “hi (or hitotsu), fu (or futatsu), mi (or mittsu), yo (or yottsu), itsu (or itsutsu), mu
(or muttsu), nana (or nanatsu), ya (or yattsu), kokonotsu, to” and in the system
originally from China “ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku (or kyu), ju”. The
recent increasing use of foreign words adds to them the third way which is English
though pronounced in Japanese style: “wan, tsu, suri, ho, faibu, sikkusu, sebun, eito,
nain, ten”. Japanese is a language full of homophones. The numbers are no
exceptions. Ichi (1), for example, reminds us of two words meaning: market and
position, besides the one meaning the number itself. Ni (2) also reminds us of three
words meaning nun, luggage, and red. San (3) has about ten words with ten different
meanings: mountain, scatter, visit, produce, praise, sour, calculate, cedar, miserable,
and umbrella.
English too is never short of examples of homophones. Some can be easily cited from
the Alice books. The well-known one is that the mouse’s “long tale” was taken for his
“long tail” by Alice. When the mouse used the word “not”, Alice thought of a “knot”.
As far as numbers are concerned, there are a few words which are pronounced in the
same way from 1 to 10: “won” for 1, “to” and “too” for 2, “for” for 4, and “ait”, “Ait”
and “ate” for 8. However, there is a limit to the number of words to be created by this
method. While English has seven homophones within ten numbers, Japanese has
fifteen in three numbers alone. For shi (4), an ordinary dictionary (Iwanami’s
Japanese Dictionary here) has as many as fifty-six entries besides the number itself.
Go (5) has twenty-eight entries, and ko (5) fifteen entries. Roku (6) has four entries,
and mu (6) six entries. Shichi (7) has two entries. Ya (8) has eight entries, and hachi
(8) two entries. Ku (9) has six entries, and kyu (9) twenty-six entries. Ju (10) has ten
entries. Even the borrowed English word for number 10, ten in Japanese, can have
eight different Chinese characters meaning: heaven, shop, dot, rule, sable or ermine,
to attach, to develop, and to roll.
The words cited above multiply by combining with other letters. For instance, ichi (1)
alone makes over a hundred other words, when English “one” has fifteen or so words.
English prefixes and suffixes are closer in the function. The prefixes “uni” or “mono”
for 1, “bi” and “duo” for 2 have potential power of growing vocabulary.
Perhaps due to this nature of the language, mnemonics for numbers are easily
invented and have become a part of Japanese culture. New ones are popping out all
the time. As with often the case with culture, one rarely stops and thinks about the
factors working behind the system. It seems worthwhile examining the existing
mnemonics for numbers to find out the method, if there is any, among the seemingly
whimsical arrangements of letters. Mnemonics for numbers are used to remember
such things as historical dates, account numbers, birthdays and telephone numbers.
Among them telephone numbers are easy to get samples, for they are there to be seen
in the telephone directories while others are in mind and not easy to observe. The
following is the examples of Japanese mnemonics for numbers observed in the
Yokohama District Yellow Pages (YDYP).
Memoria Technica Japonica for Numbers in YDYP
1234567890
fu mi yo i(tsu） mu na(na) ya ko(ko) to
i（chi） ni san shi go roku shichi ha(chi) ku ju
ji sa su ko ro(n) ba kyu o(o)
wan tsu suri ho do ru wa gu wa, ha
zu za ji pa ryo
ma(ru)
do
en
teen,ten,zero
In commercials, numbers: 1 (“i”), 11 (“ii”), and 41 (“yoi”) are used without
exceptions to mean “good”. Numbers 1 (“ichiban”) and 315 (“saiko”) mean “the
best”. Nobody could blame them for their being falsely confident, for it is images that
count and good images they want to conjure up in advertisements. One exception to
this rule is when 11 (“wan-wan”) is used to mean dog’s barking by pet shops. If dogs
bark “bow-wow” in Japanese, 88 would have been more suitable.
Certain numbers are used in certain lines of business. Number 8 (“ha”-teeth), for
example, looks popular among dentists. Number 26 (“furo”-bath) is for bath houses.
Number 5 (“ko”-child) is for child-related businesses such as baby sitting and child-
care centres. Therefore, it is not surprising that the fund-raising office of Unicef in
Japan has 881052 (“hahatokoni”-for mothers and children) for their phone number.
Number 28 (“niwa”-garden) is no doubt owned by gardeners. Numbers 9 (“kyu”-
moxa cautering) and 89 (“harikyu”- cautering and acupuncture) are for the Eastern
medical therapists. Other businesses which have numbers in common are masons’ 14
(“ishi”-stone), florists’ 87 (“hana”-flowers), bug busters’ 64 (“mushi”-bugs), pipe
cleaners’ 32 (“mizu”-water), security-related firms’ 69 (“rokku”-lock) and car dealers’
96 or 90 (“kuruma”-cars). Butchers’ 29 (“niku”-meat) and pawn shops’ 78
(“shichiya”-pawn shops) are also found in the directory.
Combination of “good” images and each job is typical of advertisements. Thus often
used are 1114 (“ii-ishi”-good doctor), 307115 (“minna-ii-ko”-all good children),
4133( “yoi-mimi”-good ears), 4126( “yoi-furo”-good bath), 4190 (“yoi-kuruma”-good
cars), and 1128 (“ii-niwa”-good garden). Marriage arrangers have 1152 (“ii-gofufu”-
good husband and wife) or 1150 (“ii-goen”- good match). Such examples are
countless. We could guess now what kind of advertisement it is if we see 11283 (“ii-
tsubasa”-good wings). Answer is “an airline”. The same advertisement shows their
reduced price as \17,000 (“i-na”-wow, good). This adds one more number to the
meaning “good”.
Some numbers hint the nature of the business. Number 645 (“mujiko”-no accident) is
really suitable for driving schools. Number 881 (“hayai”-swift) or 889 (“hayaku”-
swiftly) are needed in a wide range of services.
If they are lucky, shops or companies can represent their names by numbers. “Fuji” is
represented by number 22, “Iwai” by number 181, “Sanwa” by number 38,
“Marusan” by 03, “Osakaya” by 038, “Komuro” by 566, “Miyako” by 385, “Hanii”
by 821, and “Nikko” by 250.
Numbers 24 and 365 often mean that they are open for twenty-four hours and all the
year round.
Carroll’s system is methodical in his unique way. In order to utilise his system we
need to rack our brains to make rhymes and above all we have to remember the
system itself. But the underlying idea is universally applicable. The way to find out
suitable vowels to form words is, Carroll writes, “ad libitum” or at pleasure. If we
could add pleasure or freedom, as the word “libitum” means, to what looks like a
tedious process of memorisation in learning, we could replace rote memorisation with
some meaningful, therefore memorable experience. Introduction of the factor of
pleasure or freedom always encourages learning.
Mnemonic devices for numbers are handy in Japan. We can create our own
mnemonics with a little knowledge of the system and a lot of playful mind. We can
even make more than one mnemonics for the same number. For 4188, for instance,
we can make “yoi-papa” (Good Papa / Father) and “yoi-haha” (Good Mother). For
7830583, “nayami-o-gohasan” (All troubles gone) and “nayami-to-iyami” (Troubles
and sarcastic remarks). To remember which one for long will be another interesting
aspect of the memory, yet too complicated to be discussed here. To memorise 1865,
the year in which Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first published, we could
ponder what would be suitable and produce “daiya-rogo”(Dialogue) as one
possibility. “What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?” is what
Alice thought and Carroll wrote the book full of interesting, often amusing
conversations or dialogues.
What is the use of remembering numbers without letters and rhymes? Carroll’s
Memoria Technica encourages us to try our hand at this old yet new device of
mnemonics in Japan.
Note
From a collection of mnemonics found in the Yokohama District Yellow Pages.
Number How to read Meaning
Dentists
4181 yoi-ha-ichi-ban Good teeth are the best
647418 mushi-nashi-ii-ha No decayed teeth, good teeth
822-4114 ha-ni-yoi-ishi Dentist good for your teeth
648-418 mushiba-yoi-ha Decayed teeth-Good teeth
825-5454 hani-ii-goshi-goshi Good for teeth, brush, brush
8148 haisha Dentist
Removal companies
0120-4-49852 omoi-ni-wa-shikkari-yoku-hakobu Heavy articles carefully safely carried
365-881 365-nichi-hayai 365 days swift
154-085 hikkoshi-oyako-de Move together with your children
 154-117 hikkoshi-iina Move-Good
0810 ekusupaato Expert
871-871 hanai-hanai Hanai is the company’s name
754-371 hikkoshi-mina-ii Moving all good
821017 hanii-wa-iina Hanii (the company’s name) is good
0385 miyako Miyako is the company’s name
373250 minasan-nikko Everyone, Nikko (the company’s name)
Security -related Companies
00-6666 zero-zero-rokku-rokku-rokku-rokku Zero, zero , lock, lock, lock
4169 yoi-rokku Good lock
373769 mina-mina-rokku Everyone, lock
669881 rokku-hayai Lock swiftly
6116 rokku-ii-rokku Lock, good lock
696924 rokku-rokku-24-jikan Lock, lock 24 hours
8468-69 hashiru-wa-rokku Running lock (the company’s name)
190-11 ikuwa-hyaku-toban I’ll go, 110(Police)
0110 zero-hyaku-toban 0 and 110 (Police)
Bike shops
11819 ii-baiku Good bikes
819832 baikuya-san-ni To a bike shop
381906 saa-baiku-uro Let’s sell bikes
819554 baiku-koko-yo Bikes here
381990 saa-baiku-kure Now, give me a bike
Driving schools
307-645 minna-mujiko Everyone with no accident
117960 iina-kuruma I like cars
44-1859 yooshi-ippai-gookaku Good, many pass
327-960 sutekini-naraoo-kuruma Nicely learn driving
English language schools
801-860 haai-haro Hi! Hello
039-909 oo-sankyu-gureggu Oh, thank you, Gregg (the school’s name)
Gift shops
4147 yoi-shina Good goods
17-8139 iina-hai-sankyu Good. Well, thank you
Bath houses
194268 ikuyo-furoya I’ll go to a bath house
1126 ii-furo Good bath
1010 sento Public bath house
Print shops
3900 sankyu Thank you
349-889 miyoku-hayaku Clear and Quick
Welfare services
081-294 haai-fukushi Yes, welfare
2020 fure-fure Come on
Aesthetic salons
360198 saron-ikuwa I’ll go to a salon
846-1107 hashiro-ii-onna Run, striking woman!
9696 kuro-guro Have a tan
Uniform shops
333-2941 minasan-fuku-yoi Everyone, clothes good
House cleaning
533389 gomi-sassa-haku Sweep dirt swiftly
Chiropractors
375-476 mina-koshi-yoku-naru Everyone gets better back
41-8942 yoi-hari-kyu-shiatsu Good acupuncture, moxa cauterising and
shiatsu (finger-pressure) therapy
Marriage Arrangers
312-1152 saiko-ni-ii-gofufu Super couple
312-1150 saiko-ni-ii-goen Super match
5-4150-4 itsumo-yoi-goen-yo Always good match
8743 hanayome-san Bride
752-5548 nakodo-ni-ii-yome Good bride for go-betweens
313-1150 sa-iza-ii-goen Let’s go to meet the right partner
Pawnshops
780-228 shichiya-wa-fujiya Fujiya for pawn
111783 ichiban-ii-shichiyasan Best pawn shop
101783 itto-ii-shichiya-san “The” best pawn shop
045-781 yokohama-shichiya-ichiban Best pawnshop in Yokohama
Maintenance
51-1132 koi-ii-mizu Come, good water
24-8909 24-jikan-hayaku-ookyu 24 hours emergency measure
34-5535 miyo-koko-saiko Look, this is super
81-2074 hai-tsumari-nashi No more clogging
40-8814 shigoto-hayaiyo Quickly solved
24-9919 24-jikan-kyukyu-de-iku 24 hours we rush to your rescue
Private Teachers
373432 minasan-shinmini All with parental affection
448607 yoshi-yaro-na Let’s take action
764-315 naroyo-saiko Let’s aim to be the best
593315 koku-san-saiko Japanese and mathematics best
Detective Agencies
811-315 haai-saiko Ye-s, we are super
556-271 kokoro-tsunaide From heart to heart
444-556 shiawase-kokoro Happy feelings
000095 anata-wo-kyugo We go to your rescue
4188 yoi-papa / yoi-haha Good Papa / Good Mother
315213 saiko-ni-ii-saabisu Super Service
Interview with Hideaki Tomoyori
(September 1988, NHK Radio Japan, with kind permission)
"Of course, I couldn't manage to memorize such a huge, irrational number simply by
rote. Instead, I've broken it down into short sequences of just ten numbers at a time.
And then I associate the sound of each number with a particular word. With the
words made in sentences, I can remember particular images. So, for each group of ten
numbers, I think first of a single key word, then that key word reminds me of an
image and a sentence, and then the sounds in that sentence remind me of the exact
sequence of numbers.
"For example, the number sequence three-nine in Japanese is pronounced san-kyu,
and that sounds very like the word sa-kyu, which mens "sand dune". If I picture a
sand dune, I easily remember the numbers three and nine. And if I add in other
elements, like my wife standing in front of the sand dune by the bright sea, then those
words in Japanese can remind me of a whole string of ten numbers.
"No matter how many times you memorize something, you have to start over from
the beginning if you let yourself forget it all. To avoid the waste of effort, I realized
the need for good timing in reviewing what I'd learned. I review at longer and longer
intervals - first, after a minute, then after ten minutes, then after a whole hour. I've
found that the very best time for review is when you feel that maybe you've forgotten
just about 20 percent of what you've learned.
"As a child, like all other children, I did things like memorizing the names of train
stations, or the names of all the emperors in Japan's history. But I don't think I had an
especially good memory. In fact, when I reached around the age of 20, I wasn't able
to memorize much of anything at all. In my college English class, I was told to
memorize some of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but I just couldn't do it. And that bothered
me a lot.
"Then I saw a street performer who displayed a special memory trick. He wrote on a
blackboard a string of numbers spoken at random by some passers-by. Then, without
looking at the blackboard, he was able to recite the numbers perfectly.
"Well, I bought from that street performer a little ten-page booklet on memory skills.
And it told about the trick of using images to remember numbers. Based on that idea,
I began to work out my own particular approach to memorization.
"One day, a friend who knew about my memory skills left on my desk a page
showing the value of pi worked out to many decimal places. He said 'Why don't you
memorize the value of pi ?'. Even before that I'd managed to get as far as 40 or 50
decimal places. Then, seeing this page, I decided to go ahead and memorize the value
of that eternal number pi up to one thousand places. But it wasn't easy - in fact, it
took me three years. To get to 40,000 decimal places it took me about ten years.
"It's part of my life and I've really just started. I feel that human abilities really have
no limits. It's often said that we use just about five percent of our brain cells, so I
think we have much greater potential - and I want to pursue that potential. So I want
to go on with the challenge of memorizing pi, for just the same reason that people
climb high mountains. I think it's a wonderful thing to challenge the limits of what we
can do.
"In fact, pi is said to be an irrational number, and its decimal places will never reach
an end. But the more one memorizes of it, the closer one comes to the real value of
the circle - closer to perfection. So, even as I grow old, I'll always face a new
challenge; I feel, in some way, as if I'm seeking the ultimate truth. So I plan to go on
memorizing more and more, as long as my strenght holds out."

USA Memory Championship 2002

On Saturday, April 13, 2002 ConEdison hosted the Fifth Annual USA Memory
Championship at their corporate headquarters in New York City.
The top winner of this year's competition was presented with a pair of Business Class
Round trip tickets to London, courtesy of British Airways, a sponsor of the USA
Memory Championship since its inception in 1997. While in London, our USA
Memory Champion will compete in the World Memory Championship in August of
this year.
Thirteen Mental Athletes from around the country came to match their skills against
reigning champion Scott Hagwood. As the day unfolded, it appeared that he would be
given a run for his money...the scores were so close that no one could predict the
outcome until it's arrival!
"I could really feel the pressure," said Scott to a reporter from the Fayetteville
Observer, a newspaper from his hometown. One could expect that as the defending
champion, but as the day progressed, Scott's nerves started to challenge him. "Last
year, I walked in as a nobody...an unknown. All I had to do was focus on my memory
skills and not worry about the pressure of the title or being the one to beat."
The day began with the Names and Faces competition. Scott won that event with
96.5 points but Mykie Pidor (88.5 points) and Shin Fukuda (84.5 points) were close
behind and keeping the pressure on. It is also important to mention that Scott
managed to recall 97 out of 99 first names in the event, only losing 1/2 point for a
spelling mistake.
The second event, Random Words, proved to be a mental shaking ground for Scott.
Coral Parmar won the event with a record of 95 words. Scott placed second with 89
words (also breaking his previous record of 86) and Christopher Turner placed third
with 84 words. Ironically, had Scott not misspelled the word "SADDLE" as
"SADDEL" he would have just bumped Coral's score and won with 97 words. It is
doubtful that Scott will ever forget how to spell that one!
The afternoon started off with Speed Numbers. Newcomer Richard Rubin, a
software engineer from Alpharetta Georgia, won the event with 88 digits. Silver was
taken by Mykie Pidor with 57 digits and Bronze by Coral Parmar with 55 digits.
Only recalling 40 digits, Scott was still holding his Championship position but only
by 50 points. An equally as tight race was going on between Mykie and Coral, only
separated by 47 points.
The toughest event, the unpublished Poem, would prove to be the decision maker.
Newcomer James Kot won the event with 159 points followed by Shin Fukuda with
144 points and newcomer Nelson Shih took third with 131 points. At the end of the
scoring, Scott was holding the lead by 150 points. Shin Fukuda overtook Mykie's
second place standing, but only by 3 points.
Now it would be all up to the Speed Cards! This has been Scott's strongest point,
being the first USA Mental Athlete to memorize the entire deck, much less in under
the 5 minutes allowed. In last year's event, Shin only scored 20 cards and Mykie 24.
The last event would prove to be a record setter. Richard Rubin won the event by
memorizing an entire deck of cards in 3 minutes and 37 seconds, besting Scott's
record of 4 minutes 27 seconds. But Scott wouldn't let go easily. He, too, beat his
previous record but in 3 minutes and 55 seconds, placing him second in the event.
Shin took third, memorizing 30 cards in 5 minutes.
By the end of the day, Scott Hagwood was relieved to maintain his title with 1466
points. Scott is a chemical engineer from North Carolina who considers himself of
"very average intelligence". After being diagnosed with thyroid cancer several years
ago, Scott was concerned about the effects of aggressive treatment on his mental
faculties. While undergoing several days of intensive radiation in isolation, he
practiced some of Tony Buzan's memory techniques he read about in Use Your
Perfect Memory. The results speak for themselves. Scott maintains the national title
as well as the USA record for Names and Faces by scoring 111 points in 2001. We
are also happy to report that Scott has been in remission for several years.
Shin Fukuda, a senior at the Bergen County Academies in New Jersey, placed second
in the overall competition with 1246 points. The Bronze Medal was awarded to
Mykie Pidor, a Freshman at New York University.
Among the Mental Athletes were five high school students from the Bergen County
Academies in New Jersey. In 1999 Tony Dottino, President of DCG and Founder of
the USA Memory Championship, was invited to the school to teach students some
memory techniques to assist them with their studies. He told them, "Consider your
brain just like any other muscle in your body...the more you exercise it, the stronger it
gets. And unlike other muscles, it gets better with age." The students quickly caught
on to the techniques and decided to compete. Two of them, Eric Chang and Coral
Parmar were Silver and Bronze Medallists respectively in the 1999 U.S. competition
and went on to place second and ninth out of thirty in the World Memory
Championships that year.

(Bergen County Academies 2002 Team with Coaches and future competitors.)
MEMORY is a mysterious thing. A British woman suffering from
amnesia was last week flown back to Britain after being found wandering
the streets of Athens. She has given herself the name Jezebel Blythe but
has absolutely no idea who she is or who her friends and family are,
even though she retains the ability to recall language and other facts.
This week 46-year-old George Sims, who was feared dead in the September 11 attacks in New York,
was found alive and well in a hospital, yet with no memory of the attack. Although it is clear that some
sort of physical or psychological trauma is to blame for many cases of loss of memory, what remains
unknown is how and why this faculty responds in such diverse and unpredictable ways. Even for those
of us not affected by traumas, the ability to remember seems a hit and miss affair. This isn't the case
 for everybody, however. This week, contestants at the World Memory Championships in London
competed in gruelling exercises in which human recall was stretched to its limits. Andi Bell, a 34-year-
old, walked away with the title of World Memory Champion after managing to memorise the order of
23 packs of cards in an hour, 156 names in 15 minutes, 192 words in 15 minutes, 50 dates in five
minutes and the order of a deck of cards in 82 seconds.
According to participants in such events, the ability to memorise vast quantities of material is less to do
with natural ability and more to do with practice. The memory is a muscle that must be built up. Most
memorisers use a technique of substitution and association whereby words and numbers are replaced
by memorable images and symbols. Former world memory champion Dominic O'Brien uses an old
Greek method that utilises association, imagination and location.

THE ultimate test of memory, recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, is the ability to recall the
number known as "pi" to the largest number of decimal places. In 1973, the record stood at 930
places. Since then, it has increased in leaps and bounds and stood at 42,195 by 1995. Still the record
is challenged. In 1998, Yip Swe Chooi of Malaysia recited 60,000 digits of pi with only 44 errors. The
following year another Malaysian, Sim Pohann, recited 67,053 digits with only 15 errors.
Although the ability rapidly to recall a lengthy string of numbers is impressive (as are the rest of these
memory feats), it's hard not to wonder how useful - or practical - such achievements are.
Yet some have found that their talent for recalling enormous amounts of information was invaluable in
their work. One such person was Tom Tatham, who died this year. He was renowned as an authority
on an enormous range of subjects and supplied the questions and answers to television and radio quiz
shows, as well as editing Whitaker's Almanack and Wisden.
Today, however, we have largely given over the task of remembering to tools. With diaries, Palm
Pilots, books and computers storing dates, numbers and information for us, there is less incentive to
fill our brains with facts and data. This is nothing like the way in which ancient cultures treated the
memory. In societies where books and writing were rare or non-existent, it was necessary for people to
memorise stories, traditions or texts so that they could be passed on to future generations.
There are numerous cases of monks who could recall the whole of the New Testament and other great
swathes of the Bible.
Although this was partly an act of devotion, it was also done for the practical reason that books were
extremely rare and expensive, and the memory was a readily available way for these texts to remain
alive.
There seems little need for any of us to learn the Bible by heart now but developing such memory
capabilities does have useful modern-day applications. Apart from competing in memory competitions,
Dominic O'Brien runs courses on how to beat casinos at blackjack (a trick that has seen him banned
from a number of establishments in Las Vegas). By memorising which cards have been dealt, it is
possible to beat the house.
Although it may be possible to train your memory to perform such startling feats, it ultimately remains
beyond our control. The amnesia that has afflicted George Sims and Jezebel Blythe is a mysterious
phenomenon. Often, amnesiacs recover their memories as swiftly and inexplicably as they lost them.

IF THIS isn't much consolation to those of us with poor recall, it may be worth noting that experts
believe forgetting is the brain's way of promoting psychological wellbeing. If we never forgot anything,
not only would we go mad due to all that useless information in our thoughts, we would also never be
able to see the bigger picture. As author Jon Wynne-Tyson once said: "The effectiveness of our
memory banks is determined not by the total number of facts we take in but by the number we wish to
reject."
Although if I were you, I'd be careful about using that as an excuse the next time you forget an
anniversary or birthday.

How to remember
THERE are a number of easy techniques that can be mastered to help you remember everything from
people's names to telephone numbers. According to the Mind Tools website
(www.demon.co.uk/mindtool/memory.html), to remember the phone number 735345, imagine
travelling to that person's flat: with the destination firmly in mind, envisage these stops on the
journey:
1. Front door: the door has sprouted angels' wings and is flying up to heaven! (7)
2. Rose bush: a small sapling (tree, 3) is growing through the middle or the bush.
3. Car: some bees have started to build a hive (5) under the wheel of your car. You have to move it
very carefully to avoid damaging it.
4. End of road: a tree (3) has fallen into the road. You have to drive around it.
5. Past the garage: someone has nailed a door (4) to the sign.
6. Under railway bridge; the bees are building another hive (5) between the girders here.

Kim Peek - The Real Rain Man

Darold Treffert, MD
Kim Peek was the inspiration for screen writer Barry Morrow's 1988 Oscar-
winning movie Rain Man. Mr. Morrow had earlier been involved in writing
the story for the television movie Bill, about a mentally retarded person
sensitively portrayed by Mickey Rooney. As a result of that interest, and
ability, in 1984 Mr. Morrow was invited to attend a Communications
Committee meeting of the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) in
Arlington, Texas. Kim's father, Fran, was Chairman of that committee. Kim
met Mr. Morrow there and, according to Fran's book The Real Rain Man,
they spent several hours together. Kim astonished Mr. Morrow by
correcting the ZIP codes on membership lists they perused, being familiar
with almost every author and book in the library, quoting an unending
amount of sports trivia, relating complex driving instructions to most
anywhere and giving Mr. Morrow "my date of birth and day of the week I
was born, the day of the week this year, and day of the week and year I
would turn 65 so I could think about retiring." They also discussed events
of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea and
Vietnam. Mr. Morrow decided to write a script inspired by Kim Peek's
abilities and it was that script--Rain Man-that eventually evolved into that splendid movie, making 'savant' a
household term.
In the course of his preparation for playing the part of Raymond Babbitt Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman met with
Kim Peek and his father in February, 1987. Fran Peek describes that "special day with Dustin" at length in
his book about Kim and chronicles in some detail Kim's encyclopedic memory feats as shared with Mr.
Hoffman including facts about British Monarchs, the Bible, baseball, horse racing, dates, times, places,
composers, melodies, movies, geography, space program, authors and literature. Dustin Hoffman's parting
remark to Kim, according to his father was: "I may be the star, but you are the heavens." When Dustin
Hoffman accepted his Oscar in March, 1989 he opened his response with: "My special thanks to Kim Peek
for making Rain Man a reality."
Along the way to its completion, the original script for the movie Rain Man underwent a number of
modifications. While Kim Peek served as the initial inspiration for the story, Raymond Babbitt, as portrayed
so admirably by Dustin Hoffman, is a composite savant with abilities drawn from a number of different real
life individuals. The main character in that movie, Raymond Babbitt, was modified to be an autistic savant.
The story thus is that of a person who is autistic but also has savant skills grafted on to that basic autistic
disorder. It is important to remember, therefore, that not all autistic persons are savants, and not all savants
are autistic. In preparation for his role, Dustin Hoffman spent time with several other autistic savants and
their families, as well as with Kim.
Fran Peek describes his son this way: "Kim is not behaviorally
autistic. He has a warm, loving personality. He truly cares for
people and enjoys sharing his unique skills and knowledge
capacity. Known as 'Kimputer' to many, his knowledge-library
includes World and American History, People and Leaders,
Geography (roads and highways in U.S. and Canada),
Professional Sports (baseball, basketball, football, Kentucky
Derby winners etc), the Space Program, Movies and movie
themes, Actors and Actresses, the Bible, Mormon Church
Doctrine and History, Calendar Calculations (including a person's
day of birth, present year~s birthday, and the year and the date
the person will turn 65 years old so he or she can retire),
Literature/Authors, Shakespeare, Telephone Area Codes, major
Fran & Kim Peek Zip Codes, all TV stations and their markets. He can identify
most classical music compositions and tell the date the music
was written and the composer's birth date and place of birth and death. Kim has read (and can recall) some
7600 books. He also keeps current on world, U.S. and most local events by reading newspapers, magazines
and by listening to the media. He reads constantly. He can also describe the highways that go to a person's
small town, the county, area code and zip code, television stations available in the town, who the person's
pay their telephone bill to, and describe any historical events that may have occurred in their area. His
expertise includes at least 14 subject areas."
Kim Peek was born on November 11, 1951. He had an enlarged head, with an encephalocele, according to
his doctors. An MRI shows, again according to his doctors, an absent corpus callosum - the connecting
tissue between the left and right hemispheres; no anterior commissure and damage to the cerebellum. Only
a thin layer of skull covers the area of the previous encephalocele.
With respect to early development, Kim's father indicates that at age 16-20 months Kim was able to
memorize every book that was read to him. His parents moved Kim's finger along each sentence being read.
Kim would memorize a book after a single reading and having read that particular book he would put it aside,
upside down, so that no one would attempt to read it to him again. Even today, all reading materials are
placed by Kim upside down or put backwards on a shelf.
At age three Kim asked his parents what the word "confidential" meant. He was kiddingly told to look it up in
the dictionary and he did just that. He somehow knew how to use the alphabetical order to locate the word
and then proceeded to read, phonetically, the word's definition (Since that time Kim has read, and can recall,
some 7600 books). Kim did not walk until age four. At that time he was also obsessed with numbers and
arithmetic, reading telephone directories and adding columns of telephone numbers. He enjoyed totaling the
numbers on automobile license plates as well. Since 1969 Kim has worked at a day workshop for adults with
disabilities. Without the aid of calculators or adding machines, he has prepared information from work sheets
for payroll checks. He takes extended leaves from his work now so he and his father can spend all the time
that they do together as emissaries for people with disabilities in community settings across the nation.
In that way life has changed dramatically for Kim since the movie which he inspired became so popular and
well accepted. Following that movie, Kim, according to his father, developed a new found conffdence to meet
people and to address audiences. Prior to the movie, his father reports, Kim seldom looked into the face of
another person. However, due to the numerous requests for appearances, Kim now travels across the
country with his father. They estimate they have interacted with over 900,000 persons in those audiences
thus far. As a result of these interactions Kim has grown considerably socially and developed increasing self-
esteem. In the feedback received, many have commented on Kim's positive influence on children and
parents toward creating better awareness, recognition and respect for people who are 'different'. His father
quotes Kim as saying: "Recognizing and respecting differences in others, and treating everyone like you
want them to treat you, will help make our world a better place for everyone. Care...be your best. You don't
have to be handicapped to be different. Everyone is different!"
There have been numerous television programs about Kim including 20/20, Good Morning America and
others. Kim and his father continue to travel throughout the United States and Canada with the mission and
purpose to inform persons about savant syndrome, and to share Kim's message of inspiration. Barry Morrow,
describes it thus: "I don't think anybody could spend five minutes with Kim and not come away with a slightly
altered view of themselves, the world, and our potential as human beings".
The book that tells this story is much more detail is The Real Rain Man by Fran Peek; Harkness Publishing
Consultants, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1996.

Columbian Centinial of Boston

Vol. XIV December 29, 1790 No. 31

From Scripture
Died Negro Tom, the famous African Calculator, aged 80 years. He was the property of Mrs. Elizabeth
Cox of Alexandria. Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of 14, and
was sold as a slave.... This man was a prodigy. Though he could never read or write, he had perfectly
acquired the art of enumeration.... He could multiply seven into itself, that product by seven, and the
products, so produced, by seven, for seven times. He could give the number of months, days, weeks,
hours, minutes, and seconds in any period of time that any person chose to mention, allowing in his
calculation for all leap years that happened in the time; he would give the number of poles, yards, feet,
inches, and barley-corns in any distance, say the diameter of the earth's orbit; and in every calculation
he would produce the true answer in less time than ninety-nine men out of a hundred would produce
with their pens. And, what was, perhaps, more extraordinary, though interrupted in the progress of his
calculation and engaged in discourse upon any other subject, his operations were not thereby in the
least deranged. So as to make it necessary for him to begin again, but he would go on from where he
had left off, and could give any or all of the stages through which the calculation had passed. He took
great notice of the lines of land which he had seen surveyed. He drew just conclusions from facts;
surprisingly so, for his opportunities. Had his [Thomas Fuller] opportunity been equal to those of
thousands of his fellow-men ... even a NEWTON himself, need have ashamed to acknowledge him a
Brother in Science.

Another variant
DIED. -- Negro Tom, the famous African Calculator, aged 80 years. He was the property of Mrs.
Elizabeth Cox, of Alexandria. Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of
fourteen, and was sold as a slave with many of his unfortunate countrymen. This man was a prodigy;
though he could neither read nor write, he had perfectly acquired the use of enumeration. He could
give the number of months, days, weeks, hours, minutes and seconds for any period of time that a
person chose to mention, allowing in his calculations for all the leap years that happened in the time.
He would give the number of poles, yards, feet, inches and barleycorns in a given distance - say the
diameter of the earth's orbit - and in every calculation he would produce the true answer in less time
than ninety-nine out of a hundred men would take with their pens. And what was, perhaps, more
extraordinary, though interrupted in the progress of his calculations and engaged in discourse upon
any other subject, his operations were not thereby in the least deranged. He would go on where he left
off, and could give any and all of the stages through which his calculations had passed. Thus died
Negro Tom, this untaught arithmetician, this untutored scholar. Had his opportunities of improvement
been equal to those of a thousand of his fellow men, neither the Royal Society of London, the
Academy of Sciences at Paris, nor even a Newton himself need have been ashamed to acknowledge
him a brother in science

A
SHORT ACCOUNT
OF
GEORGE BIDDER,
THE CELEBRATED
Mental Calculator;
WITH
A VARIETY
OF THE MOST
DIFFICULT QUESTIONS,
Proposed to him at the principal Towns in the Kingdom
AND HIS
SURPRISING RAPID ANSWERS!

QUESTIONS
ANSWERED BY GEORGE BIDDER.

A Question by the late Queen Charlotte.

From the Land's End, Cornwall, to Farret's Head, in Scotland, is
found by measurement to be 838 miles; how long would a snail be
creeping that distance, at the rate of 8 feet per day?
Answer -- 553,080 days.
 A Question by the Duke of Kent.
Multiply 7953 by 4648.
Answer -- 36,965,544.
If a coach-wheel is 5 feet 10 inches in circumference; how many
times would it revolve in running eight hundred million miles?
Answer, in 50 seconds -- 724,114,285,704 times, and 20 inches
remaining.
If two ships of 83 guns each exchange at sea, and they continue in
action five hours, forty-three minutes, seven seconds, each firing a
broadside every 2½ minutes; how many shot will they each fire?
Answer, in 20 seconds -- 11,391 each.
Suppose a snake to crawl from Gloucester to Land's End, Cornwall,
a distance of 239 miles, 6 furlongs, 38 poles, 7 feet, in 1,010 days; at
what rate does he travel each day?
Answer, in 1 minute -- 417 yards, 2 feet, 11 inches, 2 barley-corns.

7
What is the interest of £4,444 for 4,444 days, at 4½ per cent. per
annum?
Answer, in 2 minutes -- £2,434 16s. 5¼d.
What is the interest of £11,111 for 11,111 days, at 5 per cent. per
annum?
Answer, in 1 minute -- £16,911 11s.
Multiply 72,468 by 87,468.
Answer, in 1½ minute -- 6,338,631,024.
What is the square root of 119,550,669,121?
Answer, in 1 minute -- 345,761.
A Question by Mr. Wills, Sulisbury.
Suppose the national debt to be 900 millions, and in £1 notes; how
long would a man be counting the same, at the rate of £100 per
minute, without intermission?
Answered in 1 minute -- 17 years, 5 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours.
Suppose the ministers had succeeded in carrying the Income-tax,
which would amount to 12,000,000 pounds sterling; how far would
it cover a road 30 feet wide, each note being 8 inches by 4½?
Answer -- 18 miles, 1653 yards, and 1 foot.
In apprentice in to serve his master fill he is 21 years of age, who is
14 years, 12 month, 11 weeks, 10 days, 9 hours, and 98 minutes old;
how long has he to serve?
Answered in 1 minute -- 5 years, 10 month, 3 week, 3 days, 14
hours, 52 minutes.

"My Thought Book."

1821, J. P. Thomas.

ACCOUNT OF ELIZABETH HAYWOOD,

THE WONDERFUL CALCULATING GIRL.*

NATURE, like a sober and skilful operator, generally works by fixed rules of action, but
sometimes she playfully and innocently sports with the objects of her wise creation, and
presents to us a singular specimen of wonderful eccentricities, as if she were willing
continually to excite our astonishment, by the production of some novel wonder—some
amusing peculiarity—some interesting variety. The existence of every created being, and
almost every quality of that state of being, is incomprehensible to man. The philosopher
may, with more discrimination than the common observer, account for the modes, and he
may possibly better ascertain the principles, but he cannot satisfactorily analyse the
original existence of a created being, except by deriving it from the fiat of an omnipotent
God, so that his inquiry must end in faith and wonder, rather than in independence and
knowledge. Yet it must be admitted, that extraordinary deviations from common or fixed
qualities of being, attract, in a superior degree, the attention of man, who sometimes
asks:—what is the reason of these lusus naturæ—these sports of nature—these
eccentricities of creation? The atheist derives them from the absurd contingency of the
random possibilities of vagrant chance, as if two or three irregularities would supersede
the uniformity of the perfection of a million of regularities, whilst the materialist ingeniously
states them to arise from an exquisite and imperceptible difference of formation in the
corporeal seat of intellect. If I dared to hazard a bold conjecture upon the subject, I should
humbly suggest, that although God, influenced by motives of sovereign intelligence and
supreme wisdom, generally ordains the completion of one common mode of creation, he
is sometimes willing to convince his living creatures, that his eccentric will is eccentric
law, and to confirm or increase their sense of his greatness, and of the stupendous
distance of the created from the creator, by the remarkable creation of a being of
extraordinary powers or endowments, or a body of some peculiar qualities.

The subject of this sketch is one of those astonishing living prodigies, which, like comets,
seldom visit the world; and when they do, the blaze of their grandeur not only excites our
wonder, and invites our contemplation, but naturally attracts our minds with increased
attention to that universal author, who, with peculiar favor, bestows upon such eccentric
beings, extraordinary endowments. Elizabeth Haywood is an interesting little girl, aged
only twelve years, and possesses the most eccentric, or rather wonderful powers of
innate mental numerical calculation. Without the least mechanical or external ussistance,
and with the utmost facility, accuracy, and decision, she solves both simple and complex
arithmetical questions in much less time than would be required by other persons
assisted with pen and ink, or pencil, &c.

When I asked her to inform me of the number of barleycorns in twenty-five miles and
three quarters, she replied correctly in about a minute:—'4,894,560,' at the same time,
observing to me, 'that is too easy a question, sir, will you be pleased to exercise me upon
a more difficult one?' I asked her what kind of question she wished me to propose, when
she replied, 'if you please, sir, I will multiply any given sum of five figures, by another
given sum of five figures, and then I will multiply the product by a third sum of five figures.'
I therefore requested her to multiply 56,983 by 72,385, and then to multiply the product by
43,984. She replied in about three minutes, 'the first product is 4,124,714,455, and the
second product, or sum total, is 181,421,440,588,720.' By a calculation with pen and ink,
I ascertained that those stated products were perfectly correct, and that upon paper, the
sum required one hundred and twenty-five figures. Wishing to give her a more interesting
calculation, I asked her, if she formed fifteen calculations every day, Sundays being
cxcepted, for twenty-three years, and supposing that she was presented with one shilling
for every such calculation, and if she expended seven shillings per day, what would be
the amount of her savings at the expiration of the twenty-third year? She replied: 'I wish
that I could be so successful, sir, and I should be then able to make my poor father
comfortable for life.' She answered my question in about two minutes and a half. She
frequently adds, with ease, four lines of pounds, shillings, and pence, with nine figures to
the pounds, in each of the lines. On the morning of the day on which I am writing this
memoir, I asked her to multiply 64,928 by 9,628: in about three minutes, she answered,
'625,126,784.' Willing to know, if possible, the extent of her amazing powers, I asked her
if she could calculate the number of minutes and seconds in 29,800,000 years, she
replied, 'that, sir, is one ef the most difficult questions ever proposed to me; but I can
accomplish it I know,' and she answered me in about six minutes, viz.:—'15 billions, 662
thousands, 880 millions of minutes, and 939 billions, 772 thousands, 800 millions of
seconds.' In this calculation she reckoned the year at my request, as consisting of 365
days in the year only, without leap year, &c.

She informs me that in a multiplication question, she sometimes multiplies by a larger

even number than the sum requires, and then subtracts the difference; thus, if she were
desired to multiply 4,878 by 500, she will multiply 4,880 by the 500, and then subtract
from that product, twice 500 = 1,000, which produces the answer. When she first
calculated, she did not properly understand numerical terms, and therefore improperly
denominated her figures; thus she would say twenty-seven hundred, instead of two
thousand seven hundred, &c., &c. She is, in other respects, an ignorant girl, and can
neither read nor write. She lives by the precarious earnings of private exhibition—a mode
of subsistence which obligation, rather than inclination, obliges her to pursue, and she
says that she should be very glad to be permanently provided for. and not to be obliged to
be continually depending upon prospects, which although in a degree realised, are at
least uncertain, and unpleasant to her feelings, but she says she could not make up her
mind to any offers, however flattering, to leave her home, to which she is fondly attached.
Her memory must be extremely retentive, as she remembers, without difficulty, sixty-three
figures after they have been twice repeated to her, even if they be all odd figures, and
when there are not cyphers amongst them. Bidder, the celebrated calculating boy, has
been kindly provided for, as I believe, by the duke of York; therefore this girl is the only
calculating child whom the public has an opportunity of seeing.

When in the act of calculation, she generally places one of her hands on her chin, and
lowering her head, appears most attentively engaged in intense and abstract reflection.

It is worthy of remark, that an inlerruption does not disarrange her mental calculations, in
the midst of which she sometimes rises to pursue some ordinary avocation, and
converses upon common topics of discourse with those who are in the same room, and
then sits down, and resumes her calculation, sometimes raising her head, and saying—'I
shall soon have done.' When she has completed her calculation, she rises and says
—'Now will you be pleased, sir, to put down my answer?' which she gives in proper
numerical order, beginning at the highest figure, and properly denominating all her
figures, thus:—'four millions, eight hundred and ninety-four thousand, five hundred and
sixty.' When a question is put to her, she carefully and slowly recounts ench figure aloud
to her auditors, desiring them to correct her, if any of the figures which she repeats be
wrong.

Notwithstanding her abstraction of intellect when engaged in calculations, she is at other

times very lively and playful. She has never exhibited her powers in public, and she
contributes much to the support of her father and little brother, by her calculation before
private company. With such well-earned resources she entirely supported her father
during a late severe illness.

The father of this wonderful girl is a poor silk weaver, earning about twelve shillings a
week by his business. He was accustomed to employ his daughter in his business, to
wind his quills, which she informs me that she took great pains to count.

She first began to calculate in her extraordinary way, about fifteen months ago:—she
states, 'I do not know how I acquired the power of calculation, unless it was by counting
my father's quills; it came to me within three months: I do not know what first induced me
to calculate, I could not calculate at all in the same way before about fifteen months ago,
when I first began to calculate in my present way, by my head.'

To account philosophically for the very extraordinary powers of this wonderful mental
calculator, would, as I imagine, be a fruitless task, and would end in conjecture; and I
therefore content myself with simply submitting to the public, a brief and correct statement
of every interesting particular relative to this wonder of human nature.

The child's mother is dead, and she has only one little brother living. She resides at No. 5,
New Street, Half Nicol Street, Bethnal Green, and attends to exhibit her powers to private
parties, at their own houses, upon a short notice being given.

* I have transferred this account from the Londoner of September 23, 1820, which work I
 had the honor of editing.

MEMOIR.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Remarks. - Birth and early character of Zerah. - Display of his talent. - Leaves home
with his father; goes to Montpelier, and other places in Vermont; returns home, and starts for
Boston. - Offer made in Hanover. - Squire B. - Arrives in Boston , the Indenture offered and
rejected.

THAT men should wonder in contemplation of those things which exceed the common limits of
experience and observation, is not strange. Such is the narrow compass of our faculties, eveu in
their most perfect state, that it becomes difficult, while we see the outward effect produced, to trace
the hidden energy which prompts and impels the inward cause, Should our astonishment excite
within us sentiments of mingled awe, curiosity and reverence, corresponding with the greatness and
elevation of the source whence the marvellous proceeds, wonder may profit us, and our excited
inquiries yield us a lasting benefit.
It is not pretended, or thought, that the subject of this memoir stands first among the numerous
exhibitions of His power who made the world, and has fashioned and endowed the human mind;
but it is believed that while much surprise had been felt on this subject, and many have indulged in
unsatisfactory speculations in regard to his early endowment, a full development of his case may
contribute somewhat to assist in leading the contemplative inquirer to a correct view of Him who is
the giver of every good and every perfect gift.

- 10 -

ZERAH COLBURN was born in the town of Cabot, county of Caledonia, and State of Vermont, on
the first day of September, 1804. His father, Abia Colburn, removed into, that town from Hartford,
Vermont, about three months previous to his birth, and purchased a farm lying on the road from
Cabot to Peacham. Zerah was the sixth child; and his parents being in straitened circumstances,
with a large family, subjected to such difficulties and hardships as full to the common lot of all new
settlers at that period, there seemed to be no prospect that his name should ever be distinguished,
or even known beyond the immediate circle of his neighbors and kinsmen. There was nothing
remarkable in the endowments of his father or mother; they were plain persons, not superior to
others, and in regard to the early years of this their son, it may be proper to remark, that they
considered him to be the most backward of any of their children.
Yet in common with his brothers and sisters, he shared in the cares and kindness of his parents,
who after six years of toil, were beginning to discover the dawn of more prosperous days, and to
hope the time had arrived when they might rejoice in the security and permanence of home; and
while pursuing the labors of industrious life, might also calculate for the future welfare of their
children, it would therefore have been peculiarly painful, had they foreseen that an event was about
to take place, which would in a moment rise up to destroy all those pleasing anticipations, blast
every prospect of social happiness, and after years of absence, consign the husband and the father
to a stranger's grave. Indeed, all the experience of human life emphatically shows, that ignorance of
the future is more frequently our bliss than our bane.
Residing at a considerable distance from any school, it would be unreasonable to expect that
education had done much for Zerah, while very young, in preparing
 - 11 -

him for that display of early strength, correctness and rapidity of mind in figures, which was never more
remarkable to others, than unaccountable to himself.
Various fanciful and groundless statement have been circulated by ignorant persons in regard to the
cause, which first led his mind to assume and exercise that power in calculation; the author of these
pages cannot acknowledge himself particularly indebted to such individuals; for it has been
attended with some trouble, as well as disgust, to correct their relations.
The inquiry has often been made whether the gift were natural or supernatural; his answer is that it
was partly both; understanding by this, not the putting forth of Divine energy in the entirely new
creation of a faculty hitherto unknown to the mind, but the uncommon extension of a faculty already
given, and common to all; extension in a manner beyond the operations of Nature, as we see her
exhibited, and therefore supernatural; but natural, in as much as every one is to a certain extent,
able to compute by mental process alone.
Sometime in the beginning of August, 1810, when about one month under six years of ago, being at
home, while his father wad employed at a joiner's work-bench, Zerah was on the floor, playing in
the chips; suddenly he began to say to himself, "5 times 7 are 35 - 6 times 8 are 48, &c," His
father's attention being arrested by bearing this, so unexpected in a child so young, and who had
hitherto possessed no advantages, except perhaps six weeks attendance al the district school, that
summer, he left his work, and turning to him began to examine him through the multiplication table;
he thought it possible that Zerah had learnt this from the other boys, hut finding him perfect in the
table, his attention was more deeply fixed; and he asked the product of 13x97 to which 1261 was
instantly given in answer. He now concluded that something unusual had actually taken place;
indeed he has often said he should not have

- 12 -

been more surprised, if some one had risen up out of the earth and stood erect before him.
It was not long before a neighbor rode up, and calling in, was informed of the singular occurrence.
He, too, desired to be a witness of the fact, and soon it became generally known through the town.
Though many were inclined to doubt the correctness of the reports they heard, a personal
examination attested their truth. Thus the story originated, which within the short space of a year,
found its way, not only through the United Status, but also reached Europe, and foreign Journals of
literature, both in England and France, expressed their surprise at the uncommon incident.
Very soon after the first discovery of his remarkable powers, many gentlemen at that time
possessing influence and public confidence throughout the State, being made acquainted with the
circumstances, were desirous of having such a course adopted as might most directly lead to a full
developement of his talent, and its application to purposes of general utility. Accordingly Mr. Colburn
carried his son to Danville, to be present during the session of the Court. His child was very
generally seen and questioned by the Judges, members of the bar, and others. The Legislature of
Vermont being about to convene at Montpelier, they were advised to visit that place, which they did
in October. Here large numbers had an opportunity of witnessing his calculating powers, and the
conclusion was general that such a thing had newer been known before. Many questions which
were out of the common limits of Arithmetic, were proposed with a view to puzzle him, but he
answered them correctly; us for instance - which is the most, twice twenty-five, or twice five and
twenty (2x25 or 2x5+20)? Ans. twice twenty-five. Which is the most, six dozen dozen, or half a
dozen dozen (6x12x12 or 6x12)? Ans. 6 dozen dozen. It is a fact too that somebody asked how
many black beans

- 13 -

would make five white ones? Ans. 5, if you skin them. Thus it appeared that not only could he compute
and combine numbers readily, but also he possessed a quickness of thought somewhat uncommon
among children, in other things.
After a few days spent in Montpelier, they proceeded to Burlington. But as the thinly inhabited State
of Vermont did not appear likely to furnish that efficient patronage which such an unusual case
seemed to demand, Mr. Colburn was advised to bend his course toward the principal cities of the
 Union, in order to obtain that ample encouragement which would probably attend his undertaking.
Accordingly they returned to Cabot, and after spending one night under the family roof, they
departed to return no more. Arriving at Hanover, the friends of science associated with Dartmouth
College desired to retain the boy and educate him. Dr. Wheelock, President of the Institution, made
a very generous offer, intending to take upon himself the care and expense of his studies; and it
may be no more than a reasonable supposition that if Mr. Colburn had acceded to such kind
overtures, his wishes would have been eventually fulfilled. But he had certain objections to the offer,
arising from the fact that already different patrons had not only offered their aid, but also used an
influence to prevent him from subscribing to the terms proposed by others, residing in different parts
of New England, by presenting to his inexperienced mind censorious strictures upon the motives of
each other. However, before he fully declined, he proceeded to Boston, in the hope that he might
become better prepared to decide between the various prospects presented to his view.
While at Hanover, a circumstance took place, which may deserve particular notice, A. B. Esq.
residing in H. Vermont, was a man who for many years had been gradually forsaking the truths of
revealed religion, until he was completely established in

- 14 -

deistical principles. Business called him to Hanover at this time; he was informed that Zerah was in the
place, and his peculiar gift described. On learning that the boy was only six years old, without opportunity
or education, and yet able to solve such large questions by mental process alone, he was disposed to
treat it as wholly untrue. Finding however that the statement was supported by facts which he could not
controvert, he was much struck, and exceedingly disturbed in mind. As a Deist, it had been his anxious
labor to believe that miracles had never taken place; that it was totally impossible for any thing to happen
contrary to the established laws and visible course of nature. Now he found that something had happened
contrary to the course of nature and far above it; hence in hid mind an irresistible inference arose that
greater things, equally above nature, might take place - even the miracles recorded in holy writ. He went
home with a burdened spirit, passed a sleepless night in investigating the subject with all the acuteness of
his vigorous mind, and at length found himself compelled by the force of conviction to renounce his Infidel
foundation, and ever since has been established in the doctrines of Christianity.*
On their way from Hanover to Boston, Mr. Colburn and his son received the most flattering marks of
attention in the different towns through which they passed. They arrived in this city on the 25th of
November; here, as might be expected, the public were anxious to see for themselves if they had
been correctly informed. Questions in multiplication of two or three places of figures, were
answered with much greater rapidity than they could be solved on paper. Questions involving an
application of this rule, as in Reduction, Rule of Three, and Practice, seemed to be perfectly
adapted to his mind. The Extraction of the Roots of exact Squares and
* In 1827 the author received the above from Esquire B.

- 15 -

Cubes was done with very little effort; and what has been considered by the Mathematicians of Europe an
operation for which no rule existed, viz, finding the factors of numbers, was performed by him, and in
course of time, he was able to point out his method of obtaining them. Questions in Addition, Subtraction,
and Division were done with less facility, on account of the more complicated and continued effort of the
memory. In regard to the higher branches of Arithmetic, he would observe that he had no rules peculiar to
himself; but if the common process was pointed out as laid down in the books, he could carry on this
process very readily in his head.
That such calculations should be made by the power of mind alone, even in a person of mature
age, and who had disciplined himself by opportunity and study, would be surprising, because far
exceeding the common attainments of mankind; - that they should be made by a child six years old,
unable to read, and ignorant of the name or properties of one figure traced on paper, without any
previous effort to train him to such a task, will not diminish the surprise. The remembrance that this
faculty was bestowed and exercised under such circumstances, while it necessarily prompts the
possessor to speak of it us wonderful indeed, at the same time precludes all room for boasting, if he
were thus disposed; for it ever has been, and still is, as much a matter of astonishment to him as it
can be to any other one; God was its author, its object and aim perhaps are still unknown.
 Soon after their arrival in Boston, the attention of the friends of science was fixed upon the propriety
of educating the boy, in order to place him in a situation where he might be enabled to pursue the
studies which seemed most adapted to his genius, and render it profitable to the world. After much
deliberation, a number of the first gentlemen in that city made the following proposition to Mr.
Colburn: 1. To raise 5000 dollars by donation without any public exhibi-

- 16 -

tion of Zerah. 2. To give the father 2500 dollars, while they were to retain the other half and the boy wholly
under their control, and educate him. To this offer Mr. Colburn was not willing to consent, but signified his
approbation of their plan so far as to say, that they might raise the contemplated sum with the
understanding that if they gave him one half, he would pay half the expenses of his son's studies, until he
should have completed a collegiate course, after which he would commit him more directly to their cure
and superintendence.
Hon. Josiah Quincy, one of the gentlemen concerned, was then about to start for Washington; he
informed Mr. C. that if he was able to remain three days longer at home, he doubted not that the
business might be arranged in a manner fully coinciding with his views; as he was unable to carry,
he wrote a letter to the associated friends, requesting them to adopt. the amendment suggested by
the father. They, on receiving Mr. Quincy's communication, at first concluded to comply. The plan of
public exhibition was now proposed, in order to raise the sum required. To this Mr. C. had many and
strong objections; but these objections were at length overcome, by the high tone of interest and
friendship used by his advisors, and after much preliminary discussion, the following paper was
prepared and presented to him for signature.
THIS INDENTURE, of two parts, made and concluded in Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and
commonwealth of Massachusetts, on this day of in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and ten, between Abia Colburn, of Cabot, in the county of Caledonia, and State of Vermont,
husbandman, on the first part, and James Perkins, Daniel Sargent, Josiah Quincy, Isaac P. Davis,
William Sullivan, and William S. Shaw, all of Boston aforesaid, esquires, on the second part,
Witnesseth: That whereas the said Abia Colburn has a child named Zerah Colburn, who has
discovered uncommon powers in arithmetical calcula-

- 17 -

tions; and it has appeared probable to the said contractors on the second part, that if the said child should
receive an honorable and liberal education, he would become useful to himself and valuable to the public;
and whereas the said Abia professes himself to be unable to educate the said child in a suitable manner; -
Therefore it is agreed that the said contractors on the second part shall be, and hereby are appointed
Trustees to superintend the education of said child on conditions hereinafter expressed; and that they will
use their influence and exertions to raise a sum of money not exceeding live thousand dollars, by
donations and honorable exhibitions of the child, at such times and places within the United States as the
said Trustees may direct; and that after the said sum of five thousand dollars shall have been raised, the
said Abia shall at no time exhibit the said child, or suffer him to be exhibited for the purpose of obtaining
money; but that he shall be placed at Hanover, in the county of Grafton, and state of New-Hampshire,
under the direction of said Trustees; - And it is further agreed that the said Abia Colburn shall attend the
said child, until he shall have been placed under the direction of his Instructor or Instructors, after the said
sum shall have been raised; - And as an indemnity to the said Abia for the loss of his time, and for his
services, and to enable him to remove to Hanover aforesaid, and dwell near said child, who is to be there
placed for the present, it is further agreed that the said Abia shall receive for his sole use and benefit, the
sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, or whatever sum shall be the one half of the funds to be so raised by
donations and exhibitions of the child, first deducting from the whole amount received, the expenses
necessary for supporting the said Abia and his child during the time required for raising the sum of five
thousand dollars clear. And it is further agreed that the said child shall remain at said Hanover, until he
shall be fitted to enter a college; at which time a further arrangement shall be made between said Abia
and the said Trustees, as to the college to which said child shall be sent. And it is further agreed that the
residue of the sum obtained after the deduction of all expenses as aforesaid, shall be invested in the
names and under the direction of the trustees aforesaid, and the survivors of them, with full power to
associate a person in the place of either of them, as they

- 18 -

may successively decease; and that the interest of the said fund, and so much of the principal as may be
necessary, shall be applied to the education of said child, at the discretion of said Trustees; and the
surplus, if any remain, shall be paid over to said child when he shall have attained to the age of twenty-
one years; and said Trustees shall have the entire direction of the education of said child; it being
understood that they may place him where they think fit within said Hanover, for the purpose of educating
him until prepared for admission at some college: Provided that the father shall always have such
intercourse with the child as may be consistent with his education. And it is further agreed and provided,
that if the said Trustees should find it impracticable after reasonable exertion to raise the said sum of five
thousand dollars, they may in their discretion stop all further exhibition of the boy, and after deducting
necessary expenses from the fund obtained, they may divide the residue equally between the said Abia
and themselves, and proceed immediately to educate said child so far as the sum obtained shall be
sufficient, and until the same shall be exhausted. And it is further provided, that in case said child should
decease before he attains to the age of twenty-one years, said fund shall then be paid to said Abia, and if
not, then to the lawful heirs of said child, to his or their sole use and benefit forever. And it is further
provided, that if said child should attain to the age of twenty-one years, and yet in the opinion of said
Trustees should prove unworthy of this bounty, then they shall have full power to give said fund to those of
said child's brothers and sisters who may be living at that time, in equal shares.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties above-named have set their hands and seals interchangeably this
day of in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ten.
This offer is thus particularly stated, because many persons at that period, and perhaps some at the
present day, wonder that he did not remain to be educated in this country, where so much interest
was excited in his favor.
To those terms, however, Mr. Colburn did not feel himself at liberty to accede. Simply to receive the

- 19 -

patronage and sanction of their respectable names as a suitable equivalent for the desertion of family
during a period long enough to travel through the States and collect so large a sum of money, and then for
giving up one half that sum with the boy, during the most important season of youth, did not harmonize
with his views of parental obligation. Concerning the motives which actuated them, the judgment of charity
would be highly favorable - it ought to be so. He did not refuse to sign this Indenture until after mature
deliberation, - he concluded that to subscribe to it would be much to his reproach and injury. This matter is
thus fully described, because the rejection of the offer went abroad to the world as the wanton rejection of
a very noble and friendly proposition. Individuals living at a distance from New England were disposed,
when they afterwards saw the father, to accuse him in no very mild terms, of being ignorant or indifferent
to the welfare of his son, as well as to the claims of gratitude towards those who interested themselves in
his affairs; and he was not always able to convince them of the real state of the case.

- 20 -

CHAPTER II.
Zerah proceeds to New York, Philadelphia, and Washington; returns to Norwich, Vermont; starts
once more for the South; visits Boston; New Hampshire; goes to New York and Washington. -
Richmond Theatre. - Shipwreck. - Mr, Colburn concludes to go to England.

THE rejection of the proposals made in Boston, very speedily raised a prejudice against Mr. Colburn
 in that city. Some of the parties named in the Indenture were exceedingly displeased by his
unwillingness to comply with their terms; and he soon found that little prospect remained of
promoting his object while within the scope of their influence. Accordingly, after many unavailing
efforts to effect a change in the course which public feeling had taken, he departed for the South. In
New York and Philadelphia the reception his son met with was very flattering, the inhabitants
signifying their approbation of his talent by liberal attendance and donations. In the latter city, a
likeness of him was taken by Rembrandt Peale and placed in the gallery of the Museum.
Arriving at Washington, they found the Congress in session, and they spent some time in that city.
However they met with no particular encouragement that appeared likely to after their situation for
the better, and they returned towards the North. At this period Mr. Colburn had money with him to
the amount of five or six hundred dollars. When they landed at the ferry from the Jersey side, Mr. C.
proceeded to the tavern where he had put up during his former visit to New York. On going in, he
inquired of the landlord if he could be accommodated there

- 21 -

that night? The landlord replied in the affirmative. They sat down in the bar-room and waited till about nine
o'clock; then he spoke to the host and said he should like to go to bed. The landlord started paused a
moment, and then said: "Mr. Colburn, I have deceived you; when you came in, I told you I could entertain
you; but my beds are all occupied." "Very Well," said Mr. C. "I can go somewhere else." The landlord
rejoined, "there is a room in the back part of the house, where I sometimes sleep when the other beds are
full; if you please, you may lodge there," "Any place," said Mr, C. "is preferable to going out at this late
hour." He took his trunk, and with Zerah followed the landlord through a back-yard surrounded with
buildings, connected with the front of the house, up three flights of stairs, into a room where was a bed,
set down the candle, and retired. Zerah was soon in bed; his father took off his boots and coat, blew out
the candle, mid lay down to think. Not feeling safe or satisfied, he rose, put on his coat, and descended,
picking his way along to the bar-room. Informing the amazed landlord that he wished to speak with him
alone, they went into an inner room, and Mr. C. began: "When I first came into your home, you told me I
could be accommodated with a bed; during the evening I have seen very few guests, not half enough to fill
your large house; at bed time you have taken me up into that back-room, without lock or latch; I know not
what to think; from the public papers you must know that I have a good deal of money with me, and it is
my opinion you have a design upon my life. I shall not sleep in that room. If you can lodge me in the front
of the house, well - if not, I shall go to another tavern." The host appeared completely at a stand; twice or
thrice he attempted to speak; at length he made out to say: "you may have your choice of my rooms."
Accordingly after bringing Zerah and the trunk out of the garret, the landlord conducted them into an
 - 22 -

apartment in the front of the house, furnished with two beds and a lock on the door; he handed the key to
Mr, Colburn, who said to him, "now you may come at any hour in the night with as many as you please."
He slept without disturbance. The next day he called for his bill. The landlord inquired why he was going
away? on being told that it was because he could board cheaper in a private family than at a tavern, the
man replied, "Only do not mention last night's adventure to any one, and you may stay here as long as
you please at your own price." Mr. C. promised, and with his son remained there while in New York.
They afterwards went in the steam-boat up to Albany. It was on this passage, that a gentleman, by
the name of Hopkins, taught Zerah the names and powers of the nine units, of which he had been
previously ignorant. From Albany, they proceeded to Utica, receiving a patronage proportioned to
the population of those places. At length Mr. Colburn directed his course towards Vermont.
During this period that he had spent traveling through the States, he had very frequently been
injured in his feelings by the remarks made by persons who labored under a wrong impression in
regard to the indenture. When he arrived in Boston, he called upon the publishers of the public
journals, in hopes that he might succeed in having the original paper, (which he always kept)
printed, for the general information of the public. They all refused to admit the article into their
columns, alleging as a reason, that it would be an indelible disgrace to the gentlemen concerned.
While on his journey to the South, many gentlemen of knowledge and experience had suggested
the propriety of a voyage to England, on the ground that the wealthy and scientific in that country
would be likely to afford patronage sufficient to answer every desirable purpose. This was a
measure no way

- 23 -

adapted to Mr. Colburn's feelings and wishes. While he was in Boston, at this time, Elbridge Gerry, Esq.
formerly Governor of Massachusetts, who was always a kind adviser, recommended the course, and
offered letters of introduction. The time however was not yet come, for him to indulge the thought of such
a separation from his family and country. He left Boston and went on to Norwich, Vermont, in April, 1811,
where his family were transiently residing.
Had he at that time, in view of all his former trouble and vexations relative to his son, concluded to
abandon the idea of obtaining property, and perhaps some honor on account of his boy's
remarkable talent, it is a matter of belief, if not of certainly, that by returning to his farm, and laying
out the money collected by exhibition in a prudent manner, he might have supported his family and
brought them up in a respectable manner. Yet it was not surprising that the singular endowment of a
member of his family in this manner, should produce an anxiety to secure its probable benefits;
while at the same time, a curiosity to seek in a proper use of menus the object of the gift, might
have had an influence; moreover he felt himself injured in the Boston business, and being of a high
spirit, he was unwilling to settle down at home, for he hoped such success would attend his efforts,
as to convince the framers of the indenture that liberality wad not confined to them, nor his welfare
wholly dependent on their patronage.
After tarrying about a week at Norwich, he departed with his son, leaving about five hundred dollars
with Mrs. Colburn, from which period he never saw his children. He went, to Boston by way of
Amherst, and was at length successful in getting the indenture printed. According to a previous
arrangement, in May Mrs, Colburn joined her husband in Boston, and accompanied him to
Concord, Exeter, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On the second of July, she took her final leave
of her husband and returned to Cabot.

- 24 -

After her departure, Mr. C, pursued his way to Portland and soon made up his mind to try the effect of
another journey to the South. They now visited Providence, New Haven, Hartford and the other places of
note in Connecticut. Arriving at New York, they went on to Lancaster in Pennsylvania.
It was while on this road that they passed a pump which would probably have remained unknown
and unnoticed in history, but for its handle, which by the sinking of the piston, was thrown up into
the air. A few weeks previous to their passing it, the stage, while traveling along in the evening, was
 suddenly stopped by the frightened driver, who declared, that an armed highwayman with
shouldered musket, was waiting to. intercept their passage. The passengers looked out and
discovered the unconscious object of their alarm, standing in a truly threatening attitude, and even
they thought he was moving towards them. The result of their council of war may be speedily told:
one gentleman flung out his pocket book, another his purse, &c, &c. and the driver wheeling his
horses rapidly round, they returned with all imaginable speed and related their wonderful
preservation. The stolen pocket book and other articles were picked up the next day by some
honest laborers, who little knew to what beneficent being they were indebted for their booty.
Another little circumstance may be related to show the erroneous views entertained by some in
regard to the gift of Zerah. Being at Columbia, a little village on the Susquehanna, a woman sent a
request to the tavern where he put up to have him come and see her, he want, and after some
preliminaries, she said: "About twenty years ago, I lost some silver spoons; I suspect they were
stolen. I want you to tell who has got them." It is needless to add, that being neither prophet nor
conjurer he could not tell.
They arrived at Washington in the fall of 1811; - at this time the Hon. Josiah Quincy was there, and

- 25 -

Mr. Colburn culled on him, hoping from the interest he had formerly taken, that he might then be able to
point out some course that would render it advantageous for him to remain in America. However, Mr.
Quincy did not feel himself in a situation to assume the responsibility of giving further advice. Discouraged
here, Mr. C. made up his mind to sail for England, and with that intention, engaged places in the northern
stage. The night before he contemplated starting for Annapolis, Matthew Cluy came in, being just arrived
from the south. He had some conversation with Mr. Colburn that night, and finally dissuaded him from
going to Boston until he had traveled more extensively in Virginia and the Carolinas. Yielding to his advice,
and receiving letters from him to a number of the first people in Richmond, Mr. C. changed his course.
On their journey towards Richmond, a very striking comment was exhibited on the convenience of
having good roads; traveling along in the cloudy evening at a rapid rate, the stage went down a
slight descent, and soon after reaching the level below was suddenly stopped. The driver applied
the whip, but the horses could not start their load. After several fruitless attempts of this kind, the
driver dismounted from his box and looked around to discover the impediment, but as the night was
dark, and the stage unfurnished with lamps, he sought in vain. After a little deliberation it was
deemed advisable that the horses should be liberated from the vehicle, and the passengers mount
them to ride to the nearest stopping place. They went on about a mile before they reached a small
house where the male and female travelers were accommodated as well as circumstances would
admit, until morning. Then a stout yoke of oxen was sent down after the empty stage, and dragged
it along. They found that the carriage had been thus forcibly detained by means of a stump, against
which

- 26 -

the axleirec had been lodged, perhaps by some deviation from the road.
The next day they came to Fredericksburg. Here they were invited to stay a day or two by General
Mercer. While at this place intelligence came of the burning of Richmond theatre. Among the victims
of That awful conflagration were a number of the first people in the place to whom Mr. Colburn had
letters of introduction. As he had never witnessed a dramatic exhibition, and but for General
Mercer's invitation would have reached Richmond on the day that closed with that memorable night,
he used to consider it a providential interposition that detained him in Fredericksburg: had he gone
on, he thought it possible that some of the friends to whom Mr. Clay directed him would have taken
him and his son to the theatre, in which case, he might have shared the mournful destiny of others.
When they arrived in the city, they visited the spot on which the theatre had stood, and beheld a
striking lesson of the uncertainty of life, and the feeble tenure by which all earthly good id held. The
place was lone and still; so lately echoing with the cries of mirth - still later with the frenzied shriek
and wait of despairing, dying men, women, and children; all was silent, and except foundation wall,
and ashes, nothing was left to tell what life had glowed, what hearts had throbbed with joy, and
soon with wildest grief, a few short days before.
By reason of this awful calamity Mr. Colburn's expectations of patronage in Richmond were cut off,
and after a brief tarry among the bereaved and the suffering, they went on towards the South.
 It appears by a letter written to his wife from New York city, dated October 14, 1811, that he had
been strongly urged to remove his family to Charleston, in South Carolina, with ample promises of
encouragement, but on account of the climate, he would not consent; however he now concluded to
visit that city in hopes of finding there what Providence with held

- 27 -

in Richmond. On his way he tarried a few days in Norfolk. The actors connected with Richmond theatre,
being thrown out of employment by the catastrophe stated above, had also started for Charleston; and it
so happened that they engaged their passage in the same vessel with Mr. C. and his son. They sailed
from Norfolk at noon, January 12, 1812. As evening came on, the passengers began to prepare for
spending it in the most jovial manner; with cards, and songs, and merriment, they passed their time until
nearly eleven. When they retired to rest, the snow was falling fast, and it was very dark. At midnight the
vessel struck in shoal water. Instantly the sleepers were awake, and soon learned the cause of their
disturbance. The exuberance of their gaiety, which perhaps had not been wholly calmed by their short
slumber, now met with a check perhaps equal to the terror and confusion of the burning theatre. The wind
was high, the storm was severe, and the darkness so thick that on deck no object could be discerned, not
even the hand hold up before the eyes. The scene was truly terrific; the vessel striking every minute with
an awful shock; no coast to be seen; the commander unable to give directions for safety; men
vociferating; women in agony, praying; all combined exhibited a scene of sorrow better conceived than
described. Indeed there seemed to be no human probability of escape or of assistance. Some, under
apprehension of the worst, went to the Steward, and swallowed as much strong drink as would suffice to
render them insensible to the pain of drowning. One, a Captain in the Navy, declared if he ever set foot on
dry land again, he would there abide. Another, a Frenchman, when first waked by the shock, learning the
cause, was so completely paralyzed by fear, that beginning to dress, he put on his spectacles add sat
down on the edge of his birth, with nothing over him, seemingly unconscious of every thing around. Some
of the men proposed to cut away the mast, as

- 28 -

a probable expedient for safety - to this the Captain objected with all his authority; to this objection they
were eventually indebted for their safety. Thus three or four hours pushed heavily along, when by a
providential shift of the wind, the vessel taking the advantage, filled her sails, and ran ashore, fast bedded
in the sand about two roods below high water mark. In the morning they landed on the beach, and
traveling about a mile through the woods, discovered a house. From the inmates they learned that they
were about thirty miles below Norfolk: that the place on which their vessel was cast was called False
Cape. A few days were spent on this lonely beach under tents constructed with sails; during which time
the cargo was landed, and the shattered vessel abandoned.
They returned to Norfolk and unsuccessful in this journey, Mr. Colburn began to think that his
situation and prospects were not likely to be improved by a longer effort in his own country. The
decided objections he had entertained to leaving his native country, and seeking his fortune in
Europe, were strong in his mind; but disappointed thus far in obtaining patronage to educate his son
in a way that met his concurrence, he was very reluctantly led to a resolution to visit England. In
unison with this, while on his way to the North, he received letters of introduction, from the Hon.
Rafus King, formerly Minister from this country to the British Court; Elbridge Gerry, Esq. of
Massachusetts, and others. Perhaps indeed it has fallen to the lot of very few, if any individuals,
while attracting curiosity and notice, to receive at the same time so many flattering marks of
kindness as the subject of this memoir; and it is not unfrequently a sorrowful reflection to him, that
after all the sympathy and benevolence shown by the liberal and scientific, certain unforeseen and
unfortunate causes have prevented and still prevent his reaching and sustaining that distinguished
place in the Mathematical Lit-

- 29 -

erature of the age, to which on account of the singular gift bestowed upon him, he seemed to be destined
 Yet let him not repine, while realizing the higher obligations, honor, and usefulness of the station, which lie
now in the Providence of God, imperfectly and unworthily fills.

- 30 -

CHAPTER III.
Mr. Colburn embarks for England; arrives in London; his son is exhibited there. - William
Wilberforce. - Duke of Cambridge. - Likeness of the boy published by subscription. - A Memoir
contemplated. - They leave London to visit Ireland and Scotland.

THE faculty possessed by Zerah Colburn was of so remarkable a character, that it might not have
appeared singular, if a little time must necessarily elapse, in order to give his patrons an opportunity
of concerting measures to prepare him for being useful to him self and the public; but a year and a
half had now elapsed, without the occurrence of say thing that seemed likely to promote this object.
The step which his father was about to take, was one that maintained the interest felt by his friends;
and they looked forward to his contemplated voyage to England, as the probable means of ultimate
success.
Mr. Colburn wrote to his wife in December, 1811, while at Washington, giving her the first decided
intimation that such a voyage was intended, and requesting her to make such a disposition of her
children and the farm, that she might be able to accompany her husband over the Atlantic, if he
should still think it best. To this, however, her feelings and judgment were irresistibly opposed. She
undoubtedly believed that such a certainly of support as he might have found on his farm, was
better than to follow in the uncertain pursuit of patronage, depending on the caprice or liberality of
the great; and us a mother, she could not reconcile herself to the idea of leaving her children, the
oldest being only fourteen years of age, without either parent to watch over them. Her
The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals

A Memoir of Zerah Colburn; written by himself.

[The New-England magazine. / Volume 5, Issue 4, October 1833, pp. 342-346]

A Memoir of Zerah Colburn; written by himself. Containing an Account of the first Discovery of his
remarkable Powers; his Travels in America and Residence in Europe; a History of the various Plans devised
for his Patronage; his Return to this Country, and the Causes which led him to his present Profession; with
his peculiar Methods of Calculation.
We consider this one of the most extraordinary works which has ever emanated from the American
press. Possessed in extreme youth of great mathematical powers, Zerah Colburn excited, from his
really wonderful calculations, a great degree of interest. Twenty years ago, he was considered the
most remarkable phenomenon of the age - an eighth wonder of the world. Carried round the country
by his father for exhibition, he received a great deal of attention; men of worth and character were
desirous that his talents, improved by education, should be of some use to the world. But he left this
country for a number of years, and was forgotten. Unmindful that he is not still the wonderful boy that
he was twenty years ago - that many of those, who then were willing to assist him, have left this world
for another - puffed up with overmuch vanity, from the notice then taken of him, he has written his life.
He seems to have imagined that the public were actually in a state of excitement on his account; and
though he frankly acknowledges, at the end of his book, that a desire of making money prompted him
to write his life, yet he talks all the way through the work, as if he did it only to confer an obligation on
others, and to relieve the anxiety, which, in his opinion, they have felt. We must confess that we think
he has made a mistake in saying that he does not "imagine himself to be the first of the manifestations
of the power of the Deity"; after reading his Life, we should never have imagined that he had any
doubt of it.

Zerah Colburn was born in the town of Cabot, Vermont, on the 1st day of September, 1804. When
about six years of age, his remarkable faculty first began to develope itself. As he was playing among
the chips in the shop of his father, (who was a joiner,) he was suddenly heard to say to himself - 5
times 7 are 35 - 6 times 8 are 48, & c. Upon this, his father wisely "concluded that something unusual
had actually taken place"; and, as appears from the facts, thence resolved that this faculty of
multiplication should be of some use to him. He immediately carried Zerah round for exhibition and
patronage. After going to different places in Vermont and New-Hampshire, he proceeded to Boston,
where the boy soon attracted much notice. Mr. Colburn appears to have been always trying to make
the best bargain for himself. Many persons offered to bring up and educate his son free of expense,
but this did not suit his purposes. "The friends of science, connected with Dartmouth College, desired
to retain the boy and educate him. Dr. Wheelock, President of that Institution, made a very generous
offer, intending to take upon himself the care and expense of his studies; and", continues our author,
"it may be no more than a reasonable supposition that, if Mr. Colburn had acceded to these kind
overtures, his wishes would have been eventually fulfilled." If we may judge from his actions, what his
wishes were, we do not believe that, by taking such a course, they would have been fulfilled. A foolish
desire of displaying his really wonderful son, - as if it were by any merit of his, that he was so, - and a
wish to make money, were evidently his ruling motives. He was possessed of an idea that it was the
absolute duty of others to support the boy, because he had a genius; - not that talents were given him
for the good of mankind, but to increase their burdens. If we knew nothing about him except from his
sons account, we should judge him to have been, in plain terms, the most impudent beggar of whom
we have ever heard; - that is, if he may be called a beggar who makes a demand and not a request.
Several liberal gentlemen, in Boston, thinking that the boys mathematical talent might, if properly
cultivated, become of great benefit, and understanding the disposition of the father "to feather his own
nest", offered to raise $5,000, either by exhibition or subscription; - $2,500 to be given to the father, if
he would relinquish all claim to the boy, and $2,500 to be applied to the education of the latter, under
their own direction.* This offer was, most unaccountably, not acceded to; and after neglecting similar
ones from other quarters, thus exciting much anger at his impudence and foolishness, he embarked
for England; - not forgetting, before he went, to demand assistance again, from those very gentlemen,
whose liberality he had once refused. They landed at Liverpool May 11, 1812, and proceeded
immediately to London. The fame of the boy, though not the character of the father, had preceded
them; and they found here, - as they did every where else before they became known, - friends
exceedingly liberal. Many projects were started by men, by no means of little note, such as Davy,
Mackintosh, & c. - and as promptly rejected, for no assignable cause. We will here remark, that there
is an evident desire, on the part of the author, to throw the blame of all his fathers foolish conduct on
his advisers and friends - preferring to have him stupid by other peoples advice, rather than his own
will - a species of ingratitude which we cannot sufficiently blame; and a statement which we do not
believe. Expensive rooms were hired, and an exhibition opened in London. Not succeeding according
to his wish, he event to Dublin, Edinburgh, & c.; but without any better success. We find him
continually complaining of those, who interested themselves for him, because they did not accomplish
more. A portrait of the boy was taken, and many copies sold at a guinea each. He acknowledges that
money was made by this; and it is the only occasion, on which he does not complain of ill success and
poverty; though continually boasting of such visiters as would not be likely to see him want.
Encouraged by the success of this enterprise, a committee was appointed to obtain subscriptions for a
memoir; though, as the author wisely and modestly remarks, it must take a genius indeed to write a
memoir of three years of a boys life, which should be worth eight dollars, even if that boy was Zerah
Colburn. Concluding, after this unavailing attempt, that no efficient patronage was to be expected, they
left London for Paris, in the month of July, 1814. Here, after exhibition, the like proposals were made
for publishing his life, with like encouragement. The failure of it is attributed, by the author, only to the
frivolity of the French people, as gravely as if any one ever weighed the matter a moment before
refusing. Mr. Colburn, with his characteristic want of judgement, engaged a dwelling at the rent of
2,000 francs per annum, and purchased furniture to the amount of 1600 more. With the author, we are
at a loss to discover the meaning of this expenditure. After being examined before the Institute,
through the interest of Washington Irving, he was placed, at the expense of the government, at the
Royal College, founded by Napoleon, and formerly called after him. The prospect was now more
flattering than it had ever been before, for Zerah Colburn to receive such an education as would
qualify him, if education could do it, to be useful in the scientific world. Yet, after staying here less than
 a year, his father removed him again to England, where he expected to have a more advantageous
offer. In this, however, he was mistaken. He repeated, therefore, the begging course, and obtained
patronage from the Earl of Bristol, who, at his own expense, placed Zerah at the Westminster School.
The son being thus provided for, the father began to look out for himself; and we have an evidence
how soon an honest man may become degraded to a knave, by following a degrading profession.
Being in pecuniary difficulty, Mr. Colburn scrupled not to inform the old subscribers to the memoir of
his son, that it was already in press, when not a line of it was yet in manuscript. Failing of obtaining, by
this means, the support in idleness which he wished, he withdrew his son, as a whole boarder, from
Westminster, and was thus able to appropriate a part of the money to his own use. The Earl of Bristol
having done every thing, which a father could have done for a child, for the support of Zerah, even to
providing a place for his residence during the vacations, had left the country for Germany. Dreading,
probably, the influence of Mr. Colburn over his son, and not well pleased at the distribution made of his
bounty, he wrote over to England to have Zerah taken from Westminster and placed under a private
instructer, offering to Mr. Colburn, who complained of this new arrangement, £50 a year for his own
support. This, however, he would not accept, but removed his son from Westminster, and was thrown
upon the world again. Imagining that his son had a taste for the stage, though there is no evidence
that he had ever displayed any talent for such a pursuit, he engaged a tutor for him in this profession.
As might have been expected, he had no success. The son then turned author, and began to write
dramatic pieces; - of five, which he composed, none were ever either acted or printed. After lingering
in extreme poverty for two years, "the boy", - as he continues to call himself through the work, - began
to be a schoolmaster. In the course of these two years, Zerah was sent on some message, - he does
not tell what, but probably some impudent demand, - to Basil Montague, Esq. who had assisted them
with money to a great extent. Whatever it may have been, it was evidently displeasing to his former
friend, who, to use the phrase of the author, formally ejected him from his tenement; or, in other words,
as may he supposed, kicked him out. We can only wonder that the same exemplary punishment was
not bestowed on both father and son, in numberless other instances. In December, l822, Mr. Colburn
died; and it would have been a happy circumstance for the son, if this had happened many, years
before. The son soon returned to America, where he has since remained, - teaching and preaching.

We should have some compunction at expressing ourselves as we feel, after having read this Life,
had it been written by any one but the hero of it. As it is, we consider ourselves perfectly authorized to
say what we please, and to signify our indignation. From his own account, Zerah Colburn has lost all
the talent which he ever had. He shows himself to be ungrateful for the efforts of his friends, by the
complaints which he is continually urging upon them for not doing more. He seems to have followed
his fathers practice; and, after receiving money several times from the Earl of Bristol, complains of not
having had answers to two or three letters to him, which, we think ourselves authorized in concluding,
were applications of the same sort. He is now a Methodist minister, and if his sermons are written in no
better style than his book, we pity his parishioners. His father, in order to make a fortune by the
exhibition of one son, left a wife and five other children, for ten years, without contributing in the least
to their support. He was, therefore, by his own sons account, a bad husband and a bad father. The
circumstances related of him, show him to have been a beggar of the most impudent character -
wanting in judgment - always a fool - and, finally, a knave. And all these terms - except the last, of
which we cannot accuse him - apply equally well to the son.

At the close of the volume, the author explains the mode of mental operation, by which he answered
the questions in mathematics, when a child. The process is simple, but the disclosure will not,
probably, enable others to carry on the operations in the same manner and with like facility. The power
of calculation with such rapidity is a peculiar gift, or talent, which has been rarely bestowed; we should
more properly say the power in question was a gift - for it seems that even Zerah Colburn has lost the
possession, or, at least, the capacity to apply it to any useful purpose. There are, also, at the end of
the book, "a few pieces in rhyme", but they will not gain immortality for their author.

On the whole, we are sorry that Zerah Colburn has published his Life. For him, we feel less respect
than before we read it, and for his father, unutterable contempt.

*For the information of our readers, we must state that the story, as here told, though bad enough, is much
more favorable to Mr. Colburn than any which we have before heard. We do not suppose the Autobiographer
to be guilty of an intentional misrepresentation; he probably tells it as it was told to him; but common report at
the time, 1811, attributed conduct to his father with reference to this transaction, for which he would find it
much more difficult to make an excuse.
Schumacher-Gauss, 30 June 1840
{.... A mental calculator called Dahse was here who, now and then, gave same notable proofs of his
talents, but on the other hand, from time to time, made some remarkable errors, which fortunately
didn't appear as often as the first. He was excellent in extracting the fifth (rational) root mentally, as he
had noticed that the fifth power contains the same units as the root itself. I noticed that in our number
system the (4n+1) th power contains the same units as the root itself, a theorem of which his was just
a special case (for n=1). Is there an easy proof for this?
By the way, he doesn't understand a single thing about mathematics. P ETERSEN has failed to teach him
just a few elements. Now he has fallen into the hands of some non-comissioned officer of the
Hamburg military, who travels around with him and lives from the tricks he does, even though I cannot
understand why people are willing to pay money only to see him calculate mentally. If there are
believable testamonials about the things he can do, then the exhibition will show nothing new. There is
just a young man with a naive face who name the asked numbers after some period. ....}

The Phrenological Journal, and Magazine of Moral Science

1841, Vol. XIV, No. LXVII, Sect. II. Cases and Facts. p. 153-155.

II. Case of Arithmetical Talent. Communicated by Dr. HIRSCHFELD of Bremen.

Zacharias Dase, of whom I have brought a cast to Edinburgh, is a native of Hamburgh,

and is now fifteen years of age. From his earliest childhood he evinced a great delight in
playing at dominos; and when about eight years of age, he used to tell his parents and
relations that his schoolmaster could no longer give him any arithmetical problem which
he was not able to solve with facility. His liking for arithmetic gradually became stronger in
proportion to the skill he acquired; and in the course of the following years he went
through a series of different volumes filled with arithmetical questions, answering every
one of them by means of a slate-board, and sometimes sitting up all night in the pursuit of
his favourite occupation.

I saw him in Bremen in the beginning of summer 1840, when he was just beginning his
travels under the guardianship of a senior relation of his. And much he required a tutor;
for even in the course of a few hours I became quite satisfied with the truth of his tutor's
assertion, that the pupil, when engaged in his pastime of calculating, paid no attention to
anything like business; neither to the coach just ready to start, nor to his dinner, nor to
neatness in his dress and outward appearance. Whenever I tried to make him answer
some questions about his manner of proceeding, or his habits, tastes, and thoughts in
different directions, the next minute he abruptly went on again, "If any one has lived—how
many years—and every second of his life has used—which fraction of a penny & c.?"
wanting to stimulate me to give him another problem of some kind or another. The only
distinct account I got from him was, that he attributed his acquired skill to his early
predilection for the game of domino, and his habit of calculating on the slate-board. He
was very anxious to know whether he was to find his equal anywhere: to this question he
returned repeatedly. His tutor could not mention any particular turn of his mind, but that
he was a very good-hearted boy, and very fond only of sweets in a confectioner's shop,
and of calculating. Neither his parents nor other relations, as far as he knew, in this
respect bore any resemblance to him.

Zacharias Dase possesses equally the power of readily surveying a great number of
unities, and that of solving mentally any questions of common arithmetic in a very short
time. It is only puzzling questions, as he calls them, i. e. questions for the solution of
which reflection is principally required, which he begs to be spared. If from ten to twenty
dominos are placed in a line on a table before him, and he is required to name the
number of eyes they contain, he just casts one glance upon them, and either pronounces
the number immediately, or, when there are about fifteen and upwards, raises his bead
for a moment, allowing the impression he got by his eyes to repass before his mind, and
then gives his answer with confidence and precision. When in my study, he observed a
long line of volumes of some periodical in the book-shelves, and on my asking him how
many there might be, he made his eyes rapidly pass along them, and named their
 number, which proved to be perfectly exact. He likewise wanted to tell me the number of
hairs which had come off his eyebrows with the plaster of the cast's mould; which
exercise of his skill I, however, thought better to decline seeing performed, as, for want of
practice, I unluckily had omitted to grease the eyebrows separately with a more
consistent ointment.

In solving arithmetical questions, he proceeds on a similar principle of repassing the

account before he pronounces his definitive answer. When any problem is given in public,
he marks down on a board the sums he is to calculate upon, and, generally immediately
after the last number of the question proposed, notes under it his answer, which,
however, he does not speak out before having made sure by a second more deliberate,
but still rapid, trial of its correctness. When in the act of calculating, a remark, or even a
question, may be addressed to him, which he will attend to, and even answer, without
being thereby disturbed in his mental operation.

The appearance of the development of the organ of Number in the cast of Dase, strongly
resembles that of Zhero Colburn, as given in Vimont's Atlas, the highest elevation being
above the outer junction of the eyelids, and sloping down on both sides so as to extend
nearly to the middle of the orbit in the inward direction. At the same time, the position of
the eyeball, in this instance, was such as to make the pupil appear to be turned
somewhat inward and downward,—principally so when Dase was in the act of calculating;
which seemed to be an effect produced by the large development of the organ of
Number, similar to the pushing the eyeball outward by a large development of the organ
of Language. Among the rest of the intellectual organs, Individuality is the most
predominant, the knowing organs in general preponderating over the reflective, and,
among these, Comparison being larger than Causality.

[The principal feature seems to us to be the vertical depression of the organ of Number,
producing a corresponding depression of the outer angle of the eyelids. "The highest
elevation" spoken of by Dr Hirschfeld is in the region rather of Order than of Number. We
think it doubtful, however, whether the cast gives a correct representation of the living
head in the superciliary region, the plaster of the mould being apt to displace by its weight
the soft integuments.— Editor.]

-7-
Das "Nil admirari" der Philosophie wird einmal gründlich widerlegt durch die Leistungen des
Herrn Dase im Gebiete des Zeichen- und Zahlengedächtnisses, von denen der Unterzeichnete
mehrmals Zeuge zu sein das Vergnügen hatte. Hier verhalten sich Mathematiker zu einer Thatsache
des Geistes, die man nicht begreifen, nur erfahren kann, wie Kinder, welche mühsam buchstabiren
gegen den Sprachkünstler Mezzofanti. Lässt er uns auch einen Blick in seine Methode thun, so
können wir doch der erstaunlichen Schnelligkeit nicht folgen, mit welcher er 10 steilige Zahlen zu
einem Produkte verwebt, oder ein Produkt wieder entwirrt in der Division benannter und
unbenanuter, ganzer und gebrochener Zahlen, und dem Ausziehen von Quadrat- und Kubikwurzeln.
Wie wir andere z. B. das Wort "Anschaulichkeit" mit einem Blicke lesen und alle Buchstaben und
deren Aufeinanderfolge vor- und rückwärts kennen, so braucht Herr Dase eine 12 stellige Zahl nur
anzublicken, um sie sogleich auf der schwarzen Tafel seines Gedächtnisses angeschrieben zu sehen,
und vor- und rückwärts die Ziffern hersagen zu können. Ja dieses Gedächtniss behält 65 stellige
Zahlen, wenn sie durch Rechenoperationen vor ihm entstanden sind, und giebt sie, wenn man
darnach verlangt, zu jeder Zeit wieder, wenn auch das Mannigfaltigste dazwischen seine Thätigkeit
in Ansprach genommen hatte. Unmittelbare Anschauung und wunderbare Fertigkeit in vermittelter
Thätigkeit durch eigenthümliche Methoden sind hier vereinigt. Und diese Thätigkeit geschieht ohne
Anstrengung, ist unverkennbar ein mit Lust verbundenes Spiel des Geistes, der in einem frischen,
gesunden und kräftigen Körper wohnt, der damit ein anspruchloses Benehmen verbindet, was ihm
sogleich die Herzen aller Anwesenden gewinnt, die auch darin ihre Erwartung übertroffen finden,
dass sie sich aufs Interessanteste unterhalten und die kürzeste Stunde gehabt haben.
Möchte Herr Dase seine unerhörte Kraft bald im Dienste der Wissenschaft gebrauchen
 können, und sich dann seiner Rundreise nur darum freuen, dass er sich auf derselben viele
Freunde und dankbare Verehrer erworben, zu denen sich auch zählt
Carlsruhe, den 3. Juni 1846.
Stieffel,
Herr Zacharias Dase hat die Gefälligkeit gehabt, in Professor an der polytechnischen
meiner Wohnung neue BeweiseSchule.
seiner
ausscrordeutlichen Gaben abzulegen. Wenn schon seine Leistungen im Kopfrechnen alles bisher
Bekann'e hinter sich lassen, so muss doch die Art seiner augenblicklichen Auffassung zahlbarer
Gegenstände noch als unerklärlicher erscheinen. Es scheint

-8-
hierbei eine geistige Eigenschaft thätig zu sein, für welche es an einer entsprechenden Bezeichnung
mangelt und über welche dalier nach Herr Dase selbst nicht Rechenschaft abzulegen im Stande ist.
Diese Thatsache gehört wohl zu den merkwürdigsten auf dem gesammten Gebiete der Seelenkunde.
Carlsruhe, den 4. Juni 1845.
Radowitz,
Königl.
Durch die Darstellungen, welche Herr Dase im Saale der Lesege-sellscbaft, Preuss.
deren Gesandter.
zeitiger Vorstand
zu sein ich die Ehre habe, gegeben hat, sind die gegenwärtigen Mitglieder belehrt worden, dass der
an das Mährchenhafte grenzende Ruf, welcher ihm vorausgegangen ist, welt von Uebertreibung
entfernt war. Es hat sich vielmehr abermals beurkundet, dass Worte nicht hinreichen, den Eindruck
zu schildern, den die Leistungen des Herrn Dase hervorbringen. Auch hei uns hat sich jeder von
Bewunderung hingerissen gefühlt, und den Schauer empfunden, den das Bewusstsein erregt, sich
einem Wesen gegenüber zu sehen, dem übernatürliche Gaben verliehen sind.
Unerklärlich scheinen die Leistungen des Herrn Dase zu sein. ta geheimnissvoller indessen
die Wirkungen der Natur sind, desto mehr fühlt sich der Denkende versucht, den Schleier zu
heben, um auch nur einen Blick hinter denselben zu thun, möge er noch so flüchtig sein, ist
eine hohe Belohnung für denselben.
Man hat geglanbt, die Leistungen des Herrn Dase besonderen geheimnissvollen Kräften
zuschreiben zn müssen. Ich kann ais Mathematiker dem poetischen Gedankenflug nicht
folgen, der in dem Vorhergehenden vielfach bemerkt wird; sondern fühle mich als solcher
versucht, bei der Erklärung von den einfachsten Voraussetzungen auszugehen.
Es lässt sich nämlich nicht in Abrede stellen, dass Jeder mit einem so ins Immense wie bei
Herrn Dase gesteigerten Zahlengedächtniss allein, bei gehöriger Uebung, die gleichen
Aufgaben endlich im Kopfe zu lösen im Stande wäre. Um aber in der Zeit gleichen Schritt mit
ihm halten zu können, müsste mit dem Gedachtes dieselbe Beweglichkeit des Geistes
verbunden sein.
Ein hohes Interesse müsste eine ausführliche Vergleichung der Leistungen des Herrn Dase
vermitteist Maass und Zahl mit denen anderer Menschen gewähren. Wenn eine solche bei den
vorhandenen maugelhaften Daten nur äusserst dürftig ausfallen kann, so dürfte sie doch einst
ohne alles Resultat sein.

Lectures on the
PHILLOSOPHY OF ARITHMETIC.
by URIAH PARKE, 1850.
 LECTURE XXII.
ARITHMETICAL PRODIGIES, &c.

Having completed our course of investigation into the philosophy of numbers, we shall
devote the present lecture to an investigation of the human mind as adapted to the study
of this science. In making this announcement, however, we desire not to excite
anticipations that are not to be realized; for we have neither space nor inclination to enter
into a discussion of the vexed questions of metaphysicians, as to whether the mind is
material or immaterial; and how far the external configuration of the head is indicative of
the powers of the mind within. It is sufficient for our purpose to advance the fact, that the
powers of the human mind, various in all things, seem in this peculiarly unequal, for while
the mass of our race require the aid of long continued education to train the mind to the
perception of numerical relations, and some seem incapable of reaching a high degree of
proficiency, others possess a power, even in untaught childhood, that cannot be reached
by the ablest mathematicians.

Some have supposed that mathematical skill, with which they identify the cases referred
to, implies a high development of the reasoning faculties; but though the exercise of the
mind in the study of mathematical science, has been always admitted to be an excellent
mode of discipline, it by no means follows as a legitimate consequence, that the
possession of extraordinary perceptive faculties in regard to the powers and relations of
numbers, or of quantities, implies extraordinary reasoning faculties. An astonishing
degree of perceptive power, in regard to numbers, has been found indeed to exist in
minds but slightly removed from downright idiocy: a fact that would seem unaccountable,
if the elementary combination of numbers required the aid of the reasoning powers.

A most striking instance of mental imbecility, combined with a high degree of power in
regard to numbers, was brought to light in 1844, in the person of a negro slave, named
Cap, the property of Mr. P. M'Lemore, of Madison county, Alabama. We cannot present
this case more clearly than by giving the following somewhat extensive extract from a
letter, dated October 26th, 1844, written by the Rev. John M. Hanner, and subsequently
confirmed by the same gentleman, in a letter written in reply to one from us.

"On the 8th of June, 1844, the Rev. John C. Burruss, Mr. T. Brandon and myself went to
see him and were amazed. From himself and Mr. M'Lemore, we learned that he has no
idea of a God. When asked, " Who made you?" he answered "Nobody." He has never
been but a few times half a mile from the place of his birth. He has not mind enough to do
the ordinary work of a slave; eats and sleeps in the same house with the white folks,
having his own table and bed. He will not ask for any thing, nor touch food, however
hungry, unless it be offered to him. He was never known to commence a conversation
with any one, nor continue one, farther than merely answering questions in the fewest
words. He speaks very low and tardily. He has never been known to utter a falsehood or
to steal, and is but little subject to anger. He will not strike, even a dog, but when vexed
by his sister, he will take hold of her arm as if to break it with his hands. He cannot be
persuaded to taste intoxicating liquors; and manifests no partiality for females. There is
nothing remarkable in the configuration of his head or in his countenance, save that his
eye is uncommonly convex, and continually rolling about with a wild and glaring
expression. His laugh and movements are perfectly idiotic. He does not know a letter or
figure. Withal he is in one respect the most extraordinary human being I ever saw. Almost
the only manifestation of mind is in relation to Numbers. His power over numbers is at
once extraordinary and incredible. Take any two numbers under 100, and he will give
their products at once, as readily as a school boy would give the product of 12 times 12.
He multiplies thousands, adds, subtracts and divides, with the same certainty, though with
greater mental labor. He has, however, no idea of numbers above the period of millions.

With pencil and paper we made the following calculations, and asked him the questions;
thus—

How much is 99 times 99? He answered immediately 9,801. How much is 74 times 861.
He answered 6401. How many nines in 2000? He answered, 222 nines and 2 over. How
many fifteens in 3355? He answered, 223 fifteens and 10 over. How many twenty-threes
in 4000? He answered, 173 twenty-threes, and 21 over. How much is 321 times 789? He
answered after a short pause, 253,269. If you take 21 from 85, how many will be left? He
answered, 64. How much is 7 times 9, 22 and 14? He answered, 99. How much is 17
times 17 and 16? He said, 305. If you had given one dollar and a half for a chicken and a
half, how much would you have to give for two chickens? He said, Two Dollars. If a stake
three feet long, standing upright, makes a shadow of five feet; how high will a pole be that
makes a shadow of thirty feet? At this he put his hand to his chin, drew himself up, and
gave a silly laugh. His master said he did not understand such questions as that.

We then asked him, How much is 3333 times 5555? In this instance, as in some of the
others, he looked serious, began to twist about in his chair, to pick his clothes and finger
nails, to look at his hands, put the points of his thumbs to his teeth, move his lips a little;
and then he seemed to think a little, when his countenance gave signs of mental agony,
and thus these symptoms continued.

His master told him to walk about and rest himself. He went into the yard, and appeared
to be alternately elated with rapture, and depressed with gloom. He would run, jump up,
throw his arms into the air above his head; then stand still, and then drag his foot over the
weeds, look up and down; in a word he made all sorts of crazy motions. When we rose
from the dining table, we found him on the piazza, sitting perfectly composed. He then
stated when asked, the amount to be 18,514,815.

We could get no clue to the mental process by which he ascertained such results. When
asked how he did it, his unvarying answer was, "I studies it up." But what do you do first
and what next? He merely drawled out "I studies it up." He did not count his fingers, nor
any thing external, nor did he seem to count at all; and yet he combined thousands and
millions, and played with their combinations, just as others would with units. All the
instruction he ever received was from his master, who taught him to count 100, and would
amuse himself by asking simple questions, such as the twenties, or the fives, in a
hundred."

Mr. Hanner saw him a few days afterwards, and found he perfectly recollected the
numbers that had been given him on the former occasion; as well as his own answers.

We have since conversed with persons who have seen the above negro, and find Mr.
Hanner's account fully confirmed. We might give numerous other answers equally
wonderful for one of so little intellect, but we desire not to consume too much space;
though we wish to give such description as will enable the mental philosopher to
understand the case. In body, Cap weighs nearly 200 pounds, and all agree as to his
idiocy. A person who saw him in 1845 says, "Though only 19, he has the appearance of
being 30. He does not know a letter or figure, or any other representative of numbers or
ideas. He speaks to'no one, except when spoken to. His forehead is low, and covered
with hair, within an inch and a half above his eyebrows. But the volume from temple to
temple is great beyond comparison. I noticed that even numbers were more easily solved
by him than odd ones, but could find no clue to his mode of solution. Such is the Alabama
Negro, the wonderful being of one idea!" Had Mr. Hanner been a phrenologist the shape
of the forehead would not have passed unnoticed.

Though other instances of mental imbecility in such calculators, have been found, the
above seems to be far the most remarkable. There was a white man, living near Metuchin
in New Jersey, some years ago; for whom a guardian to take care of his property was
necessary, though himself the wonder of his acquaintance, for his powers of calculation.
We have been unable to learn the particulars with sufficient accuracy for publication.
Fowler, in his Practical Phrenology, speaks of meeting with a case in 1837, at Fairhaven,
Massachusetts, in which the calculating power was combined with a great degree of
imbecility; but we have been unable to learn reliable particulars.

The state of Vermont has furnished two of the most remarkable cases on record; Zerah
Colburn, and Truman H. Safford. The former died at the age of 35, the latter is now at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, receiving the full benefit of a collegiate education. As these
cases differ from each other as well as from those we have before alluded to, we shall
give a pretty full account of both; and we hope the reader will bear in mind the points of
resemblance and difference.

Zerah Colburn, was born at Cabot, in the state of Vermont, September 1, 1804; and it is
said in his memoirs that of' the seven brothers and sisters who formed the family, he was
regarded in infancy as the dullest in intellect. The first exposition of the peculiar powers of
his mind in combining numbers, was in August, 1810, when he was about a month under
six years of age. While his father was at work at a joiner's bench, Zerah was playing
amongst the chips, when his father was surprised to hear him saying to himself, "5 times
7 are 35, 6 times 8 are 48," &c., evidently amusing himself by the process of calculation.
He had then been at the district school about six weeks, and his father supposed he
might have caught these expressions there; but on examination he found him perfect in
the numbers of the common multiplication table, and on proposing other numbers he was
found equally accurate. He inquired the product of 97 by 13, when Zerah promptly
answered 1261. News of his wonderful powers soon spread through the neighborhood,
and many called upon him to satisfy their reasonable incredulity, who going away more
than satisfied, spread the tale of wonder, with additions of what they had themselves
seen. The account soon found its way into the public papers, and was spread throughout
Europe and America. The boy was taken to the seat of government of his native state,
where his powers were more fully tried.

Questions in multiplication of two or three places of figures, were answered with much
greater rapidity than they could be solved on paper. Questions involving an application of
this rule, as in Reduction, Rule of Three, and Practice, seemed to be perfectly adapted to
his mind. The Extraction of the Roots of exact Squares and Cubes was done with very
little effort; and what has been considered by the Mathematicians of Europe, an operation
for which no rule existed, viz; finding the factors of numbers, was performed by him; and
in the course of time, he was able to point out his method of obtaining them. Questions in
Addition, Subtraction, and Division, were done with less facility, on account of the more
complicated and continued effort of the memory. In regard to the higher branches of
Arithmetic, he had no rules peculiar to himself; but if the common process was pointed
out as laid down in the books, he could carry on this process very readily in his head.

That such calculations should be made by the power of mind alone, even in a person of
mature age, and who had disciplined himself by opportunity and study, would be
surprising, because far exceeding the common attainments of mankind;—that they should
be made by a child six years old, unable to read, and ignorant of the name or properties
of one figure traced on paper, without any previous effort to train him to such a task, will
not diminish the surprise.

The project of educating him thoroughly was very early suggested, and many
propositions were made to his father who traveled with the boy, but though anxious to
effect the same object, he seems to have been of an unhappy, suspicious disposition,
always fearful of being defrauded or imposed upon; and hence though he traveled with
his son through the United States and Europe, and many efforts were made in both
countries to aid him, he succeeded but partially in effecting his object; indeed it would
have been infinitely better for the son, had he been alone, for the waywardness of the
father kept both poor, and prevented the friends of science from effecting their wishes in
the profound education of the youth. Mr. Colburn and son embarked for England, April 3,
1812, and took up their residence in London, where Zerah was visited by thousands,
among whom were many of the first men of the kingdom. Some who saw him engaged in
calculation, speak of his agitation, comparing it to St. Vitus' dance. The following extract
from his Memoir, page 37, may show the kind of exercise to which his mind was
subjected:

"Among other questions, the Duke of York asked the number of seconds in the time
elapsed since the commencement of the Christian Era, 1813 years, 7 months, 27 days.
The answer was correctly given: 57,234,384,000. At a meeting of his friends which was
held for the purpose of concerting the best method of promoting the interest of the child
by an education suited to his turn of mind, he undertook and succeeded in raising the
number 8 to the sixteenth power, and gave the answer correctly in the last result, viz;
281,474,976,710,656. He was then tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure, all
of which he raised as high as the tenth power, with so much facility and despatch that the
person appointed to take down the results was obliged to enjoin him not to be too rapid.
With respect to numbers consisting of two figures, he would raise some of them to the
sixth, seventh and eighth power, but not always with equal facility: for the larger the
products became, the more difficult he found it to proceed. He was asked the square root
of 106,929, and before the number could be written down, he immediately answered 327.
He was then requested to name the cube root of 268,336,125, and with equal facility and
promptness he replied 625.

Various other questions of a similar nature respecting the roots and powers of very high
numbers, were proposed by several of the gentlemen present; to all of which satisfactory
answers were given. One of the party requested him to name the factors which produced
the number 247,483, which he did by mentioning 941 and 263, which indeed are the only
two factors that will produce it. Another of them proposed 171,395, and he named the
following factors as the only ones, viz:

5x34279, 7x24485, 59x2905, 83x2065, 35x4897, 295x581, 413x415.

He was then asked to give the factors of 36,083, but he immediately replied that it had
none; which in fact was the case, as 36,083 is a prime number."

"It had been asserted and maintained by the French mathematicians that 4294967297
(=2³² + 1) was a prime number; but the celebrated Euler detected the error by discovering
that it was equal to 641x6,700,417. The same number was proposed to this child, who
found out the factors by the mere operation of his mind. On another occasion, hswas
requested to give the square of 999,999; he said he could not do this, but he
accomplished it by multiplying 37037 by itself, and that product twice by 27. Ans
999,998,000,001. He then said he could multiply that by 49, which he did: Ans 48,999,
902,000,049. He again undertook to multiply this number by 49: Ans.
2,400,995,198,002,401. And lastly he multiplied this great sum by 25, giving as the final
product, 60,024,879,950,060,025. Various efforts were made by the friends of the boy to
elicit a disclosure of the methods by which he performed his calculations, but for nearly
three years he was unable to satisfy their inquiries. There was, through practice, an
increase in his power of computation; when first beginning, he went no farther in.
multiplying than three places of figures; it afterwards became a common thing with him to
multiply four places by four; in some instances five figures by five have been given.

Some persons had very strange ideas as to the manner in which he reckoned; on one
occasion, a gentleman came in, and after putting some questions, began to believe that
the boy was assisted by some note or hint furnished to him by some one concealed in the
room; he doubted so far as actually to request leave to carry him out into the street at a
distance from the house, away from his father, to ascertain whether the same readiness
of reply would be evinced.

At another time a man came in while the room was full of company, having something
wrapped up in a handkerchief under his arm, and taking the father aside, requested leave
to propose as his question, "What book had he in his handkerchief?" he manifested
considerable dissatisfaction because the question was not allowed."

By this time the child, then between 8 and 9 years old, had at intervals learned to read
and write, and he remarks that he was fond of reading as a pastime.

"In the studies to which he subsequently gave his attention, he manifested no uncommon
skill or quickness, though his progress was always respectable. The acquirement of
language was easy and pleasant; Arithmetic, (in the books,) entertaining; Geometry, plain
but dull."—Mem. p. 40.

In March 1814, a private instructor was employed to teach the youth Mathematics.

"As might be expected from the nature of his early gift, he ever had a taste for figures. To
answer questions by the mere operation of mind, though perfectly easy, was not anything
in which he ever took satisfaction; for, unless when questioned, his attention was not
engrossed by it at all. The study of Arithmetic was not particularly easy to him, but it
afforded a very pleasing employment, and even now, were he in a situation to feel
justified in such a course, he should be gratified to spend his time in pursuits of this
nature. The faculty which he possessed, as it increased and strengthened by practice, so
by giving up exhibition, began speedily to depreciate. This was not as some have
supposed, on account of being engaged in study; it is more probable to him that the study
of any branch that included the use and practice of figures would have served to keep up
the facility and readiness of his mind. The study of Algebra, while he attended to it, was
very pleasant but when just entering upon the more abstruse rules of the first part, he was
taken away from his books and carried to France."—Mem. p. 68.

In 1814, Mr. Colburn and son went to France where the son was fortunate enough to
obtain a place in the Lyceum Napoleon, where he spent several months. In 1816 he
returned to London, when he obtained a situation at Westminster school where he
remained about three years.

In allusion to the study of Geometry, Mr. Colburn remarks:

"Many have inquired if the study of Geometry was easy to him? He never found, that he
recollects, any difficulty in understanding the demonstrations laid down by Euclid. Their
fitness and adaptation to the various problems or theorems were very evident to his mind,
but the study was always dry and devoid of interest. The reason probably was, while
studying he did not realize, even in anticipation, the benefits of such a science; had he
been engaged in some pursuit that would have required the continual introduction and
application of Geometrical principles, the subject would have assumed an interesting
appearance, his mind would have been engaged in it, and he would have remembered
the principles and arguments laid down."—Mem. p. 114.

After leaving Westminster, Mr. Colburn and his son being both without means of support,
the stage was suggested and Zerah was placed under the instruction of Charles Kemble;
but his dramatic career was brief, and not flattering; and he afterwards spent two or three
years in misery through want of means and want of employment. He was then from 15 to
17 years of age and had long ceased to exhibit his peculiar powers for a support. Indeed
his extraordinary powers seemed to leave him, as he acquired general education, and
ceased to exercise them.

In 1821 he obtained a school and spent several months in that employment, and in aiding
Dr. Young, in astronomical calculations. February 14, 1824, his father died, and soon
afterwards the son embarked for America. After visiting home he engaged in teaching and
afterwards became a Methodist travelling preacher, and continued in that profession until
his death; which occurred in 1839. His remains now lie in the town of Norwich,
Connecticut, without a stone to mark the spot. Such is fame. In heart, he was one of the
excellent of the earth.

What might have been effected by the aid of a profound education, cannot be known; but
it is fair to presume, from his own account of himself, that though he possessed
respectable talents, his mental endowments were not of a superior order; neither did he
seem to possess common tact for acquiring a livelihood, and the father appears to have
had less than the son; hence they were harassed with want, and instead of helping
themselves spent their time in soliciting aid from others. The education of Zerah was
respectable, although not what his friends desired. He possessed very considerable
mathematical knowledge, and was familiar with the French language, which he learned
during his stay in France where he also made some proficiency in the German; and
during his attendance at Westminster he must have made very considerable proficiency
in the Latin: added to all this was the intercourse he necessarily had with mankind during
his travels, which was well adapted to improve his mind, for the individuals with whom he
associated were generally of the right kind to induce improvement.

The following are some of the methods of calculation pursued by Colburn, as explained in
 his memoirs.

"In extracting the square root, his first object was to ascertain what number squared
would give a sum ending with the last two figures of the given square, and then what
number squared will come nearest under the first figure in the given square when it
consists of five places. If there are six figures in the proposed sum, the nearest square
under the two first figures must be sought, which figures combined will give the sum
required;" and the cube root is found by an application of the same principle. The manner
in which he proceeded to find the factors of numbers was somewhat similar. He
ascertained or rather bore in mind what numbers had certain terminations, and narrowed
down his search by the application of established principles bearing upon the case. If for
instance the given number was odd, he knew that the factors must be odd, and if it was
not divisible by any proposed number, it could not be by any multiple of such number;
thus his process was narrowed down, but still left too wide for the skill of the ordinary
mind.

His process of multiplying involved less difficulty, and was something like this: he first
divided the factors into their round numbers, thus: Multiply 1675 by 325.

1000
600 300
70 20
5 5
Then in his mind he multiplied 1000 by 300 and remembered the product 300,000
Then 600 by 300, and the product 180,000, added to the other, makes 480,000
Then 70 was multiplied by 300, making 21,000, and being added to 480,000 made 501,000
To which lastly the product of 5 by 300 being added we have 502,500
This disposes of the 300, and we take 20 times 1000=20000, which makes 522,500
Then 20 times 600=12000, which added makes 534,500
And 20 times 70=1400, which added makes 535,900
Then 20 times 5=100, which added makes 536,000
This is the product by 320, to which we add the products of the several parts by 5, viz: 1000 by
541,000
5=5000, making
Then 600 by 5=3000, making 544,000
Then 70 by 5=350, making 544,350
Then 5 by 5=25, making the whole product 544,375
This process is peculiar in beginning at the highest place instead of the lowest; but it is
plain that for mental operation this is far better, as the large numbers are so much more
easily remembered from having no low places until almost the last. It is true that the
process is prolix, but it is nature's process, and probably was used before our more
artificial mode, and it may be profitable to compare it with the common mode, that both
may be better understood; for when they are carefully compared, they will be found very
much alike. Let us compare the calculations:

1675
325
8375
3350
5025
Product as before 544,375 1675
He began by multiplying from left to right, so that his products would 325
stand thus, and a little observation will show that it is in effect the same 300000
process we daily use, only that we abridge it by carrying as we 180000
proceed from right to left. Compare for instance the products by 5, the 21000
last four products in the operation, with the product in a single line, and 1500
it will be found substantially the same. 20000
12000
1400
Although the foregoing were given by Colburn as his modes of
100
5000
3000
350
25
544,375
calculation, we are inclined to doubt their accuracy; for some of them seem to pre-
suppose a knowledge of figures, which he certainly did not at that time possess. We are
rather inclined to the belief that having become, at the time he defined his modes,
somewhat acquainted with the use of figures, and being anxious to satisfy the reasonable
curiosity of the world to learn his modes of calculation, he deceived himself in using
characters while describing a purely mental operation; for as he knew nothing of any
representatives of numbers, he must have contemplated numbers themselves.

Perhaps the present will be as favorable a time as any other, to draw a distinction
absolutely necessary to be made, between mental calculation by means of figures, and
mental calculations without their aid. The latter is what we would understand by the term
Mental Arithmetic; bit the term is generally applied to all calculations in which neither
sensible objects nor figures are used. Pestallozi carried this practice with his pupils to a
very great extent; and every child that commences oral exercises before using
characters, must study in the same way; but after learning in the usual way, our mental
calculations are very similar to our written ones, and this without reference to the question
whether we have studied the subject analytically or synthetically. Perhaps it is almost
impossible, after becoming familiar with figures as the representatives of numbers, to
calculate numbers entirely in the abstract. Our calculations seem naturally to flow into the
common form, only carrying on the operation by concentrating the attention and
imagining how the quantities would appear if written. Practice and effort will discipline the
mind so as to enable it to produce astonishing results; and yet there may be little
invention, and nothing whatever peculiar in the mind.

It is said of the celebrated mathematician, Euler, that two of his pupils having differed in
the result of a converging series of seventeen terms, at the fiftieth figure of the result, he
reviewed their work mentally, and pointed out the proper correction. This was probably in
the latter part of his life, as the loss of his sight then compelled him to cultivate mental
calculation, and to avail himself of the aid of an amanuensis. He was then able mentally
to raise any number less than a hundred to the fifth or sixth power, without difficulty. He
had always however cultivated in some degree the habit of mental calculation.

Dr. Waliston tells us that he himself could in the dark perform multiplication, division, and
the extraction of roots to forty decimal places; that he once proposed to himself, while in
bed, a number of fifty-three places, and found the square root though extending to
twenty-seven figures; and that wNithout writing a single figure, he dictated the result from
memory twenty days after.

We sometimes meet with clerks who are able to extend the amounts in bills of items, and
to sum up the total, with the apparent rapidity of thought. This may be in part the result of
natural quickness, but it is much more dependent on practice and close attention in
observing the relations of numbers. For this purpose too it is desirable to be familiar with
the products of numbers as far as 20 or 30 at least, instead of 12, the ordinary limit of the
multiplication table; and to become familiar with every time and labor saving expedient.
The following calculations are said to have been performed by Abraham Hagarman, of
Brighton, Monroe County, New York, and though they indicate nothing of the peculiar
genius of Cap or of Colburn, they show very clearly the power of concentrated attention
and long continued practice; for it is said that mathematical studies, and especially the
solution of difficult problems, has occupied his chief attention for thirty years, fourteen of
which he has been an invalid. The experiment of mental calculation however has been
commenced within a few years. We extract the following from his calculations.

1st. 987654 x 345678 = 341,410,259,412.

2d. 9753214 x 2345678 = 22,877,899,509,092.

3d. 46375619 x 54625125 = 2,533,273,984,827,375.

4th. 123456789 x 123456789 =15,241,578,750,190,521.

5th. 9615324516 x 4256484144 = 40,927,476,341,768,474,304.

6th. 82527613529 x 49243126216 = 4,063,917,689,313,816,176,264.

7th. 951427523675 x 484324256144 = 460,799,427,678,822,324,209,200.

8th. 831532463519 x 643234375246 = 534,870,264,668,411,251,650,674.

9th. 648728416968 x 421875625125 = 273,682,706,444,726,657,121,000.

The first, second, third and fourth of the above operations he accomplished in from one
and a half to two hours. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, occupied from two to three
hours. The ninth he accomplished in less than one hour, owing to the favorable character
of the multiplier. This is certainly a great feat to be performed "in the head" alone; and
shows very clearly what can be done by persevering effort, with perhaps no peculiarity of
mental constitution, except a fondness for such amusements. Close attention is all
important, it is the great constituent of inventive powers. Sir Isaac Newton says, "It is that
complete retirement of the mind within itself, during which the senses are locked up—that
intense meditation on which no extraneous idea can intrude—that firm, straight forward
progress of thought, deviating into no irregular sally, which can alone place mathematical
objects in a light sufficiently strong to illuminate them fully, and preserve the perceptions
of the mind's eye in the same order that it moves along."

This power over the attention may be acquired to a great extent, by any one of sound
mind, but with very different degrees of readiness, and probably not always to the same
extent by different persons. In some this power seems natural, while with others the
acquisition costs great labor. The perceptive faculties are very different in different
individuals, and this is true in regard to perceiving the relation of numbers, as well as all
other mental perceptions. In some, this faculty seems peculiarly obtuse, and they practice
calculations with great difficulty. Some men even of fine minds require great effort in order
to learn the simplest rules of arithmetic; and Humboldt speaks of the Chaymas, (a people
in the Spanish parts of South America,) that have great difficulty in comprehending any
thing that belongs to numerical relations; and that the more intelligent count in Spanish,
with an air that denotes a great effort of the mind, so far as 30, or perhaps 50. He
mentions, as a peculiarity, that the corners of their eyes are turned up towards their
temples.

James Garry, who was remarkable for his powers of calculation, resided some years ago
at Harper's Ferry, Va., and from J. A. Fitzsimmons, Esq., who was intimate with him, we
have obtained the following account.

Mr. Garry was born in the county of Antrim, in Ireland, but immigrated to this country in
early life. He was first employed in New York city, at a large salary; and subsequently by
Tiffany, Shaw & Co. of Baltimore. While there it was customary for one of the clerks to call
over the items of the largest bills of goods, and as rapidly as the clerk could write them
down, Garry would give the extension of each line and the footing of the bill; without
requiring the clerk to delay a moment, and with absolute certainty of being right. He was
subsequently employed as a clerk by Messrs Wager & O'Byrne, of Harper's Ferry, Va.,
Commission Merchants, where we first heard of him; and where Mr. Fitzsimmons was a
fellow clerk with him. In a social point of view, he speaks of him as exceedingly warm
hearted, though with a tinge of melancholy, that was probably increased by an
unfortunate habit of intemperance. An estimate may be formed of the extent of this
singular gift, from the fact that while at Harper's Ferry, his former employers at Baltimore
offered him $2000 dollars per annum, if he would return and bind himself to be temperate.
But he declined. He was not prepossessing in his manners, and though a tolerable
penman, was entirely unacquainted with Grammar, Geography, History &c., his great
forte being mental calculation; if that can be called calculation, which seemed to be mere
perception. Mr. Fitzsimmons says " His powers of calculation were indeed wonderful, and
the gift was natural—not acquired. He was never known to make a mistake, except when
working with pen or pencil to show work; and then but seldom.

He could give the sum total of any sum of figures, momentarily, without his ever having
been found in error in any case; but he had very little ability for any science except
figures. He was almost as prompt in the higher branches of arithmetic as in the
elementary; though complex operations evidently cost him thought. He could give no
account of his modes of operation, but said the answer came instantly, and stood right
before his eyes, and he had only to read what he mentally saw. He said it seemed to be
there as by magic. In speaking of the extension and summing up of a long bill of items, he
remarked to a friend that "The items seemed to pass before him like the ghosts in
Macbeth, at the same time adding themselves together as they overtook each other in the
journey; thus increasing in bulk until the whole were united, and the sum total was at once
before him."

In answer to the question whether there seemed to be any process of reasoning, Mr.
Fitzsimmons stated that the result seemed to be matter of instantaneous perception, and
that Mr. Garry so described it; but stated that in difficult problems there were some little
delay, and indications of mental effort, but Mr. Garry seemed to think, as he expressed it,
that the operation was the same, "only the ghosts rose a little slower, and moved more
solemnly." When intoxicated, his answers were rather less prompt, but still accurate.

About 1837 or'38, he visited St. Louis where he died, aged about 38 years.

Jedediah Buxton, of England was another instance. He was uneducated, and wrought his
solutions by his native ingenuity. The following is given as one of his performances. "On
being required to multiply 456 by 378, he gave the product in a very short time; and when
requested to work the question audibly, so that his process might be known, he multiplied
456 first by 5, which produced 2280; this he again multiplied by 20, and found the product
45,600, which was the multiplicand multiplied by 100; this product he again multiplied by
3, which produced 136,800, the product of tre multiplicand by 300. It remained then to
multiply by 78, which he effected by multiplying 2280 (the product of the multiplicand by
5) by 15, as 5 times 15 are 75. This product being 34,200, he added to 136,800, which
was the product by 300 and the sum 171,000 was 375 times 456. To complete the
operation he multiplied 456 by 3, which produced 1368, and having added this number to
171,000, he found the result to be 172,368."

From this it appears that he was so little acquainted with the common rules as to multiply
by 5 and then by 20, to find what the mere addition of two ciphers would have given him.
In fact the whole operation seems awkwardly adapted to mental calculation; but with him
it was probably nature's method, and it produced the sought for result.

We have not the full and satisfactory account of his constitution and habits that would be
desirable; nor do we know any thing of his subsequent history. In order fully to appreciate
such phenomena it is necessary to know more than merely the results produced by them.
We have seen an account of a clerk in the war office, in France, who in six minutes
extracted the square root of 20,511,841; and in a quarter of an hour, without any written
memoranda, gave the product of 379,625,348 multiplied by itself. But we know nothing of
him beyond this performance, and of course cannot class him with any other.

In 1845 a child named Prolongeau, aged about six years, was announced in the city of
Paris, that resolved difficult arithmetical problems, and even elementary operations in
algebra; and a committee was appointed by the Academy of Sciences to report the facts
of the case, with his modes of operation, &c. His countenance is spoken of as expressive;
but we have been unable to learn further particulars, or that the committee has reported.

George Bidder, a native of Devonshire in England, born in 1805, afforded another

instance of extraordinary calculating powers when a mere child; and a number of
gentlemen in Edinburg, undertook the charge of his education; with the design of
cultivating his powers to the utmost extent. But though he excelled in Numbers, he proved
nothing more than common in Geometry; and by no means realized the hopes of his
friends. When only eleven years of age, he would solve difficult algebraical problems in a
minute or two; but he failed in Geometry.

We might mention other instances noticed in books, but we have not such particulars as
would enable us to give a satisfactory account of them; and after having mentioned two or
three minor cases in our own country, we shall close with a somewhat detailed account of
Truman Henry Safford, who differs from all the foregoing, and is perhaps the most
remarkable character in this respect, known to be in existence.

An individual, named Peter M. Deshong, has been traversing the United States for
several years past, who possesses an astonishing degree of quickness in performing the
elementary operations of Arithmetic, and especially in adding numbers; but his knowledge
seems limited to the mere elements of the subject. We saw him several years ago and
again very recently and have no hesitation in saying that in adding together long columns
of numbers, he very far exceeds in rapidity, any other person that we ever saw attempt
the operation. His eye catches the numbers with the rapidity of thought, and he gives the
result almost at a glance. In multiplying, he uses but a single line, however large the
multiplier may be, and in dividing, he uses a mode very similar to short division, the
remainders only being set down. He manifests unwillingness to engage in calculations
involving intricacy, and we doubt his ability to reason to any considerable extent on the
subject.

His practice is to travel from one important point to another, and exhibit his powers of
calculation; at the same time offering for five or ten dollars to teach others to perform with
equal rapidity. This he asserts he can do in half an hour; and to aid in the imposition he
carries with him charts professing to give his modes of operation. Within a few years he
has entirely changed his charts, and they are now well adapted to his purpose. Having
carefully examined both his old and his revised charts, we have no hesitation in saying
that he who expects to derive any thing valuable from them in regard to adding numbers,
or from the instruction of their author, will find himself mistaken. His mode of multiplying is
ingenious, and might be profitably employed by many; and to some extent the same is
true of division; but his power of rapidly adding and otherwise combining simple numbers,
is nature's gift as much as Zerah Colburn's was, and cannot be bought for money, nor
acquired by any ordinary amount of practice. In addition to the peculiarities of nature, Mr.
Deshong's whole time is devoted to these operations, and he has evidently improved by
practice. Like all others whose minds are especially adapted to numbers, his memory on
the subject is peculiarly retentive and prompt; and thus he is greatly aided in producing
results. His bold and positive assertions are calculated to deceive many; but we
understand thoroughly his professed modes of operation, and we have seen no one who
has profited by his instruction in the addition of numbers. We say his professed mode, for
we do not for one moment believe that he adds in the manner indicated by his charts.
Addition may be thus performed, but the labor would be greater than in the ordinary way,
and could not be performed so rapidly, unless when numbers are set down with special
reference to that mode of addition. We have no wish to speak uncourteously of Mr.
Deshong, but feel it to be our duty to warn the unwary, without wishing to prevent any one
who desires to seek his instruction from doing so. For his mode of multiplying, see page
280.

We have received a detailed account of the peculiar powers of John Winn, formerly of
Clark County, Ohio, and as the case differs from such as we have been considering, we
shall give pretty free extracts from the letter before us.

"In person he was large, and in the latter part of his life corpulent. The features of his face
were prominent, and indicated decision and determination. Whatever he undertook was
pursued with ardor; and this remark applies as well to his religious and political opinions,
as to his business transactions. He was decided in his friendships and his antipathies. His
early education was limited, but as far as it went, was accurate and thorough. He was a
good practical surveyor; his written compositions were free from errors in orthography or
syntax, and his hand writing unusually neat, compact and uniform. Papers drawn by him
were always executed in a business-like manner.

The most remarkable feature of his mind, however, was his facility in calculation. He was
for some years engaged in buying and driving cattle and swine to market; and he prided
himself on the rapidity and accuracy with which he could ascertain the numbers contained
in droves, especially of swine. An opening would be made in a field containing a large
drove, and he would sit on horseback, near the gap, and count as the animals were
driven through, expressing himself audibly in something like this manner: "Twenty-five—
sixty—eighty—rush them on boys!-hundred and twenty," and so on. Notwithstanding the
rapidity with which he counted, he rarely ever macde a mistake; and his estimate was
considered conclusive.

In adding multiplying and dividing numbers, he possessed uncommon facility. Instead of

summing up units, tens, hundreds, &c. separately, as is usual in addition, he would run
the whole up together with as little apparent trouble as a common operator would feel in
adding up a single column. In multiplying or dividing by numbers of two or three places he
took the whole together as we do numbers under 12. He was fluent in conversation,
possessed a retentive memory; and with early discipline would have been capable of
superior attainments.

We have met with a description of Georgr Blesins, son of John Blesins of Nashville, that
would seem to rank him amongst the most remarkable prodigies of the present or the
past; but we have been unable by writing, to learn any thing further respecting him.

Georgr Blesins is described as being about seven years of age, (in 1847) of common
statue, in good health, and very interesting in his appearance and manners. His head is
unusually large, his countenance one of those speaking ones that tell the fire within; while
his whole demeanor is dignified and commanding. Our informant states that on asking
him the product of 25 by 25, he answered instantly 625; and on being asked how he
knew, he said "20 by 20 is 400; 5 by 20 is 100, and this doubled is 200; 5 by 5 is 25; and
then 400 and 200 and 25 make 625."

"He was then asked how many inches there were around the globe. He replied that there
is a certain number of inches in a mile, and this number multiplied by 25,000 will give the
circumference in inches. While his thoughts were engaged in the calculation, there was
considerable merriment among the company, which did not divert his attention the least.
Some person spoke to him, to see what effect it would produce upon him. He replied, "Be
patient a moment and then I will answer." Nothing could change the current of his
thoughts when once put in motion. He in three minutes gave the exact distance round the
globe, in inches; and this entirely by a mental process, for he knew nothing of figures."

Other instances of his calculations might be given, but we have not room. His powers of
mind seem adapted to reasoning generally, and hence he belongs rather to the Safford
than the Colburn school.

We shall close the notices of these cases with an account of Truman H. Safford, whom
we shall notice somewhat fully.

Truman Henry Safford, Jr., is the son of Truman H. Safford, Esq., of Royalton, Vermont,
where the son was born on the 6th of January, 1836. His frame is slight and his health
has always been delicate, though he is represented as now acquiring greater strength.
His hair and eyes are dark, and the latter shine with peculiar brilliancy; while his native
modesty and kindness of manner, render him peculiarly interesting. His moral and
reasoning faculties are astonishingly developed; but we might well say of his body, as a
steamboat captain is reported to have exclaimed of John Quincy Adams, while
contemplating that wonderful man as he stood, in venerable age, the centre of an
admiring group, "O that we could take the engine out of the old Adams, and put it into a
new hull!" But he that formed the brilliant machinery of young Safford's frail bark, can give
it strength for his purpose in the hour of need.

At twenty months of age he had learned his letters, and already could be seen the
workings of faculties that were soon to astonish every beholder. At three years he was
familiar with many things seldom noticed by those of twice his age; and already, though
but a prattling child whose tongue had but imperfectly learned the legerdemain (excuse
the solecism) necessary to shape the words he used, his mind was breaking its fetters
and struggling to understand the objects around him. He was sent to school, but the rules
of study and of recitation were irksome to him, and he preferred to be at home where he
could revel in study without control. In arithmetic he could not confine himself to the dull
routine of the common rules and modes of operation. He saw the whole at a glance, and
went through with a hop, skip and a jump, where others spent their days and weeks in
slowly feeling their way. Instead of the neatly arranged rows of figures and the long
columns that gradually step by step brings the result to the light of common minds, he
would throw upon his slate a mass of half expressed numbers, in heterogeneous
confusion, while his mind leaped beyond, and the conclusion was reached; but by giant
strides that his teacher could not follow; and it was very soon concluded to leave him to
his own course. His studies embraced every thing and any thing that came in his way—
Geography, Chemistry, Grammar, and whatever afforded food for thought; and all were
pursued with success.

The subjoined account of this wonderful youth was written in January, 1846, bythe Rev.
Henry W. Adams, agent of the American Bible Society, and contains as full an account as
may be necessary for our purpose. We may add that since Mr. Adams' article was written,
ample provision has been made for the boy's education at Cambridge University, by the
noble generosity of some public spirited friends of science; and he is now receiving every
attention that can guard his health carefully, while he is enjoying the benefit of the
greatest facilities that books, apparatus and living instructors can furnish. In order that his
parents may watch over him, arrangements have been made to justify Mr. Safford in
removing with his family to Cambridge and to support them for five years, during which
time HENRY is to remain in that institution free of charge. Every precaution is used to
protect his health, and for this purpose strangers are not allowed to visit him unless by
express permission; while a board of physicians constantly guard against excess of
study; and all tests of his powers, for the gratification of visiters are forbidden. From a
friend who has the best opportunity of knowing, we learn that his general health and
strength are improving under the judicious course pursued, and that he is rapidly
advancing in his studies. Ile entered the University in September, 1846, and the
guardians of his education furnish him with books and instruction, for five years at least;
so that whatever may be the result, the friends of science will have the consolation of
knowing that every effort has been made to foster the talent that now promises so much
for the cause of human knowledge. We ought to remark that before the Cambridge
arrangement was made, the youth calculated almanacs for 1846 and 1847, both of which
were published, as well.as an edition for 1847, adapted to the latitude of Cincinnati, and
published in that city. He was but little over nine years of age when the almanac for 1846
was calculated, and only ten when those for 1847 were calculated. This was certainly an
effort of childhood that has no parallel.

We will now give Mr. Adams' account of his interview with the boy in January, 1846.

"Being a few days in the vicinity of Royalton, Vermont, on business connected with my
Bible agency, I was induced, by the reports I had often seen in the public prints, of a
remarkable boy of that town, to pay him a visit. The name of this precocious youth is
Truman Henry Safford, Jr. At the age of twenty months he learned his letters. Before three
years old, he would reckon time upon a clock almost intuitively. He also learned to
enumerate according to the Roman method from Webster's spelling book. He
commenced going to school when three years old, but this he did not like. Since then he
has been but very little, and now goes none at all. His mode of study was perfectly
unique. He did not pursue the common circuitous route to the results of study. Probably
no college in the United States could instruct him much, if any. When he first began to go
to school, his teachers could not comprehend his ways, nor instruct his infant mind. Every
branch of study he could master alone, with rapidity and ease. He commenced Adams'
New Arithmetic on Tuesday morning, and finished it completely on Friday night! And when
he finishes a book it is done perfectly. He would not fully set down his sums, but cover his
slate with a shower of figures, and at once bring out the answer. The teacher would look
on in astonishment, unable to keep up with him, or to comprehend his operations, carried
on in his mind with the rapidity of lightning, and then dashed upon the slate, no matter
which end first. His thirst for all kinds of knowledge is very great. The whole circle of the
sciences is as familiar to him as a household word. His father obtained for him Gregory's
Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, in three large volumes. This work, you know, is a vast
encyclopedia of knowledge, treating briefly upon all branches of human knowledge. This
was just the work he wanted; for an outline of any thing is enough—he can make the rest.
It was this book that first gave him a taste for the higher mathematics. Here he found the
definition of a logarithm, and from this alone, went on and made almost an entire table of
them before ever seeing one. One day he went to his father and told him he wanted to
calculate the eclipses and make an almanac! He said he wanted some books and
instruments. His father tried to put him off; but the boy followed him into the fields and
whithersoever he went, begging for books and instruments, with a most affecting
importunity. Finally, his father promised to accompany him to Dartmouth College, and
obtain for him, if possible, what he wanted. At this the boy was quite overjoyed; so much
so, that when they hove in sight of the college, he cried out in raptures, "O, there is the
college! there are the books! there are the instruments!" But they did not find all they
wanted. At Norwich, however, they made up their complement. On coming home, the boy
took Gummere's Astronomy, opened it in the middle, rolling it to and fro, and dashing
through its dry and tedious formulas, went out at both ends. By the way, this is his usual
mode of study. He does not begin any book at the beginning, but always in the middle,
and then goes with a rush both ways. I asked him if, when he opened Gummere's
Astronomy in the middle, he could comprehend those complicated formulas which
depended on previous demonstrations. He replied, he could generally, but sometimes he
"looked back a little." On arriving home, he projected several eclipses, and also
calculated them through all their tedious operations by figures. This, as all
mathematicians know, involves a knowledge of the labyrinths of mathematics, and also of
formulas and processes most complicated and difficult. He has recently made an
almanac for A. D. 1846. Two editions—the first of seven thousand copies and the second
of seventeen thousand—have already been published and nearly all sold. In thle almanac
are the calculations of two eclipses of the sun, wrought out wholly by its infant author,
besides other valuable tables; especially one showing the amount of duties on wool,
under all the tariffs since the formation of the government up to the act of 1842. This table
the boy calculated alone. And that he calculated, without aid, the two eclipses of the sun,
is attested by the published certificates of judges, lawyers, doctors, and clergymen.

Not satisfied with the old, circuitous process of demonstration, and impatient of delay,
young Safford is constantly evolving new rules for abridging his work. He has found a
new rule by which to calculate eclipses, hitherto unknown, so far as I know, to any
mathematician. He told me it would shorten the work nearly one-third. When finding this
rule, for two or three days he seemed to be in a sort of trance. One morning, very early,
he came rushing down stairs, not stopping to dress himself, poured on to his slate a
stream of figures, and soon cried out in the wildness of his joy, "O! father, I have got it! I
have got it! it comes! it comes!" I questioned him respecting this rule. He commenced the
explanation. His eyes rolled spasmodically in their sockets, and he explained his work
with readiness. To hear him talk so rapidly, and yet so technically exact, and so far above
the comprehension of all, save the most profound mathematician, put to flight all my
doubts, and filled me with utter astonishment. He said he did not know as his new rule
would work in all cases, but as yet it had. He also remarked that the nearer noon the
eclipse came on, the easier it was to apply his rule. But young Safford's strength does not
lie wholly in the mathematics. He has a sort of mental absorption. His infant mind drinks
in knowledge as the sponge does water. Chemistry, botany, philosophy, geography and
history, are his sport. It does not make much difference what question you ask him, he
answers very readily. I spoke to him of some of the recent discoveries in chemistry. He
understood them. I spoke to him of the solidification of carbonic acid gas by Professor
Johnston, of the Wesleyan University. He said he understood it. Here his eyes flashed
fire, and he began to explain the process.

When only four years old, he would surround himself upon the floor with Morse's,
Woodbridge's, Olney's, Smith's, and Malte Brun's Geographies, tracing them through and
comparing them, noting all their points of difference. His memory, too, is very strong. He
has poured over Gregory's Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences so much, that I seriously
doubt whether there can be a question, asked him, drawn from either of those immense
volumes, that he will not answer instantly.

I saw the volumes and also noticed he had left his marks on almost every page. I asked
to see his mathematical works. He sprung into his study and produced me Greenleaf's
Arithmetic, Perkins' Algebra, Playfair's Euclid, Pike's Arithmetic, Davies' Algebra, Hutton's
Mathematics, Flint's Surveying, the Cambridge Mathematics, Gummere's Astronomy, and
several Nautical Almanacs. I asked him if he had mastered them all. He replied that he
had. And an examination of him for the space of three hours convinced me he had; and
not only so, but that he had far outstripped them. His knowledge is not intuitive. He is a
pure and profound reasoner. In this he excels all other geniuses of whom I ever read. He
can not only reckon figures in his mind with the rapidity of lightning, but he reasons,
compares, reflects, and Nwades at pleasure through all the most abstruse sciences, and
comprehends and reduces to his own clear and brief rules the highest mathematical
knowledge. His mind is constantly active. No recreation or amusement can avail for any
length of time to divert him from mental effort.

Being accompanied by Rev. C. N. Smith, of Randolph, Vt., who was acquainted with Mr.
and Mrs. Safford, I had free access to the boy, and ample opportunity for a long and
thorough examination. I went firmly expecting to be able to confound him, as I previously
prepared myself with various problems for his solution. I did not suppose it possible for a
boy of ten years only to be able to play, as with a top, with all the higher branches of
mathematics. But in this I was disappointed. Here follow some of the questions I put to
him, and his answers. I said, Can you tell me how many seconds old I was last March,
the 12th day, when I was twenty-seven years old? He replied, instantly, "852,055,200."
Then said I, The hour and minute hands of a clock are exactly together at 12 o'clock:
when are they next together? Said he, as quick as thought, "1h. 5/11 m." And here I will
remark, that I had only to read the sum to him once. He did not care to see it, but only to
hear it announced once, no matter how long. Let this fact be remembered in connection
with some of the long and blind sums I shall hereafter name, and see if it does not show
his amazing power of perception and comprehension. Also, he would perform the sums
mentally, and also on a slate, working by the briefest and strictest rules, and hurrying on
to the answers with a rapidity outstripping all capacity to keep up with him. The next sum I
gave him was this: A man and his wife usually drank out a cask of beer in 12 days; but
when the man was from home, it lasted the woman 30 days: how many days would the
man alone be drinking it? He whirled about, rolled up his eyes and replied, "20 days."
Then said I, what are the values of x in the equation a²+b²—2bx+x²=(m²x²)/b²? He sprung
to his slate, and dashed on a few figures, and replied in about a minute, x=n/(n²—m²) x
(bn+√(a²m²+b²m²—a²n²)) He also gave the negative value of x.

Then said I, What number is that which, being divided by the product of its digits, the
quotient is 3; and if 18 be added, the digits will be inverted? He flew out of his chair,
whirled round, rolled up his wild, flashing eyes, and said, in about a minute, "24." Then
said I, Two persons, A and B, departed from different places at the same time, and
traveled towards each other. On meeting, it appeared that A had traveled 18 miles more
than B; and that A could have gone B's journey in 153 days, but B would have been 28
days in performing A's journey. How far did each travel? He flew round tht room, round
the chairs, writhing his little body as if in agony and in about a minute sprung up to me
and said, "A traveled 72 miles and B 54 miles—did'nt they? Yes." Then said I, What two
numbers are those whose sum, multiplied by the greater, is equal to 77; and whose
difference, multiplied by the less, is equal to 12? He again shot out of his chair like an
arrow, flew about the room, his eyes wildly rolling in their sockets, and in about a minute
said, "4 and 7." Well, said I, the sum of two numbers is 8, and the sum of their cubes 153.
What are the numbers? Said he instantly, "3 and 5." Now in regard to these sums, they
are the hardest in Davies' Algebra. I have had classes of one hundred scholars who have
not been able to perform several of them. But young Safford, at one reading,
comprehended them at a flash, and returned, almost instantly, correct answers. He also
gave me correct Algebraic formulas for doing them. Then I took him into Plane
Trigonometry. Said I, In order to find the distance between two trees, A and B, which
could not be directly measured, because of a pool which occupied the intermediate
space, the distance of a third point, C, from each was measured, viz: C A=588 feet and C
B=672 feet, and also the contained angle A C B=55° 40 min.; required the distance A B?
He seized his slate, covered it with a group of figures, performed some of it mentally, and
brought out the answer in about two minutes, saying, "592.967 feet." I then gave him this
in the mensuration of surfaces: What is the area of a trapezoid whose parallel sides are
750 and 1225, and the altitude 1540? He walked rapidly across the floor, and whirled
about to and fro, and replied," 1,520,750." Then, said I, if the diameter of the earth be
7921, what is the circumference? He said, instantly, "24,884.6136." To do this, he
multiplied 7921 by 3.1416. This he did mentally quicker than I could write the answer.
Then I gave him this: How many acres in a circular piece of ground whose circumference
is 31.416 miles? He sprung on to his feet, flew round the room, and in a minute said,
 "50,265.6." Then, said I, required the number of acres of blue sky in an ellipse whose
semi-axes are 35 and 25 miles? He began to walk the floor again, twisting his little body,
and whirling his eyes spasmodically, and in about a minute said, "1,759,296 acres." How
did you do it? said I. Said he, "Multiply the semi-axes together, and that product by
3.1416, and that product by 640." And did you perform the entire operation in your mind
so soon? "Yes, sir." Then I took him into the mensuration of solids. Said I, what is the
entire surface of a regular pyramid whose slant height is 17 feet, and the base a
pentagon, of which each side is 33.5 feet? In about two minutes, after amplifying round
the room, as is his custom, he replied, "3354.5558." How did you do it? said I. He
answered, "Multiply 33.5 by 5, and that product by 8.5, and add this product to the
product obtained by squaring 33.5, and multiplying the square by the tabular area taken
from the table corresponding to a pentagon."

Now let it be remembered that this boy is only ten years old—that he did this sum for the
first time in about two minutes, almost wholly in his head—and who can account for it?

***********
I asked him to give me the cube root of 3,723,875. He replied quicker than I could write it,
and that mentally,' 155, is it not?" "Yes." Then said I, What is the cube root of 5,177,717?
Said he,"173." Of 7,880,599? He instantly said, "199."

These roots he gave, calculated wholly in his mind, as quick as you could count one. I
then asked his parents if I might give him a hard sum to perform mentally. They said they
did not wish to tax his mind too much, nor often to its full capacity, but were quite willing to
let me try him once. Then said I, Multiply, in your head, 365,365,365,365,365,365 by
365,365,365,365,365,365!! He flew round the room like a top, pulled his pantaloons over
the top of his boots, bit his hand, rolled his eyes in their sockets, sometimes smiling and
talking, and then seeming to be in agony, until, in not more than one minute, said he,
"133,491,850,208,566,925,016,658,299,941,583,225!" The boy's father, Rev. C. N. Smith,
and myself, had each a pencil and slate to take down the answer, and he gave it to us in
periods of three figures each, as fast as it was possible for us to write them. And what
was still more wonderful, he began to multiply at the left hand, and to bring out the
answer from left to right, giving first, "133,491," &c. Here, confounded above measure, I
gave up the examination. The boy looked pale and said he was tired. He said it was the
largest sum he ever did! In conclusion, I am aware that this narrative is almost incredible.
But let it be remembered that I went a skeptic, took a good witness with me, examined
the boy carefully, and here pledge my sacred honor that all I have here stated is true.
Rev. Mr. Smith, of Randolph, Vermont, is a witness to the correctness of this report.
Further, if any are disposed to disbelieve Tmy statement, I beg them to make a tour to
Royalton, Vermont, where they will find the boy and have an opportunity to examine him
for themselves. I was informed that he had been offered $1000 a year to cast interest for
a bank not far from his father's. Mr. Saffordl has received many urgent proposals to permit
his wonderful son to be carried round the world for exhibition, but he will not consent.
Gentlemen of wealth have offered pecuniary aid to furnish the boy with books; &c.;
especially one of Cincinnati—the patron of the distinguished Powers.

HENRY W. ADAMS.
Concord, N. H. Jan. 1846.

In comparing the preceding cases, we find a great diversity of general intellect, and even
diversity in the prominent feature, but in some respects a striking similarity exists. In all
cases in which the power of calculation exists in an extraordinary degree, the ability to
recollect numbers is found to exist also; and it is believed that it will prove true in every
phase of mind. We find boys in every school that are dull in this subject, and others that
are bright, and we find in regard to the former, that however the memory may be in other
matters, it is difficult to cause them to remember rules involving arbitrary numbers, as .
7854, 3.1416, &c.; while with the learner that delights in the subject, these numbers are
remembered with ease. Something is no doubt to be placed to the difference in the ability
to concentrate the attention, but this is not sufficient to account for all. There seems to be
a natural difference, and this keeps pace with the power of calculation, from the dullest to
the brightest specimen; and like the power itself it is improvable by exercise.
We have already alluded to the distinction that may be drawn between the cases that
seem to possess an unsought and apparently unacquired power, and those that are the
result of patient practice. The former shows itself most clearly in uneducated persons,
who must of necessity contemplate numbers without the aid of figures, by modes of their
own invention; while the latter pursue the modes common with others, and hence in
former cases the results seem the more astonishing. But if an individual of ordinary
powers were faithfully trained by either mode, it would be found that a degree of
proficiency might be acquired, that no one would anticipate: and this would increase with
the intensity of attention, which again would be proportioned to the proficiency; for we
love best and attend most closely to that in which we can excel.

We have seen detailed accounts of a school kept by J. E. Lovell, Esq., at New Haven,
Ct., in which mental operations in arithmetic are made a very prominent subject of study,
and the power to which the pupils attain is almost incredible. The multiplying of fifteen or
twenty places of figures by as many, is not unusual, the numbers being set down and the
operation wrought mentally by cross multiplication. The surprise often expressed on
witnessing the performances of arithmetical classes, when that science is made thle
subject of especial study, would cease on a more intimate acquaintance with the powers
of the human mind. Carry the calf daily and you may carry it when it becomes an ox.
Mental performances, being more out of the usual routine of what is seen than written
ones, excite most surprise; for he that is busied with other cares feels how impossible it is
for him to turn away from the world and look in upon his own mind with the intense and
unbroken gaze, indispensable to success; neither will they who now excite our surprise
be able to do so when the cares and perplexities of life come upon them. Even Colburn,
the wonder of the world, was unable to do his accustomed performances after other cares
began to crowd upon him. In the case of Hagarman and some others to whom we have
alluded, we find persons of maturity; but they were men with whom this was a constantly
practised hobby. How far the object to be attained will justify the cultivation of this talent in
youth, to the exclusion of others, is not the subject of our discussion. The man who
appeared before a king of the olden time to show him with what certainty he could throw
peas through the eye of a needle, had acquired astonishing dexterity; and the king duly
appreciated his enterprise when he gave him a bag of peas for his pains. The thing can
be done but is the acquisition worth the time and labor, and the sacrifice of other things
involved?

If in other features the human mind presented no anomalies, her freaks in this particular
would be more astonishing; but we find scarcely two minds constituted alike, or in which
the several faculties are equally balanced. In our physical, mental and moral
developments we find continual diversity; and while some manifest great deficiencies in
one point, they exhibit perhaps equally astonishing prominence in others. Our time would
fail to point out exemplifications, but any one can supply them in abundance.

In what respect are the gifts of Colburn, Bidder, Garry, &c., different from the endowments
of the rest of mankind? Are they something distinct, or only extraordinary developments of
what belongs to the human mind generally?

We have heard their peculiarities spoken of as instinctive; and have seen the term used
in print in reference to them: but this cannot be a correct designation. It is doubtful
whether instinct ever improves. We imagine that the first cell of the young bee is as
perfect a hexagon as it can construct in old age; and we do not see that the young bird
mistakes the materials of which its species usually build their nests, or constructs a
different form. In every case of computing power to which we have alluded, and in every
case in community the power is improved by cultivation, and lost by disuse. We do not for
a moment believe that Colburn would have lost his ability, had he continued to cultivate it;
and been freed from his pecuniary and other cares and perplexities.

The term intuitive, as applied to the case is less exceptionable; if we understand it to

mean "Perceived by the mind immediately without the intervention of a train of reasoning
or testimony. Perceived by bare inspection." But it is hard to say how far this is true; for
the operations of the mind are often so rapid that the steps elude our observation, and we
think we see at once, what indeed costs us a train of reasoning. The celebrated Dugald
Stewart believed that all the conclusions of Colburn were reached by processes of
reasoning, so rapid as to elude his own grasp, and to make no impression upon his
memory; and hence he could give no account of them. After examining Colburn, Stewart
seemed to attribute much of his peculiar power to Memory and Concentrated Attention;
but these would produce rather small results when brought to bear on a mental blank. Yet
there is no doubt but that a high degree of both was necessary to enable him to produce
results so astonishing to the world.

It must be that a basis of axiomatic truths exists in all minds; and bare perception,
intuition if you please, suffices to establish their character. But then the range and extent
of these will depend on the ability of the mind to perceive; and the same mind after being
cultivated, possesses greater ability to perceive and compare than when in a state of
nature. It might be very difficult to decide where mere perception or intuition ceases, and
reasoning commences, for they blend by shades so imperceptible, that there is no clearly
defined line. They would seem to vary with different minds, and with the same mind under
different circumstances. But whether the cases under consideration owe their peculiarity
entirely to a perceptive power, beyond their fellow men, or alone to an ability to reason on
the subject, with a celerity and accuracy peculiar to themselves, or to both combined they
are equally interesting subjects of philosophical investigation.

In the case of Cap we find the power over numbers existing as almost the only
representative of mind; while in Colburn we find it in connection with an ordinary
development of the other faculties; and in Safford, we find it combined with an astonishing
development of the whole mind. We regard these three as the most remarkable cases on
record; while the others to which we have alluded, seem to fill the intermediate spaces
and to show a gradual ascent from the lowest to the highest.

In the first we have an idiot, with no other faculty of the mind susceptible of education;
and as the cares of the world are not likely ever to intrude, we may expect to see this
power continue with him, and no doubt it might be increased under proper cultivation. In
the second this ability perished or was choked by the growth of harassing cares and
perplexities by which its unfortunate and highly sensitive possessor was weighed down,
at an early age. He lost the indispensable power of withdrawing his attention from other
things and turning it in upon itself. It would indeed have been strange had it been
otherwise. Perhaps too the net work of forms thrown around his mental operations, in
breaking him into the ordinary routine of study and school discipline, embarrassed the
free operation of those modes peculiar to himself; and of course adapted to his own mind.
Safford differs from all the others, possessing the natural power, in being able to perceive
and announce truths as promptly as they could; and yet to follow his own mental
operation and make it intelligible to others. This would favor the belief that however
astonishing the aptitude might be, and however rapid the perceptions, they are still
analogous to the every day operations of the mind, and differ only in degree from those of
the dullest school boy. The talent was not found to exist in Safford, without previous
indications of mind; for he reasoned, as well as perceived, from infancy. And it might be
matter of doubt, whether the course he pursues in explaining to others, is always the
original process of his own mind. In one respect these individuals seem to have
resembled each other, and that was in the effect of their mental operations upon their
bodies, producing violent contortions, and seeming to rack their whole systems. A similar
expression of the eye is also spoken of and an acuteness in moral perception. How far
these things may have been true of the others, we are not advised. In the case of Bidder
and of Colburn, the ability seems to have been confined to Numbers, for neither one,
though tried, excelled in Geometry; but Safford seems equally at home in either. From the
account given of Winn, we think he might have acquired great proficiency as an engineer.
His accuracy in estimating objects within the field of physical vision was not necessarily
associated with his power of combining numbers; but taken together, they would have
been invaluable to an engineer, or a field officer.

Garry seems to differ in some respects from all the others, but not materially so, and we
must make allowances for difference in description, by different individuals. Though he
thought he saw through no intervening medium, he admitted that in difficult problems "the
ghosts moved more slowly and solemnly." To his mental vision, the sums of large
numbers, and their various combinations, were as clearly present, as the sum of 3 and 4
would be to an ordinary mind.
 But with all their powers, if it were sought to make a profound mathematician it would
probably be better to take a subject of ordinary aptitude, with a sound mind in a sound
body, and whose reasoning faculties are susceptible of healthful discipline.

It would be a pleasant task to pursue this subject much farther, and for this the material is
ample; but if what has been hastily brought together shall lead inquiring minds to
investigation, the object hoped for will be attained. Though such cases are rare, they are
legitimate and important subjects of study. We have done no more on the present
occasion than merely to throw out suggestions, which we hope others will improve. These
anomalies are invaluable in the study of mind; like some species of mania, they exhibit
the mental constitution in weak and strong lights, favorable to contemplation. In the well
balanced mind, much of the internal working is concealed; but in the cases alluded to, the
features of weakness and strength stand prominently out, and invite scrutiny.

Versuch einer wissenschaftlichen Begründung der Psychologie

P. Jessen, 1855, p. 153-161.
Zu den merkwürdigsten Fällen von anscheinend angebornen ausserordentlichen
besonderen Geistesfähigkeiten gehören die berühmten Rechner, wovon ich einige
Beispiele anführen will, da ich selbst Gelegenheit hatte, den Berühmtesten derselben
näher kennen zu lernen. Das erste Beispiel findet sich bei Gall, nach einem Berichte des
Amerikaners Mac-Neven, (Med. and. Philosoph. Jonrn. and Review. New-York 1811. Gall,
sur les fonctions du cerveau. Tom. V, pag. 136). Zerah Colborn, im Jahre 1804 in den
vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika geboren, war in seinem Benehmen und seinen
kindischen Spieleu wie andere Kinder, zeigte aber, sobald seine, Aiüinerksamkeit ganz
auf irgend eine Sache gerichtet war, über sein Alter hinausgehende Fähigkeiten, und
ganz besonders war dies der Fall in Beziehung auf Rechnungen. Sein wunderbares
Talent zum Rechnen wurde dadurch entdeckt, dass sein Vater, als er 6 Jahre alt war,
bemerkte, wie er zu seinem Vergnügen einige Zahlen halblaut multiplicirte, und die durch
diese Entdeckung veranlasste Uebung führte in einigen Monaten zu einer
ausserordentlichen Entwicklung dieses Talentes. Er war noch nicht 7 Jahre alt, als Mac-
Neven ihn folgende Fragen beantworten hörte. Fr. Was machen 1347, 1953 und 2091? A.
5391. Fr. Welche Zahlen geben, miteinander multiplicirt, 1242? A. So schnell, wie die
Sprache es gestattete, 54 mal 23, 9 mal 138, 27 mal 46, 3 mal 414, 6 mal 207, 2 mal 621.
Fr. Welche Zahl giebt, mit sich selbst multiplbirt, 1369? A. 37. Fr. Welche Zahl giebt, mit
sich selbst multiplicirt, 2401? A. 49, und 7 mal 343 giebt dieselbe Zahl. Wenn man die
Zahlen durch Tausende und Hunderte bezeichnete, so rief er ungeduldig: stellt sie in
Hunderten, d. h. für 2401 sollte man sagen: 24 Hunderte und 1. Fr. Was macht 6, 6mal
mit sich selbst multiplicirt? Er rechnete hierauf ganz laut, und so schnell, wie die Worte
gesprochen werden können: 6 mal 6 sind 36, 6 mal 36 sind 216, 6 mal 216 sind 1296, 6
mal 1296 sind 7776, 6 mal 7776 sind 46656 und 6 mal 46656 sind 279936. Fr. Wie viele
Stunden enthalten 25 Jahre 11 Monate und 3 Tage? A. 226992. Der Fragsteller hielt
diese Zahl für unrichtig; Zerah versicherte nach einem augenblicklichen Nachdenken,
dass sie richtig sei, und es fand sich, dass er Recht hatte. Der Fragsteller hatte
vergessen, die Schaltjahre zu berücksichtigen, und die letzten 11 Monate zu 30 Tagen
angenommen. (Diese Angaben sind fehlerhaft und vielleicht ist das Umgekehrte der Fall
gewesen; 226992 Stunden sind 9458 Tage, also grade 25 Jahre zu 365 Tagen, 11
Monate zu 30 Tagen und 3 Tage. Aus der Frage selbst ist die Anzahl dor Schaltjahre und
der Monatstage nicht genau zu wissen: in 25 Jahren können 6 und 7 Schaltjahre
vorkommen.)

Zuletzt multiplicirte er noch sehr schnell 123 mit 237, und 1234 mit 1234. Man bemerkte,
dass schwierige Aufgaben ihn ermüdeten, und er bat selbst, ihm nicht zu complicirte
Aufgaben zu geben. Er schien auch in anderen Beziehungen sehr begabt zu sein, war
aber niemals in der Schule gewesen und konnte weder lesen noch schreiben. Einige
Tage vor dem Besuche von Mac-Neven hatte eine Dame ihn gefragt, wie viel 3 Nullen mit
3 Nullen mnltiplicirt machten; die Autwort war: grade das, was Ihr seid, gar nichts. Auf die
Frage, wie er seine Berechnungen mache, erwiederte er, dass er sie deutlich vor sich
sähe. Von Brüchen hatte er noch keine Idee, und konnte nur mit ganzen Zahlen rechnen.
Bei etwas complicirten Rechnungen hörte man ihn oft laut multipliciren, addiren oder
subtrahiren, und zwar mit einer unglaublichen Schnelligkeit. Mac-Neven erwähnt noch,
 dass ein Mann in Utica im Alter von 6 Jahren sich durch eine besondere Fertigkeit im
Kopfrechnen ausgezeichnet, diese Fähigkeit aber, ohne zu wissen wie, im 8ten
Lebensjahre verloren habe.

Ein zweites Beispiel findet sich in Moritz Magazin für Erfahrungsseelenkunde (Bd. 5. St.
2. S. 105. Berlin 1787. Aus Gentlem. Magaz. Febr. 1751). Jedediah Buxton, ein armer
Tagelöhner, welcher 1751 in Clinton nahe bei Chesterfield in Derbyshire lebte und damals
etwa 50 Jahre alt war, hatte in seiner Jugend nur das Einmaleins gelernt, und konnte
nicht einmal seinen Namen schreiben. Dessen ungeachtet hatte er es durch seinen
Fleiss und mit Hülfe seines Gedächtnisses dahin gebracht, dass er mit
bewundernswürdiger Leichtigkeit 5 bis 6 Ziffern durch eben so viele andere multipliciren
und dividiren konnte. Er beantwortete u. a. folgende Fragen. Fr. Wie gross ist die
Quadratfläche eines 423 Ellen langen und 383 Ellen breiten Feldes? A. Nach 2 Minuten
162009 Ellen. Fr. Wie viele Gerstenkörner können in einer Länge von 8 Meilen liegen? A.
Nach 1½ Minuten, 1520640. Fr. Wie viele Male dreht sich ein Kutschenrad von 6 Ellen
Umfang auf einem Wege von 204 Meilen? A. Nach 13 Minuten, 59840 mal. Fr. Wie viel
Cubikzoll hat ein Körper, dessen eine Seite 23145789, die andere 5642732, die dritte
54965 Ellen enthielte? Der Fragsteller sagte ihm die Zahlen ein einziges Mal deutlich
nach einander vor, und Buxton fing in seinem Kopfe mitten unter seiner Arbeit und unter
dem Geräusche von mehr als 100 Mitarbeitern zu rechnen an. Der Fragsteller entfernte
sich, um die Aufgabe mit der Feder auszurechnen. Als er nach 5 Stunden zurückkehrte,
fragte Buxton, von welchem Ende er die einzelnen Ziffern seiner Summe ansagen solle,
und sagte darauf die im Kopfe berechnete Summe von 28 Ziffern ohne den geringsten
Fehler her. Millionen und Millionen von Millionen, welche er tribes und cramps nannte,
waren ihm eben so geläufig, als Pfunde, Schillinge und Pence. Er erzählte, dass er im
Jahre 1725 ungefähr einen Monat lang von seinen Gedächtnissrechnungen ganz verwirrt
gewesen wäre, und zuletzt 7 Stunden in einem tiefen Schlafe gelegen habe. Damals
habe er ausgerechnet, wie viel Gerste, Wicken, Erbsen, Weizen, Hafer, Roggen, Bohnen,
Linsen und Haare (jedes 1 Zoll lang), einen Raum von 202680000360 Cubikmeilen
fassen könne, wobei für die Länge, Breite und Dicke dieser Dinge ein bestimmtes Maass
angenommen wurde.

Die schwierigste Aufgabe, welche Buxton löste, bestand darin, die Zahl
725958238096074007868531656993638851106, eine Zahl von 39 Ziffern mit sich selbst
zu multipliciren. Nachdem er 2¼ Monate daran gerechnet, gab er folgende 78ziffrige
Quadratzahl an:

52701536345955738567373354263859172121
3298966079307524904381389499251637423236.
(Von diesen Zahlen sind jedoch, wie Dase mir gezeigt hat, nur die 14 ersten, und die letzten 21 richtig,
die mittleren 43 falsch; das richtige Facit ist folgendes:
527015363459556078948904969704567557856
316377529375534105381389499251637423236).
Buxton liess sich in seineu Rechnungen durch nichts irre machen und setzte sie während
des Sprechens und unter allerlei Geräusch fort. Er fing, ohne sich zu irren, am anderen
Tage da wieder an, wo er am vorhergehenden aufgehört hatte, und fuhr auf diese Weise
bei grossen Rechnungen Wochen und Monate fort, bis er damit fertig war. Wenn er sie
auch lauge liegen liess, so standen sie doch immer mit der grössten Lebhaftigkeit vor
seinen Augen, und er fuhr nach Monaten da fort, wo er aufgehört hatte. Er konnte die
längsten Zifferreihen, wie man es wollte, vor und rückwärts hersagen. Er liess sich von
zwei Personen ganz verschiedene Aufgaben unmittelbar hinter einander vorsagen, und
gab nachher Jedem die gehörige Antwort. Fand sich darin ja einmal ein Fehler. so
wiederholte er die ganze Rechnung und änderte den Fehler ab. Sein Gedächtniss war
ihm so treu, dass er eine einmal ausgerechnete Summe nach zwei Monaten noch völlig
und ohne Anstoss wieder hersagen konnte. Mac-Neven erzählt noch von ihm, dass die
Musik ihm nur als eine Confusion von Tönen erschienen sei, und dass er, ins Theater
gefuhrt, als Garrick in einem Stück von Shakespeare auftrat, sich nur damit beschäftigte,
die Anzahl der Wörter zu zählen, welche dieser grosse Schauspieler aussprach.

Alles, was Colborn, Bux ton u. a. ausserordeutliche Rechner geleisset haben, erscheint
unbedeutend in Vergleich mit den bewundernswerthen Leistungen unseres Zeitgenossen
Zacharius Dase aus Hamburg, zu deren genauer Beobachtung und Prüfung ich die
dargebotene Gelegenheit möglichst benutzt habe. Ich will zuerst berichten, was er in drei
auf einander folgenden öffentlichen Vorstellungen, am 12ten, löten und 19ten Januar
1852 producirte, und dann hinzufügen, was ich während derselben Zeit bei täglichem
Verkehr theils an ihm beobachtet, theils von ihm selbst erfahren habe.

Dase begann damit, dass er eine Zahl von 12 Ziffern an eine Tafel schreiben liess, einen
flüchtigen Blick darauf warf, und die Ziffern vor- und rückwärts hersagte. Dann liess er die
Zahl mit einer beliebigen einzifirigen Zahl multiplieiren und nannte den Multiplicator,
sobald man ihm- das darunter geschriebene Facit vorsagte. Die erste Zahl wurde hierauf
zu diesem Facit addirt und nachher von ihr subtrahirt, und Dase gab die Summe an,
sobald sie berechnet und darunter Beschrieben waren. Alsdann wurden alle vier
Zahlenreihen dirt, und die von Dase ebenfalls angegebene Summe wieder darunter
geschrieben. Auf diese Weise eutstanden in der ersten Vorstellung nachstehende fünf
Zahlenreihen:

463902786549
3247319505843
3711222292392
2783416719294
10205861304078
Diese Zahlenreihen wurden von den Zuhörern abgeschrieben, ausgelöscht, am Schlusse
der Vorstellung wieder auf die Tafel geschrieben, und von Dase, ohne dass er einen Blick
darauf warf, der Reihe nach aus dem Gedächtniss vorwärts und rückwärts hergesagt. In
den folgenden Vorstellungen wurde eben so verfahren, aber die in den vorhergehenden
gebildeten Zahlenreihen mit dazu genommen, so dass am Schlusse der dritten
Vorstellung folgende Zahlenreihe auf die Tafel geschrieben und von Dase aus dem
Gedächtniss hergesagt wurde:

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
46390 2786549324731950584337112 22292392278341671929
55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
41020 5861304078123479152604987833220832111131 23734
105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150
36864 354068228308697881510013485967206053943868824
155 160 165 170 175 180 185 188
06742 983603004045790161801753175736780.
Diese ganze Reihe von 188 Ziffern sagte Dase nicht nur vorwärts und rückwärts her,
sondern gab auch jede beliebige Zahl in der auf die angedeutete Weise bezifferten Reihe
an, z. B. die 25ste, die.137ste u. s. w., und eben so gab er an, wie oft und an welchen
Stellen jede beliebige Ziffer, 7, 9, 3 u. s. w. vorkäme. Er irrte sich dabei nie, musste sich
aber oft besinnen, um einen Irrthum zu vermeiden. Das Hersagen der langen Zahlenreihe
vor- und rückwärts machte auf die Anwesenden einen solchen Eindruck, dass Manche es
nicht aushalteu konnten und weggehen mussten, weil ihnen die dazu erforderliche
Geistesanstrenguug erdrückend zu sein schien. Dase versicherte mir aber lächelnd, dass
gar keine besondere geistige Anstrengung damit verbunden sei.

Hierauf wurden 5 Reihen von 19 Ziffern unter einander geschrieben und iu einem Nu im
Kopfe addirt; dasselbe geschah bei mehreren Subtractionsexempeln, und dann folgten
Multiplication, Division, Ausziehen von Wurzeln, Berechnung von Factoren und Aufgaben
aus der Regeldetri. Von den verschiedenen gegebenen Aufgaben lasse ich einige
nachfolgen.

Fr. Was machen 354783293 multiplicirt mit 5423957? A. Nach etwa 1½ Minuten
1924329325550401. Fr. Was macheu 97486125 multiplicirt mit 59857143? A. Nach
ungefahr derselben Zeit, 5835240924640875. Fr. Was machen 6529710840352 dividirt
durch 98? A. Fast auf der Stelle, 66629702452 4/7

Fr. Was machen 684028396281753 dividirt durch 6541325? A. Nach etwa 2½ Minuten,
104570312 138353/6541325, Fr. Was machen 423339075240048565 dividirt durch
708346795? A. Nach etwa 5 Minuten, 597643807. Nach Beantwortung einer Aufgabe
wies Dase jedes Mal die Richtigkeit seiner Angabe durch eine mit ausserordentlicher
Schnelligkeit auf der Tafel ausgeführte Berechnung nach, wobei er Millionen mit
derselben Geläufigkeit behandelte, wie wir das Einmaleins, indem er z. B. vorrechnete:
708346795 fünfmal genommen sind so viel, abgezogen von der und der Zahl bleibt so
viel, neun mal genommen giebt so viel u. s. w., mit einer solchen Schnelligkeit, wie
Zahlen ausgesprochen werden können.

Fr. Welche Zahl ist die Quadratwurzel aus 582169? A. Auf der Stolle, 763. Fr. Welche
Zahl ist die Cubikwurzel ans 318611987? A. Ebenfalls fast auf der Stelle, 683. Fr. Welche
Zahl ist die neunzehnte Wurzel aus 7093585369945 932256195429028464404423? A.
Nach etwa 3 Minuten, 87. Fr. Welches sind die Factoren von 5719? A. 7, 19 und 43. Fr.
Von 5191? A. 29 und 179. Fr. Von 4669? A. 7, 23 und 29. Fr. Von 4433? A. 11, 13 und 31.
Fr. Von 8911? A. 7, 19 und 67. Fr. Von 10123? A. 53 und 191. Alle diese Antworten
wurden auf der Stelle oder nach wenigen Augenblicken gegeben. Fr. Wie heissen die
Factoren von 3204841? A. Nach mehr als 5 Minuten 137, 149 und 157. Dase fand die
Factoren, indem er die Division der Reihe nach mit allen Primzahlen versuchte; bei der
letzten Aufgabe musste er also mit allen Primzahlen zwischen 1 und 137 dividiren, ehe
der erste Factor gefunden wurde.

Fr. Wenn ein Pfund 9 Mark 8 7/9 Schill, kostet, wie viel kosten dann 8/35 Schiffpfund? A.
Nach etwa 1 Minute, 611 Mark 1 7/9 Schill. Fr. Wenn Jemand in jeder Secunde 11/19
Pfennige einnimmt, wie viel erhält er darin in 79 Jahren? A. Nach etwa 2 Minuten,
2504092 Thlr. 5 Schill. 12/19 Pfennige. Fr. Wenn der Nicolai-Kirckthurm in Kiel 180 Fuss
hoch ist, wie viele solcher Thürme müssten auf einander gesetzt werden, wenn die Spitze
den Mond erreichen sollte, die Entfernung zu 50000 Meilen angenommen? A. Auf der
Stelle, 6666666 ²/3. Fr. In wie langer Zeit würde eine Schnecke diesen Weg zurücklegen,
wenn sie in jeder Minute 2 3/7 Zoll fortkröche? A. Nach einigen Minuten, in 5929411764
12/17 Minuten, 98823529 7/17 Stunden, 4117647 1/ 17 Tagen oder 11281 Jahren und 82
1/17 Tagen. Jahre und Jahrhunderte in Tage, Stunden, Minuten und Secunden
aufzulösen war für Dase überhaupt nur Sache eroes Augenblicks, und Brüche
berechnete er mit derselben Leichtigkeit, wie ganze Zahlen.

Am Schlusse seiner Vorstellungen gab Dase noch einige Proben des von ihm
sogenannten Ueberblickes, indem er die auf einer beliebigen Anzahl ausgelegter
Dominosteine befindlichen Augen angab, nachdem er einen flüchtigen Blick darauf
geworfen. Von diesem merkwürdigen Ueberblick habe ich ausserdem zahlreiche Proben
gesehen. Dase zählte auf diese Weise eine Handvoll Erbsen oder Bohnen, welche man
auf einen Teller schüttete, eine Reihe von Büchern auf einem Repositorium,
aufgeschichtete Stücke Brennholz, die Augen auf einer grossen Anzahl ausgebreiteter
Spielkarten u. a. m., ohne das Auge länger als 1 — 2 Secunden darauf zu richten und
ohne jemals zu irren. Kam eine Irrung vor, so gab er sie selbst vorher an; er schätzte z. B.
die Anzahl einer Handvoll Erbsen auf 242, zeigte aber dabei sogleich auf zwei Erbsen,
die er vielleicht doppelt gezählt habe. Wenn er eine Zahl mit Bestimmtheit als richtig
angab, so fand sie sich auch immer richtig.

Dieselbe Sicherheit bewies er auch bei den Rechnungsaufgaben. So oft er ein Facit
bestimmt angab, zeigte es sich auch als richtig, und wenn er einen Reclmungsfehler
begangen hatte, so wusste er es jedes Mal selbst, wiederholte die Rechnung (gewöhnlich
mit grösserem Zeitaufwand) und berichtigte den Fehler, ehe er das Facit angab. Wie er
solche Fehler entdeckte, und wodurch er die Gewissheit erlangte, dass seine Rechnung
richtig sei, darüber konnte ich keine genügende Auskunft erhalten. Er schien mir dabei,
so wie ebenfalls bei dem Behalten von Zahlenreihen, einige selbsterfundene Hülfsmittel
anzuwenden, worüber er sich aber nicht näher erklären wollte.

Einmal hat Dase in meinem Beisein 2 Zahlen, jede von 20 Ziffern, im Kopfe mit einander
multiplicirt, wozu er keine 10 Minuten gebrauchte. Die bedeutendsten Aufgaben, welche
er überhaupt gelöst hat, sind das Ausziehen der 52sten Wurzel aus einer 97 ziffrigen
Zahl, und die Multiplication von 2 Zahlen, jede aus 100 Ziffern bestehend, welche er in
München in einem Zeitraum von 8¾ Stunden vollendet hat. Diese ganze Zeit hindurch
hatte er ununterbrochen gerechnet, ohne dadurch angegriffen zu werden. Er versicherte,
dass während dieser grossen Rechnung die Gespräche der anwesenden Personen ihm
 zur Unterhaltung gedient hätten, und dass ihn überhaupt ein Geräusch oder Gespräch
nicht leicht störe, obgleich er es während des Rechnens zugleich hören und verstehen
könne.

Auf meine Frage, wie weit er wohl in der Multiplication zon Ziffern würde gehen können,
erwiderte er, dass er dies selbst nicht wisse, aber kein Bedenken tragen würde, die
Multiplication von zwei 300ziffrigen Zahlen zu übernehmen, und etwa 100 Stunden dazu
gebrauchen werde, um diese Rechnung im Kopfe auszuführen. Nach gemachten
Erfahrungen könne er zwei Sziffrige Zahlen in etwa ¾ Minuten mit einander multipliciren,
12ziffrige Zahlen in 2—2½, Minuten, 20ziffrige in 6—8 Minuten, 40ziffrige in 40 Minuten,
60ziffrige in 3 Stunden, 100ziffrige in 8¾ Stunden. Die Zeit, welche er zur Multiplication
grösserer Zahlen brauchen würde, berechnete er nach der höchsten Summe der zu
addirenden

- page 251 -

February 19 and 26, 1856

ROBERT STEPHENSON, M.P., President, in the Chair

Mr. ROBERT STEPHENSON, - President, - said, Gentlemen,

before calling on our friend Mr. Bidder to commence his lecture, I
need scarcely offer an apology for thus sanctioning a deviation
from the usual course, in favour of receiving an oral address to
this Institution; the present case is so exceptional, that the Council
unite with me in appreciating the difficulty experienced by Mr.
Bidder in endeavouring to commit to paper his ideas on the
abstruse subject of mental calculation; indeed, so great was that
difficulty, that the subject must have been abandoned, if the
Council had not consented to receive it in the form of an oral
address.
It will require great dexterity on the part of the speaker, to elucidate all the processes, and
will demand your careful attention to comprehend, and appreciate the power and ability
necessary to be brought to bear on the subject, to the practical application of which his
early years were devoted, and which, after a long interval, he has now resumed, with the
intention of endeavouring to render intelligible those very difficult processes of the mind.
There have been several instances of the possession of great power of mental calculation,
and of extreme rapidity of multiplying figures and tracing their mutual relation, but I
believe, that hitherto, none of these gifted persons, even after enjoying the benefits of
education, have been enabled to render intelligible the source of the power, or to describe
clearly the processes employed.
Even after his exposition, it is probable that Mr. Bidder may not be able to make us all
mental calculators; but I have little doubt of his succeeding in explaining clearly to us,
some of those wonderful properties of his own mind which have rendered him so
conspicuous among those few persons in the world, who have possessed that extraordinary
power of dealing with figures; I therefore ask your careful attention to the remarks of our
friend.

"On Mental Calculation."

By George Parker Bidder, Vice-President.
 Mr. Bidder, V.P., said, - Gentlemen, my very kind and worthy friend, the President, has explained to
you the circumstances which render it necessary, that the experience I have had as a mental
calculator, and the views I entertain on the subject of mental calculation, should be communicated
verbally to the meet-

- page 252 -

ing, instead of being transmitted to you through our worthy Secretary. But, before I commence
my remarks, I must solicit your kindest indulgence and your greatest forbearance. I am about to
undertake a task to which I am totally unaccustomed, that of offering to a public assembly an
address of the length to which I feel this subject will extend. I trust, however, that if anything be
left obscure, or unexplained, you will make a note of the points requiring elucidation; and before
the discussion is closed I will endeavour to afford the beat explanation in my power, and to
supply that which may have been left incomplete.
I have frequently attempted to reduce to writing my views on the subject, and if all I had to
communicate to you were merely a, short description, or an abbreviated process, I could
easily commit those views to paper. But the points to which I am anxious to direct your
attention are the principal operations which are concerned in mental computation. I desire,
as far as I can, to lay open my mind to you, and to exhibit the rapid evolutions which it,
undergoes in mental computation. It is not for me to say, that this task is beyond the power
of those who are accustomed to writing, but it is certainly far beyond any powers that I
possess.
I have, for many years, entertained a strong conviction, that mental arithmetic can be
taught, as easily, if not even with greater facility, than ordinary arithmetic, and that it may
be rendered conducive to more useful purposes, than that of teaching by rule; that it may be
taught in such a way as to strengthen the reasoning powers of the youthful mind; so to
enlarge it, as to ennoble it and to render it, capable of embracing all knowledge, particularly
that appertaining to the exact sciences. Whether this view be right, or wrong, since I have
entertained it, I have felt it was due to society to communicate my impression; leaving to
others, should there be any practical utility in the suggestion, the task of carrying it into
effect. My time has, moreover, been for many years wholly devoted to professional
avocations, and I have accordingly, with that disposition to procrastinate, which more, or
less belongs to us all, delayed the performance of this duty from time to time; - and I might
perhaps still have delayed it, but that I was determined by a strong desire to seize the first
opportunity afforded, during the occupation of the Chair by my oldest and best friend.
I must, in the outset, mention that those friends to whom I have, at various times,
communicated my view, that mental arithmetic could be taught, have almost invariably
dissented from me. They have urged, that although there are several instances on record, in
which the faculty of calculation has been remarkably developed, yet, comparatively
speaking, - and in comparison with the masses of the population in the world, those
instances have been very few and very rare. In fact, Jedediah Buxton

- page 253 -

and Zerah Colborne are the only two mental calculators who have attained any great degree of
celebrity in modern days. It has been further urged that, in order to attain eminence in the science
of mental arithmetic, there must be an especial turn of mind, an extraordinary power of memory,
and great mathematical aptitude. I have endeavoured to examine my own mind, to compare it
with that of others, and to discover if such be the case, but I can detect no particular turn of mind,
beyond a predilection for figures, which many possess almost in an equal degree with myself. I
do not mean to assert, that all minds are alike constituted to succeed in mental computation; but I
do say that, as far as I can judge, there may be as large a number of successful mental calculators
as there are - who attain eminence in any other branch of learning. As regards memory, I had in
boyhood, at school and at college, many opportunities of comparing my powers of memory with
those of others, and I am convinced that I do not possess that faculty in any remarkable degree.
If, however, I have not any extraordinary amount of memory, I admit that my mind has
received a degree of cultivation in dealing with figures, in a particular manner, which has
induced in it a peculiar power; I repeat, however, that this power is, I believe, capable of
being attained by any one disposed to devote to it the necessary time and attention. In other
respects than numbers, I have not an extraordinary memory; indeed, I have great difficulty
in learning anything by rote. I may learn a page of literature, or poetry, but it is no sooner
learned than it is forgotten. On the other hand, facts which I have been at some pains to
obtain, and which have induced conviction after examination and reasoning upon them,
when once fixed in my mind become indelible. In this, however, there is nothing
extraordinary, and the majority of students have experienced the difference between
learning lessons by heart and having them impressed on the mind by reasoning,
explanation, or experiment. As regards mathematical aptitude, I cannot be mistaken, for
when I was associated with large classes, I experienced considerable difficulty in
maintaining a fair position, and in no respect have I ever been distinguished for
mathematical pursuits; indeed, up to the present time I have no great fondness for
mathematical formulae, particularly if they are very abstruse and repulsive in appearance.
I fear you may think that I am occupying your time uselessly with these observations, but I
feel that I shall base my argument upon a strong position, if I can demonstrate to you, in the
outset, that the exercise of mental calculation requires no extraordinary power of memory,
and that mental arithmetic can be taught. I do not, however, mean to say that it ought to be
taught, or that it is desirable to attempt to teach it, to the extent to which I have

- page 254 -

been tumbled to carry it. I have sacrificed years of labour, - I have striven with much
perseverance, to obtain, and to retain a power, or mastery over numbers which will probably, at
all times, be as rare, as its utility in the ordinary affairs of life. Far be it, from me, however, to say
that it has been of little use to me. Undoubtedly the acquirement has attracted towards me, a
degree of notice, which has ended in raising me from the position of a common labourer, in
which I was born, to that of being able to address you as one of the Vice-Presidents of this
distinguished Society. But as I have already said, I am not about to lay before you any
abbreviated process of calculation; there are no "royal roads" to mental arithmetic. Whoever
wishes to achieve proficiency in that, as in any other branch of science, will only succeed by
years of labour and of patient application. In short, in the solution of any arithmetical question,
however simple, or complicated, every mental process must be analogous to that which is
indicated in working out algebraical formula. No one step can be omitted; but all and every one
must be taken up one after another, in such consecutive order, that if reduced to paper, the
process might appear prolix, complicated, and inexpeditious, although it is actually arranged with
a view of affording relief to the memory. And here let me say, that the exercise of the memory is
the only real strain on the mind, and which limits the extent to which mental calculation may be
carried. It may be imagined that this is somewhat inconsistent with my previous observation that
I possess no extraordinary power of memory. But it must be borne in mind, that my memory is
the limit by which my mental powers are restricted; and that the processes I pursue are all
adopted, simply with a view of relieving the registering powers of the mind, i. e., the memory.
Now, taking you back to your early infancy, endeavour to recall the first things to which
 your attention was invited. As infants you were first taught to speak; - you were then taught
letters; - then the combination of letters into words; then of words into sentences; and after
that you gradually acquired an extensive vocabulary of words and facts. We possess and
store these words and facts in our minds, to be occasionally called forth as we need them.
For instance, in reading the page of a, book, it is clear to me, however rapidly you may read
it, that every letter of that page passes in review through the mind. The mind first combines
the letters upon the page into words, then the words into sentences, and, from those
sentences, it extracts the meaning.
Now, in mental calculation I have accumulated, not a very great number of facts, after all; -
but I do possess them, and although at this moment I am unconscious of their being so
stored up, yet

- page 255 -

the moment I have a question to solve I have them instantly at command. And it appears to me
that, in both cases, the phenomena may be compared to that which we have all observed in
Nature. If, on a dark night, there occurs a storm of lightning, during the instant of the flash,
although immeasurable in point of time, every object is rendered clear, and out of that view, so
placed before us, we can select some one object for our consideration. So I believe it is in the
mind; whenever, as in calculation, I feel called upon to make use of the stores of my mind, they
seem to rise with the rapidity of lightning. The reasoning faculty seizes upon a particular series of
facts necessary for the purpose, deals with each fact according as the circumstances require, and
transmits it to the memory for registration. But the registration required for figures is very
different from that demanded for ordinary occurrences. An author, when writing on any subject,
first forms the argument in his mind, or frames an outline of the plot, which he proposes to fill
up; but in the mode of recording his views in writing, he has the advantage of an infinite variety
of combinations of words, more or less clear and expressive, without feeling restricted to any
particular words, or form of expression. But in mental computation there is no such latitude; if
you wish to commit arithmetical processes to paper, you must record them in the exact form in
which you have reasoned on them, and in their exact sequence and order; a wrong figure, or a
figure misplaced would vitiate the whole result, and hence the great strain on the mind
occasioned by mental computation; everything must be remembered with perfect accuracy, and
when the number of impressions to be retained in the mind is large, the retention of them with
sufficient distinctness is a work of great mental labour. Hence it is that where the impressions
required are few and simple, they are taken up with great rapidity; but in proportion as the
numbers increase, so the registration by the mind becomes more and more difficult, until at last
the process becomes as slow as registration upon paper. When that point is arrived at, it is clear
that the utility of mental calculation ceases, and the process ought to be carried on upon paper.
But up to that point the velocity of the mental process cannot be adequately expressed; the
utterance of words cannot equal it; in fact, as compared with the process of speaking, or of
writing, it is as the velocity of a message transmitted by telegraph to the speed of an express
train.
I can perhaps convey to you no stronger view of this subject than by mentioning, that, were
my powers of registration at all equal to the powers of reasoning, or execution, I should
have no difficulty, in an inconceivable short space of time, in composing a voluminous
table of logarithms; but the power of registration

- page 256 -
limits the power of calculation, and as I said before, it is only with great labour and stress of mind
that mental calculation can be carried on beyond a certain extent. Now, for instance, suppose that
I had to multiply 89 by 73, I should say instantly 6497; if I read the figures written out before me
I could not express a result more correctly, or more rapidly; this facility has, however, tended to
deceive me, for I fancied that I possessed a multiplication table up to 100 times 100, and, when in
full practice, even beyond that; but, I was in error; the fact is that I go through the entire
operation of the computation in that short interval of time which it takes me to announce the
result to you. I multiply 80 by 70, 80 by 3; 9 by 70, and 9 by 3; which will be the whole of the
process as expressed algebraically, and then I add them up in what appears to be merely an
instant of time. This is done without labour to the mind; and I can do any quantity of the same
sort of calculation without, any labour; and can continue it for a long period; but when the
number of figures increases, the strain on the mind is augmented in a very rapid ratio. As
compared with the operation on paper, in multiplying 3 figures by 3 figures, you have three lines
of 4 figures each, or 12 figures in the process to be added up; in multiplying 6 figures into 6
figures, you have six lines of 7 figures, or 42 figures to be added up. The time, therefore, in
registration on paper will be as 12 to 42. But the process in the mind is different. Not only have I
that additional number of facts to create, but they must be imprinted on the mind. The
impressions to be made are more in number, they are also more varied, and the impression
required is so much deeper, that instead of being like 3 or 4 to 1, it is something like 10 to 1.
Instead of increasing by the square, I believe it increases by the fourth power. I do not pretend to
say that it can be expressed mathematically, but the ratio increases so rapidly that it soon limits
the useful effect of mental calculation. As a great effort I have multiplied 12 places of figures by
12 places of figures; but that has required much time, and was a great strain upon the mind.
Therefore, in stating my conviction that mental arithmetic could be taught, I would desire it to be
understood, that the limits within which it may be usefully and properly applied, should be
restricted to multiplying 3 figures by 3 figures. Up to that extent, I believe it may be taught with
considerable facility, and will be received by young minds, so disposed, quite as easily as the
ordinary rules of arithmetic.
The reason for my obtaining the peculiar power of dealing with numbers may be attributed
to the fact, that I understood the value of numbers before I knew the symbolical figures. I
learned to calculate before I could read, and therefore long before I knew

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one figure from another. In consequence of this, the numbers have, always had a significance and
a meaning to me very different to that which figures convey to children in general. If a boy is
desired to multiply 3487 by 3273 he goes through a certain process, which he has been taught
dogmatically; he cannot explain the process, or the reasons for adopting it, but he arrives, almost
mechanically, at the amount, - 11,412,951; which he has been taught is the result he should
obtain, without any appreciation of what the figures represent, or how he arrives at them.
The process may, without exaggeration, be compared to the task of committing to memory
a page of letters, instead of a page of words. Most of us would, without much difficulty,
undertake to learn by heart a page of either prose, or poetry, but there are few among us
who would undertake the same task with a page of letters. In fact there would be just the
difference between attempting to remember a telegraphic message, transmitted by a code of
arbitrary signals, and one sent in plain words.
After these necessary preliminary observations, I shall proceed to address myself more
closely to the subject proposed to be treated, and in doing so, instead of submitting to you
any speculation of my own, I shall rather endeavour to trace chronologically my own
experience as a mental computator, commencing with my earliest years; I desire frankly to
 lay before you the steps I pursued in attaining the power of calculation, and to submit to
you my own inferences, leaving you of course to draw your own conclusions, if they differ
from those which I shall have the honour of offering to you. I propose therefore, with your
kind permission, first to take you through the process of multiplication; and I begin with
that rule because it is the basis of all calculations. Whoever has attained the power of
multiplying with facility, either on paper, or mentally, possesses the elementary machine,
which enables him to apply that power to any purpose of calculation. If a simile may be
permitted, I would compare it to the case of a man who possesses a powerful steam engine,
and whether he uses it for knitting stockings, or for pumping water from the depths of the
bowels of the earth, the power is equally utilized; whilst without the machine, the limits of
his individual force are soon reached.
As nearly as I can recollect, it was at about the age of six years, that I was first introduced
to the science of figures. My Father was a working mason, and my elder Brother pursued
the same calling. My first and only instructor in figures was that elder Brother, who was
some years since removed from among us by death; the instruction he gave me was
commenced by teaching me to count up to 10. Having accomplished this, he induced me to
go on to 100, and there he stopped. Having acquired a

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certain knowledge of numbers, by counting up to 100, I amused myself by repeating the process,
and found, that by stopping at 10, and repeating that every time, I counted up to 100 much
quicker than by going straight through the series. I counted up to 10, then to 10 again = 20, 3
times 10 = 30, 4 times 10 = 40, and so on. This may appear to you a simple process, but I attach
the utmost importance to it, because it made me perfectly familiar with numbers up to 100; they
became as it were my friends, and I knew all their relations and acquaintances. Yoy must bear in
mind, that at this time I did not know one written, or printed figure from another, and my
knowledge of language was so restricted, that I did not know there was such a word as
"multiply;" but having acquired the power of counting up to 100 by 10 and by 5, I set about, in
my own way, to acquire the multiplication table. This I arrived at by getting peas, or marbles, and
at last I obtained a treasure in a small bag of shot: I used to arrange them into squares, of 8 on
each side, and then on counting them throughout. I found that the whole number amounted to 64:
by that process I satisfied my mind, not only as a matter of memory but as a matter of conviction,
that 8 times 8 were 64; and that fact once established has remained there undisturbed until this
day, and I dare say it will remain so to the end of my days. It was in this way that I acquired the
whole multiplication table up to 10 times 10; beyond which I never went; it was all that I
required.
At the period referred to, there resided, in a house opposite to my Father's, an aged
Blacksmith, a kind old man who, not having any children, had taken a nephew as his
apprentice. With this old gentleman I struck up an early acquaintance and was allowed the
privilege of running about his workshop. As my strength increased, I was raised to the
dignity of being permitted to blow the bellows for him, and on winter evenings I was
allowed to perch myself on his forge hearth, listening to his stories. On one of these
occasions, somebody by chance mentioned a sum, whether it was 9 times 9 or what it was I
do not now recollect; but whatever it was, I gave the answer correctly. This occasioned
some little astonishment; they then asked me other questions, which I answered with equal
facility. They then went on to ask me up to two places of figures: 13 times 17 for instance;
that was rather beyond me, at the time, but I had been accustomed to reason on figures, and
I said 13 times 17 means 10 times 10 plus 10 times 7, plus 10 times 3 and 3 times 7. I said
10 times 10 are 100, 10 times 7 are 70, 10 times 3 are 30, and 3 times 7 are 21; which
 added together give the result, 221; of course I did not do it then as rapidly as afterwards,
but I gave the answer correctly, as was verified by the old gentleman's nephew, who began
chalking it up to see if I was right. As a natural con-

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sequence, this increased my fame still more, and what was better, it eventually caused halfpence
to flow into my pocket; which I need not say, had the effect of attaching me still more to the
science of arithmetic, and thus by degrees I got on, until the multiple arrived at thousands. Then
of course my powers of numeration had to be increased, and it, was explained to me that 10
hundreds meant 1000. Numeration beyond that point, is very simple in its features; 1000 rapidly
gets up to 10,000 and 20,000, as it is simply 10, or 20 repeated over again, with thousands at the
end, instead of nothing. So by degrees, I became familiar with the numeration table, up to a
million. From 2 places of figures, I got to 3 places; - then to 4 places of figures, which took me
up of course to tens of millions; then I ventured to 5 and 6 places of figures which I could
eventually treat with great facility, and as already mentioned, on one occasion I went through the
task of multiplying 12 places of figures by 12 figures; but it was a great and distressing effort.
Now, gentlemen, I wish particularly to impress upon you, that in order to multiply up to 3
places of figures by 3 figures, the number of facts I had to store in my mind was less, than
what was requisite for the acquisition of the common multiplication table up to 12 times
12. For the latter it is necessary to retain 72 facts; whereas my multiplication, up to 10
times 10, required only 50 facts. Then I had only to recollect, in addition, the permutations
among the numbers up to a million, that is to say, I had to recollect, that 100 times 100
were 10,000, 10 times l0,000 were 100,000, and that ten hundred thousand made a million.
In order to do that, I had only the permutations on 6 facts, which amounted to only 18 in
number, therefore all the machinery requisite to multiply up to 3 places of figures was
restricted to 68 facts; whilst the ordinary multiplication table, reaching to 12 times 12,
required 72 facts. Now, the importance of this is not perhaps immediately apparent, to you,
but let me put an example to you. If you ask a boy abruptly "what is 900 times 80;" he
hesitates and cannot answer; because the permutations are not apparent to him; but if he
had the required facts as much at his command as he had any fact in the ordinary
multiplication table, viz., that 10 times 10 = 100, and that 900 times 80 was nothing more
than 9 times 8 by 100 times 10, he, would answer off hand 72000; and if he could answer
that, he would as easily say 900 times 800 = 720,000. If the facts were stored away in his
mind, so as to be available at the instant, he would give the answer without hesitation. If a,
boy had that power at his command, he might at once, with an ordinary memory, proceed to
compute and calculate 3 places of figures; but then there is an essential difference in the
mode of manipulation, adopted by the mind, and

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when recording it on paper. On paper when you multiply any number of figures, you begin with
the units' places and proceed successively to the left hand, and then you add them up. That
process is impracticable in the mind; I could neither remember the figures, nor could I, unless by
a great effort, on a particular occasion, recollect a series of lines of figures; but in mental
arithmetic you begin at the left hand extremity, and you conclude at the unit, allowing only one
fact to be impressed on the mind at a time. You modify that fact every instant as the process goes
on; but still the object is to have one fact, and one fact only, stored away at, any one time.
Probably I had better commence with an instance or two: there are (pointing to the board) 373 by
279; I mark those two numbers down at haphazard, the result of that, is 104,067; now the way I
arrive at this result is this - I multiply 200 into 300 = 60,000; then multiplying 200 into 70, gives
14,000, I then add them together, and obliterating the previous figures from my mind, carry
forward 74,000; I multiply 3 by 200 = 600, and I add that on and carry forward 74,600. I then
multiply 300 by 70 = 21,000, which added to 74,600, the previous result, gives 95,600, and I
obliterate the first. Then multiplying 70 by 70 = 4900 and adding that amount, gives 100,500.
Then multiplying 70 by 3 = 210, and adding as before, gives 100,710. I then have to multiply 9
into 300 = 2700, and pursuing the same process brings the result to 103,410; then multiplying 9
into 70 = 630, and adding again = 104,040; then multiplying 9 into 3 = 27, and adding as before,
gives the product, 104,067. That is the process I go through in my mind.
Taking another example; for instance, multiplying 173 x 397, the following process is
performed mentally: -
100 x 397 = 39,700
70 x 300 = 21,000 = 50,700
70 x 90 - = 6,300 = 67,000
70 x 7 - - = 490 = 67,490
3 x 300 - - - = 900 = 68,390
3 x 90 - - - = 270 = 68,660
3x 7 - - - - = 21 = 68,681
The last result in each operation being alone registered by the memory, all the previous
results being consecutively obliterated until a total product is obtained.
To show the aptitude of the mind by practice, the above process might be much
abbreviated, for I should know at a glance, that
400 x 173 = 69,200
and then . . . 3 x 173 = 519
the difference being . . . 68,681 as above.

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Now, gentlemen, it must be apparent, and must be received as an established fact, that
reduced to paper, mental processes do not recommend themselves as expeditious; but that,
on the contrary, they are very often prolix; they are, in reality, solely designed to facilitate
the registration in the mind. Although I did that sum almost instantaneously, every one of
those processes was performed in my mind; but when, as you saw, I had to register them on
the board, that process could not be recommended as either short, clear, or satisfactory. You
will see, however, that the process I adopt is, as it were, a process of natural algebra. I have,
in fact, worked out this algebraic formula (a + b + c) x (d + e + f) = ad + ae + af + bd + be +
bf + cd + ce + cf.
Fortunately for me I began by dealing with natural instead of artificial algebra. No man can
carry any number of unmeaning symbols in his mind, but I had to deal with numbers which
I understood, and I believe it was because my tuition began with this natural mode, that I
attained the power I now possess; and I think it will be apparent, that teaching arithmetic in
this manner, is that which is most likely to recommend itself to beginners, because you are
enabled to show them, at every step, that the operation which they are called upon to
execute, is that which is right in itself, and will satisfy their reason; and it has this further
advantage, that unlike the ordinary mode of teaching arithmetic, which is by dogmas, the
mind, instructed in the way I recommend, would have its reasoning powers generally
strengthened; it would be taught to rely on itself, and thus one of the great objects of
education, - that of strengthening the reasoning powers and the resources of the mind -
 would be generally promoted.
I now propose, after having, I hope, elucidated the process of multiplication, to show you
how, step by step, I proceeded to apply the same process to other rules, even up to the
extraction of square and cube roots, - compound interest, and the investigation of prime
numbers. For all these questions it was necessary to invent my own rules, as I received no
suggestions from any one, to assist me. All that was ever explained to me was the meaning
of the square, or the cube root, or whatever was the particular branch of arithmetic to which
my attention was directed; for as I said before, to show to what a limited extent my
education had advanced, when I commenced seriously to calculate, my vocabulary was so
restricted, that I did not even know the meaning of the word "multiply." The first time I was
asked to "multiply " some small affair, say 23 by 27, I did not know what was meant; - and
it was not until I was told that it meant 23 times 27 that I could comprehend the term; I
believe, however, that it is not unimportant, that I should have begun without knowing the

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meaning of the conventional term "multiply," because the words "23 times 27" had to my
comprehension a distinct meaning; which was - that 23 times 27 meant 20 times 20, plus 20
times 7, and 3 times 7 plus 20 times 3. It must be evident then, that the powers I possess are
derived from careful training; which resulted very much from accident at first, and I think this
want of knowledge of terms was one of the accidents, that particularly favoured my progress in
arithmetic.
(In order to elucidate the position assumed, Mr. Bidder then went slowly through the
process of multiplication in the mental form; recording the result at, each consecutive step
and examining the previous figures during each process.)
Before proceeding to the second part of the subject, comprising the advanced rules, I must
disabuse the minds of those who may have thought, that one of the objects I had in
addressing this Institution was to lay a claim for myself, to some invention in the process of
calculation; and that I intended to lay the foundation for myself of some credit, in detailing
what appeared to me conducive hereafter to facilitating the education of youth. I beg to
assure you, that such was not my intention. Indeed, perhaps, few people are less informed
than myself, as to what has been written on mental calculation. With the exception of
Bonnycastle, I do not know, that I ever opened a treatise on arithmetic in my life. It is
therefore probable, that many of my suggestions will be found in works on arithmetic. If
that be the case, I shall be much gratified, because it, will be satisfactory to me, that those
minds which have been practically directed to the subject, corroborate my views as to what
may be found practically useful. My only object has been to present to you a faithful record
of the result of a particular training in my own mind; - to unbosom, as it were before you,
its manipulations; and to leave you to draw such inferences as you may think fit.
My object has been especially to call your attention to the fact, that mental calculation
depends on two faculties of the mind, in simultaneous operation, - computing and
registering the result; -the faculty of computing depending on the mind having a store of
facts at its command, which it may summon to its use, without apparent effort; and the
latter, - the registering, - depending on the tendency of the processes to bring all
calculations, as far as it may be practicable, into one result, and to have that one result
alone, at a time, registered upon the mind.
I have laid great stress on the importance of beginning to study numbers and quantities
naturally, before being introduced to them through the medium of symbols; and I am
confirmed in this opinion, by the fact, that already, in consequence of my remarks, several
 gentlemen who have applied them practically, acknowledge

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that the chief difficulty they have experienced, has been in retaining in their memory the figures
representing the numbers with which they proposed to deal, and not the numbers themselves.
I believe that much of the facility of mental calculation, and also of mastery over numbers,
depends on having the idea of numbers impressed upon the mind, without any reference to
symbols. The number 763 is represented symbolically by three figures 7-6-3; but 763 is
only one quantity, - one number, - one idea, and it presents itself to my mind just as the
word 'hippopotamus' presents the idea of one animal. Now if you were called upon to
represent the animal 'hippopotamus' by the figures 174754, it would be far more difficult to
remember, because those figures have no relation to one another, - they do not guide to
another sequence; and hence I feel - and it is an opinion, on which, the more I reflect, the
more I am confirmed, that you should have numbers impressed on your mind as an idea
connected, or identified, with themselves, and not through the 'dry-bones,' of figures. The
word 'mind,' if recollected merely in connection with four symbols, or the four letters M-I-
N-D, would create a much greater difficulty to the memory, than the word 'mind,' with
which a signification is immediately associated.
I have already pointed out to you that, within certain limits, the power of registration keeps
pace with computation; but that when such limit was passed mental computation could no
longer be used with advantage. I have fixed that limit at multiplying 3 figures by 3 figures;
and I do not assign that limit without reason. Each set, or series of 3 figures, constitutes a
step in numbers, 787 is one series, - the second series is 787 thousand, the next series 787
millions, the next 787 thousand millions, and the next 787 billions. Therefore, at the change
beyond each third figure, another idea must be seized by the mind; and though it is but one
idea, yet with all the training I have had, when I pass three figures, and jump from 787 to
1787, I cannot realize to myself that it is but one idea; - in fact there are two, and this
increases the strain on the registering powers of the mind.
In explaining the process of multiplication I pointed out to you the necessity of keeping
only one result before the mind at a time; and you will find, throughout the whole of the
remarks I shall have to submit to you, that the same plan is pursued, and that, wherever it is
practicable, one result alone is presented to the memory for registration. I must impress
upon you that this is the key to all other processes in arithmetic. Whoever is master of the
multiplication table, and will make it his own in the way I have described, will be at no loss
to find for himself a method of applying it to every other branch of arithmetic. In dealing
with figures, it confers the same kind of advantage over a person who only knows

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numbers through symbols, as would be possessed by a man judging of the general contour of a
country from an eminence, as compared with the observations of a man attempting to view it
from between two hedges.
With your permission I propose now to direct your attention, shortly, to Addition,
Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division, as applied to weights and measures, time, and
money; to Cube and Square Roots, Compound Interest and Prime Numbers, and then to
conclude with a few general remarks.
With respect to Addition and Subtraction I have little to observe, because I follow the same
system as in Multiplication; beginning with the left-hand figures and proceeding
 consecutively to the right. By this means I have only one result to register; as I get rid of
the first series of figures I have no necessity for keeping in view the numbers with which I
have to deal. It does not follow that I do not recollect them; on the contrary, I invariably
bear them in mind; but my object is always to relieve the mind from the feeling of
oppression arising from the necessity of keeping an accurate record, and to seek for that
relief by dealing with the other parts of the operation, in such manner as to accomplish it;
for the only strain I have experienced, has been whenever the registering power is at all
oppressed.
Division is, as in ordinary arithmetic, much more difficult than Multiplication, as it must be
a tentative process, and is only carried out by a series, more or less, of guesses; but no
doubt in this respect, the training arrived at by mental arithmetic gives the power of
guessing, to a greater extent than is usually attained, and affords a corresponding facility in
the process. Supposing for instance, that it be necessary to divide 25696 by 176, the
following is the process: - 100 must be the first figure of the factor; 100 times 176 are
known at once to be 17600; subtracting that from 25696 there remains 8096; it is perceived
that 40 is the next number in the factor; 40 times 176 = 7040, there then remains 1056 -
that, it is immediately perceived, gives a remaining factor of 6, making in all 146; thus only
one result is retained in the mind at a time; but as contrasted with Multiplication it is
necessary to keep registered in the mind two results which are always changing, viz.: the
remainder of the number to be divided, and the numbers of the factor, as they are
determined. If it is known, as is the case in the present instance, that 176 is the exact factor,
without any remainder, having got the first factor - 100 - which is perceived at a glance: it
is known, that there are only four numbers, which multiplied by 76 could produce a result
terminating in 96, viz.: 21-46-71- and 96, and, therefore, the immediate inference is, that it
must be 46, as 121 must be too little, and 171 must be too much, therefore

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146 must be the factor. Thus, as before observed, the only facility afforded by mental calculation
is the greater power of guessing at every step towards the result.
In multiplying pounds, shillings, and pence, - weights and measures, - or lineal dimensions,
by any number, the operation must be the same; I begin with the pounds, and having
multiplied them, I register them. I then multiply the shillings, reduce them into pounds, and
add them on; and then the pence, and so on, until I come down to the farthings. Thus in
multiplying £14 15s. 6¾d. by 787, I begin 14 times 787 = 11018; - then 787 times 15s. =
£590 5s., making 11608 5s.; then we come to the 6¾d. In cases like this, various expedients
frequently suggest themselves: thus, instead of multiplying by 6d., and then by ¾d., I find a
facility in reducing the 6¾d. into 27 farthings, then 787 multiplied by 27 = 21249, which
reduced to pounds amounts to £22 2s. 8¼d. These several sums added together give a total
of £11630 7s. 8¼d.
Again, in questions involving divisions of time, distances, weight, money, &c., it is
convenient to bear in mind the number of seconds in a year, inches or barleycorns in a mile,
ounces and pounds in a cwt. and ton, pence and farthings in a pound sterling, &c.
Thus I worked out for myself that in a year there are 31,530,000 seconds, 525600 minutes,
and 8760 hours; that in a mile there are 100,080 barleycorns, 63360 inches, 5280 feet, and
1760 yards; that in a ton there are 35840 ounces, and 2240 lbs.; and in a cwt. 1792 ounces,
and 112 lbs.; and in a pound sterling, 900 farthings, and 240 pence. These, then, were so
many ascertained facts, which having at my command were always ready for use, when
they could be applied with advantage. Thus, for example, to find the number of seconds in
87 years. In an ordinary way you would proceed as follows: -
 87 x 52 = 4524 weeks.
4524 x 7 = 31668 days.
add for odd days 87
31755 total days.
31755 x 24 = 762,120 hours,
762,120 x 60 = 45,727,200 minutes,
and 45,727,200 x 60 = 2,743,632,000 seconds;

an operation which, worked out, involves the use of 68 figures, while I should do it in my
own mind by multiplying 31,536,000 by 87, requiring by the longest process only 26
figures, and yet giving the same result. As an example in lineal measure, sup-

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pose it is required to find the number of barleycorns in 587 miles, the ordinary process, viz., -
1,760 x 587 x 3 x 12 x 3 = 111,576,960, when worked out, requires 50 figures; while, mentally, I
should multiply 190,080, the number of barleycorns in a mile, by 587, which would not require
half the number of figures. These instances will render sufficiently evident, the great facility that
is given, even in ordinary arithmetic, by having at command such a store of facts, as those to
which I have alluded.
I now come to the question of Square and Cube Roots. Nothing ever excited so much
surprise on the part of those who examined me, as the facility with which questions were
answered in those arithmetical rules. Yet there is no part of mental calculation for which I
am entitled to less credit. In fact, it is a mere sleight of art, as I shall show you. When I was
first asked to extract the square root, I did not know what the term square root meant, and
this was explained by saying, as 400 = 20 x 20, that 20 was called the square root of 400;
and similarly that as 8 = 2 x 2 x 2, that 8 was the cube of 2, and 2 was the cube root of 8.
Having received this explanation, I devised my own rules for performing the operation, and
this was facilitated by the fact, that the numbers submitted to me were almost invariably
perfect, squares, or cubes, arising from the circumstance that, in order to gave themselves
trouble, those who questioned me, squared, or cubed a number, as the readiest mode of
testing the accuracy of my reply, which being found correct, they were satisfied and so was
I. The consequence was, that nearly every example proposed was a true square, or cube;
hence I hit upon, the following expedient. It appeared on reflection, that whatever might be
the two last figures of a true square, as for instance 61, it could only be produced by the
square of four numbers, viz., 19-31-69-81; hence if called upon to extract the square root of
337,561, I saw as easily as I saw that 5 was the nearest square root to 33, that 500 was the
nearest square root to 330,000, and consequently, that 581 was the square root, inasmuch as
81 stands nearly in the same relation between 500 and 600, as 337,561 does between
250,000 and 360,000, the squares of 500 and 600 respectively.
In reference to square numbers terminating in 25; although all numbers ending in 5, when
squared, give 25 as terminals, I noticed that the squares of numbers ending in 5, 45, 55, and
95, ended in 025, and that those of the numbers terminating, in 15, 35, 65, and 85, ended in
225; whereas the squares of those ending in 25 and 75, ended in 625. Hence in extracting
the square root of 442225, I perceived, as before, that 600 must
 - page 267 -

be the first factor, and that the last one must lie between 15, 35, 65, and 85, and judging from the
position of 442,225 between 360,000 and 490,000, the squares of 600 and 700 respectively, I saw
that 65 was the factor required, and the root therefore was 665.
Now, as to the Cube Root, it was still more simple, because there were fewer numbers to
select from: thus if it were an even number terminating in 76; there were only two numbers,
26 and 76, of which the cube would terminate in 76. If the number was an odd one,
terminating, for example, in 17, and it was a true cube : then the root of that number must
terminate in 73, as no other number, when cubed, would terminate in 17. Now, as regarded
numbers terminating in 5; the cubes of some of them, namely, 5, 25, 45, 65 and 85,
terminated in 25; while those of 15, 35, 55, 75, and 95, terminated in 75.
For example, if called upon to extract the cube root of 188,132,517, I knew, that as the cube
of 5 was 125 and that of 6 was 216, the first figure in the root must be 500; and as 73 was
the only number left, which, being cubed, could produce a sum ending in 17, I guessed,
with accuracy, that the cube root was 573. So I proceeded similarly in finding the cube root
of 180,362,125, but I was then obliged to take a little more time than in the other case. I
knew that 5 was the first figure, but whether the two last figures should be 65 or 85 I was
not certain: I cubed 560, and found it was 175,616,000, and then I perceived that the root
must be 565.
I used thus to arrive at a square, or cube root, in my own way; but if I suspected that the
number was not a perfect square, or cube, I tested it by 'casting out the nines' - a process
familiar to arithmeticians; and in such cases, the results were approximated to by a tentative
process, and no advantage whatever could be derived from the methods here described.
This leads me to the subject of Compound Interest, relative to which I am afraid I shall find
some difficulty in making myself understood as clearly as I should desire. I am especially
anxious as to this rule, because if I succeed in explaining it satisfactorily, you will
comprehend the mode of reasoning by which I investigated rules and ascertained some of
the properties of numbers, and more particularly of a series of numbers. I need not tell you
that calculating Compound Interest, without logarithms, is a matter involving immense
labour, especially if it extends over a great number of years. It is raising a fractional
number to a high power, which thus becomes an expanded series and no terms can be
neglected, because the ultimate value of any one term cannot he foreseen. When called
upon to perform sums in Compound Interest, I found them such a source of labour and of
strain upon the memory, that I was induced to seek for some means of relieving it from the
pressure, and in doing this, I adopted

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a mode of reasoning which I will try to explain; as from it you will perceive the tentative process,
by which I arrived at all the rules I adopted in arithmetic.
I will assume, that I was called upon to calculate the compound interest for £100 at 5 per
cent, for 14 years. In the ordinary way, without the use of logarithms, you would begin
thus, -
100 x (1.05) x (1.05) x &c. .... 14 times.
Now 1.05 x 1.05 = 1.1025, and 1.1025 x 1.05 = 1.157625;
which process, carried only a very little further, will involve so many figures, as to be quite
impracticable for the memory.
Now the way in which I proceeded was this; I considered that if £100 was put out at simple
interest for 14 years it would produce 14 x £5 = £70. I then regarded each £5 put out at
 simple interest; thus the first £5 will produce 5s. per aunum, but as it commences at the end
of the first year it will be for a period of 13 years instead of 14 years. In the second year the
£100 gives birth to a second £5 which carries simple interest of 5s. per annum for 12 years.
Similarly the third £5 carries interest for 11 years, and so on, the number of years regularly
diminishing, hence the total amount of interest at 5s. per annum is expressed by a series -
5s. x {13 + 12 + 11 + 10 + 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1}
I had therefore presented to me the problem to sum that series.
It so happened that before I was called upon to deal with compound interest, I was asked
the well-known question, "If a man pick up 100 stones a yard apart, picking them up
separately and putting them in a basket, how far must he travel?" That question set my
mind thinking over the series which is embodied in its solution, and the method I adopted
for obtaining the summation is as follows: - Writing the series the other way we have 1 + 2
+ 3 + 4 + 5+ 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13; now add the successive terms together, one
after another 1 = 1, 1 + 2 = 3, 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10, and so on, and write them,
so as to form another series, viz., 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, &c.
Divide each of these terms by the numbers representing their order as
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th &c.
1 3 6 10 15
viz. &c.
2 2 3 4 5
or 1 1½ 2 2½ 3 &c.
in which it will he seen, that these quotients form a regular progression, each term of which
is half an unit more than half the number expressing the position of the term in the series;
for

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example, in the 4th term, the corresponding quotient is 2½ or ½, more than 4/2 and so on; hence
if 13 he the number of terms as in the case under consideration) we obtain the sum of 13 terms =
13 x (13/2 + ½) = (13 x 14) / 2 * and therefore the interest = ((13 x 14) / 2) x 5s. = £22 15s. 0d.
This added to the £70 before mentioned, gives a total of £92 15s. 0d.
The next stage of the proceeding was to consider each 5s. as put out at simple interest,
namely 3d. per annum.
Now the first 5s. (the interest upon the first Ј5) accrues in the second year, and therefore
will carry simple interest for 12 years. The second year's simple interest of 5s. arising out of
the first £5 will similarly run for 11 years and so on.
Thus it appears that the calculation of the simple interest upon 5s., the interest upon the first
£5, is similar to that of the 5s. the interest upon the first £5, but having one year less to run,
namely, 12 instead of 13 years; hence it is expressed by the formula
n (n+1)
x 3d,
2
In the same way the simple interest upon the 5s., - the interest upon the second £5, - is the
result of the summation of a series like the last, except that it was for 11 years; and so of the
rest
Therefore the series expressing the total amount of interest upon all the 5s. has its terms
made up of the sums of corresponding terms of the former series, or 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 + 15 +
21, &c., giving rise to 1, 4, 10, 20, 35, &c., in which we have 1 = 1, 1 + 3 = 4, 1 + 3 + 6 =
10, 1 + 3 + 6 + 10 = 20, and so on.
Now to sum this series, divide each term by the corresponding term in the previous series
thus -
 1 4 10 20 35 56
1 3 6 10 15 21
giving quotients
1 11/3 12/3 2 21/3 22/3
3 4 5 6 7 8
or
3 3 3 3 3 3
which, as in the former case, are in regular progression, and we observe that in any term,
the fifth for example,
1 7 5+2
35 = 15 x 2 = 15 x = 15 x
3 3 3

* Hence if n be tho number of terms, we have the sum of n terms =

n (n+1)
2
for the general formula.

- page 270 -

or the numerator of the fractional multiplier, is the number of the term of the series + 2, and so of
the rest.
But the 15 is, as we have seen, made up of the summation of 5 terms of the previous series
(1 + 2 + 3, &c.) and hence may be represented by
5 x (5 + 1)
15 =
2,
5 x (5 + 1) (5 + 2)
and the 35 by 35 = .
2 3
Now observe, this interest accrued in the second year, hence to refer the terms of the last
series to the principal epoch, whence the 14 years is estimated, we have only to put 7 - 2 for
5 and we obtain
(7 - 2) (7 - 1) 7 7 x (7 - 1) (7 - 2)
35 = =
3 2 1 2 3
and, therefore, if a = number of years = 14, in this case we get the expression
a (a - 1) (a - 2)
x 3d,
1 2 3
which put in figures gives
14 x 13 x 12
x 3d = £4 11.s. Od,
1 2 3
and this added to the previous sum of £92 15s. Od produces £97 6s. 0d.
I then considered each 3d. put out at simple interest, and pursuing the same mode of
investigation, I found the summation of the series represented by ,
a (a - 1) (a - 2) (a - 3)
,
1 2 3 4
and the interest to be
a (a - 1) (a - 2) (a - 3) 3d.
x = 12s. 6d.;
1 2 3 4 20
this added to £97 6s. 0d. gives £97 18s. 6d.
Similarly the next interest is expressed by the formula
a (a - 1) (a - 2) (a - 3) (a - 4) x 3d. = 1s. 3d.,
 1 2 3 4 5 20 x 20
wich added gives £97 19s. 9d., and the next
3d.
a (a - 1) (a - 2) (a - 3) (a - 4) (a - 5)
x 20 x 20 x =
1 2 3 4 5 6
20
3d.
14 13 12 11 10 9
= x 20 x 20 x = 1d.,
1 2 3 4 5 6
20
which added gives £97 19s. 10d.
Perceiving how rapidly the series converged, and that the remaining terms could not
possibly amount to one farthing, the process was stopped and the result stated as above, Ј97
19s. l0d, which, instead of requiring fourteen operations was arrived at in live, and these of
much easier computation than may probably appear from the description just given.

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Before quitting this part of the subject I will venture to express the total compound interest
of any sum of money algebraically, in another more simple form.
Let P represent the principal sum,
r the rate of interest (= 1/20, if 5 per cent, for example),
n the number of years.
Then compound interest =
n (n-1) 2 n (n-1) (n-2) 3 n (n-1) (n-2) . . . (n-(n-1)) n
P X {nr + r + r + . . . + r },
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 ... n
and the amount, or interest and principal together, =
n (n-1) 2 n (n-1) (n-2) 3 n (n-1) (n-2) . . . (n-(n-1)) n
P X {1 + nr + r + 1 2 r },
1 2 3 r +...+ 1 2 3 ... n
which is the expansion, by the binomial theorem, of the expression P (1 + r)n, which is the
form in which the problem is presented for solution by logarithms, or by successive
involution.
I do not in any way claim the discovery of a new principle; but I have endeavoured to show
by what kind of process my mind, at n very early age, and when wholly unacquainted with
symbolical representation and algebraic expedients, analysed the law connecting these
series and rendered them available for computation.
As an example of how this was carried out mentally, I will take £100 as put out at 2 per
cent, for 35 years. Then
100 x 35
the first term = P n r = = £70;
50
£23 16s. 0d., which
70 x 34
the second = = added to the foregoing
2 x 50
gives £93 16s. 0d.;
£23 16s. x 33 £5 4s. 8½d., giving
the third = =
3 x 50 £99 0s. 8½d.;
£5 4s. 8½d. x 32 16s. 9d., giving
the fourth = =
4 x 50 £99 17s. 5½d.;
16s. 8d. x 31 2s. 1d., giving
the fifth = =
5 x 50 £99 19s. 6½d.;
2s. 1d. x 30 2½d., giving
the sixth = =
6 x 50 £99 19s. 9d.;
 2½d. x 29 ¼d., giving
the seventh = =
7 x 50 £99 19s. 9¼d.;

- page 272 -

which of course is the, last, the remaining terms obviously giving very small fractions.
Mentally, however, this would not, occupy me more than a, minute, so that the result is
arrived at almost as quickly as by logarithms.
After Compound Interest the next subject is that of Prime Numbers, which it is hardly
necessary to say, are those which are only divisible, by themselves and unity, and having no
other known relation to any number below them. Even at, the present time I cannot help
occupying myself with what I feel to be impossible in calculation, and for years I studied
these numbers in the vain hope of discovering some law of sequence, which they obey. On
thinking over this matter (and in attempting an analysis of any kind, though you may not
succeed, you generally find out something which proves to be more, or less useful) my
speculations led to the discovery of processes by which great facilities were offered for
ascertaining the factors of a number, and thereby determining whether it was a prime, or
not.
When required to ascertain the factors of any proposed number, the obvious mode, if it be
even, is to divide by 2 successively until an odd number be arrived at. That done, I add the
digits up and if divisible by 3, I divide by 3 till it is exhausted. Having got to that step, all
trace is lost of the components and nothing is left but to commence dividing it by the
consecutive prime numbers 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, &c., up to its square root. If none of
these numbers will divide it, it may be inferred that it is a prime number. This of course is
an exceedingly laborious and tedious process, and I had a great desire to discover some
way of abbreviating it. The first thing that occurred to me was this - suppose an odd
number to have two factors, they must both be odd, and being odd can be expressed in
whole numbers by a + b for one and a - b for the other, and the number itself by (a + b) (a -
b) = a2 - b2 from which it is clear, that no prime number can represent the difference
between two squares, for if so it can be divided by (a + b) and (a - b), with, however, one
exception, which is when a - b is unity; thus 7 is the difference between the square of 4 and
the square of 3; 19 is the difference between the squares of 10 and 11; and 23 is the
difference between the, squares of 12 and 11; but no number can be resolved into factors,
unless it be the difference between two true squares.
Now this afforded a rapid test whether the number was divisible by the powers nearest to
the approximate square root, and which, being the largest, were the most difficult to divide
by. For example, suppose it, be required to ascertain the factors, if any, of the number 3139;
the nearest square exceeding this is 3249, the root of which is 57, the difference 3249 and
3139 is 110, which is not a true square; but take the next square above, that

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is 3364, the root of which is 58 or 57 + 1, the square of this exceeds that of 57 by 57 x 2 + 1 = 57

+ 58 = 115, which added to 110 gives 225, which is a true square the root of which is 15, hence
3139 = 58² - 15²
= (58 + 15) (58 - 15)
= 73 x 43
By this it will be seen, that the necessity is avoided of dividing by 53, 47, 43, the primes
between the square root as above and the actual factor, and it is an easy process, because
 having begun with 110, the next square gives an addition of 115, the next 117, the next 119,
and so on, the addition of 2 in each case corresponding with an additional unit in the square
numbers 57, 58, 59, &c., but it will occur to you that there is a certain point where you get
wide away from the square root, and you have to go through a great number of additions,
before you obtain a similar amount in the divisor. When you arrive at that point, this
process should be abandoned, and you must fall back on dividing by 7, 11, 13, &c., and so
on till the quotients are ascertained.
But even here the process can be abbreviated, and I do it in this manner.
Suppose I want to know if 23141 be divisible by 79. Instead of beginning at the left hand I
begin at the opposite, or unit end, and the square of 79 being 6241, which deducted from
23141 leaves 16900, if this be divisible by 79, then 169 must be so also, which I see at a
glance is not the case, and therefore I go on to another. I do not want to divide until I get a
remainder; all I want is to ascertain if it be divisible, or not.
I try it therefore by 73; which must be multiplied by 17 to produce a number ending in 41,
that is 1,241, which deducted from 23141 gives 21900, which is divisible by 73 without
remainder. Therefore the factors are 73 and 317.
There is still another expedient for ascertaining the factors of a number, founded upon the
principle familiarly called the property of the nines. Suppose you have two numbers 713
and 328, and you add up the digits and divide them respectively by 9, thus: -
7+1+3 11
= = 1 and remainder 2,
9 9
3+2+8 13
= = 1 and remainder 4,
9 9
that you multiply these numbers together, thus, 713 x 328 = 233864, and add up the digits
and cast out the nines, thus, (2 + 3 + 3 + 8 + 6 + 4)/9 = 26/9 = 2, with remainder 8; then this
remainder 8 = 2 x 4, the product of the remainders arising from

- page 274 -

the former operations, or the remainder after dividing that product by 9, as in the following
example: -
764 and 329;
17
7 + 6 + 4 = 17, and = 1 and 8 over;
9
14
3 + 2 + 9 = 14, and = 1 and 5 over;
9
But 764 x 329 = 251,356, and 2 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 5 + 6 = 22,
22
and = 2 and 4 over;
9
8x5
also = 4 and 4 over.
9
Now to apply this to discover the factors of a number: take 23,141, as in the former
example, in which the sum of the digits, viz., 2 + 3 + 1 + 4 + 1, = 11, and 11 / 9 = 1 with
remainder 2.
Let us inquire whether 71 will divide 23,141, and first since 7 + 1 = 8, if 71 be a factor, the
other factor must be such that the sum of its digits, divided by 9, must give a remainder of
7; because 8 x 7 = 56, and 56 / 9 = 6 and remainder 2 as above.
Now, the only number which, multiplied by 71, will give 41 as terminal figures is 71; but,
as already observed, the digits of the other factor, if it exists, must give, when divided by 9,
 a remainder of 7; the factor, therefore, must be 871, in which 8 + 7 + 1, divided by 9, gives
a remainder 7; however, a mere glance shows 871 to be far too large, hence 71 cannot be a
factor of 23141.
I next try 73, in which 7 + 3 = 10, gives, after division by 9, a remainder of 1, therefore, if
this be a factor, the other factor must be such a number that the sum of its digits, after
division by 9, must give a remainder of 2, or 9 + 2, or 18 + 2, &c., because 1 x 2 = 2, the
remainder after dividing the sum of the digits of 23141 by 9. But as 17 is the only number
which multiplied by 73 will give a product terminating in 41, the factor, if it exists, of
which 17 forms the two terminal digits, requires another digit, to make the sum of its digits
= 9 + 2 = 11. This then is 3, and 3 + 1 + 7 = 11, and as this number 317 obviously may be a
factor, I multiply 317 x 73 and find it produces 23141.
These are some of the expedients by which the tedium and labour of investigating prime
numbers may be relieved, but, except as a matter of curiosity, I never found much use in
pursuing them further.
Before concluding, I will, with your permission, make a few remarks on the mode by
winch the faculty of calculation can, in my opinion, be beneficially applied in our own
profession. Now,

- page 275 -

to do this it is requisite especially that, you should have a clear idea of the facts required by
mental arithmetic, - of some of the facts connected with the laws of mechanics, - and
considerable experience in the practice of the profession. The power of mental calculation has
undoubtedly been of the highest importance to me, and has compensated for many defects in my
professional education. That power was, moreover, the means of introducing me, at an early
period, into a particular branch of our profession, - that of Parliamentary Inquiries, - and nearly
the first occasion on which I was engaged before a Committee of the House, was on the original
Manchester and Liverpool Bill. I was then an Assistant to the late Mr. Henry Robinson Palmer,
who was engaged for the Canal interest in opposing the Railway. The late Mr. Adams, who was
connected with the Duke of Bedford, Mr. Serjeant Spankie and Mr. Brougham, were Counsel for
the Bill, and the present Mr. Baron Alderson was in opposition. I contrived, on that occasion, to
make myself very disagreeable in suggesting matter for cross-examination, and a curious incident
took place. When the Bill arrived in Committee in the House of Lords, Mr. Adams suggested to
their Lordships that I should not be allowed to remain in the room, because "nature," he said,
"had endowed me with particular qualities that did not place my opponents on a fair footing with
me." That suggestion was not entertained by their Lordships, and I was allowed to indulge my
"particular qualities," throughout the whole of that inquiry, although my opposition was,
fortunately for all of us, utterly unsuccessful, in spite of my best efforts. The Bill I was opposing
was carried, and I "believe it was, in a great degree, owing to the success of that Bill, that we are
now enabled to meet together in such numbers in this Institution.
There is another instance in which I applied my knowledge with some success, and it
occasioned some amusement, us will be recollected by several friends, here, who were
present on the occasion. The Northampton and Peterborough Railway Bill was violently
opposed by a compact body of landowners. Among other objections to the Bill, the effect
of the works on the floods, in that valley, was particularly insisted on. The great objection
was, not so much that we should embay the flood waters, while they were in a state of
motion, but that when the flood abated, the water would be retained on the land, so long as
to chill and injure the, vegetation. As you well know, learned Counsel when they think you
cannot give them a definite answer adopt a particular style of cross-examination, somewhat
to this effect; they ask, "Will you undertake to say that the flood water will not be retained
 for a week?" and when the witness replies, "I do not think so;" they will say, "Will you
undertake to say it will not remain there for a fortnight, or three weeks ?" and so they go
on, till they make out that your opinion is worth nothing. Mr. Sergeant Kinglake asked

- page 276 -

me such a question, and I determined I would give him a bona fide answer. I took the Ordnance
map, and measured the area of the land in question, taking care to obtain a full area, so that he
could not trip up my reply in that direction. I forgot the exact figures, but assuming it be 200
acres, I said, "I will take 9 million of feet as the area of 200 acres (which is also an excess), I will
assume, that the depth of the flood is 3 feet (which is also an outside quantity), that makes 27
millions of feet upheld on this land." The question was, "How rapidly will that pass through the
bridge?" The bridge had, say 1,000 feet of water-way, the head I insisted on, which would be the
maximum head occasioned by the retention by the piers of the bridge, was 3 inches; the
theoretical velocity due to that was 4 feet, and the practical velocity was 2½ feet; this gave 2,500
cubic feet per second; I therefore immediately answered, that "the flood would be upheld for
three hours!" Now I was perfectly well aware the learned Counsel could not test the process, but
at the same time I was determined not to leave anybody the means of picking a hole in my
garment; so I gave a bona fide result, to the manifest discomfiture of my friend of the long robe:
and another learned Counsel, with the usual amiable desire of helping 'a lame dog over a stile,'
suggested, (when he saw how they were taken aback,) that, perhaps, his learned Brother might
get an equally satisfactory answer if he asked me, how many fish went through in the same time?
An instance of practical utility would be this: A fact to be registered in the mind is, that
approximately 220 cubic feet of water will flow, per minute, through a pipe of 12 inches
diameter, at an inclination of 1 in 100. Now from this fact there is no difficulty in
ascertaining, approximately, the quantity of water flowing through any sized pipe, at any
inclination. Assuming the inclination of a pipe of 3 inches diameter to be 1 in 400, the
general laws of hydraulics demonstrate that the velocity will be reduced one-half by the
lesser inclination, and one-half by the lesser diameter, the two combined reducing it to one-
fourth in velocity; and the diameter of 3 inches as compared to 12 inches, giving an area of
one-sixteenth, the result would be that the flow would he reduced (approximately) to one-
sixty-fourth, or be about 3½ feet per minute.
I cannot recommend, that, the Engineer should rely implicitly upon this mode, for
ascertaining the details of his plans, or designs, but it will enable him, in times of leisure, to
arrive at the outline of his plan, in the same manner that the Artist prepares the rough sketch
of his picture, and subsequently fills in the details.
An incident which occurred lately illustrates forcibly the way in which mental arithmetic
may be made to afford rapid and valuable approximative results, without having recourse to
complicated formulae or to books of tables, in a case to which they

- page 277 -

appear peculiarly applicable, and thereby suggesting methods of verification and of

experimenting in questions of considerable practical importance.
I recently accompanied our President to Manchester, where we witnessed some interesting
experiments in gunnery, then being made by our Member, Mr. Joseph Whitworth. In one of
the trials a gun was laid at an inclination of 1 degree 30 minutes, in a gallery 500 yards in
length; on tiring, the balls were observed to pitch on a level with the points from which
they started.
It occurred to me to endeavour to ascertain the velocity of the shot. I did it by this process: -
A being the point from which the shot started and B the spot where it
pitched; then after leaving A in the direction A C, at an angle of 1 degree
30 minutes to the horizon, if uninfluenced by gravity, it would after
traversing 500 yards reach the point C.
From this mode of considering it, we may calculate the distance C B, for A B being the
radius of a circle = 500 yards, we have the entire circumference = 3140 yards nearly, and
since 1°30' is the 1/240 part of 360, we have 3140/240 = 13 yards 3 inches = 39,25 feet for
the length of C B.
Now the effect of gravity, when acting, is to make the shot fall from C to B, or through this
height of 39,25 feet, and the time occupied will be
V39,25 6,25 9
= = 1 16
4 4
seconds, but as sound travels at the rate of 1140 feet per second, the noise of the shot
striking the far end would take 13/8 seconds in traversing the 500 yards to reach the point
whence the gun was fired and where we were standing, and therefore the whole interval
between the firing the shot, and its fall being heard would be about 3 seconds. This result
could therefore be tested, and when tried by the President with a stop-watch was proved to
be quite correct; and hence the mean velocity of flight was 1500 / 19/16 feet = 960 feet per
second.
It now only remains for me to lay before you the mode by which, I think, mental arithmetic
should be taught; though you will doubtless, to some extent, have already formed a general
idea, from my remarks, what that method should be.

- page 278 -

I think it most essential that, numbers should be taught before figures - that, is to say -
before their symbols and probably even before the letters of the alphabet are learnt. The
first step should be to teach the child lo count up to 10 and then to 100. He should then be
instructed to form his own multiplication table, by connecting rectangular pieces of wood,
shot, or marbles, or any symmetrical figures: probably marbles may be the best, as they are
the very early associates of the child, and may be considered in some degree as his
playmates, and will therefore be likely to form the most agreeable associations in his mind.
Having formed these rectangles, he will be enabled by his previous experience in counting,
to reckon the number of pieces in any rectangle, and thus to demonstrate to himself all the
facts of the multiplication table, up to 10 times 10. Having thus acquired the multiplication
table up to 100, he should then be taught to count up to 1000 by 10's and 100's. It would not
then be difficult to teach him to enlarge his own multiplication table. In the first, place he
would have no difficulty in multiplying 10 by 17, because he will be quite familiar with the
fact that 10 times 10 are 100, and 10 times 7 are 70, and adding them together will give the
result, represented by 170. Jt will then be easy to follow this by multiplying 17 by 13. He
knows already that 10 x 17 is 170 and that 3 times 10 are 30, which added gives 200, and
that 3 times 7 are 21, which added gives 221, the result required. Hy patience and constant
practice in this way, he would gradually be taught to multiply 2 figures by 2, and eventually
3 figures by 3. After this he will be led upon the same principles to the application of his
faculties to the other rules of arithmetic.
But, I would suggest that this mode of proceeding presents advantages of much greater
importance than even the teaching of figures; for far beyond the mere facilities in
computation, would be the advantages afforded by the opportunity of making this branch of
education conducive to the highest objects to which education can be directed; that is, to
 the cultivation of the reasoning powers in general.
I would therefore introduce a boy, through this means, to natural geometry and algebra. By
placing shots, or any small symmetrical objects on the circumference and the diameter of a
circle, he would he able, by actual observation, to satisfy himself of their relative
proportions. He might simultaneously be taught the relation of the area of the circle to the
area of the square. He might also be taught the beautiful problem, that the square of the
hvpothenuse equal the squares on the other sides of a right-angled triangle - that the areas
of all triangles on the same, or equal bases, and between two parallel lines, are equal. Of
these, and many other useful facts, he would satisfy himself, long before he could
appreciate the methods by which they are demonstrated in the

- page 279 -

elementary works on mathematics. Advantage may also be taken of this mode to develop many
other ideas connected with geometry, as, for instance, that all the angles subtended from the same
chord in the circle are equal. This might be shown by having a small angle cut in pasteboard, and
fitted to every possible position in which two lines could be drawn within the circle upon the
same chord. He might also be taught that the rectangles of the portions of any two lines
intersecting a circle are equal. On this point. I need not enlarge, because to all of you it will be
apparent, that many other useful properties might be thus imprinted on the youthful mind. So
again, as regards the series I have mentioned - the stones in the basket, for instance, and also the
summation of the scries 1+3+5+7+9: the summation of this series is equal to the square of the
number of terms required to be summed up. If the learner once acquired a feeling for the beauty
of the properties of figures - surmising that be had any natural taste for arithmetic - the discovery
of these facts by his own efforts might incite him to farther investigations, and enable him to
trace out his own path in the science.
I would again, however, observe, that I should despair of any great, success in the pupil's
progress in the science of arithmetic if he did not commence before he knew anything of
symbols, and if his first conception of numbers was not derived from their real tangible
quantity and significance.
I fear that the remarks I have made may not have been quite so clear as might have been
desirable; but if they should lead to any practical, or useful result, I shall be amply repaid
for the exertion which I admit it has cost me, in making the attempt to elucidate the subject;
and if I have been at all successful I am bound to confess that it will be chiefly owing to the
kind, generous, and sympathising support with which you have been pleased to encourage
me.
Before, however, I cease to occupy your attention, I have one observation to make, of a
personal nature. You may think that I attach much more importance to the science of
arithmetic than it is justly entitled to. If, however, that be so, you must at the same time
admit that I have reason for this feeling. It is to that science that I am indebted for the
friends who encouraged my early career, as well as for those who afforded me the benefits
of the comparatively small amount of education I received, - it procured me the friends,
who opened to me, in manhood, the patlis in the profession to which it is my pride to
belong; - more than all, it has secured me the inestimable friend who now presides over us,
and giving me confidence and the power of analysis, it has materially aided in raising me to
the position I now hold. Every scene, however sunny, has its shadow, and I fear that though
I have had strong, and steadfast friends, still, probably in conse-
 - page 280 -

quence of some infirmity of temper, and the habit of early independence of thought and of self-
reliance, I have not at all times studied, with the care I ought to have done, the feelings of my
Brethren in the Profession, and thus I have not attained with all of them, the popularity I could
desire. I hope, however, that my career will not close, before a better feeling is established with
all of them; and especially with those who are associated with me in tliis institution, of which I
have been a Member, for upwards of thirty years.

Mr. R. Stephenson, - President, - said, I need scarcely ask you, whether a vote of thanks
shall be offered to Mr. Bidder, for the very interesting exposition he has given of the system
of Mental Calculation, which he may be said to have invented, and which he uses with such
remarkable facility. You must all have been as much struck with the simplicity of the
processes, as with the clearness of the modes of reasoning by which those processes were
arrived at, and the rapidity of the application of the system, but you are not aware of the
labour it has cost our friend to prepare these lectures, and nothing but his friendship for me,
and anxiety to signalize my Presidency, by what must be an unique production, would have
induced him to undertake the task. His proposition for teaching to youth a system of mental
arithmetic is well-deserving of serious consideration; but whatever training may be
essayed, I fear that few Bidders will result; it will be rare to find the large capacity and pure
analytical mind which characterizes our friend, and without which the process we have
heard explained would be but of little use. I cannot ecxpect that any discussion will ensue
upon a communication of this description, and therefore I would at once adjourn the
meeting; but I must before doing so notice the very graceful manner in which our friend has
alluded to selfassumed faults, which we all know are more, I may say, assumed than real, as
all who have the advantage of intimacy with him in private life, must fully testify; and in
his public career there are many noble and kind acts of his, deserving of record. In truth,
Gentlemen, we may all mutually ask a general amnesty for acts of professional rivalry; and
we should scarcely be in the position we are, but for this institution, which first softened
those feelings of professional jealousy which kept our predecessors apart and it is to our
meetings here that may be attributed, in a great degree, the kindly feelings we entertain for,
and the mutual assistance we render to each other. Let us then cherish these feelings, and
endeavour with all our energies to support the Institution which has been, and will be,
productive of such good results, and by no means can this be done so effectually as by
following the example of our friend Mr. Bidder, in presenting good and interesting papers,
such as that for which I now propose a cordial vote of thanks.
The Anthropological Review
1863, Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 492-494.
Mental Calculation.* All the performances of Colborn, Buxton, and other celebrated
calculators, appear insignificant when compared with those of our contemporary,
Zacharias Dase, of Hamburg. Having had ample opportunities to witness his
extraordinary performances, I shall first describe what took place on the 12th, 15th, and
19th of January, and subsequently add what I have observed in my daily personal
intercourse with him.

Dase commenced by casting a rapid glance on twelve ciphers written by a spectator on a

board, and reciting them forwards or backwards. He then invited any person to multiply
the number with any single number, and immediately named the multiplicator on the
product being communicated to him.

At the third representation, Dase recited 188 ciphers, forwards and backwards, stating at
the same time how often and at what place each number occurred. I subjoin a few of the
questions and answers.

Q. What is the product of 354783293 multiplied by 5423957? A. (1½ minutes)

1924329325550401.

Q. What is the product of 6529710840352 divided by 98? A. (instantaneously)

66629710840352.

Q. 684028396281753, divide by 6541325. A. (2½ minutes) 104570312 138353/6541325.

Q. Divide 423339075240048565 by 708346795. A. (after five minutes) 597643807.

Q. Tell the square root of 582169. A. (immediately) 763.

Q. What is the cubic root of 318611987? A. 683.

Q. Tell the 19th root of 7093585369945932256195429028464404423 A. (after three

minutes) 87.

Q. The steeple of the Nicolay Church being 180 feet high, how many such steeples must
be towered upon each other before the last reaches the moon, assuming the distance to
be 50,000 German miles? A. (immediately) 6666666 and two-thirds.

Q. What time would a snail require to perform this journey, assuming that it covers two
inches and three-sevenths in a minute? A. (after a few minutes) 5929411764 12/17
minutes; 98823529 7/17 hours; 4117647 1/17 days; or, 11281 years and 82 1/17 days.

At the end of his representations. Dase gave some specimens of what he calls his
"surveying glance." Thus, he mentioned at once the number of a handful of peas or
beans, the number of books on the shelves, or the pieces in a bundle of firewood without
a moment's hesitation. If ever he commits an error, he instantly corrected it. Thus, he
estimated the number of a handful of peas to be 242, but he immediately corrected it by
saying that he had probably counted two peas twice.

The most difficult tasks which Dase performed were the extraction of the 52nd root of a
number of 97 ciphers, and the multiplication of two sums, each consisting of 100 ciphers,
which he accomplished at Munich, in 8¾ hours.

He stated that during this calculation, the conversation of the spectators rather
entertained him, and that neither noise nor loud conversation disturbed him in the least.

On my questioning him how far he thought he might go in multiplication of sums, he

replied that he could not tell, but be had no hesitation in saying that he could undertake
the multiplication of sums of 300 ciphers, and might probably require 100 hours mentally
to accomplish the task.

From the experiments it resulted that he solved the multiplication of 8 ciphers in ¾ of a

minute; 12 in 2¼ minutes; 20 in 6-8 minutes; 40 in 40 minutes; 60 in 3 hours; 100 in 8¾
hours.

Zacharias Dase, the son of a publican, was born at Hamburg, June 23, 1824. He was
sent to an infant school at the age of two and a half years, and entered a popular school
in his sixth year. Up to his fifteenth year he received instruction in reading, arithmetic,
writing, geography, history, and the German language. He was always the first in
arithmetic, nor was there any book published on this subject in Hamburg which he had
not studied through. He says of himself:—"Originally I occupied myself more with written
than with mental calculation, and I am therefore justified in asserting that, though my
calculating capacity may be innate, it has been developed by undeviating industry. My
mind never becomes fatigned by calculations. I may continue them for the whole day and
am as fresh to begin again in the evening." From his early childhood Dase suffered from a
spasmodic affection of the stomach, and epileptic attacks. Speaking of his moral
character, he says:—"I am not passionate nor sensual; I am indifferent to the fair sex; I
avoid spirituous liquors; I am good natured, tolerant, companionable, a man of peace,
and make no distinction in my intercourse with may fellow beings, whether they be of high
rank or not; I am fond of children, and am rather economical." With regard to his mental
faculties, he complains that he could make no great progress is mathematics, that he had
no memory for form and space. Nor did he make much progress in the highest branches
of arithmetic, his great skill being limited to the extraction of roots, the calculation of
factors and logarithms. He could give no exact account of the process by which he
arrived at his results; but he seems to proceed in his mental calculations as if he were
performing them on paper or a slate. In multiplying, all the numbers are plainly visible to
him; he multiplies the multiplicands successively with the multiplicator, placing the sums
mentally beneath each other. He further states that besides this capacity for number, he
possesses order and locality in an eminent degree, so that in large towns he soon finds
his way. He complains of possessing neither the faculty of ambition nor wit, but, on the
other hand, much patience.

* Versuch einer Wissenschaftlichen Begründung der Psychologie. Von Professor Dr. P. Jessen. Berlin: 1865.

Comment from Oleg Stepanov.

Real source: P. Jessen, "Versuch einer wissenschaftlichen Begründung der Psychologie".

Berlin: Veit & Comp., 1855.

T H E
LIGHTNING CALCULATOR:
A
New, Readable, and Valuable Book,
CONTAINING

THREE NEW PROCESSES OF ADDITION, FOUR NEW FORMS

OF MULTIPLICATION, RAPID PROCESSES OF SQUARING
AND CUBING, SUBTRACTION AND DIVISION, HIS
IMPROVED FORM OF INTEREST, AND VALU-
ABLE INFORMATION IN BOOK-KEEPING;

TOGETHER WITH

A HISTORY OF HIS REMfARKA.BLE LIFE, HIS WONDERFUL

DISCOVE1RTIES IN NUMBERS, HIS AMUSING AND
INSTRUCTIVE PARLOR FEATS, ETC.,
WITH HIS AUTOGRAPH.

JUST ISSITED BY

PROFESSOR HUTCHINGS.
 New York:
CLARRY & REILLEY, PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS,
Nos. 12 & 14 SPRUCE STREET.
1867.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MY EVENTFUL LIFE.

I was born in the City of New York, at the corner of Eldridge and Hester streets, on
Saturday, January 7th, 1832. My father was a Long Island man and my mother a
Connecticut woman. My father was for many years a wholesale and retail
merchant in New York City. I will say here, in passing; that at Hubbs & Clark's
Academy, where I graduated, I showed some little ability—more than ordinary—in
figures; but I will also say that I attribute my present skill in figures to careful
research and untiring perseverance on my part, and I earnestly commend my readers
to perfect diligence and thorough practice as the sures't road to success. I was for
some years a book-keeper in my father's counting-room, but it was not until some
three years since that my attention was particularly called to figures. I have in my
present work embodied the various short processes that I have gathered together in
the last three years; and as f:ar as short processes and rapidity of execution go, I do
most heartily commend it to the public, as by far the best work ever published on
this subject.

WM. S. HUTCHINGS.
 A GUIDE
TO

Rapid and Accurate Computation,

BY
PROFESSOR HUTCHINGS,

THE MATHEMATICAL PHENOMENON AND LIGHTNING CALCULATOR.

N.B.—It is particularly understood that the possessor of this secret has pledged his or her honor
not to divulge the contents of the following lines to any other person or persons, but rather induce
them to obtain it from the discoverer, Professor Hutchings, for the same price which has been paid
by the owner of this copy.

P R E F A C E.
FEW things are impossible to the human mind. The spark of intellect with which the
Creator has endowed us all may be fanned into a large flame by cultivation,
practical experience, and application. The act of computation, or addition, more so
than any other, is accessible to every one possessed of a vigorous and active mind,
and every one may be enabled to cast up figures or add sums together with lightning
velocity by observing a few rules established by the Professor, after a close study of
the figures, and some not overhard practice. There is a way of doing a thing well
and to the purpose, and this applies more particularly to computation. This way will
be indicated distinctly in the following lines, and all that will astonish the reader
will be the fact that the simplicity and practicability of these few rules has not found
its way long before this into our schools and offices. It will not be expected that the
student be ignorant of his Multiplication Table, or that "two and two are four"—for
that our children go to school. But as a hint, by way of introduction, it may be
remarked, that in adding up, for instance, the numbers 5, 6 and 7, it is quite as easy
to say 5, 11, 18, as it is to proceed in the old-fashioned way: 5 and 6 are 11 and 7 are
18, and considerably quicker and more to the purpose as all will acknowledge. Here
are but three simple rules, contained in a few words,

which put the reader at once in possession of all the means which will enable him, with
some practice, to acquire the same expeditious way of computing numbers most
accurately, of which he may have seen an example at Barnum's American Museum.
RULE I.—Commence at the bottom, run to the top and down again. In no case set
down the carrying figure until you arrive at the bottom, and then set down both
results. Make use of the hint thrown out in the Preface; that is, if you have to add the
following numbers: 2, 9, 7, 4, 3, 8, 1, 6, do it in this manner: 2, 11, 18, 22, 25, 33,
34, 40.

RULE II.—Commence at the top, run down to the bottom, up again and down
again, and so on until the computation is completed.

RULE III.—In computing a column composed, for instance, of these figures, 9, 8,4,
6, 5, 6, 4, 3, connect two figures in your mind and proceed thus: 17, 27, 38, 45—9
and 8 being 17, 4 and 6 being 10, 5 and 6, 11—and so on, treating these single
results in the way indicated in Rule I.

These rules will aid you very materially in gaining rapidity. You will now
commence your study in good earnest.

Supposing you to be very familiar with the results of every two figures up to 20, you
will then sit down quietly. and compute on your slate every two figures between 20
and 30, thus: 20 and 1, 20 and 2, 20 and 3, up to 20 and 9; then again, 21 and 1, 21
and 2, 21 and 3, up to 21 and 9, until you arrive at 29 and 9, impressing, as you
proceed, each count upon your mind until you are perfect. You will then go through
the same process with the figures between 30 and 40, which done, set dowin six
colqmns of the figure two, with 6 in each column; the same of the figures 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, and 9, and compute each until you are rapid and accurate in every one.

You will now practice the three following examples twelve times, according to Rule
I., six times as indicated in Rule II., and six times a,cording to Rule III., gaining
rapidly at each successive trial:

879 567 745

542 768 484
363 699 363
685 454 576
456 565 662
947 646 291
Having done this, compute on your slate from 40 to 50 as before, and again from 50
to 60; after which practice the three following examples, according to Rule I., ten
times; Rule II., twelve times; and Rule III.
 6

ten times; and you will discover more ease and rapidity in your computation thanl you
have ever before enjoyed:
967 787 478
967 787 874
967 999 787
976 579 666
858 468 599
989 378 489
887 796 379
Resume now your practice with the figures between 60 and 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90,
90 to 100. Having thus gone over the whole addition table, you will be familiar with
every combination of figures in it. Then practise the three following examples as
follows: Rule I., twenty times; Rule II., fifteen times; Rule III., twenty times; and
you will be astonished at your rapidity:
2222 8767 998769
3383 4579 876879
4444 9969 787987
5555 8888 859786
6666 7777 674875
7777 6666 467987
8888 5432 896754
9999 7654 979886

M U L T I P L I C A T I O N.
Process—Two Figures.—Units into units will give first figure; units into
tens and tens into units will give second figure; tens into tens will give
32 third figure.
23
322
736
232
74,936
Process—Three Figures—Units into units will give first figure; units
into tens and tens into units will give second figure; units into hundreds
and hundreds into units, and tens into tens added, and multiplied with
the carrying figure, will give third figure; tens into hundreds and
hundreds into tens will give fourth figure; hundreds into hundreds will
give fifth figure.
Always observe great care in carrying.

S E C R E T F O R B O O K - K E E P E R S.
 In the practice of book-keepers to transfer whole columns of sums from the Day
Book to the Ledger, etc., etc., it will frequently be found,

that, after adding up the columns in the two books, the sum-total differs. Now, when such
is the case, and the book-keeper wishes to ascertain whether the mistake has been made
in the computation or in the extension of the single counts, he has but to subtract the
lesser sum total from the larger, and divide by 9. If there be a remainder, the mistake is
made in the computation; if not, it lies in the extension of the single counts, which then
must be compared. For instance:
376 376 376
482 482 482
190 190 190
397 397 397
454 454 454
132 132 132
654 654 654
323 323 323
875 875 875
950 950 950
4833 4833 4843
4698 4833
9)135(15 9)10(1
9 9
45 1
45
376
482
100
397
454
123
654
323
875
905
4698
No remainder, which proves the Remainder, which proves the computation
computation correct. incorrect.
 Rule of Addition for Two Columns.
32
43
24 and 6 = 30 and 50 = 80 and 3 = 83 and 40 = 123 and 2 = 125 and 30 =
56
155.
24
155
Rule of Addition for Three Columns.
232
320
20 and 34 = 54 and 5 = 554 and 2 = 754 and 20 = 774 and 3 = 1074 and 23
234
= 1097 and 2 = 1297.
520
1297
These methods I consider quite expeditious and extremely simple, and consequently
very valuable to all minds.

Rule of Multiplication for any Two Figures in the Multiplier, and any Number of Figures
in the Multiplicand.

First, multiply your multiplicand by the right-hand

Example: 324 by 23.
figure of multiplier 23, and extend one place right;
972
then multiply by left-hand figure of multiplier, and
7452
take in partial product as you go through.
When the Multiplicand has Four Figures and the Multiplier Three.

2243 Simply proceed as directed in the previous cross multiplication, only let
0222 the cypher stand in the thousand's place, as in above example. This is
497946 very useful.
To Multiply any Number of Figures by 50, 25, or 12½.

For 50, add two cyphers, and divide by two; for 25, by 4; for 12½ by 8.
Examples: 222 by 50. 2)22200
11100
222 by 25. 4)22200 222 by 12½. 8)22200
5550 2775
This is sometimes very convenient.
Squaring 24 = 576. Units into units, double of units by tens, tens into tens; always
carry.

To Square any Number of Figures ending with 5.

Simply multiply the left-hand figure or figures by the next higher, and annex 25,
which is the square of 5:
32
45 = 4 by 5 = 2025.
325 = 33
65 = 6 by 7 = 4225.
105625

To Square any Figure of Figures ending with ½.

Multiply the left-hand figure or figures by the next higher, and annex ¼.
23
Square of 23½ =
24
552¼
552¼

Cubing.—First, square your figures as directed above; then multiply that by the
two-figure principle, as you have been previously shown:
Cube of 22 =
Two-figure rule. Multiply your multiplicand by right-hand
484
figure of multiplier; extend one place right; then multiply by
968
left-hand figure, and add in partial products.
10648

EGG QUESTION.—A man has 3 boys. To one, he gives 10 eggs; to another, 30

eggs; to another, 50 eggs. Each is to sell his eggs at the same price, and return the
same money.

Solution.

EGGS. cts. EGGS. cts. EGGS. cts. The first sells his at 7 for 1 cent.
10 30 50 Next sells at same price 4 cents'
7 28 49 worth.
9 6 3 Next, 49 at 7 for a cent.
CTS. CTS. CTS. Secondly, they all sell their eggs at 3
1 4 7 each.
9 6 3
 10 10 10

10

WONDERFUL AND INSTRUCTIVE FEATS

Write the Answer to a Sum before the Sum is put down at all.

324 Let any person write one row of three figures. Then, to write answer, take 2
685 from right-hand top figure, and bring down balance; bring down the other
964 two figures, and always place 2 at left hand, as in example; then let, the
314 other party write two rows more, and you will make second and third rows
035 come to 9.
2322
3464 You may let a person write a square of sixteen figures, four wide and four
8653 deep; then you will write four wide and three deep; and instantaneously
9567 write the answer by taling 3 from top right-hand figure; bring down
8643 balance with other figures, and placing the 3 at left hand.
1346
0432
1356
33461
You may let a person write down any three figures or more, add them together and
placo the sum of theim underneath, and subtiact it from first figures; he will then
scratch out any one figur'e of the answer, and give you the remaining figures. You
will then add together the figures given you, and subtract their sum irocm 9 or 18, or
the extended multiple of 9, as in examples:
225 2
9 1
216 3 from 9 = 6 scratched out.

987 9
24 6
936 15 from 18 = 3 scratched out.
 11

To Produce the Answer all One Figure.

12345679 Multiply the figure called for by 9; then multiply the above figures
21 by that multiplier or'its factors.
12345679
24691358
259259259
3
777777777
3423 You may let a person write down any number of figures for a multiplicand;
21 then have the party multiply it by any two figures or more, which, when
20538 multiplied together will produce a multiple of 9, as in example; then let the
3 party rub out all the upper work, except the last result; then let the party
61614 rub out any one figure of the last result, and you, by seeing and adding the
remaining figures, and sub8 tracting their sum from the next multiple of 9,
may tell the figure rubbed out.
. F.
P
J.
2. 4. RING FEAT.—Select from a party a number of persons, say four
Mul. by 22. or more; number them off 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on; the head of the
4 class at your left hand; allowing each 10 fingers, including
Add 5 5 thumbs; let a person follow the form, give the result, subtract
9 250, and tell, who has the ring.
Multiply by 5
5 45
4
Add finger 49
10
Multiply by 490
10 2
492
Add joint 250
242
Substract

12
CERTIFICATE OF EDWARD EVERETT, AND OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

Mr. Hutchings has exhibited to me a specimen of his skill in Arithmetical

Calculation, which is very remarkable.
EDWARD EVERETT.
BOSTON, 22d July, 1862.

[From the New York Tribune, April 19.]

A PHENOMENON.—This is not a gift, but a scientific process,which he can impart
to pupils. It will be of immense advantage in trade, commerce, and science, and
revolutionize the tedious mode of addition throughout the world.

[From the Scientific American.]

We have examined his processes, and are satisfied that almost any of our intelligent
accountants, who are pretty quick at figures, might learn to calculate with nearly the
same rapidity.

THE AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
VOL. IV APRIL, 1891. No. 1

ARITHMETICAL PRODIGIES.
E. W. SCRIPTURE, PH. D. (Leipzig).

I.
A great deal has been said and written about these phenomenal persons in a very uncritical
manner; on the one hand they are regarded as almost supernatural beings, while on the other hand
no notice has been taken of them scientifically. Nevertheless, we can perhaps gain light on the
 normal processes of the human mind by a consideration of such exceptional cases. The first object
of the present article is to give a short account of these persons themselves, and to furnish for the
first time an approximately complete bibliography of the subject. Thereupon the attempt will be
made to make such a psychological analysis of their powers as will help in the comprehension of
them, and will perhaps furnish more than one hint to the practical instructor in arithmetic.
NIKOMACHOS. - Lucian said that he did not know how better to praise a reckoner than by saying
that he reckoned like Nikomachos, of Gerasa.1 Whether this refers to the reckoning powers of
Nikomachos (about 100 A. D.), or to the famous Introduction to Arithmetic written by him, we are left
in doubt. De Morgan inclines to the former opinion, 2 Cantor holds the latter.3 The literal translation
of the pas-

1Lacianus, Philopatris, "ariqmeeiz wz Nikomacoz."

2Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography v. Nikomachus.
3Cantor, Vorlesunyen uber Geschichte der Mathematik, Leipzig, 1880, I, 363.

- page 2 -

sage places Nikomachos undoubtedly among the skillful calculators.

AFRICAN SLAVE DEALERS. - Perhaps brought to the front or produced by the necessity of
competing with English traders armed with pencil and paper, many of the old-time slave-dealers of
Africa seemed to have been ready reckoners, and that, too, for a practical purpose, - a point
overlooked by more than one of the later calculators. "It is astonishing with what facility the African
brokers reckon up the exchange of European goods for slaves. One of these brokers has perhaps
ten slaves to sell, and for each of these he demands ten different articles. He reduces them
immediately by the head into bars, coppers, ounces, according to the medium of exchange that
prevails in the part of the country in which he resides, and immediately strikes the balance." 1 The
ship-captains are said to have complained that it became more and more difficult to make good
bargains with such sharp arithmeticians. It was also an African who was the first to appear in this
role in America.
TOM FULLER. - The first hand evidence in regard to Fuller consists of the following: A letter read
before the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery by Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, which is
published, more or less completely, in three places; 2 and the obituary which appeared in the
Columbian Centinel.3 On the foundation of these documents several later accounts have been
given.4

1[T. Clarkson.] An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, particularly the
African. 2d Ed., London, 1788. (The passage quoted does not appear in the American editions,
Fhila., 1788, 1787, 1804).
2American Museum, Vol. V, 62, Phila., 1799.
Steadman, Narrative of a five years expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, South
America, 2v. 4o, London, 1796, Vol. II, 260. In the French translation, Vol. III, 61.
Needles, Historical Memoir of the Penn. Society for the Abolition of Slavery; Phila., 1848, p. 32.
3Columbian Centinel of Boston, Dec. 29, 1790, No. 31 of Vol. XIV.
4For example,
Gregoire; An Enquiry concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of Negroes,
followed with an Account of the Life and Works of Fifteen Negroes and Mulattoes; Translated by D.
B. Warden; Brooklyn, 1810. (The translation is from Gregoire's original manuscript.)
Brissot de Warville; New Travels in the United States of America, performed in 1788; London, 1792,
p. 287; 2d Ed., London, 1794, vol. I, 243; Boston, 1797 (reprint of 1st ed.), p. 158; in the original
French edition, vol. II, p. 2.
Williams; History of the Negro Race in America; New York, 1883, vol. I, 399.
Didot's Nouvelle biographie generale v. Fuller.

PSYCHOLOGIE
 DES
GRANDS CALCULATEURS
ET JOUEURS D'ECHECS

PREMIERE PARTIE

CHAPITRE I

HISTORIQUE.

Comme introduction a l'etude experimentale que nous allons presenter sur quelques calculateurs
remarquables, nous pensons qu'il peut etre utile de rappeler brievement lesnoms des calculateurs
prodiges qui les ont precedes, et d'entrer dans quelques details relativement a la psychologie de
ces calculateurs.
Notre etude, a leur egard, restera malheureusement superficielle, parce qu'elle sera faite de
seconde main, sur des documents ecrits, et en outre parce que ces documents sont toujours tres
incomplets. Pour les plus

-2-

anciens calculateurs, rien d'etonnant a cela; on peut supposer que les ecrits de ceux qui les ont etudies
ont disparu; la pauvrete des documents est plus etonnante et plus regrettable quand il s'agit de
calculateurs qui appartiennent a notre siecle. Henri Mondeux, le plus connu de tous, s'est presente a
l'Academie des Sciences en 1840; il a ete l'objet d'un rapport etendu que nous publions plus loin, et qui
emane de Cauchy, l'illustre mathematicien. On pouvait donc supposer que ce calculateur a eu la bonne
fortune d'etre examine sous toutes ses faces. Erreur complete. Pour montrer par un seul mot les lacunes
des recherches dont il a ete l'objet, nous nous contenterons de dire qu'on n'a pas meme songe a mesurer
regulierement sa memoire des chiffres.
Le nom le plus ancien de calculateur prodige est celui de Nikomachos, sur lequel M. Scripture1
donne les renseignements suivants: "Lucien disait qu'il ne pouvait mieux louer un calculateur que
de dire qu'il calculait comme Nikomachos, de Gerasa. Ceci se rapporte-t-il aux pouvoirs de
calculateur de Nikomachos, ou a la fameuse introduction a l'arithmetique qu'il a ecrite? On ne sait.
De Morgan incline vers la premiere opinion, Cantor tient pour la seconde. La traduction litterale du
passage place indubitablement Nikomachos parmi les calculateurs habiles.
Les marchands d'esclaves africains. - M. Scripture donne quelques renseignements tres brefs
sur ces

1. American Journal of Psychology, avril 1881, vol. IV, p. 1. M. Scripture u publie une remarquable
etude historique sur les calculateurs prodiges; nous lui ferous de larges emprunts.

-3-

marchands, qui etaient, parait-il, tres habiles a calculer de tete dans leurs marches, ou ils avaient affaire a
des Anglais qui se servaient de crayon et de papier; mais on ne cite aucun exemple de ces calculs. Il
nous semble - et on nous a souvent dit - que les commercants trouvent de grands avantages dans le
calcul mental; ils ont parfois besoin, pendant une negociation, de ceder sur un prix et de se rattraper sur
un autre; toute l'operation doit etre faite de tete, tres rapidement, pour que le client ne s'en apercoive pas
-et ceux qui n'ont point d'aptitude au calcul mental ont une grande inferiorite. Dans beaucoup d'ecoles
commerciales, par exemple a l'ecole La Martiniere de Lyon, on developpe specialement le calcul mental.
Mathieu le Coq. - L'indication de ce calculateur est tiree d'un article fort interessant de M. Beligne
dans la Revue encyclopedique (1803). Cet auteur a trouve le nom de Mathieu le Coq cite dans la
relation du 3e voyage accompli en Italie, en 1664, par Balthasar de Monconys, que le duc de
Chevreuse accompagnait.
"Le voyageur raconte que se trouvant a Florence, le 15 juin, "un Lorrain nomme Nicolas le Coq, qui
se mele de peinture, amena un petit-fils qu'il a, nomme Mathieu, age de huit ans seulement, lequel
des l'age de six ans commenca de faire sans savoir ni lire ni ecrire toutes les plus difficiles regles
d'arithmetique, comme les quatre premieres, la regle de trois, de compagnie, racines carrees,
cubes, et cela a l'instant qu'on lui en fait la proposition; il est assez beau, repond agreablement et
spirituellement aux choses qu'on lui dit, et a le teint un peu plombe."

-4-

"Monconys mourut l'annee suivante a Lyon, sa ville natale, et on n'a pu trouver nulle part ailleurs trace de
l'enfant precoce, dont les bonnes gens attribuaient, non sans raison, dit naivement le narrateur, le
merveilleux talent a la collaboration active de quelque esprit familier."
Si ce recit ne tenait pas presque entierement de la legende, ce serait la peine de remarquer que
Mathieu le Coq presentait deux caracteres frequents dans la famille des calculateurs prodiges:
precocite et ignorance. Il est а noter que la plupart de ses pareils poussent tres loin la faculte de
calcul mental avant de savoir lire et ecrire.
Tom Fuller1. - Thomas Fuller, surnomme le calculateur de Virginie, ou le calculateur negre, est un
exemple curieux de calculateur ignorant; il etait esclave dans la Virginie et ne savait ni lire ni ecrire;
il mourut a quatre-vingts ans sans avoir jamais appris. C'etait un esclave africain, qui vivait vers le
milieu du siecle dernier. On rapporte a son sujet quelques anecdotes qui manquent un peu de
precision. Voici l'une d'elles. "Quand il avait environ soixante-dix ans (on voit que ses pouvoirs de
calculateur ont resiste aux annees), deux gentlemen de Pensylvanie, William Hartshorne et Samuel
Coates, hommes dignes de toute confiance, ayant entendu parler de Fuller, curent la curiosite de le
faire venir devant eux, et lui poserent les problemes suivants: D'abord, combien y a-t-il de
secondes dans une annee et demie? Fuller repondit,

1. Scripture, op. cit., p. 2, et Nouvelle Biographic generale de Didot, art. FULLER.

-5-

en deux minutes, qu'il y a 47304000 secondes. En second lieu, combien de secondes a vecu un homme
qui a soixante-dix ans, dix-sept jours et douze heures? Fuller repondit, en une minute et demie, 2 210 800
800. Un des messieurs qui l'examinaient avait pris la peine de faire le calcul avec le crayon a la main, et
dit a Fuller qu'il se trompait, et quele nombre des secondes etait moins grand. Mais Fuller lui montra avec
vivacite que la difference des deux resultats tenait aux annees bissextiles." Les exemples que nous
donnerons plus loin montreront que le vieux Fuller n'etait pas tres rapide dans ses calculs. Si les chiffres
qu'on nous a transmis sont exacts, on peut s'etonner que, quoique la seconde operation citee soit
beaucoup plus compliquee que la premiere, elle ait pris cependant moins de temps. Ce simple detail
eveille notre mefiance. N'attachons pas trop de valeur a des documents aussi anciens 1.
Jedediah Buxton2. - Ne en 1702, a Elmeton, pres de Chesterfield (Angleterre), mort en 1762,
Buxton a ete le contemporain de Thomas Fuller. C'etait un pauvre ouvrier, qui ne recut aucune
education; bien que fils de maitre d'ecole, son instruction fut negligee, on ne sait pour quelle cause,
au point qu'il etait incapable de griffonner son nom. On voit que nous ne sortons pas des
calculateurs ignorants. Celui-ci etait meme, a ce qu'on assure, d'une intelligence au-dessous de la
moyenne, et ce fut avec les plus grands efforts

1. Voir H. Gregoire, De la litterature des Negres.

 2. Scripture, op. cit.; Didot, op. cit.; Michaud, Biographie universelle, art. BUXTON.

-6-

qu'il parvint a faire vivre sa nombreuse famille. Il faisait pendant l'hiver le metier de batteur en grange, et il
etait pecheur pendant l'ete.
On a souvent raconte jusqu'a quel point il poussait la manie du calcul, ne voyant partout que des
chiffres et des pretextes a operations mentales, l'esprit completement ferme pour le reste. Lorsqu'il
vint a Londres se soumettre a l'examen de la Societe royale, on le mena au theatre de Drury-Lane,
pour lui montrer Richard III joue par Garrick. On lui demanda ensuite si la representation lui avait
fait plaisir: il n'y avait trouve qu'une occasion de faire des calculs; pendant les danses, il avait fixe
son attention sur le nombre de pas executes: il y en avait 5202; il avait egalement compte le
nombre de mois que les acteurs avaient prononces: ce nombre etait de 12445; il avait compte a
part le nombre de mots prononces par Garrick, et tout cela fut reconnu exact.
Parlons maintenant de sa puissance de calculateur. Il avait appris la table de multiplication; c'etait
la seule instruction qu'il eut recue: il conservait en outre dans sa memoire un certain nombre de
produits qui facilitaient ses calculs, comme le nombre de secondes contenues dans une annee. Il
ramenait toutes les longueurs a un etalon bizarre, l'epaisseur d'un cheveu, et savait d'avance
combien il y avait de ces epaisseurs dans un mille (1600 metres). Sa table de mesure, qui etait
fondee sur des experiences, etait la suivante:

-7-

200 grains d'orge

300 grains do froment
512 grains de seigle
180 grains d'avoine
40 pois
25 haricots
80 Vesces
100 lentilles 2304 cheveux longs d'ua pouce
On cite l'exemple suivant d'un de ses calculs:
Quelqu'un lui ayant demande combien dans un corps qui aurait 23 145 789 verges de long, 5 642
732 de large, et 54 965 de liaul, il y a de huitiemes de pouce cubique, cinq heures lui suffirent pour
donner la reponse exacte, bien qu'il fit ce calcul au milieu du bruit, entoure par plus de cent de ses
compagnons de travail. Son attention, quand il calculait, etait si bien fixee sur les chiffres, que rien
ne l'en pouvait distraire.
Ce n'etait pas seulement un calculateur mental de grande puissance; il avait en outre le coup d'osil
trиs juste, ce qui lui donne une place a part dans la grande famille un peu monotone des
calculateurs. On dit de lui qu'il parcourait a grands pas un paya, ou un simple morceau de terrain,
et pouvait ensuite en donner la contenance avec autant d'exactitude (?) que s'il l'avait mesure avec
la chaine. Il mesura de cette maniere toute l'etendue de la seigneurie d'Elmeton, de quelques
milliers d'acres (l'acre est de 4046 mq.), et donna le resultat, pour sa satisfaction personnelle, en
pouces carres, et meme en carres ayant l'epaisseur de cheveux.
Buxton mourut pauvre et ignore dans son village; il mourut, comme Thomas Fuller, a un age
avance;

-8-

ces prodiges ne sont pas necessairement condamnes, comme on l'a dit parfois, a disparaitre jeunes.
Ampere. - Pour un moment, nous quittons la famille des calculateurs professionnels, pour dire
quelques mots des mathematiciens qui ont ete des calculateurs remarquables. J'ai le sentiment
que ce sont la deux groupes bien distincts d'individus. Le calculateur, tels que Fuller, Buxton et bien
d'autres que nous citons plus loin, reste calculateur toute sa vie, tournant dans un cercle etroit; son
esprit n'est point ouvert aux ma-thematiques, et alors meme qu'il trouve un maitre habile pour lui
 enseigner les elements des sciences, il profite peu des lecons. Les mathematiciens presentent
parfois, dans les premieres annees de leur enfance, la meme aptitude pour les operations de calcul
mental; mais ce n'est qu'un accident dans leur existence: ils sont destines a s'elever bien plus haut.
La vie d'Ampere (Andre-Marie) n'appartient donc que par les premieres annees a notre sujet
d'etude; pour le reste, cet esprit si largement encyclopedique ressemble bien peu, avouons-le, a
l'esprit ferme des calculateurs de profession. On rapporte d'Ampere qu'il manifesta son precoce
genie dans sa passion pour l'arithmetique. Age de quatre ans, ne connaissant ni ses lettres ni ses
chiffres, il menait a bien de longues operations de calcul mental au moyen de petits cailloux 1.
Gauss. - Ce mathematicien, que l'on a considere

1. Arago, dans Biographie universelle de Michaud, nouv. ed., ort. AMPERE. - Voir egalement Didot,
op. cit., et Sante-Beuve, Revue des Deux Mondes, 1837, t. IX, p. 389.

-9-

comme le plus grand gйomиtre de ce siecle, etait egalement un calculateur prodige; seulement le
mathematicien a fait oublier le calculateur. On rapporte une anecdote qui, si elle est exacte, prouve chez
lui une precocite vraiment extraordinaire. Son pere avait l'habitude de payer ses ouvriers a la fin de la
semaine, et il ajoutait le prix des heures supplementaires calcule sur le pris du salaire de chaque jour. Au
moment ou son pere venait de finir un de ses calculs et tirait l'argent, l'enfant, qui avait alors trois ans a
peine, et qui avait suivi les operations de son pere sans qu'on prit garde a lui, s'ecria: . On refit l'operation
avec une grande attention, et on s'apercut а l'etonnement general que la somme etait bien celle indiquee
par le petit enfant.
Zerah Colburn. - L'histoire de Zerah Colburn serait extremement interessante si elle reposait sur
des documents dignes de confiance; il n'en est malheureusement pas ainsi. Le principal document
qui reste de lui est son autobiographie, et comme il s'est exhibe dans des representations
publiques, et qu'il parle de lui-meme avec une vanite insupportable, on peut supposer a bon droit
que cette biographie est une reclame.
Zerah Colburn naquit le 1er septembre 1804 dans l'Etat de Vermont (Etats-Unis). Son pere
s'apercut un jour par hasard de ses aptitudes singulieres pour le calcul mental. L'enfant repetait tout
haut les produits de la table de multiplication: "six fois huit font quarante-huit, etc.". Le pere, voyant
que ses reponses etaient correctes, lui demanda combien font 13 x 97?

- 10 -

et l'enfant repondit aussitot: 1261. Il avait alors six ans: c'est Zerah Colburn lui-meme qui rapporte
l'anecdote. Le pere vit dans ce don pour le calcul un moyen de gagner de l'argent, et il eut l'idee d'exhiber
son fils. Colburn est le premier calculateur qu'on ait fait voir dans des representations publiques. Il
inaugure la serie des professionnels. Il fut montre a Montpelier (Amerique), puis a Boston, puis fut amene
a Londres, et vint a Paris en 1814. La ses representations n'eurent pas grand succes, ce qu'il attribue a la
frivolite du peuple francais. Grace a l'appui et aux recommandations de Washington Irving, il fut admis
comme eleve au lycee Napoleon. Son pere, se trouvant sans ressources, eut l'idee de le pousser vers le
theatre; il se fit acteur, mais sans succes; en 1821, abandonnant cette nouvelle carriere, il fonda une
ecole privee, qui ne dura qu'un an. Il retourna en Amerique et ses idees se tournerent vers la religion; il s
engagea parmi les Methodistes, fit des sermons, fut ordonne diacre. Le dernier de ses avatars nous le
montre professeur de latin, de grec, de francais, d'espagnol et d'anglais dans un seminaire portant le nom
de "Norwich Univer-sity". Il mourut a trente-cinq ans, laissant une femme et trois enfants 1.
Cette existence mouvementee est l'indice d'un esprit tm peu bizarre; Colburn a passe pour un
individu d'une intelligence mediocre, et crevant d'orgueil; sa biographie en donne mille preuves
naives, et il affirme a plusieurs reprises qu'on doit le considerer

1. Scripture, op. cit., p. 16

 - 11 -

comme la plus grande intelligence de la terre. A l'ecole, il passait pour un enfant arriere, et ceux qui l'ont
approche, dans le courant de sa vie, ont trouve qu'il etait incapable de toute application pratique. Il a donc
ete, comme la plupart de ceux que nous avons etudies jusqu'ici, un specialiste du chiffre, a peu pres
ferme a tout le reste.
Autant qu'on en peut juger, ses facultes de calculateur se sont developpees spontanement, sans le
secours d'aucun maitre; et il a commence a calculer avant de savoir lire et ecrire: deux traits
communs avec ses predecesseurs. Ce qu'il presente de particulier, c'est qu'а un age relativement
precoce, avant vingt ans, il perdit ses qualites pour le calcul; c'est depuis cette epoque qu'on le voit
se tourner avec inquietude vers d'autres carrieres. Nous manquons de details sur la maniere dont
se fit cette disparition de facultes brillantes; il est probable que ce ne fut pas une destruction
brusque, mais un affaiblissement lent, qui tint a des circonstances tres simples. Les representations
publiques de Paris n'ayant pas eu de succes, il cessa pendant quelque temps de calculer; trois
mois de repos, nous apprend-on, lui firent perdre beaucoup de sa vitesse de calculateur. Un repos
plus prolonge sans doute a suffi pour tout detruire. Nous retrouverons cette meme influence chez
d'autres calculateurs, mais en traits moins marques.
Golburn presentait une curieuse particularite physique: un doigt surnumeraire a chaque main et un
orteil surnumeraire a chaque pied; ces doigts etaient attaches au petit doigt et au petit orteil, et
presentaient

- 12 -

un developpement complet des trois phalanges. Colburn partageait cette polydactylie avec deux (ou trois)
de ses freres; il la tenait de son pиre et de son arriere - grand'mere.
Mangiamele, - C'etait un petit patre sicilien, qui vint en 1837, age de dix ans, a Paris, pour se faire
examiner par Arago. Il etait fils d'un pauvre paysan, qui n'avait eu les moyens de lui donner aucune
instruction. Il avait trouve lui-meme des procedes de calcul mental qui lui servaient a resoudre des
problemes compliques, mais qu'on n'a jamais expliques d'une maniere satisfaisante. Mangiamele
fut presente par Arago a l'Academie des Sciences. Il resolut plusieurs questions devant
l'assemblee. On lui demanda par exemple: Quelle est la racine cubique de 3796416? Au bout d'une
demi-minute, il repondit: 150, ce qui est correct.
Dase. - Bien que les differents calculateurs que nous passons rapidement en revue appartiennent,
par suite d'une foule de traits communs, a une sorte de famille naturelle, quelques-uns gardent leur
originalite propre, et se distinguent des autres par quelque qualite. Dase est de ceux-la: calculateur
mental d'une grande puissance, il a mis ses aptitudes au service de la science; il a eu le temps et la
patience de calculer les tables de logarithmes; il n'a pas ete seulement un prodige, mais encore un
homme utile.
Ne en 1824, il possedait, comme ses emules, un don naturel pour le calcul, don que l'exercice n'a
fait qu'agrandir. Calculateur dans le sens etroit du mot, il ne put jamais apprendre les
mathematiques, malgre l'effort

- 24 -

CHAPITRE II

LE CALCULATEUR JACQUES INAUDI. - HEREDITE.

ENFANCE. - ETAT ACTUEL.

Les mathematiciens, les medecins et les philosophes ont eu, dans ces derniers temps, l'occasion
inappreciable d'etudier un nouveau calculateur prodige: c'est un jeune homme de vingt-quatre ans,
appele Jacques Inaudi, que M. Darboux a presente au mois de fevrier 1892 a une seance de
l'Academie des Sciences; ce jeune homme execute mentalement, avec une rapidite surprenante,
des operations d'arithmetique portant sur un grand nombre de chiffres.
 L'Academie, apres avoir assiste a quelques-uns des exercices habituels de M. Inaudi, a nomme
une commission, dont faisaient partie plusieurs mathematiciens (MM. Darboux, Poincare,
Tisserand), et M. Charcot; l'eminent professeur de la Salpetriere etait charge specialement
d'examiner M. Inaudi au point de vue de la psychologie physiologique.
M. Charcot voulut bien, des la premiere heure, nous convier a etudier avec lui un sujet si
interessant. Nous

- 25 -

avons vu trois fois le jeune calculateur a la Salpetriere, pendant que M. Charcot l'etudiait; nous l'avons
revu ensuite au laboratoire de psychologie physiologique de la Sorbonne, ou il a bien voulu se rendre,
avec M. Thorcey, son impresario, pour se soumettre a diverses experiences de mesure. M. Inaudi nous a
accorde avec une amabilite parfaite toutes les seances que nous lui avons demandees; il est venu au
laboratoire pendant deux annees, en 1892, en 1893, toutes les fois que nous le lui avons demande; il
nous a accorde a peu pres une quinzaine de seances.
Nous avons publie les premiers resultats de nos recherches d'abord dans la Revue des Deux
Mondes (15 juin 1892), ou nous avons traite la question d'une maniere generale, et ensuite dans
les bulletins du laboratoire de la Sorbonne (annee 1892), ou nous avons indique les details
techniques des experiences; enfin, en decembre 1892, M. Charcot, notre venere maitre, voulut bien
nous demander de faire une lecon sur la memoire des calculateurs prodiges dans son
amphitheatre de la Salpetriere.
Nous comptons reunir ici, dans une etude definitive, - au moins pour nous, - ces differents
documents, en y ajoutant un certain nombre d'experiences recentes et encore inedites.
Avant d'entrer en matiere, nous nous faisons un devoir de remercier ceux qui ont bien voulu nous
aider de leurs conseils dans ces etudes. C'est avec un profond sentiment de reconnaissance que
nous nommerons tout d'abord M. le professeur Charcot; nous n'avons fait que suivre et developper
les indications

- 26 -

qu'il a donnees; et c'est lui qui le premier a constate ce fait bien curieux, que Jacques Inaudi appartient au
type auditif. Nous nommerons ensuite notre vieil ami M. P. Henneguy, preparateur au College de France,
qui a collabore a un grand nombre de nos experiences techniques, et qui a bien voulu signer avec nous
l'etude parue dans le bulletin; enfin, plusieurs eleves du laboratoire, et notamment M. Victor Henri, M.
Philippe (chef des travaux) et M. Courtier (chef adjoint des travaux), se sont associes a nos recherches.
Nous avons ecrit, en collaboration avec M. Victor Henri, un article sur la simulation de la memoire des
chiffres qui sera insere un peu plus loin.
Heredite. - Jacques Inaudi est ne le 13 octobre 1867, a Onorato, dans le Piemont. Il est d'une
famille pauvre, ou plutot appauvrie par les depenses exagerees d'un ascendant paternel qui n'a
jamais eu de conduite. Cet ascendant, par ses bizarreries de caractere, represente le seul element
psychopathique de la famille; il n'a jamais pu exercer une profession reguliere, et il a longtemps
cherche a vivre aux depens du jeune calculateur. Dans cette famille, point de calculateurs; Jacques
Inaudi a plusieurs freres qui occupent aujourd'hui encore des situations modestes: l'un est garcon
de cafe, l'autre cordonnier. Excites par l'exemple de leur frere, ils ont voulu s'essayer au calcul
mental, mais n'y ont pas reussi. On nous a communique recemment un renseignement curieux sur
l'heredite d'Inaudi, ou plutot sur certaines influences qui ont pu agir sur lui pendant la periode de
gestation; nous donnons ce renseignement a titre de curiosite, et avec

- 27 -

toutes les reserves qu'on peut supposer. Il parait que la mere d'Inaudi, pendant qu'elle etait enceinte de
lui, passa par de dures epreuves morales. Elle assistait aux dilapidations de son mari, et voyait l'argent
qui allait manquer pour payer de nombreuses echeances; sous l'empire de la crainte de la saisie, elle
calculait
 M. J. Inaudi.
dans sa tete les economies a realiser pour faire face aux engagements; ses journees se passaient dans
les chiffres, et elle en etait arrivee a une veritable manie de calculer. Le fait a ete rapporte dernierement a
M. Thorcey par le frere de lait d'Inaudi1.
Enfance. - Jacques passa ses premieres annees a

1. Deux points d'interrogation: Le fait est il exact? S'il est exact, l'etat mental de la mere a-t-il pu
reуllement agir sur le fils?

- 28 -

garder des moutons. C'est vers l'age de six ans qu'il fut pris par la passion des chiffres. Tout en veillant
sur le troupeau, il combinait des nombres dans sa tete. Bien different de la plupart des calculateurs
connus, il ne cherchait pas a donner a ses calculs une forme materielle, en comptant sur ses doigts ou au
moyen de cailloux comme le faisaient Mondeux et Ampere. Toute l'operation restait mentale, et se faisait
avec des mots: il se representait les nombres par les noms que son frere aine lui avait recites. Ni lui ni
son frere ne savaient lire a cette epoque. Il apprit donc par l'oreille les noms de la serie des nombres
jusqu'a cent, et il se mit a calculer avec ce qu'il savait. Quand il eut epuise ses premieres connaissances,
il demanda qu'on lui apprit les nombres superieurs a cent, afin d'etendre le domaine de ses operations; il
ne se rappelle pas que son frere lui ait enseigne la table de multiplication. Ces circonstances du premier
age ont peut-etre exerce sur les procedes de M. Inaudi une influence particuliere, que nous indiquerons
plus loin.
Grace a un exercice continuel, et surtout a ses aptitudes prodigicuses, le jeune calculateur fit des
progres rapides. A sept ans, nous dit-il, il etait deja capable d'executer de tete des multiplications de
cinq chiffres.
Bientot le jeune patre piemontais abandonna le pays natal pour faire, a la suite de son frere, une
course vagabonde en Provence; le frere jouait de l'orgue, Jacques exhibait une marmotte et tendait
la main. Pour augmenter ses petits benefices, il proposait aux personnes qu'il rencontrait d'executer
des operations de calcul mental; sur les marches, il aidait les paysans a

- 29 -

faire leurs comptes; il se montrait aussi dans les cafes, et resolvait avec une grande rapidite toutes les
opera-tions d'arithmetique qu'on lui proposait. Un impresario s'empara de lui et lui fit donner des
representations dans les grandes villes.
Il vint pour la premiere fois a Paris en 1880, et fut presente a la Societe d'Anthropologie par Broca,
qui ecrivit meme sur son cas une courte note. Broca constate que la tete du jeune Inaudi est tres
volumineuse et tres irreguliere, il releve un certain nombre de deformations qu'on retrouve encore
aujourd'hui, mais un peu effacees. "L'enfant, ajoute-t-il, est tres intelligent; son regard est vif, sa
 physionomie animee. Il n'a aucune timidite, il ne sait ni lire ni ecrire. Il a les chiffres dans la tete,
mais ne les ecrit pas." Broca rapporte les calculs auxquels le jeune Inaudi se livre, il indique le
temps necessaire pour resoudre les problemes poses, et il essaye meme d'expliquer les procedes
employes. Malheureusement, l'enfant etait encore trop jeune a celle epoque pour se faire hien
comprendre, ce qui explique les quelques erreurs que Broca a pu commettre.
Depuis 1880, c'est-a-dire depuis douze ans, M. Inaudi a fait de tres grands progres: d'abord,
circonstance importante, il a appris a lire et a ecrire; et ensuite la sphere de ses operations s'est
agrandie.
Par ce qui precede, on peut voir qu'il possede un certain nombre de caracteres des calculateurs
prodiges, sa precocite, son ignorance, sa naissance dans un milieu miserable, etc.
Etat actuel. - M. Jacques Inaudi est aujourd'hui un

- 30 -

jeune homme de vingt-quatre ans; il est petit1 (1 m. 52), ramasse, il a l'aspect robuste d'un paysan mal
degrossi. La tete est restee forte, quoiqu'elle soit plus proportionnee au corps que pendant l'enfance, ou
elle etait si grosse qu'on le croyait incapable de vivre; la figure est calme, reguliere, surmontee d'nn front
tres grand, carre, aussi haut que large; les yeux sont brides, le nez est fin et droit, la bouche petite, l'angle
facial tres developpe, presque droit (89o). A la Salpetriere, sous la direction de M. Gharcot, on l'a soumis a
un long examen anthropometrique.
Nous ne nous etendrons pas sur les resultats; de cet examen; nous extrayons simplement les
lignes suivantes du rapport de M. Charcot: «Le crane, nettement pla-giocephale, presente, en
avant, une legere saillie de la bosse frontale droite, et, en arriere, une saillie parietale gauche; a la
partie posterieure de la suture interparietale, on percoit au toucher une crete longitudinale de 0 m.
02, formee par le parietal droit releve; les oreilles sont symetriques, detachees de la tete en
entonnoir; la face est legerement asymetrique, le cote droit plus petit que le gauche; les autres
mensurations cranio-faciales n'indiquent aucune anomalie remarquable. L'examen methodique de
la vue et de l'ouie n'a revele dans ces organes ni alteration ni hyperacuite.
En somme, il presente quelques signes de degenerescence; ces signes sont peu nombreux et peu
importants2.
Caractere. - M. Inaudi a un caractere doux et mo-

1. Il est plus petit que tous ses freres, qui sont, m'a-t-on dit, de taille ordinaire.
2. Chez qui n'en trouve-t-on aucun?

- 31 -

deste; il est calme, tranquille, il n'a pas les manieres embarrassees; il parle peu, garde une attitude plutot
reservee. Il montre plus d'aplomb en public. Enfant, il etait tres espiegle; aujourd'hui, il a souvent un tour
d'esprit ironique; dans ses seances sur le theatre, il explique ses procedes au publie, en ajoutant avec
malice que rien n'est plus simple et que tout le monde peut en faire autant 1. Il parait sincere (comme
Broca l'avait deja remarque) et il est le premier a reconnaitre les erreurs de calcul qu'il commet. Il n'est
point susceptible et se met rarement en colere. Il est modeste, mais naturellement tres fier de sa
puissance de calcul, et il s'inquiete un peu des comparaisons qu'on cherche a faire entre ses facultes et
celles des autres calculateurs prodiges. Son amour-propre le rend tres attentif aux experiences,
auxquelles il donne son maximum d'attention.
Son instruction est restee peu developpee, car il n'y a guere que quatre ans qu'il a appris a lire; ses
sujets de conversation sont assez limites; mais on n'a pas de peine a s'apercevoir qu'il a une bonne
intelligence naturelle. Au laboratoire, il s'est interesse aux appareils qu'on faisait fonctionner devant
lui; il a compris le maniement du chronometre de d'Arsonval, avec une promptitude d'esprit qui
nous a frappes d'autant plus que la majorite des personnes sont tres lentes a comprendre comment
on doit reagir.
En dehors de ses exercices, il lit les journaux et s'occupe de politique; il joue aux cartes et au
billard.
1Il faut tenir compte que M. Inaudi prend en publie toujours la meme attitude et qu'il a un repertoire
de reflexions et de ripostes.

- 32 -

Il parle peu de chiffres: parfois il est preoccupe par un probleme qu'on lui a pose et qu'il n'a pu
resoudre; alors il s'abstrait du monde exterieur et n'ecoute plus personne. Il mange beaucoup et
dort longtemps. Il reve parfois de chiffres et de nombres; ce sont la les seuls reves dont il garde un
souvenir distinct au reveil. Les besoins sexuels sont chez lui bien developpes.
Il ne s'occupe point lui-meme de la publicite a donner a ses experiences; il nous a paru plutot
dispose а subir la direction des personnes pour lesquelles il a de la sympathie; il ne semble pas
avoir de grands besoins d'independance.
On le dit sujet a de nombreuses distractions, et ses oublis des choses de la vie quotidienne forment
un piquant contraste avec sa memoire enorme pour les chiffres. Souvent son impresario a
remarque qu'il ne reconnait pas une ville ou il est deja venu donner des seances. Plus qu'un autre,
il oublie ses gants et sa canne en visite, et ses heures de rendez-vous. Peutetre y met-il un peu de
malice, pour se donner l'occasion de plaisanteries faciles.
Nous reproduisons ci apres un specimen de son ecriture; c'est la fin d'une lettre qu'il nous a ecrite
de Londres. Il nous parait probable que la lettre a ete ecrite d'abord par l'impresario et recopiee par
M. Inaudi; le fond lui en est etranger; mais nous lui attribuons la partie calligraphique. C'est l'ecriture
d'un enfant.
Cette ecriture est assez significative; elle est la marque de son defaut d'instruction. Il y a dans son
esprit de larges plaines qui n'ont recu aucune culture. Eh bien, on peut se demander si le defaut de
culture

- 33 -

Fig. 1. - Ecripture de M. Inaudi.

- 34 -
n'est point une condition necessaire au developpement de cet immense pouvoir do calcul mental; les
calculs mentaux, avec la masse enorme de chiffres qu'ils mettent en mouvement, prennent de la place; ils
ont besoin de trouver de grands espaces vides. Mondeux, Mangiamele, Colburn, la plupart des
calculateurs prodiges, etaient des ignorants. Ce n'est peut-etre pas la une circonstance frivole; ceux des
calculateurs qui, comme Gauss et Ampere, sont devenus des mathematiciens, ont tres probablement
perdu une bonne part de leurs aptitudes au calcul mental. Je ne vois guere que Bidder qui fasse
exception.
En resume, M. Inaudi, envisage en dehors de ses operations de calcul, nous apparait comme un
jeune homme intelligent, mais tres ignorant, et depourvu de besoins intellectuels. Sans etre aussi
specialise pour les chiffres que ce Buxton dont nous avons retrace l'histoire, il parait vouloir se
cantonner dans son metier de calcul mental, fort indifferent pour le reste. L'emploi du temps dans
une de ses journees ordinaires le montre bien. Il se leve fort tard et arrive au dejeuner de midi les
yeux gros de sommeil. L'apres-midi se passe a jouer aux cartes ou bien au billard, paisiblement;
apres le diner du soir, il part pour le theatre ou le cafe-concert ou il donne sa representation; il ne
rentre chez, lui que fort avant dans la nuit. A part quelques seances on ville, chaque jour ramene la
meme serie d'occupations, qui se succedent mecaniquement. Le voila stereotype, n'ayant nul desir
de changer une existence qui flatte son amour-propre et subvient a tous ses besoins.

- 35 -

CHAPITRE III

M. INAUDI. - EXERCICES DE CALCUL MENTAL.

Les operations que M. Inaudi execute sont des additions, des soustractions, des multiplications,
des divisions, des extractions de racines; il resout par l'arithmetique des problemes correspondant
a des equations du premier degre, et, en outre, un de ses exercices favoris est de dire le jour
correspondant a une date quelconque qu'on lui indique. Ce sont lu pour lui des exercices de calcul
mental. Nous entendons par ce mot calcul mental un calcul qui est fait de tete, sans que la
personne emploie la lecture des chiffres, ou recriture, ou un moyen materiel quelconque ayant pour
butl de soulager la memoire. Le calcul mental est donc un calcul fait de memoire.
Pour bien se rendre compte des facultes d'une personne, il faut examiner comment elle execute les
actes dont elle a l'habitude et l'etudier autant que possible dans son milieu. Nous commencerons
par decrire les

- 36 -

exercices qui sont habituels a M. Inaudi, et qu'il montre regulierement chaque soir sur un theatre.
A chaque representation, il fait simultanement et de memoire les operations suivantes: 1° une
soustraction entre deux nombres de vingt et un chiffres; 2° une addition de cinq nombres de six
chiffres chacun; 3° le carre d'un nombre de quatre chiffres; 4° la division de deux nombres de
quatre chiffres; 5° la racine cubique d'un nombre de neuf chiffres; 6° la racine cinquieme d'un
nombre de douze chiffres1.
Voici comment M. Inaudi fait ces operations, quand il est en representation. Des personnes de
l'assistance disent les chiffres. M. Inaudi les repete a mesure, pour s'assurer qu'il est d'accord avec
toutes ces personnes, et l'impresario ecrit sur de grands tableaux noirs les chiffres dits, sous la
dictee de M. Inaudi. M. Inaudi ne se tourne pas une seule fois vers les tableaux noirs; il recoit les
chiffres et les nombres par l'audition, et, comme nous le verrons tout a l'heure, il se sert de la
memoire auditive. Pendant toute la duree des calculs, M. Inaudi reste bien en face de l'assistance,
bras croises. Quand la serie de chiffres necessaire a une des operations est ecrite a la craie sur le
tableau noir, M. Inaudi la fait enoncer par son impresario, qui a soin de prononcer les chiffres
lentement, en les articulant avec force. M. Inaudi repete ensuite les chiffres. Quelquefois il fait la
repetition avant celle de l'impresario, qui se contente dans ce cas de rectifier ses
 1. Le nombre et la valeur des racines varient suivant les jours, puisque les operations sont
proposees par les spectateurs. M. Inaudi u'accepte pas de problemes en scene.

- 37 -

erreurs. Puis on passe a la seconde operation; des que les chiffres en sont ecrits, M. Inaudi les fait
repeter, puis les repete lui-meme comme les precedents. Ce travail est assez long, et M. Inaudi l'execute
avec autant de precision que possible, car il cherche avant tout a donner des resultats exacts. Quand la
serie des operations a ete ainsi, par ces repetitions successives, bien gravec dans son esprit, il
commence son travail mental en faisant une recapitulation generale de tous les chiffres inscrits sur le
tableau noir, auquel il tourne le dos.
Comptons le nombre de repetitions que fait M. Inaudi: 1° repetition apres le spectateur; 2° repetition
au moment de l'inscription des chiffres sur le tableau noir; 3° repetition totale de tous les chiffres
avant de proceder aux operations. Ces repetitions nombreuses sont un grand secours pour la
memoire. Pendant les calculs, il fait differents gestes, tics sans importance et du reste tres
variables; il chuchote des chiffres; il n'est point trouble par le bruit qu'on fait autour de lui, par les
reclamations des assistants, etc.; il conserve son sang-froid, et il a meme pris l'habitude, pour
caliner l'impatience du public, d'emettre, pendant ses calculs, quelques reflexions piquantes; il lui
arrive parfois de repondre avec esprit a une question, et nous l'avons vu, a la Salpetriere, soutenir
une conversation avec M. Charcot pendant qu'il resolvait de tete un probleme complique; cette
conversation ne l'embrouillait pas dans ses calculs, elle en a simplement prolonge la duree.
D'ordinaire, il demande qu'on lui dise des dates, se

- 38 -

faisant fort d'indiquer le jour correspondant. Les demandes de dates pleuvent de toutes parts, et il y
repond avec une rapidite surprenante - et une parfaite exactitude, comme j'ai pu le constater moi-meme,
Four trouver la solution de ses six calculs, M. Inaudi met un temps relativement tres eourt, dix a
douze minutes; au thestre, il ne reste pas plus longtemps en scene; et dans ces dix minutes il faut
comprendre non seulement le calcul, mais la repetition des donnees des problemes.
Pour conduire au resultat final de telles operations, il faut que M. Inaudi ait une memoire des
chiffres extremement developpee; car pendant ces dix minutes il a ete oblige d'apprendre et de
retenir sans erreur tous les chiffres ecrits sur le tableau; il a du en outre retenir les chiffres des
resultats qu'il enonce, et enfin les chiffres des solutions partielles qu'il a du necessairement trouver
afin d'arriver aux solutions definitives. Ces chiffres depassent certainement le nombre de deux
cents1.

1. Le nombre des chiffres inscrits sur le tnblenu noir pendant les representations donne lien u une
curieuse illusion; certains spectateurs pretendent qu'il y en a nu moins 400; or M. Thorcey,
l'impresario, m'affirme qu'on n'atteint presque jamais le nombre de 300. Puisque nous avons
l'occasion de parler des illusions du public, disons aussi un mot sur l'art de provoquer ces illusions:
c'est ce qu'on appelle l'art de la presentation. L'impresario qui fait les calculs sur le tableau noir
pendant que M. Inaudi les fait mentalement, se trompe quelquefois recllement, et plus souvent il
feint de se tromper, pour umener une discussion, qui tourne toujours a l'avantage de M. Inaudi et
souleve les rires. De plus, afin de mettre bien en lumiere la rapidite de calcul de M. Inaudi,
l'impresario a soin de faire lui-meme l'operation tres lentement; et, par un raffinement d'art, il donne
l'illusion qu'il se presse en exagerant le mouvement de sa main quand il ecrit

- 39 -

A la Salpetriere, a la fin d'une seance qui avait dure environ deux heures, et ou on lui avait pose
differents problemes, on lui fit repeter tous les chiffres; il le fit sans erreurs; le nombre total etait de
 230. Nous avons pu verifier l'exactitude parfaite de la repetition, car les chiffres avaient ete
conserves par ecrit. On rapporte que, dans une representation donnee a la Sorbonne devant les
eleves des lycees, M. Inaudi a repete 400 chiffres. Ne connaissant ce resultat que de seconde
main, nous ne pouvons en garantir l'exactitude.
Ce qui ajoute au caractere vraiment extraordinaire de cette memoire, c'est que M. Inaudi repete ses
tours de force tous les soirs, regulierement, dans des representations theatrales, et deux fois par
jour le dimanche. Il donne en outre de nombreuses seances en ville, a la presse, dans des lycees,
chez des particuliers; et on peut evaluer, en moyenne, et en restant bien au-dessous de la verite, a
300 le nombre de chiffres qu'il grave dans sa memoire tous les jours.

un chiffre ou trace une barre. Tout cela est interessant a noter, et montre, comme nous le dirons plus loin
u propos des echecs, combien il est difficile d'echapper aux illusions dans les representations publiques.

- 40 -

CHAPITRE IV

M. INAUDI. - MEMOIRE DES CHIFFRES.

L'observation de M. Inaudi apporte un nouveau document а la theorie, aujourd'hui bien connue, des
memoires partielles. Disons d'abord quelques mots de cette theorie et rappelons rapidement en
quoi elle consiste.
Il est d'usage d'employer le terme memoire dans un sens general pour exprimer la faculte que
presentent tous les кtres pensants de conserver et de reproduire les impressions recues; mais
l'analyse psychologique et un grand nombre de faits de pathologie mentale ont montre qu'on ne
doit pas considerer la memoire comme une faculte unique, ayant un siиge distinct; en derniиre
analyse, la memoire est un ensemble d'operations. Il n'existe, comme dit trиs bien le rapport de la
commission academique, que des memoires partielles, speciales, locales, dont chacune a son
domaine propre, et qui possиdent une independance telle, que l'une de ces memoires peut
s'affaiblir,

- 41 -

disparaоtre, ou au contraire se developper а l'excиs, sans que les autres presentent necessairement une
modification correspondante.
Les anciens psychologues ont meconnu cette verite d'observation, qui cependant n'avait pas
echappe au vulgaire. Ainsi, Dugald Stewart, parlant des inegalites de la memoire, dit que ces
differences sont dues au choix de l'esprit ou а l'effet de l'habitude. Gall, le premier peut-кtre, eut
l'idee d'assigner а chaque faculte sa memoire propre, et it fonda la theorie des memoires partielles.
De nos jours les faits qui servent d'appui а cette theorie se sont multiplies. On en doit un grand
nombre а M. Taine, qui a etudie avec tant de profondeur la question des images. Il faut relire а ce
propos tout le premier chapitre de l'Intelligence, ce livre si abondant en details instructifs. M. Taine a
cite, entre autres, le cas de "ces peintres, dessinateurs, statuaires, qui, aprиs avoir considere
attentivement un modиle, peuvent faire son portrait de memoire. Gustave Dore et Horace Vernet
avaient cette faculte." Ce sont lа de beaux exemples du developpement d'une seule memoire, la
visuelle. Pour la memoire musicale, on invoque d'ordinaire l'observation de Mozart notant de
souvenir le Miserere de la Chapelle Sixtine apres l'avoir entendu deux fois1.
Dans ces derniиres annees, l'etude des maladies du langage a renouvele cette question.
Rappelons seulement que chez certains malades une seule memoire du tangage, trиs limitee et
trиs speciale, est abolie, les

1. Pour l'historique de la question et le resume de son elnl actuel, voir Ribot, Maladies de la
 Memoire, p. 106.

- 42 -

autres memoires restant intactes; il y a des malades qui, sans etre paralyses, ne peuvent plus ecrire, mais
continuent a parler; d'autres perdent la faculte de lire, tout en conservant celle d'ecrire, de sorte qu'ils sont
incapables de relire la lettre qu'ils viennent de tracer. M. Ribot et M. Charcot ont ete les premiers a
montrer tout l'interet psychologique de ces curieuses dissections mentales que la maladie arrive parfois a
operer. La litterature de l'aphasie est tres abondante. Nous renvoyons aux ouvrages de Kussmaul, les
Troubles de la parole; Bernard, l'Aphasie; Ballet, la Langage interieur, etc.
L'etude des calculateurs prodiges nous presente la meme question sous un autre aspect: chez eux,
aucune memoire n'est detruite; mais une des memoires, celle des chiffres, acquiert une extension
anormale, qui excite l'etonnement et l'admiration, tandis que les autres memoires, considerees
dans leur ensemble, ne presentent rien de particulier; elles restent parfois meme au-dessous de la
mesure commune.
On a pu faire des observations analogues sur M. Inaudi, qui presente un developpement
exceptionnel d'une seule espece de memoire, la memoire des chiffres. C'est ce dont on s'apercoit
facilement lorsqu'on compare chez lui deux choses presque identiques, la memoire des chiffres et
la memoire des lettres. Voici comment nous avons fait l'experience. On prononce devant lui, une
seule fois, une serie de lettres ne formant aucun mot, comme a, r, g, f, s, m, t, u, etc.; les lettres
doivent etre prononcees du meme ton, sans inflexion de voix, et avec une rapidite moyenne de

- 43 -

deux lettres par seconde; par des tatonnements successifs, on arrive a savoir quel est le nombre
maximum de lettres que M. Inaudi peut retenir apres une seule audition. Puis on refait la meme
experience, exactement dans les memes conditions, en remplacant les lettres par 1ns chiffres. A premiere
vue, il semble que le son articule d'une lettre qu'on prononce est aussi facile a retenir dans l'oreille que
celui d'un chiffre; en fait, il est bien constate que les personnes ordinaires retiennent, apres une audition,
un nombre un peu inferieur de lettres; soit, en moyenne, 6 lettres et 8 chiffres. Chez M. Inaudi, ce rapport
se trouve detruit. Sa memoire des chiffres - que nous allons examiner tout a l'heure methodiquement - est
pres de cent fois superieure a la moyenne; sa memoire des lettres est faible : il est incapable de repeter
plus de cinq a six lettres; meme impuissance pour repeter deux lignes de prose ou de vers; il hesite, perd
de son assurance, declare qu'il ne peut pas repeter, et en somme se derobe a l'experience, par crainte de
ne pas donner de resultats brillants. Les autres memoires de M. Inaudi ne presentent rien de
remarquable; on l'a longuement interroge; il parait ne pas se souvenir d'une maniere fidele des figures,
des lieux, des evenements, des airs de musique. On a essaye dans ces derniers temps de lui faire utiliser
les procedes connus de la mnemotechnic1;

1. La mnemotechnic, dont nous aurons l'occasion de parler un peu plus loin, a comme but principal
de secourir lu memoire des chiffres, eu remplacant le chiffre, qui en lui-meme n'a souvent ancun
sens, par un mot intelligible. On comprend que ce procede devait echouer dans le ens de M.
Inaudi, puisqu'il allait en sens contraire de ses aptitudes naturelles.

- 98 -

Multiplications (CALCUL MENTAL)

49 63 426 638 4239 7286 61824 58927 729856
3x7
x6 x58 x67 x823 x584 x5397 x3976 x61408 x297143
M. Inaudi... 0s,6 2s 6s,4 21s 40s 4m
M. Diamandi... 6s 17s 21s 56s 92s 2m,7s 3m,10s 4m,35s
1er caissier... 4s
2o caissier... 0s,7 4s 12s
3o caissier... 0s,7 4s

J.INAUDI
The most extaordinaire Calculateur
of the modern time

This article was publishes by THE ILLUSTRATION

and POPULAR ASTRONOMY
under the signature of
CAMILLE FLAMMARION
The eminent Astronomer

Price : 1 f. 50
 NOTE

on

JACQUES

INAUDI
The most extraordinary Calculateur
of the modern time

This article was publishes by THE ILLUSTRATION

and THE POPULAR ASTRONOMY

under the signature of

CAMILLE FLAMMARION
the eminent Astronomer

-3-

Curiosity
Mathematics
The prodigy Computer INAUDI

I am delighted to give here my appraisal of Inaudi, as I have observed him for a long time in his
marvellous feats of calculation, ever since he first aroused interest upon his arrival in Paris at the
age of thirteen.
Inaudi is comparable with a musician who charms us without ever having learned music, and
without knowing a single note. When he arrived in Paris, he could neither read nor write and did not
know a single figure. He had been unable to make an addition with a pencil. However, he gave
almost instantaneously the solution to the most complicated problem. He was asked, for example,
how many minutes have elapsed since the birth of Jesus Christ, or what the population would be if
the dead from the past ten centuries were resurrected, or the square root of a number of twelve
digits, and he gave the response accurately and in two or three minutes - while amusing himself
with another activity.
 -4-

He could not yet extract cube roots, and it was in one of our sessions that he carried out the first
test of them, and flawlessly so. The question had been asked by a mathematician of the Academy
of Sciences. The very term was unknown to him, because he had confused it with "public root",
and, for more than a year, he knew it by this expression alone.
His face was of a striking prominence. His head was malformed, resembling that of a child with
meningitis, familiar from the Spanish postage stamps. The general shape of the head changed
appreciably with age. His facial angle is normal and almost gives the Greek profile. But if the face is
incomparably less bomb-??? than it was ten years ago, there remains on his skull a rather curious
feature: at the top, along the line corresponding to the meeting on the two cerebral hemispheres,
one sees, and feels to the touch, a rather deep furrow apparently separating the two hemispheres,
and this area of the skull is covered only with a slight envelope very sensitive to the touch: the skull
is not yet closed.
Inaudi's capacity for calculation is truly extraordinary. As I write these lines, he is in my office, and,
in order to analyse his method, I have just proposed to him an unspecified problem. A clock is in
front of me. I first require the multiplication of two numbers of three digits, viz., 869 by 427. I look at
the seconds hand; at the sixth second, he answers: 371,063.
Here is the manner of his calculating; it is simple and natural, though contrary to our traditional
practice, it begins with the left-hand side and ends with the units:

-5-

800 by 400 = 320.000

800 by 27 = 21.600
60 by 400 = 24.000
60 by 27 = 1.620
9 by 400 = 3.600
9 by 27 = 243
Total : 371.063
It is clear that he proceeds by groupings. His method does not resemble our computation formulae
and looks embarrassingly simple. He multiplies by only one figure at a time. Ultimately, he did six
multiplications and the addition of their products, all in six seconds... actually slightly less, because,
at about the fifth second, he said: "I now make the proof while restarting."
The most prodigious faculty here is the memory. The numbers given him are fixed in his thought. An
hour, a month later, you ask him for them: he remembers without error. But other than for numbers,
his memory is unremarkable.
I ask him the multiplication of two numbers of five digits each: 70,846 by 88,875, and I look at my
watch. He is appreciably longer. After 55 seconds, he answers: 6,296,438,250.
And the detail of the operation?
Here it is. This example is even more striking. He proceeds by round numbers and adds:
80.000 by 50.000 = 4.000.000.000
80.000 by 20.000 = 1.600.000.000
8.000 by 50.000 = 400.000.000
8.000 by 20.000 = 160.000.000
900 by 50.000 = 45.000.000
900 by 20.000 = 18.000.000

-6-

He has therefore multiplied first 88,900 by 70,000, giving 6,223,000,000.

Now he must subtract the product of 25 and 70,000, i.e. 1,750,000. The result of this subtraction
gives 6,221,250,000.
There still remains the multiplication of 88,875 by 846. Firstly:
80.000 by 800 = 64.000.000
80.000 by 56 = 3.680.000
8.000 by 800 = 6.400.000
8.000 by 46 = 368.000
And, while holding this result, he multiplies 875 by 846. This he does by first multiplying 900 by 846
and then subtracting 25 by 846. So first:
900 by 800 = 720.000
900 by 40 = 36.000
900 by 6 = 5.400
Then he subtracts 25 x 846 = 21,150. The stages can be summarised this:
6.221.250.000
74.448.000
761.000
6.296.459.000
Take off : 21.150
Total : 6.296.438.250
You can now understand why 55 seconds were necessary, even though the calculation involved
only simple multiplications and additions of round numbers.
It appeared interesting to present this analysis to our readers, because it gives the key of the
method. Its capacity may be summarised thus: marvellous aptitude for calculation, extraordinary
speed, and extraordinary memory for numbers.
The root extractions and the other problems lead to the same psychological dissection.

-7-

The other day, at the Institute, Mr Darboux wrote the two numbers:
On the one hand, 4.123.547.238.445.523.831
and 1.248.126.138.234.129.310
on the other, and, after having stated the figures, requested that the calculator make the
subtraction. Inaudi repeats the problem from memory, because he does not see the written figures
behind him.
"Is that right?" said he.
One answers: "Yes."
A smile passes on his lips: "I have the proof", says he, blinking his eyes, and, immediately,
announces the correct solution.
Mr. Darboux asks him another question: "What is the number whose cube and square sum to
3,600?". Less than two minutes later, Inaudi answers: "It is the number 15."
After some other tests, covering a plethora of figures, Jacques Inaudi announces to the Academy
that he can speak and calculate at the same time and perform two calculations at once. The
following test takes place. Mr Poincare proposes to the calculator the following problem: "4,801
divided by the square root of 6". Mr. Bertrand raises, at the same time, the following question:
"What day of the week was on 11 March 1822?" Inaudi answers immediately: "11 March 1822 was
a Monday. A person born this day would have lived for so many hours, minutes, seconds." (All these
figures were recognised as exact.) The result of the operation proposed by Mr Poincare is the
number 1,960.
A few days after, in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, above Paris, several professors of high
standing proposed to him the most complicated operations. He made, with incredible speed,
multiplications and divisions
 -8-

covering numbers of 24 digits, extracted the square and cubic roots with 17 decimals.
With the calculations complete, he repeats all the numbers that had been written on the board
(there were more than 400 figures and on which he had operated without them being visible to him,
and that one hour later). The mnemonic capacities of Inaudi are exclusively turned towards the
numeric operations and the algebraic problems. The young computer can barely read or write and
is, moreover, not concerned with learning. But he is possessed by calculation. This amuses him a
lot.
His method is self-explanatory, and it is the simplest of all methods. Nobody slightly accustomed to
mathematics, if questioned, for example, on the square root of 147, does not see instantaneously in
their thought the figure 3 as a remainder and the number 12 as a root, because everyone knows
only 12 times 12 make 144. And nobody who, questioned on the cube root of 1,103, for example,
does not see, with the same spontaneity, the number 103 as a remainder and the number 10 as a
root, given that everyone knows that 10 multiply twice by it-same-same gives 1,000. If one asks an
astronomer how much there is of seconds in so many years, he sees immediatement in front of him
numbers 864,000 and 365.25. Inaudi has had for a long time in memory all the numbers that return
unceasingly in calculations. If you speak with a chemist of substances of carbon and of hydrogen,
he sees in front of him a C2 H4 immediately O6 or a C4 H4 O5, as well as the parallax of a star does
not appear to the mind without being accompanied by the number 206,265. A music type-setter can
see the rules of the counterpoint, or a painter the association of the colours. Ask for Inaudi the
fourth or higher (???) root of a number: he will find the solution more quickly in his head than

-9-

a lesser calculator using log tables.

The young computer has made major progress for ten years and can improve still further: His
methods are improved continuously, and his keyboard becomes richer by new notes. He currently
possesses a formidable knowledge of numbers, of operations performed previously, which serves
him as a base, almost a springboard, to spring much further. One intended to say around him
formerly: "He cannot survive... He will go mad..." Mistake, his constitution is robust and his head is
hard. His life has not been an easy one, and his wisdom is uncommon for someone just forty years
of age. His early upbringing was harsh. Born into a poor family in the mountains, he was
accustomed more to being hit than being caressed. In his seventh year he tried his luck in the
village with his dancing marmot. Sometimes a cold dinner was better than his previous misery.
While on his travels, he counted the trees; by crossing the meadows, he saw the number of the
poplars; while arriving above a village, he counted the houses, then windows, doors. He counted,
counted, an obsession not without charms.
One day, while he was in Beziers, he saw a merchant, who, at his table, was calculating what he
had sold. With a wry smile, the marmot carrier challenged the merchant: "Would you like me to
make you your calculation?" General astonishment! Everybody gathered around the table: "You
know, boy, if you are making fun of me, then you should cover your ears!... but if you succeed, I will
give you ten under.... "You sold so much, so much and so much. That makes so much." Less of a
minute, the turn was done. The ten coins from the merchant fell into the young person's hand and
never had the young chap taken so much pleasure from counting.

- 10 -

It was the first step. He went from cafe to cafe, of city downtown, as far as Paris and as far as the
other capitals, outshining his predecessor Henri Mondeux.
Can this extraordinary capacity be exploited by the sciences? Apparently not. One day, ten years
ago, I received a letter from his father asking me to take Jacques at my service and to direct him
towards the conquests of astronomy. It had been an error, whichever way one looked at it. In
science, one cannot make use of his methods, of his adapted formulae, which are tailored to mental
calculation. Regarding his financial position, he now has, as a result of the curiosity his ability has
aroused, a salary, which is over three times that of the Director of the Paris Observatory.
 C. F.

THE AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY
VOL. XVIII APRIL, 1907. No. 1

- 61 -

MATHEMATICAL PRODIGIES1
By FRANK D. MITCHELL.

The object of the present paper is threefold:

(1) To give a summary of the mathematical prodigies2 described in the literature of the subject,
without, however, duplicating unnecessarily the work of previous writers.
(2) To give a brief account of the writer's own case, which is, it is believed, fairly typical, despite
certain peculiar limitations to be described later, and which will shed light on certain factors in
mental calculation that have not hitherto received fail recognition.
(3) To set forth a new theory of mental calculation, based upon the foregoing data, and incidentally
to criticise certain other theories hitherto advanced in this field.

I.

In view of the incompleteness of existing data in most cases, and the inaccessibility of some even
of the existing sources of information, a complete history of the mathematical prodigies would be
out of the question. We shall, therefore, simply attempt to give a reasonably complete list of those
of whom definite information is available, together with a statement of the significant facts known
about them. A few names - that of Euler, for example - have been omitted on account of the
absence of any satisfactory data that would shed light on the theory of mental calculation; and no
attempt has been made to collect the accounts of new prodigies found every now and then in the
newspapers. Such accounts are not readily accessible, and

1From the Psychological Seminary of Cornell University.

2By a "mathematical prodigy" we shall mean a person who shows unusual ability in mental arithmetic or mental algebra, especially when this
ability develops at an early age, and without external aids or special tuition. We shall use the word "calculator" in the sense of "mental
calculator," as a synonym for "mathematical prodigy," and shall usually mean by "calculation" "mental calculation," unless the contrary is
clearly indicated by the context. A "professional calculator" will be taken to mean a mental calculator who gives public exhibitions of his talent.
"Computer," however, will be restricted to mean one who calculates on paper. All problems mentioned as solved by the mathematical prodigies
will be understood to be done mentally, unless otherwise indicated.

- 62 -

are usually so popular and unreliable that they have little scientific value.
There are several possible bases for a classification of the mathematical prodigies. We might group
them chronologically, as Scripture1 does; or by the extent of their power, as measured either by the
size of the numbers they could handle or by the rapidity of their calculations; or by the degree of
their mathematical ability, as shown by the character of the problems they solved and the processes
 they used. Or we might classify them according to memory type, as either visual or auditory
calculators. No one of these classifications, adhered to consistently throughout, would quite answer
the purpose here, owing to the great unevenness of the material at hand in the case of the different
calculators. An arrangement has therefore been adopted which is in part chronological, but which is
modified by most of these other considerations. In this way, so far as the crossing of the different
principles of division permits, those men are in the main brought together who are most naturally
compared, and the important points of resemblance and difference come out more conveniently
than if an abstractly logical arrangement were adopted.
We begin, then, with Fuller and Buxton, who have much in common, and who are the first modern
calculators about whom reliable data are available. Colburn, Mondeux, and Inaudi form the next
group, followed by Zaneboni, Diamandi, and Dase. Then come the two Bidders and Safford,
followed by Gauss and Ampere, and finally those who may be called "minor prodigies," whether
because of limited powers of calculation or because the available information is not sufficient for a
more detailed account.
Tom Fuller2 (1710-1790), "the Virginia calculator," came from Africa as a slave when about 14
years old. We first hear of him as a calculator at the age of 70 or thereabouts, when, among other
problems, he reduced a year and a half to seconds in about two minutes, and 70 years, 17 days, 12
hours to seconds in about a minute and a half, correcting the result of his examiner, who had failed
to take account of the leap-years.3 He also found the sum of a simple geometrical pro-

1In his article on "Arithmetical Prodigies," in the American Journal of Psychology, IV, 1891, pp. 1-59.
We shall hereafter have frequent occasion to refer to this article, the only one in English in which a
comprehensive study of the subject is attempted.
2Scripture, op. cit., p. 2; Binet, Psychologie des grands calculateurs et joueurs d'echecs, 1894, p. 4;
American Museum, V, 1789, p. 62. This last date is erroneously given by Scripture as 1799.
3Binet, op. cit., p. 5, notes that the harder problem was done in less time than the simpler one, and
is inclined to suspect that the records are unreliable. But in the case of so slow an plodding a
calculator

- 63 -

gression, and multiplied mentally two numbers of 9 figures each. He was entirely illiterate.
Jedediah Buxton1 (1702-1772) was very stupid even from boyhood. Though his father and
grandfather were men of some education, he remained illiterate all his life, and was of less than
average intelligence; even the statement of a mathematical problem he comprehended, we are told,
"not without difficulty and time." In calculation he was, like Fuller, extremely slow; but he had a
prodigious memory, and could retain long numbers for days or even months, so that be performed
enormous calculations, which in some cases occupied him for weeks. On one occasion he mentally
squared a number of 39 figures, in 2½ months. His methods were original, but very clumsy; to
multiply by 378, in one instance, he multiplied successively by 5, 20, and 3 to get 300 times the
number, then by 5 and 15 to get a second partial product, and finally by 3, to complete the
operation. Thus instead of adding two zeros to multiply by 100, he multiplied first by 5 and then by
20. This fact, together with his slowness, shows pretty clearly that his methods were of counting
rather than multiplication, though we are told that he had learned the multiplication table in his
youth. He could give from memory an itemized account of all the free beer he had had from the age
of 12 on. He was able to calculate while working or talking, and could handle two problems at once
without confusion. At a sermon or play Buxton seems to have paid no attention to the speaker's
meaning, but to have amused himself by counting the words spoken, or the steps taken in a dance,
or by some long self-imposed calculation. He could call off a number from left to right or from right
to left with equal facility, and by pacing a piece of ground could estimate its area with considerable
accuracy.
Zerah Colburn2 (1804-1840), the son of a Vermont farmer,

as Fuller, little importance can be attached to such discrepancies, especially since the times given are
only approximate. Moreover, Fuller was at this time about 70 years old himself, and may therefore have
had in his memory, already calculated, the number of seconds in 70 years. The times given seem to
indicate that he used a process of modified counting, rather than multiplication in the ordinary sense. The
importance of this distinction will appear later.
1Scripture, op. cit., p. 3; Gentleman's Magazine, XXI, 1751, pp. 61, 347; XXIII, 1753, p. 557; XXIV,
1754, p. 251.
1Also spelt Colborne. Scripture, op. cit., p. 11; A Memoir of Zerah Colburn, written by himself,
Springfield, 1833; Philosophical Magazine, XL, 1812, p. 119; XLII, 1813, p. 481; Analectic
Magazine, I, 1813, p. 124; Carpenter, Mental Physiology, §205, p. 232; Cornhill Magazine, XXXII,
1875, p. 157; Belgravia, XXXVIII, 1879, p. 450; Gall, Organology, §XVIII, pp.84-7 (in On the
Functions of the Brain, V, Eng. tr., Boston, 1835). Scripture gives two other references which

- 64 -

was regarded as a backward child until the end of his 6th year when one day his father heard him
repeating parts of the multiplication table, though the boy had had only about six weeks schooling. The
father then "asked the product of 13x97 to which 1261 was instantly given in answer. He now concluded
that something unusual had actually taken place; indeed he often said he should not have been more
surprised, if some one bad risen up out of the earth and stood erect before him." 8 The elder Colburn now
took Zerah about the country, giving public exhibitions of the child's powers in various cities. Colburn was
thus the first professional calculator, in the sense already defined. From the list of questions answered by
him at Boston, in the fall of 1810, and from the account in the body of the Memoir, it appears that even at
this early date, only four months after the discovery of his talent, be was a good calculator, though of
course he improved with further practice. It is clear, therefore, that his powers had been developing for
some time - to judge from other cases at least six months, if not a year - before they attracted his father's
attention. This may mean that he learned to count from his elder brothers and sisters, - the eldest was
about seven years older than Zerah, - rather than from his own brief six weeks at school. Colburn's
preference for multiplication, the extraction of roots, factoring, and the detection of primes seems to have
developed early; he never became as proficient in division as Bidder, for example, and, like most of the
prodigies, he used addition and

the writer has been unable to consult: The Amerian Almanac, 1840, p. 307, and the Medical end
Philosophical Journal and Review, III, 1811, p. 21. Gall's account, however, seems to be based upon this
last article.
1Memoir, pp. 11-12. Scripture (op. cit., p. 12) is "tempted to ask for the authority on which the
statements were made", and inclined not to "put too much faith in the figures", on the ground that
Colburn never speaks of himself as having any extraordinary power of memory for long periods of
time. But the full passage as quoted above makes it clear that the father had told the incident
repeatedly to awe-stricken listeners in Zerah's hearing; moreover, the remembering of such a
simple problem could hardly require "extraordinary power of memory" in a person used to mental
calculation. Colburn's feats in factoring large numbers are hard to explain except by supposing that
he remembered at least those numbers which he had previously examined and found prime. This
would simply a rather considerable development of his memory for figures. At any rate, there is
nothing improbable in his remembering the figures quoted in the text, even for some years after his
calculating powers had declined.
It may be noted that later in his article Scripture's faith in Colburn's memory increases; for on page
46 he thinks we can presuppose in the case of Colburn and certain others an extended
multiplication table, perhaps even to 100x100. Reasons for rejecting this supposition, in Colburn's
case at any rate, will appear later.

- 65 -

subtraction only incidentally, in the service of other operations, not for their own sake. In answering catch
questions and in repartee he was moderately clever.
In the spring of 1812 Zerah was taken by his father to London. Here, among other feats, he found
mentally, by successive multiplication, the 16th power of 8 (=281474976710656) and the 10th
powers of other 1-figure numbers, also, though with more difficulty, the 6th, 7th, and 8th powers of
several 2-figure numbers. The square root of 106929 (=327) and the cube root of 268336125
(=645) were found "before the original numbers could be written down." He immediately identified
 36083 as a prime number, and found "by the mere operation of his mind" the factors, 641 and
6700417, of 4294967297 (=232+1).1
While in London, Colburn learned to read and write, and later began the study of Algebra; but his
education was subject to long interruptions, owing to the constant financial difficulties caused by his
father's lack of business ability. After visits to Ireland and Scotland, the Colburns went, in 1814, to
Paris, where Zerah spent eight month at school, studying mainly

1Memoir, pp. 37-8, quoting from a prospectus printed in London, 1813. From Colburn's own account
of his methods of factoring (pp. 183-4), it appears that the only way in which he could immediately
identify as prime such a number as 36083 would be by remembering the result of a previous
examination of it. Scripture (op. cit., p. 14, note) says that it "requires considerable faith" to accept
the statement that Colburn factored 232+1. But we are not told that he did it "instantly"; a friend of
Morse's says simply, "almost as soon as it was put to him" (Scripture, loc. cit., quoting from a letter
in S. I. Prime's Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, p. 68; the reference is undoubtedly to this problem),
while Carpenter (Mental Physiology, p. 233; the writer has not been able to find Carpenter's
authority for this statement) says, "after the lapse of some weeks." Even if the time was only a
matter of some minutes, the feat is not incomprehensible. The smaller factor, 641, might easily have
been hit upon by a lucky trial at a very early stage of the work. We read in Baily's account (Analectic
Magazine, I, 1813, p. 124) that "any number, consisting of 6 or 7 places of figures, being proposed,
he [Colburn] will determine, with... expedition and ease, all the factors of which it is composed."
Now 232+1 is only a 10-figure number, or three figures longer than those Colburn was used to
handling; and the smallness of the factor 641 renders the problem much simpler than it at first
appears. Since, then, the feat is entirely possible, and since it is cited by Colburn from the publicly
circulated Prospectus of 1813, and is mentioned by at least one contemporary writer who was not
acquainted with the Memoir, there is no reason for believing that Colburn fabricated the incident;
especially since his limited mathematical knowledge would never have shown him the importance
of this particular number. Had he been inventing out of whole cloth, he would have multiplied
together two prime numbers chosen at random, and would probably have made the smaller one at
least a 4-figure, if not a 5-figure number. On the historical reliability of the Memoir see Appendix I.

- 66 -

French and Latin. Returning to England early in 1816 he entered Westminster School in September, under
the patronage of the Earl of Bristol, making fair progress in the languages, and standing well in his class,
in which, however, he was one of the oldest boys. He also studied six books of Euclid under a private
tutor, but stowed no marked geometrical aptitude. In 1819 his father removed him from school, and soon
after we find him, at his father's suggestion, unsuccessfully attempting the career of an actor and
playwright. It 1822 he opened a small school, which ran for a year or more. His next occupation was as a
computer in the service of the secretary of the Board of Longitude. Shortly after his father's death, in 1824
Zerah returned to America, and in December of 1825 joined the Methodist church, becoming a circuit
preacher. After seven years of this occupation,1 being in need of funds to eke out his modest ministerial
salary, he wrote the Memoir, carrying out a plan which his father and friends had had in view long before.
In 1835 he resumed teaching, as "Professor of the Latin, Greek, French and Spanish Languages, and
English Classical Literature in the seminary styled the Norwich University." 2 He died in 1840.
From this brief account of Colburn's romantic career, it will be seem that his education, while much
interrupted, was fairly good. He spent four or five years in the study of languages, for which he
seems to have had a natural liking, and later was able to teach them. He began the study of
algebra, but did not get beyond the elements of it; and he studied geometry, which he found easy
but uninteresting, owing to the lack of any visible practical application. The literary style of his
Memoir, though far from Addisonian, is always readable, the book is interesting throughout, and
even the specimens of his poetry given in the appendix are not specially bad, all things

1I.
e., in 1832 or 1833. Cf. Memoir, p. 31, "after possessing the talent twenty-two years", from
August, 1810; p. 142, "nine years' residence here" in America, from June, 1824; p. 166, "twenty-two
years ago", to 1810 or 1811; p. 167, "the last seven years that he has spent in the traveling
connection", from December, 1825. These passages show that the Memoir was not begun, or at
any rate had not reached the third chapter, before 1832, and was not completed until shortly before
 its publication in 1833. Scripture's statement, therefore (op. cit., p. 11, note 2), that "there is no
statement regarding the time at which they [the Memoir(s)] were written, or even a date to the
preface; the last year mentioned in the book is 1827", is decidedly misleading. The last date printed
in figures, to be sure, so that it could be identified by a cursory glance, is 1827; but the last date
"mentioned" is certainly 1832, if not 1833, even granting that all the periods of time above quoted
are only approximate, and cannot be taken without an allowance of half a year one way or the other
for possible error.
2Scripture, op. cit., p. 16, quoting from American Almanac, 1840, p. 307.

- 67 -

considered. The question of the historical reliability of the Memoir will be discussed later; for the present it
will suffice to say that, on a careful reading, the book shows scarcely a trace of that self-glorification with
which it has been charged by Scripture and Binet.
Concerning the rapidity of Colburn's calculations not much is known. The only series of problems
whose times he gives us dates from 1811, before he was 7 years old, and so is hardly typical of his
performances two or three years later when he was in his prime. The times indicated are fairly
short, in most cases shorter than if the work had been done on paper by a good computer. The
testimony of observers as to his "extraordinary rapidity" is of little value in the absence of definite
figures; especially since some of his feats, notably the extraction of square and cube roots and the
finding of factors, were accomplished by the aid of extremely simple methods. Colburn's powers
probably increased up to the time of his visit to Paris in 1814; but when he gave up his regular
exhibitions, and became interested in other matters, he gradually lost much of his skill. There
seems to be no authority, however, for the statement 1 that after a time his powers left him entirely;
in 1823, at any rate, after a considerable period of disuse, they were readily revived for purposes of
written longitude computations.
Of his methods of calculation Colburn has left us a very good account; the only calculator of whom
we have a fuller account is Bidder,2 whose methods closely resembled Colburn's. Both men, in
multiplication, began at the left, instead of at the right as we usually do in written computations; and
both, by the aid of certain properties of the 2-figure endings 3 of the

1Scripture, op. cit., p. 15.

2Bidder's account is more detailed, better written, and in more concise mathematical language than
Colburn's, as a result of Bidder's superior educational advantages; it contains, furthermore,
explanations of several of Bidders's feats, such as the solving of compound interest problems,
which would have been hopelessly beyond Colburn's powers. At the same time Colburn's account
is perfectly clear, to the non-mathematical reader perhaps even clearer than Bidder's. In this matter,
as in several others, Scripture is hardly fair to Colburn; thus he speaks of Colburn's explanations as
"the least intelligible of all the explanations" (p. 50). It is no reproach to Colburn that he was
excelled by Bidder; but he certainly deserves credit for what he did do, and one of the things he did
was to write a very good account of his methods, over twenty years before Bidder followed his
example.
3By a 2-figure ending we shall mean the last two figures of any given number; thus 56 is the 2-
figure ending of 3456, 01 of 2401, 07 of 7, etc. What properties of these endings were used by the
mental calculators will be explained hereafter.

- 68 -

numbers used, were able to find with remarkable ease and rapidity the square and cube roots of exact
squares and cubes and also, though less rapidly, the factors of fairly large numbers'
Colburn had two physical peculiarities that need to be mentioned. (1) He possessed an extra finger
on each hand and an extra toe on each foot. This peculiarity he shared with his father and two 1 of
his brothers. (2) In his early years his calculations were accompanied by certain bodily contortions,
similar to those of St. Vitus' dance. They seem to have passed away rather early; Colburn himself
has no recollection of them, and mentions them simply on the authority of persons who saw him
 when "quite a child."2
Henri Mondeux3 (1826-1862) was the son of a woodcutter near Tours. Sent to tend sheep at the
age of 7, he amused himself by playing with pebbles, and thus learned mental arithmetic. Jacoby, a
schoolmaster at Tours, hearing of him sought him out, offered to instruct him, and gave him his
address in the city; but the boy's memory outside mathematics was so poor that he forgot both
name and address, and found the schoolmaster only after a month's search. He received
instruction in arithmetic and other subjects, and in 1840 was exhibited before the Paris Academie
des Sciences. In the committee's report on him we are told that he "carries on readily in his head
not only the various arithmetical operations, but also, in many cases, the numerical solution of
equations; he devises processes, sometimes remarkable, for solving

1Colburn says (Memoir, p. 72), "his father and two of his [father's] sons," while the account in the
Philosophical Magazine (XLII, 1813, pp. 481-2) says Zerah and three of his brothers. It has been
assumed in the text that Zerah did not count himself, and that the other writer counted him twice;
this is the simplest way of reconciling the two statements. The peculiarity had been in the Colburn
family, we are told, for several generations.
2Memoir, p. 173. Scripture does not refer to this second peculiarity; but since Colburn mentions
another mathematical prodigy with a similar affliction, and since Safford showed a striking
nervousness in his early calculations, it haa seemed worth while to mention the matter. Gall,
probably quoting from the Medical and Philosophical Journal and Review article already cited,
seems to refer to this nervousness when he says (op. cit., V, p. 86): "While he [Colburn] answers, it
is seen, by his appearance, the state of his eyes, and the contraction of his features, how much his
mind labors." Colburn was not quite 7 years old when seen by the writer of the article on which
Gall's account is based. Gall himself, however, examined Colburn in Paris, probably in 1814. Cf.
Memoir, pp. 76-7.
3Scripture, op. cit., p. 21; La grande Encyclopedic, art. Mondeux; Cauchy's report on Mondeux, in
Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des stances de I'Academie des Sciences, XI, 1840, pp. 840, 952;
reprinted in Oeuvres Completes de Cauchy, ie Serie, 1885, V, p. 493, and in Binet, op. cit., pp. 14-
22. The writer has been unable to consult the other references cited by Scripture.

- 69 -

a great number of different questions which are ordinarily treated by algebra, and determines in his own
way the exact or approximate value of integral or fractional numbers which satisfy given conditions." More
specifically, he finds powers of numbers by rules of his own discovery which are equivalent to special
cases of the binomial theorem; he has worked out formulas for the summation of the squares, cubes, etc.,
of the natural numbers, and for arithmetical progression and other series; he solves simultaneous linear
equations by a method of his own, and sometimes equations of higher degree, especially where the root
is a positive integer; and he solves such problems in indeterminate analysis as finding two squares whose
difference is a given number. He "knows almost by heart the squares of all whole numbers under 100."
learning a number of 24 figures, divided into four 6-figure periods, requires 5 minutes. He can solve a
problem while attending to other things.
Mondeux's admirers hoped that he would one day distinguish himself in a scientific career; but this
was not the case. Like his successor Inaudi, whom he closely resembles in several respects, he
became a professional calculator; but he had no ability outside of mathematics, and even there his
powers soon reached a limit beyond which they did not increase. He died in obscurity. If we may
judge by the Academy report, he was almost the equal of Bidder in his insight into mathematical
relations;1 but on the numerical side he was far excelled by Inaudi, who could, for example,
memorize 24 figures in half a minute, a feat for which Mondeux required 5 minutes.
Jacques Inaudi2 (b. 1867), an Italian by birth, passed his early years, like Mondeux, in tending
sheep. An anecdote which Binet regards as rather doubtful indicates a possible prenatal influence
in the direction of calculation; otherwise there is nothing noteworthy in his heredity. His passion for
figures began about the age of 6, and at 7 he could carry on mentally multiplications of 5 figures by
5 figures. His education is very slight; he did not learn to read and write until he was 20 years old.
Outside of mental calculation he has no special ability; his memory for most things except figures is
rather poor, and he is often absent-minded. At last accounts he was still a professional calculator,
living by public exhibitions of his talent. He visited the United States in 1901-2,
 1Justhow much Mondeux owed to Jacoby's teaching is hard to say. The writer has been unable to
consult Jacoby's Biographie d'Henri Mondeux or Barbier's Vie d'Henri Mondeux; Binet, however,
who cites both these works, says that Jacoby's lessons were "sans grand sncces." (Op. cit., p. 14.)
2Binet, op. cit., pp. 24-109, 199-204, et passim.

- 70 -

appearing in many of the larger cities, and is said to have been fairly well received by American
audiences.
Telling on what day of the week a given date falls is one of his favorite problems. The reduction of
years, mouths, etc., to seconds he accomplishes almost instantly, knowing by heart the number of
seconds in a year, month, week, or day. He solves by arithmetic problems corresponding to
algebraic equations of the first and sometimes of higher degree, also such problems as the
resolution of a given 4- or 5-figure number into the sum of four squares. In these latter cases,
however he proceeds for the most part simply by trial, aided, of course' by his skill in calculation
and his familiarity with many squares' cubes, and the like. At his regular performances the pro-
gramme includes the subtraction of one 21-figure number from another, the addition of five 6-figure
numbers, the squaring of a 4-figure number, the division of one 4-figure number by another, the
extraction of the cube root of a 9-figure number and the 5th root of a 12-figure number, or such
similar problems as may be proposed by the audience. As each number is announced he repeats it
slowly to his assistant, who writes it on the blackboard and then reads it aloud, to make sure there
is no mistake. Inaudi then repeats the number once more, after which he devotes himself to the
solution of the problem, meanwhile making an occasional remark to keep the audience in good
humor. Throughout the exhibition he faces the audience, never once looking at the blackboard.
Actually he begins his calculation as soon as the numbers are given, and carries it on during the
various repetitions of the numbers by himself and his assistant, so that by the time he seems to
begin the solution he may be well advanced toward the answer. In this way he appears to work
much more rapidly than he really does.
Inaudi is a well-marked instance of the auditory1 memory type. When he thinks of numbers, in
calculation or otherwise, he does not see them "in his mind's eye," as arrays of dots or other small
objects, or as written or printed figures; numbers are for him primarily words, which he hears as if
spoken by his own voice, and during his calculations he almost always pronounces at least some of
these words, either with partial distinctness or in a confused murmur. Any interference with

1Actually it would be more correct to call his type auditory-motor, and the same is probably true of
most of the other auditory calculators we shall study, since a pure or non-motor auditory individual
is rare. For convenience, however, the writer has followed Binet's terminology. The meagreness of
our information in most cases makes it difficult to tell just what part the motor element plays; and
this is especially true when we are dealing with a limited field like calculation, where the motor
element may often play a less important part than in certain other fields.

- 71 -

this habitual articulation embarrasses him, and prolongs his calculation. He remembers a number very
much more readily after hearing it than after seeing it; in fact, if a written number is banded to him, he
usually reads it aloud, in order to learn it by sound rather than by sight. Whether visual images are entirely
absent is a purely theoretical question; it is at least clear that, if present at all, they play a negligible part in
his mental computations. We shall later find reason to believe that this condition is by no means so rare as
has been supposed. Owing to the traditions of English and French psychology, the visual theory of mental
calculation has lain ready to hand, and has in the past found much apparent confirmation. But now that an
unmistakably non-visual calculator is on record, it will no longer do to beg the whole question; we must
insist on considering each case upon its own merits, either settling it by definite evidence or leaving it
frankly in doubt. We shall see later how much of the supposed evidence for the visual theory falls before a
careful examination.
 One of Inaudi's most marked characteristics is his powerful memory for figures. In one experiment
he was able to repeat, after a single hearing, though with an effort, 36 figures, read off to him slowly
in groups of three; but in the attempt to repeat 50 figures under the same conditions he became
confused, and got only 42 of them correct. This latter number, 42, Binet therefore takes as the limit
of Inaudi's power of acquisition, or "mental span," under these conditions. In an experiment made to
determine in what time he could learn 100 figures read off to him in groups as often as requested,
he learned the first 36 in a minute and a half, the first 57 in 4 minutes, 75 in 5½ minutes, and the
whole 100 (actually there were 105) in 12 minutes. On the other hand, he can repeat in order, at
any time within a day or two, all the figures used in his last performance, whether in the statement
of the problems, in the answers, or in the intermediate calculations. The number of these figures at
times runs as high as 300, and the total duration of the performance is usually not more than 10 or
12 minutes. Each new performance, however, blots out of his memory almost entirely the figures
used in the previous one; but such constants as the number of seconds in a year, etc., as well as
many powers and products, and any particular numbers or results in which he for any reason takes
a special interest, remain permanently with him. These facts show how important it is to take
account of the conditions of such experiments if the figures established by them are to have
scientific value. In an experiment lasting the same length of time as one of his regular exhibitions,
but under very different conditions, Inaudi can learn only a third the number of figures he

- 72 -

remembers with ease under his usual conditions. In these public performances, however, each number in
the probem as given is repeated several times (twice by Inaudi himself and once each by his assistant
and the proposer of the question), and the figures of the various calculations and the result have a logical
connection in the problem. Moreover, the numbers are learned in relatively short stages, separated by
intervals in which they can be assimilated.1
Concerning the rapidity of Inaudi's calculations we have fairly full information, - so much fuller, in
fact, than we have for any previous calculator, that no satisfactory comparisons can be made. Since
the results of Binet's experiments are readily accessible, a brief summary of them will here suffice
In each experiment the subject was given a written column of numbers, each of which was to be
mentally increased or diminished, multiplied or divided, by the same number; in other words, the
addend, subtrahend, multiplier, or divisor was uniform for the whole given column of numbers. The
results were called off down the column as fast as obtained, and the average time for each single
operation thus determined. These tests were made on some of Binet's pupils, on Inaudi, and on
four department store cashiers who were thoroughly practiced in addition, subtraction, and
multiplication of small numbers, and could perform mentally 2-figure multiplications 22, and in some
cases, though with difficulty, 3-figure multiplications. The students were of course considerably
slower than Inaudi and the cashiers; but the cashiers, in dealing with the smaller numbers to which
they were accustomed, were fully as rapid as Inaudi, in some cases slightly more rapid. In dealing
with larger numbers, however, which exceeded the limits of their customary calculations, their
inferiority to Inaudi was very marked.

1Mondeux, it will be remembered, required 5 minutes to learn 24 figures, whereas learning this
number of figures is a common incident of Inaudi's exhibitions, and takes only half a minute. Here
again, however, the results are not directly comparable. Mondeux learned the number in groups of
6 figures, and presumably from a paper or blackboard, while Inaudi always groups numbers in
periods of three, and learns them by audition instead of vision. We shall refer later to a distinction
which must be made between the direct and immediate remembering of figures which results from
deliberately committing them to memory, and the very rapid and abbreviated automatic calculations
which in some of the prodigies simulate direct memory. Recollection as the result of repeated
calculation may form an intermediate stage in the passage of the latter into the former. These
distinctions will become important in connection with the much discussed question whether, and to
what extent, the mental calculators possessed extended multiplication tables.
2By a 2-figure, or n-figure, multiplication will be understood hereafter a multiplication in which each
of the two numbers contains 2 (or n) figures, and the product 3 or 4 (2n-1 or 2n) figures.
 - 73 -

Ugo Zaneboni1 (b. 1867), an Italian, born in the same year as his countryman Inaudi, received a
fair education. His interest in numbers began at the age of 12, and when 14 he could solve 2 any
problem his teacher proposed to him. While serving his term in the army he was for a time stationed
at a railroad depot, where he amused himself by gradually committing to memory a vast body of
statistics relating to timetables, distances between different cities, population, tariffs, etc. When he
later took to the stage as a professional calculator, questions based on these statistics formed part
of his regular programme. Among his other usual feats are the repetition, either forwards or
backwards, of a memorized number of 256 figures, the squaring of numbers up to 4 figures and the
cubing of numbers up to 3 figures, finding the 5th powers of 2-figure numbers, and, conversely,
extracting the 5th root of any number of 10 figures or less, the cube root of any 9-figure number,
and the square root of any number of 7 figures or less, whether the given number is a perfect power
or not. In these problems he is aided by his knowledge of many perfect squares, cubes, etc., as well
as by various properties of 2-figure endings, with which he is thoroughly familiar. He possibly has a
number-form, in which the numbers from 1 to 10, from 10 to 100, and from 100 to 1000 are
arranged along three horizontal lines. This number-form, however, if it really exists, plays little or no
part in his actual calculations.
Pericles Diamandi3 (b. 1868), the son of a Greek grain merchant, attributes his calculating gift to
his mother, who "has an excellent memory for all sorts of things." One brother and one sister, out of
a family of fourteen, share his aptitude for mental arithmetic. He entered school at the age of 7, and
remained there until he was 16, always standing at the head of the class in mathematics. But it was
only after entering the grain business himself, in 1884, that he discovered his powers of mental
calculation, which he now found very useful. He knows five languages, - English, French, German,
Roumanian, and his native Greek, - and is a great reader; he has read all he can find on the subject
of mental calculation; and he has written novels and poetry, concerning whose quality, however,
Binet does not enlighten us. It will thus be seen that Dia-mandi's education is much better than
Inaudi's, and his range

1Rivista sperimentale di Freniatria, etc., XXIII, 1897, pp. 132-159, 407-429. A summary of these
articles, in German, is found in the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie und Physiologie der Sinnesorgane,
XVI, 1898, p. 314. The writer is indebted to Mrs. Rose Harrington for a translation of considerable
portions of the original Italian articles.
2Mentally, it is to be presumed, though the article is not explicit on this point.
3Binet, op. cit., pp. 110-154, 98, 187 ff, passim.

- 74 -

of interests correspondingly wider, but that he was far less precocious in calculation than his rival.
Diamandi is of the visual memory type. He has a number-form of a common variety, running zigzag
from left to right and giving most space to the smaller numbers. This number-form he sees as
localized within a peculiar grayish figure which also serves as a framework for any particular
number or other object which he visualizes. He has colored audition for the names of various
persons, the days of the week, etc., and if a few figures in a given number differ in color from the
rest he remembers the colors without effort. If the color scheme is more complicated, however, he
first memorizes the number and then learns the colors of the individual figures. He always sees
numbers as written in his own handwriting, and preferably, if the numbers are large, in a rectangle
as nearly square as possible, rather than in one or two long Hues. He learns spoken figures (in
French) much less readily than written, since in the case of spoken figures he must not only call
forth the corresponding visual images, but translate the numbers into his native Greek, in which all
his calculations are carried on. Where he seeks to learn the figures very accurately, for purposes of
calculation, he is only about half as fast as Inaudi; 1 but where he is concerned with speed rather
than accuracy his times are much shorter. In the one case he learned 10 figures in 17 seconds; in
the other, 11 figures in 3 seconds.
In calculation Diamandi is considerably slower than Inaudi, whether the numbers concerned are
large or small. His time was 127 seconds for a 4-figure multiplication, whereas Inaudi could
accomplish the same feat in 21 seconds. Diamandi finds the various figures of the product in order,
from right to left, by cross-multiplication; thus in such an example as
 46273
729
416457
92546
323911
33733017
he finds the figures of the partial products not in the horizontal lines of the ordinary method, but in
vertical lines, - first

1Hereagain, however, we must be careful about direct comparisons of dissimilar data, since
Diamandi learned from a paper and wrote out his results, while Inaudi depended on audition and
speech. Moreover, Diamandi's times were found to be subject to considerable variation from day to
day.

- 75 -

7, then 5, 6, then 4, 4, 1, then 6, 5, 1, etc., - and adds each column before he proceeds to find the
numbers that compose tire next column. This method has the advantage that the various figures of the
partial products can be forgotten almost as fast as obtained, since that figure of the total product which
depends on a given column of the partial product is found and recorded as soon as the column is known,
and the numbers in that column therefore play no further part in the calculation. On Diamandi's
performances in other operations than multiplication Binet gives us no data.
Johann Martin Zacharias Dase1 (1824-1861) was born in Hamburg. Concerning his heredity we
have no information. He attended school at the age of 2½ years, but attributed his powers to later
practice and industry rather than to his early instruction. He seems to have been little more than a
human calculating machine, able to carry on enormous calculations in his head, but nearly
incapable of understanding the principles of mathematics, and of very limited ability outside his
chosen field. In this respect he resembled Buxton; but in the rapidity and extent of his calculations
he was incomparably superior to Buxton, or indeed to any other calculator on record. He multiplied
together mentally two 8-figure numbers in 54 seconds, two 20-figure numbers in 6 minutes, two 40-
figure numbers in 40 minutes, and two 100-figure numbers in 8¾ hours; he could extract the square
root of a 60-figure number in an "incredibly short time," and the square root of a 100-figure number
in 52 minutes. All these times, with the exception of that for the 100-figure multiplication, are
probably more rapid, in some cases much more rapid, than those of a good computer using paper.
Buxton, it will be remembered, once succeeded in multiplying two 39-figure numbers; other
calculators, however, seem to have been unable to handle multiplications much above 15 figures.
But if there was any definite limit to Dase's powers, the experiments of which we have record do not
show it. We shall later find reason for believ-

1Also spelt Dahse. The full name is given on the authority of Brockhaus's Konversations-Lexikon,
ed. 1898, art. Dase. Scripture, following the title-page of Dase's posthumously published Factoren-
Tafeln (3 vols., 1862-5), gives the name as simply Zacharias Dase, which seems to be the way in
which Dase usually wrote it. On Dase'a life and calculations see Scripture, op. cit., p. 18;
Briefwechsel zwischen Gauss und Schumacher, Altona, 1861, III, p. 382; V, pp. 30, 32, 277-8, 295-
8, 300-304; VI, pp. 27-8, 78, 112; Crelle's Journal (Journal f.d. reine u. angewandle Mathematik),
XXVII, 1844, p. 198; Zacharias Dase, Factoren-Tafeln, Hamburg, Vol. I, 1862, Preface; Schroder,
Lexikon d. hamburgischen Schriftsteller, 1851, art. Dase; Preyer, "Counting Unconsciously," Pop.
Sci. Monthly, XXIX, 1886, p. 221; Brockhaus's Konversations-Lexikon, 1898, art. Dase. For other
references see Scripture, loc. cit.

- 76 -

ing that the 100-figure multiplication was not really a sever tax upon his powers of mental arithmetic. In
short, Dase's achievements so far transcend those of any other recorded calculator that he stands in a
class by himself, unapproached b any of his rivals.
At the age of 15 Dase began his public exhibitions, and continued them for a number of years. He
soon numbered among his friends several eminent mathematicians, however, and their influence
gradually led him more and more to devote his vast powers to the service of science. 1 Among his
(non-mental) computations are included the determination of the value of p to 200 decimal places2
by the formula
p 1 1 1
= tan-1 4 + tan-1 8 + tan-1 8 ,
4
a labor of two months; the computation of the 7-place natural logarithms of the numbers from 1 to
1005000; and factor-tables for the 7th and 8th millions (except a small portion) and parts of the 9th
and 10th millions. This last task, however, was one in which his patience aud perseverance were of
more value than his sjcill in calculation, since, by methods to which Gauss was careful to call his
attention, the work was made mainly mechanical. Dase had planned to carry the table through the
10th million, but death cut short his labors. The

1Scripture's statement (op. cit., p. 19) that Colburn and Mondeux "enjoyed even greater advantages
[than Dase,] yet failed to yield any results" in the service of science, is misleading. With both
Mondeux and Dase the trouble seems to have been not lack of opportunity to acquire mathematical
knowledge, but lack of native ability to use the opportunities they had. With Colburn, on the other
hand, the trouble really was at least in part lack of opportunity; he certainly did not enjoy the
opportunity to attend university lectures, nor did any eminent mathematician try "in vain for six
weeks to get the first elements of mathematics into his head" (ibid., p. 18; Gauss-Schumacher
Briefwechsel, III, p. 382; V, pp. 32, 295), as in the case of Dase. Moreover, Colburn's description of
his methods must be reckoned as an important contribution to the science of psychology, none the
less important because it is somewhat inferior to Bidder's later description. For other instances of
Scripture's unfairness to Colburn, see Appendix I.
2Scripture omits to mention any specific number of decimal places, though in both the references
he gives (p. 18), to Crelle's Journal and to the Gauss-Schumacher Briefivechsel, the number of
decimal places is made prominent. The natural inference would be that Scripture regarded p as a
commensurable number of exactly 200 decimal places; but in view of his frequent use of higher
mathematics in his other published works, one hesitates to attribute to him so gross an error. Of
course anybody, with a logarithm table and a little knowledge of geometry, can compute the value
of p to three or four places; the record of such a computation is absolutely meaningless without
specific mention of the number of figures to which the computation is carried out.

- 77 -

tables were completed by another hand, and published as far as the 9th million in 1862-5.
Dase had one other notable gift, doubtless related to his calculating power: he could count objects
with the greatest rapidity. With a single glance he could give the number (up to thirty or thereabouts)
of peas in a handful scattered on a table; and the ease and speed with which he could count the
number of sheep in a herd, of books in a case, or the like, never failed to amaze the beholder. Here,
again, his powers are so far in advance of those of any other recorded person that be stands in a
class by himself.
George Parker Bidder1 (1806-1878), "the elder Bidder," was the son of a stone-mason of
Devonshire, England. The indications of hereditary influence are stronger in the Bidder family than
in that of any other calculator. Bidder's eldest brother, a Unitarian minister, had an extraordinary
memory for Biblical texts, but no special arithmetical gift; another brother was an excellent
mathematician and an insurance actuary ; a nephew early showed remarkable mechanical ability;
Bidder's eldest son, George Parker Bidder. Jr. (hereafter referred to as "the younger Bidder"),
inherited in considerable degree his father's gift for mental arithmetic, together with his uncle's
mathematical ability, being seventh wrangler at Cambridge in 1858; and two daughters of the
younger Bidder showed "more than average, but not extraordinary powers of doing mental
arithmetic."2 Other members of the family were distinguished in non-mathematical ways.

1Scripture, op. cit., p. 23; Proceedings Institution of Civil Engineers, XV, 1855-6, p. 251; LVII, 1878-
 9, p. 294; Colburn's Memoir, p. 175; Phil. Mag., XLVII, 1816, p. 314; Spectator, LI, 1878, pp. 1634-
5; LII, 1879, pp. 47. III.
2Spectator, LI, 1878, pp. 1634-5. In this article the younger Bidder is referred to as Mr. G. Bidder;
but his full name was the same as that of his father, George Parker Bidder. (Cf, JOB. Foster's Men-
at-the-Bar, 2nd ed., London, 1885, and The Law List, London, for 1882.) Scripture refers to both
father and son, in different places, as George Bidder, and to the son usually as George Bidder, Q.
C., Mr. Bidder, Q. C., or the younger Bidder; by Bidder (unqualified) he always means the elder
Bidder, except in one case (p. 28), where the context prevents any misunderstanding. After noting
that the similarity of the two names has caused some confusion, he tell us (loc. cit.), somewhat
dogmatically, that "the only way out of the difficulty is to distinguish the son by adding his title [Q.
C.]." (Why would not the son's A. B., or A. M., or his date of birth, or the father's C. E., answer just
as well?)
Despite this device for avoiding difficulty, Scripture has fallen into sad confusion in dealing with the
various members of the Bidder family. On p. 28 of his article he quotes from the Spectator (loc. cit.)
the sentence: "If I perform a sum mentally, it always proceeds in a visible form in my mind; indeed, I
can conceive no other way possible of doing mental arithmetic", omitting the comma after
"mentally", but

- 78 -

At the age of 6 Bidder learned from an elder brother to count to 10, then to 100; this was the only
formal instruction in figures he ever received. From counting by units to counting by 10's, and then
by 5's, was a natural development. He then set about learning the multiplication table up to 10x10,
with the aid of shot, marbles, etc., until, as he expresses it the numbers up to 100 became his
friends, and he knew all their relations and acquaintances. A year or so later his readiness in solving
simple problems mentioned in his hearing attracted attention, and he acquired a considerable local
reputation Bits of mathematical information (such as that 10x100 means 1000, etc.) and halfpence
contributed by his admirers conduced to the gradual development of his talent, aided by his natural
keenness in reasoning about numerical relations; so that he was soon able to perform 4-, 5-, and 6-
figure multiplications mentally. Meantime he came to observe various interesting properties of
numbers, - the formulas for the sums of numerous series, casting out the 9's, short cuts in
multiplication, properties of squares and of 2-figure endings, and the like. As a

correctly attributing the remark to the younger Bidder. On p. 57, however, he makes the same quotation,
this time adding a superfluous "of" after "conceive" and omitting the comma as before, but now attributing
the quotation simply to Bidder (unqualified), meaning the elder Bidder, as the context unmistakably shows;
for a little farther on he says, "This faculty was also inherited [transmitted?], but with a very remarkable
difference. The younger Bidder [italics mine] thinks of each number in its own definite place in a number-
form," etc.
But a worse confusion than this is still to be noted. The Spectator correspondence above cited,
printed just after the elder Bidder's death, moved another correspondent (Spectator, L,II, 1879, p.
143) to quote from Brierley's journal for Jan. 25, 1879, the case of an eighteenth century Dissenting
minister, the Rev. Thomas Threlkeld, who had a memory for Biblical texts similar to that of the elder
Bidder's brother. On the strength of this, Scripture tells us (p. 27): "One of his [the elder Bidder's]
brothers was an excellent mathematician and an actuary of the Royal Exchange Life Assurance
Office. Rev. Thomas Threlkeld, an elder brother [!], was a Unitarian minister. He was not remarkable
as an arithmetician, but he possessed the Bidder memory and showed the Bidder inclination for
figures, but lacked the power of rapid calculation. He could quote almost any text in the Bible, and
give chapter and verse. [Here Scripture gives the correct reference for this last sentence, which is
taken from the younger Bidder's letter, and refers to the brother of the elder Bidder.] He had long
collected all the dates he could, not only of historical persons, but of everybody; to know when a
person was born or married was a source of gratification to him." Here we are given the correct
reference for this last sentence, which refers to the Rev. Thomas Threlkeld, and is from the later
volume of the Spectator. Thus by a piece of carelessness, hard to excuse, Scripture has
inextricably confused the brother of the elder Bidder with this Rev. Thomas Threlkeld, who, so far as
we know, was related to the Bidder family only by common descent from Adam!
 - 79 -

result of this "natural" algebra and number-theory he hit upon some ingenious methods of performing
complex operations; in particular, by his 11th year he was already in possession of a method by which he
could solve compound interest problems mentally in an amazingly short time, in fact, almost as rapidly as
a good computer using a table of logarithms.1 Later, after his meeting and competitive test with Zerah
Colburn, in 1818, he acquired great skill in the extraction of roots and the find-ing of factors, by methods
similar to Colburn's, but with improvements of his own. 2
Bidder's reputation soon became more than local, and when about 8 years old he was exhibited in
various places by his father, after the fashion so recently set by the Colburns. But Bidder's
admirers, more energetic than Colburn's, actually raised a fund to pay for his education, and put
him in school. Later on, when his father resumed the profitable exhibitions, friends once more
intervened, this time with permanent success. The boy was placed with a private tutor, and in 1819
attended classes in the University of Edinburgh, where he took a mathematical prize in 1822.
Leaving the university in 1824, he held positions successively in the Ordnance Survey and in an
assurance office. But by the advice of his friends he later decided to devote himself to civil
engineering, and ultimately became one of the most successful engineers of his time. He was
connected with several engineering undertakings of the first magnitude, and as a member of the
Institution of Civil Engineers took a prominent part in the controversies then

1On the mathematical side, if P represents the principal, r the interest (as a fraction of the principal,
not as a per cent.), and n the number of years, Bidder's method amounted to the expansion of the
expression P (1+r)n, by the binomial theorem, to a sufficient number of terms to insure accuracy in
the last farthing. The properties of several numerical series were skillfully utilized at different stages
of the expansion. (Cf. Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 267, for Bidder's own account.)
2Colburn says of this meeting (Memoir, p. 175), "Some time in 1818, Zerah was invited to a certain
place, where he found a number of persons questioning the Devonshire boy. He [Bidder] displayed
great strength and power of mind in the higher branches of arithmetic; he could answer some
questions that the American would not like to undertake; but he was unable to extract the roots, and
find the factors of numbers." Thus it would seem that Bidder's mind was not strongly turned in the
direction of this class of problems until after this meeting with Colburn, but that once he became
interested in them he soon outstripped his rival. Strangely enough Scripture, after mentioning this
passage from the Memoir in his general bibliography oa Bidder, does not cite it in his account of the
meeting of Colburn and Bidder, but refers only to the one-sided account of a London paper, which
represents Bidder's triumph as complete. For a further discussion of this meeting, see Appendix I.

- 80 -

before the profession. Constant use kept up his calculating powers, and in various railway and other
contests before Parliamentary committees his great command of statistics and keen powers of analysts
made him a formidable witness.
It would seena that Bidder's powers of mental calculation increased steadily at least up to the
beginning of his university days, if not later,1 and thereafter remained almost undimin. ished to the
end of his life. Both in numerical calculations and in his study of higher mathematics he was
interested in general principles, practical applications, and striking properties, rather than in intricate
analysis for its own sake, or calculations with numbers chosen merely for their length, fa Edinburgh
he maintained a good class standing in mathematics including differential and integral calculus, but
only by hard study.2 In the solution of problems where special properties or symmetries played a
part he was equalled, if at all, only by such great calculator-mathematicians as Gauss and Ampere.
In division his skill was considerable. In multiplication he was able, on one occasion, to handle two
12-figure numbers, but only by "a great and distressing effort"; 3 in general, he

1In the Spectator, LII, 1879, pp. 111-112, are given specimens of Bidder's feats during tha years
1816-1819, with times of solution, also the London newspaper account of his meeting with Colburn
to which reference has already been made. Scripture (op. cit., p. 26) argues from this series that
Bidder's powers increased between 1816 and 1819. That this was the case can hardly be doubted;
 but it certainly is not proved by this series of examples. Even comparative times for an expert
computer solving these same problems on paper would prove nothing, since in several cases there
are two or three diSerent ways of doing the work, and possible short cuts which it is impossible to
say whether Bidder noticed or not. Moreover, no two of the problems are alike. Perhaps the hardest
problem of the lot is the compound interest question (1816, solved in 2 minutes) which is first in the
list. The cube root of the 18-figure number (1819, 2 minutes) is far easier than it looks; (or by this
time, a year after his meeting with Colburn, Bidder was doubtless familiar with the application of 2-
figure endings to these problems, so that he had only to find the cube root of the first 9 figures by
trial and approximation to get the first three figures of the root, then add on the last two by
inspection from the last 2 figures of the given number, and find the missing 4th figure of the root by
casting out the 9's. The algebraic problem which was solved "instantly" in 1819 was very simple,
and was undoubtedly solved ty inspection; the answer, 3, was, from the nature of the question, the
most natural first trial, and hence no special credit belongs to this last feat. These considerations
show how difficult it is to reach definite conclusions from particular problems of this sort unless
there is at hand specific knowledge of the detailed methods and short-cuts actually used iu the
examples under consideration, particularly of any special peculiarities of the given numbers
whereby the solution may be facilitated.
2Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 253; Spectator, LI, 1878, pp. 1634-5
3Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 259. In view of this explicit statement

- 81 -

did not cultivate his calculating power much beyond the limits of its practical usefulness to him. In his
lecture "On Mental calculation," before the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1 to which reference has already
been made, Bidder has left us an excellent account of his methods of calculation.
George Parker Bidder, Jr.2 (b. 1837), "the younger Bidder," was the eldest son of G. P. Bidder.
Practically the only information we have concerning his powers of calculation consists of a few facts
brought out in the Spectator correspondence already referred to. He was 7th wrangler of his year,
and later a thriving barrister and Queen's Counsel. He tells us that he was unable to approach his
father in extent of memory and rapidity and accuracy of calculation; we have seen, however, that
the father, writing in his soth year (after which his powers can hardly have shown any considerable
increase), speaks only of multiplying 12 figures by 12 figures "on one occasion", by "a great and
distressing effort", whereas the son was able, in several instances, to perform 15-figure
multiplications, though slowly and with occasional errors. That the younger Bidder's method of
multiplication was, like Dia-maudi's, cross-multiplication, we may infer from the fact that he
incorrectly attributed this method to his father. Of the son's other feats in calculation, and of the
degree of his precocity in this field, we have no knowledge. He was of visual memory type, and
possessed a number-form running from right to left, the numbers up to 12 being arranged in a circle
as on a clock. He declared that his calculations "proceed in a visible form" in his mind, and that he
"can conceive no other way possible of doing mental arithmetic," which, as Proctor points out, 3 is a
rather strange remark. Unlike most of the other calculators, he employed a mnemonic system
instead of natural memory in remembering numbers. He could play two games of chess blindfold
simultaneously.
Truman Henry Safford4 (1836-1901) was, like Zerah Colburn, the son of a Vermont farmer; but
both his parents were

from Bidder himself, his son and Elliot seem to be wrong in attributing to him (Spectator, 1878, p. 1634)
great facility in 15-figure multiplications. The son's statement that his father used cross-multiplication is
like-wise at variance with the father's explicit account of his method of multiplication (Proc., XV, p. 260).
1Proceedings, XV, pp. 251 f.
2Referred to by Scripture as George Bidder, Q. C. Scripture, op. cit., p. 28; Spectator, LI, 1878, pp.
1634-5; Galton, Inquiries into Human Faculty, pp. 133-4, and Plate I, 20, opp. p. 380.
3Belgravia, XXXVIII, 1879, p. 461.
4Scripture, op, cit., p. 29; Appleton's Cyclo. of Am. Siog., art. Safford; Chambers's Edinburgh
Journal, N. S. VIII, 1847, p. 265; Belgravia, XXXVIII, 1879, p. 456.
 - 82 -

former school-teachers, and persons of some education, father had a strong interest in mathematics, and
the mother we are told, was of an "exquisite nervous temperament." Youag Safford showed a remarkable
all-round precocity, similar to that of Ampere. In his 3rd year "the grand bias of his mind was suspected";
later his parents "amused themselves with his power of calculating numbers"; and when he was 6 years
old he was able to calculate mentally the number of barleycorns, 617,760, in 1040 rods. At the age of 7 he
had "gone to the extent of the famous Zerah Colburn's powers." About this time he began to study books
on algebra and geometry, and soon afterwards higher mathematics and astronomy. Wanting some
logarithms, he found them himself by the formulas; and in his loth year he published an almanac
computed entirely by himself. The following year he published four almanacs, one of which, computed for
Cincinnati at once reached a sale of 24,000 copies. In this almanac he used a new and original rule for
obtaining moon risings and settings, accompanied by a table which saved a quarter of the work of their
computation. About this time he also discovered a new rule for calculating eclipses, with a saving of one-
third in the labor of computing.
Such feats at once made the boy a public character, and in the same year (1846) he was examined
by the Rev. H. W. Adams, a skillful mathematician. He solved a number of difficult algebraic
problems, doubtless in the main by algebraic methods rather than by the trial and error method of
most of the other prodigies. Problems in the mensuration of solids caused him no trouble, though in
one case, where the answer was a 12-figure number, he "used a few [written] figures." He extracted
the cube roots of 7-figure exact cubes "instantly," doubtless by the use of 2-figure endings. Finally,
he squared 365.365.365.365.365.365, entirely in his head, in "not more than one minute," 1 though
with evident effort. A three-hour examination convinced Adams that the boy had mastered and gone
beyond all his text-books.
Like Ampere, Safford had a wide range of interests, and an encyclopedic memory. Chemistry,
botany, philosophy, geography, and history, as well as mathematics and astronomy,

1All these quotations are from the Chambers's Journal article cited above. The last problem is there
given as 365,365,365,365,365 x 365,365,365,365,365,365, i. e., a 15-figure number multiplied by
an 18-figure number; but since the answer contains 36 figures, it is obvious that another 365 is
omitted from the first number, and that the problem was the squaring of an 18-fignre number. The
repetition of the same figures, however, greatly simplified the work, there being only three different
partial products. Scripture carries over the typographical error without comment, evidently not
noticing it.

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were included in his field of study. He took his degree at Harvard in 1854, and became an astronomer.
After holding various positions he became professor of astronomy in Williams College in 1376, where he
remained until his death in 1901.
Safford early outstripped Bidder in range of mental calculation, but with the aid of books, whereas
Bidder's methods were entirely of his own discovery. It is to be regretted that we have not more
detailed information about Safford's calculations;1 but except for the examination whose results
have been given above, all we can say is that later he acquired considerable skill in factoring large
numbers, seeming to be able to recognize almost at a glance what numbers were likely to divide
any given number, and remembering the divisors of any number he bad once examined. 2
Andre Marie Ampere3 (1775-1836), like his successor Safford, showed all-round precocity, a wide
range of interests, and

1The Chambers's Journal article is written in rather florid style, and in a tone of admiration almost
verging on awe. The Rev. H. W. Adams, who is there said to have been a skillful mathematician,
was by no means as critical an examiner as might be wished. Thus while he tells us that several of
the problems given were among the hardest in Davies' Algebra, he later notes that Safford already
owned this work and had fully mastered it, hence had seen all these problems before. The times
indicate, to be sure, that Safford calculated the answers afresh; but the test is not as satisfactory as
if the problems had been entirely new to him. The times given, too, are mostly in the form "about a
 minute," and in definiteness leave much to be desired. The big number selected for the grand final
test was about as unsuitable for the purpose as any that could well have been chosen. Not only in
the recurrence of the same three partial products, but in the repetition of the same group of figures
within each partial product, the problem is so artificially simple that it proves almost nothing
concerning Safford's power of multiplication. The number 365, too, owing to its connection with the
calendar, is especially easy to remember. Adams speaks of the "long and blind sums" which Safford
remembered after a single hearing; but apart from this simple 18-figure number (which would not
overtax the memory of any child who could keep in mind 365 and count six), the longest numbers in
the statement of any of the problems mentioned in the article were of 7 figures. Now a normal boy
of 13 can, on the average, retain 8.8 figures after a single hearing, and a boy of 11, 6.5 figures.
Hence, while Safford's memory for figures was probably above the average, the fact is not
satisfactorily proved by Adams' examination. (Cf. American Journal of Psychology, II, 1889, p. 607.
The figures are erroneously quoted by Scripture, p. 41, as 8.6 for boys of 19 years, instead of 8.8
for boys of 13 years.) The fact that the answers to some of the problems were longer numbers is
not relevant here; for, as we shall see later, there is an important distinction between figure-memory
as such, and memory as it stands in the service of calculation,
2Belgravia, XXXVIII, 1879,p.456.
3Scripture, op. cit., p. 6; Arago's Eloge d'Ampere, tr. in Smithsonian Report, I, 1872, p. 111. The
writer has been unable to consult the other references which Scripture cites.

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an omnivorous memory. He learned counting at the age of 3 or 4, by means of pebbles, and was so fond
of this diversion that he used for purposes of calculation pieces of a biscuit given him after three days'
strict diet. He became a noted mathematician, and was also prominent in several other directions. Of his
mental calculations, however, we have no specific information; his later achievements so overshadowed
his early gift that his biographers are silent about it, and his case sheds little light on the problems
connected with the subject.
Carl Friedrich Gauss1 (1777-1855) was the son of a poor family; a maternal uncle of his, however,
was a man of considerable mathematical and mechanical talent. When not quite 3 years old,
Gauss, according to an anecdote told by himself, followed mentally a calculation of his father's
relative to the wages of some of his workmen, and detected a mistake in the amount. Entering the
gymnasium at the age of 11, he mastered the classical languages with incredible rapidity. In
mathematics he was not only head of the class, but soon outstripped his teachers. At the age of 10
he was ready to begin the study of higher analysis, and at 14 he could read the works of Euler,
Lagrange, and Newton. He became one of the foremost mathematicians of his time. His
Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, published at the age of 24, is practically the foundation of the modern
theory of numbers.
Concerning Gauss' mental calculations we have for the most part only general information. His
power seems to have lasted all his life, and to have exceeded that of any other calculator except
Dase. He had a "peculiar sense for the quick apprehension of the most complicated relations of
numbers," and "an unsurpassed memory for figures," and used from memory the first decimals of
logarithms in his mental operations. He was especially fertile in inventing new artifices and methods
of solution,
MINOR PRODIGIES. - In the following list are grouped a few calculators about whom too little is
known for an extended account, but who present one or more points of interest.
The Daughter of the Countess of Mansfield2 (b. about 1804)

1The writer has followed Scripture's account of Gauss (op. cit., p. 7), not having access to the
sources there cited.
2Gall, op. cit., V, p. 88; Colburn, Memoir, p. 174; Scripture, op. cit., p. 32. The reference to the Med.
and Philos. Jl. and Rev. given by Scripture can hardly be correct, since the young lady, being about
Colburn's age, was in 1811 only 6 or 7 years old, and could hardly have had an American
reputation. The exact words in Scripture's text are found in Gall's Organology; the Jl, and Rev.
reference probably refers to Mr. Van R., of Utica. In fact, all the notes to page 32 of Scripture's
article are incorrect except a few of those to Gall, where the absence of a page reference covers up
the inaccuracy. The trou-
 - 85 -

was seen by Spurzheim iu London at the age of 13, at which time she "extracted with great facility the
square and cube roots of numbers of nine places." Whether this refers only to perfect squares and cubes
cannot be decided. Colburn speaks of her simply as displaying, in 1812, at the age of 8 or there-bouts, "a
certain degree of mental quickness [in calculation] uncommon in her sex and years." Except for Bidder's
two granddaughters, whose powers were but little above the average, she is the only girl calculator on
record.
Richard Whately1 (1787-1863) began to calculate at the age of 5, and retained the power for about
three years; he probably surpassed Colburn, but did not happen to hit on Colburn's favorite problem
of extracting square and cube roots. When he went to school the power left him, and at ciphering he
was always "a perfect dunce."
Mr. Van R., of Utica2 like Whately, developed a gift for calculation at an early age (6 years), but lost
it at the age of 8.
Dr. Ferrol3 (b. 1864) has a sister about a year his elder, who shares his gift for mental calculation.
His father was an architect and a good reckoner, and his mother's mind was occupied with
architectural computations at the time of the birth of these two children; whether this prenatal
influence had any effect on their mental powers cannot be determined. Ferrol's gift showed itself at
an early age, but as soon as he learned the elements of algebra, at the age of 10, he developed a
preference for mental algebra instead of mental arithmetic. He was head of his class in mental
arithmetic, but below the average in all other studies. He is a remarkably poor visualizer. His
processes are "intuitive"; the answer to a problem, he tells us, comes "instantly," and is always
correct. His general memory is probably about normal; his figure memory depends on mnemonics.
A blind Swiss mentioned by Johannes Huber4 not only solved

ble seems to be due to a transposition; note1 should be note7 and all the others should be moved up a
line, 2 becoming 1, etc. Colburn's account of the daughter of the Countess of Mansfield is quoted in full in
Appendix I.
1Scripture, op. cit., p. 10. The writer has been unable to consult the Life ot Whately there cited. By
an inadvertance, Scripture, on p. 57, gives the age of Whately's first calculations as 3, whereas, on
p. 10, the statement is "between five and six."
2Gall, op. cit,, pp. 87-8, quoting Med. and Philos. Jl, and Rev., III, N. Y., 1811. Gall mentions several
other calculators, but it has not seemed worth while to enumerate them all here.
3P. J. Mobius, Die Anlage zur Mathemaiik, 1900, p. 73. The name is given simply as "Dr. Ferrol"; we
are not told whether he is an M. D., or what are his initials.
4Das Gedachtniss, Munich, 1878, p. 43.

- 86 -

the most difficult problems, but could repeat a series of 150 figures either forwards or backwards after a
single hearin, or name at once the 30th or 50th figure, e. g., from either end. Before becoming blind he
had been a man of very weak memory; but afterwards, busying himself with exercises in calculation, he
discovered a very simple method of dealing with the largest numbers, and tried to sell his secret in
England for a high price.1
Vito Mangiamele2 (b. 1827), the son of a Sicilian shepherd himself tended sheep, and when
examined by the Academie des Sciences, at the age of 10, answered several questions among
them the cube root of 3,796,416 (=156), which he found in half a minute. Cauchy, in his Academie
report on Mondeux, already cited, complains that Mangiamele's masters have always kept secret
the boy's methods of calculation; it is not clear whether this means that they knew and refused to
tell, or that the boy himself was unable to enlighten them. He was quite uneducated. A brother and a
sister of his were also noted calculators.
Prolongeau3 (b. about 1838), at the age of 6½, solved mentally with great facility problems relating
to the ordinary operations of arithmetic, and to the solution of equations of the first degree.
Grandmange4 (b. about 1836). born without arms or legs, performed, mentally, very complicated
calculations and solved difficult problems.
Matheu le Coq5 (b. about 1656), an Italian boy, "at the age of 6, without knowing how to read or
write, commenced to perform all the most difficult operations of arithmetic, such as the four
elementary operations, the rule of three, partnership (compagnie), square and cube root, and that,
too, as soon as the question was put to him." He learned to calculate by stringing beads.
Vincenzo Succaro6 (b. 1822), a Sicilian, appeared in public as a calculator at the age of 6,
received a good education, but showed no special mental ability outside of calculation.

1Euler, it is well known, possessed considerable powers of mental calculation after becoming blind;
but to what extent he had the power before his blindness, and just what feats he could perform, the
writer has been unable to discover.
2Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l' Academie des Sciences, IV, 1837, p. 978; Riv.
sper. di Fren., XXIII, 1897, p. 434.
3C. R. Acad. des Sci., XX., 1845, p. 1629.
4Ibid., XXXIV, 1852, p. 371.
5Binet, op. cit., p. 3; Riv. sper. di Fren., XXIII, 1897, p. 430.
6The source for the remaining calculators is the Riv. sper. di Fren., XXIII, 1897, pp. 429f. A
summary of this article in German is found in the Zeits. f. Psy. u. Physiol. d. Sinnesorgane, XVI,
1898, pp. 317-8.

- 87 -

Guiseppe Pugliese (b. "a little later"), also a Sicilian, took to the stage at the age of 5, and was
exhibited in Italy and Germany. An attempt was made to teach him Geometry; but he was unable to
deal with geometrical forms.
Luigi Pierini (b. 1878) learned late to speak and to walk, suffered from many children's diseases,
and was an epileptic. He tended sheep, and thus learned to count. He developed a remarkable
talent for mental arithmetic, and at an early age became a professional calculator.

II.

The writer will now give an account of his own case, which differs in three respects from those
hitherto considered:
(1) The power is almost confined to dealing with the last two figures, or 2-figure endings, of the
numbers used. It is readily seen that, with certain limitations in division and evolution, the last two
(or n) figures of the numbers used in a given problem determine the last two (or n) figures of the
answer, no matter what the preceding figures may be. Now the writer's mental calculations take the
form almost exclusively of tracing the last two figures through the different operations, ignoring all
the other figures. This evidently simplifies the work immensely.
(2) By a further specialization, the problems which he solves most often and most readily are of the
general form of finding the last two figures of any power (or integer root) of any number.
(3) Finally, he has a strongly marked preference for working with even numbers. By a special
method, to be explained later, he practically always changes odd numbers into even numbers for
purposes of calculation, where only the last two figures of the answer are required; the even
number thus obtained is readily converted into the desired odd number by very simple rules.
It will thus be seen that the writer's calculations are highly specialized, and in extent perhaps not
comparable to those of any calculator heretofore considered. At the same time, some of these
specializations are found in other calculators; and in the general features of its development the
writer's case is typical of many or most of the others, and will, it is hoped, throw light on several
points which have hitherto not been fully understood. While many of the details are in themselves of
little importance, they will serve to illustrate the sort of numerical properties which not only facilitate
mental calculation, but arouse the interest of the calculator, and hence furnish the motive for
continued practice until the calculating habit becomes firmly established.

- 88 -
 In the matter of heredity the only circumstance that need be mentioned is that the writer's younger
brother has shown rather more than average ability as a chess-player, and has, on a few occasions,
played a game blindfold; but by what psvcho logical processes, or to what extent the power could
be in creased by further practice, cannot be stated. Nor need the writer speak of his school and
college work, except to say that while he has always been fond of mathematics, it has no better
claim than two or three other subjects to be called his favorite study.
His interest in mental calculation dates from the time he learned to count, at the age of 4, or
possibly 3.1 He learned to count to 10, then to 100, then beyond, and also to count by 2's, 3's, etc.
Now in these latter series 2x2, 2x2x2, 3x3, 3x3x3, etc., in short, the powers of the number by which
he was counting, were natural resting-places, and awakened his interest, so that before long he
began to count in the power series of different numbers (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., 3, 9, 27, 81 etc.) for
considerable distances. At first he simply emphasized the powers as they occurred in the complete
series of multiples, but gradually he learned to omit the intermediate multiples, and simply count in
the power series proper: 2, 4, 8, 16, etc., 3, 9, 27, 81, etc. But almost always, when the number
exceeded 100, he emphasized the last two figures, and gradually got into the habit of ignoring all
the others. Thus instead of saying 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729, 2187, etc., he usually counted 3, 9, 27, 81,
43, 29, 87, and in this simplified form counted along the different power series for considerable
distances. Multiplication naturally grew out of this counting process; but it was really counting rather
than multiplication proper, since he did not learn the multiplication table until some time later, when
he went to school. Thus to find 9x7 at this time he would count 9, 18, etc., to 63; and even now,
except within the limits of the multiplication table as he learned it to 12x12, his mental
multiplications are abbreviated countings of this sort (skipping most of the intermediate links) rather
than true multiplications. We have already seen reason to suspect that neither Buxton nor Tom
Fuller really got beyond this counting process into true multiplication, i. e., with the use of a
memorized multiplication table.
In the course of these calculations or countings, a number of properties gradually attracted the
writer's attention; such as that every power of a number ending with 0 or 5 ends with 0

1Unfortunately, definite dates cannot be given. The power developed very slowly, never really
becoming important for any but psychological purposes, so that no one but the writer himself knew
of its existence until a much later date.

- 89 -

or 5, that the 4th power of any other number ends with 1 or 6, according as it is odd or even, that the 5th
power ends with the same figure as the 1st, the 6th with the same figure as the 2nd, etc.; and chat if 76, or
any number ending with 76, is multiplied by a multiple of 4, the last two figures of the product are the
same as those of the multiplier (e. g., 76x12=912). Then he noticed that the ending1 76 occurs at various
points in the power series of different numbers (the 5th power of 6, the 4th power of 32, the 2nd power of
24, the l0th power of 4, the 20th power of 2, etc.,), and that from these points the series of endings
repeats, except that in some cases the ending of the next power will differ by 50 from that of the original
number. Thus theendings of the first 20 powers of 2 are 02, 04, 08, 16, 32, 64, 28. 56, 12, 24, 48, 96, 92,
84, 68, 36, 72, 44, 88, 76; the 21st is 52 instead of 02; but the 22nd is 04, like the 2nd, and thereafter the
endings recur in regular order. Finally it turned out that the 20th power of every even number (not ending
with 0) had the ending 76, and that odd numbers had a similar property, the 20th power ending being,
however, 01 instead of 76, and even the 21st power being always the same as the 1st, except for
multiples of 5.
After discovering these and similar properties, the writer found it a simple matter to find the last two
figures of any power of any number, by counting along the proper series. The process was always,
however, of the counting type already indicated. Thus to find the 8th power of 3 the process would
be 3, 6, 9, 18, 27, 54, 81, 62, 43, 86, 29, 58, 87, 74, 61; i. e., he would count up to a power of 3, then
by this power to the next, and so on, but passing very lightly over the intervening multiples, and in
time learning to omit them altogether. In fact, before long the process came to be simply, 3, 9, 81,
61, i. e., simply squaring each number to get the next, the intermediate countings taking place so
rapidly and automatically as hardly to appear in consciousness at all, except as brief "flashes." And
even these "flashes" may sometimes be almost absent, so that only the 3 and the 61 stand out, the
rest remaining a mere blur.
It happened that about the time he learned to count, and for perhaps two or three years thereafter,
 the writer was frequently ill. This, of course, left a large amount of time free for his calculating
exercises, and probably had not a little to do with strengthening his bent in that direction.
We come now to the third peculiarity mentioned above: the writer's preference for even numbers.
An examination of the

1The term "ending" (unqualified) will hereafter betaken as synonymous with "2-figure ending."

- 90 -

following table of the endings of certain products will form the best introduction to this subject.
07 32 57 82
2
61 36 11 86
3
4
36 36 36 36
8
7
11 36 61 86
3
9
36 36 86 36
8
It will be observed that the numbers at the left, 23, 48, 73, 98, differ in pairs by 25, and so with the
numbers at the top, 07, 32, 57, 82; and that in each case there is one multiple of 4 (48, 32), one odd
multiple of 2 (98, 82), one number of the form 4c+1 (73, 57), and one number of the form 4c-1 (23, 07).
Now the 16 numbers in the body of the table, it will be seen, all belong to a similar series, 11, 36, 61, 86. If
either of the factors is a multiple of 4, the product has the ending 36, as shown by the 2nd line and the 2nd
column; if both are odd multiples of 2 (98, 82), the product again ends with 36; if one is an odd multiple of
2 (98, 82), and the other an odd number, the product has the ending 86, =36+50. Finally, if both numbers
are odd, the ending of the product is 36+25, i.e., either 11 or 61: - 61 (a number of the form 4c+1) if the
numbers multiplied are either both of the form 4c+1 (73x57), or both of the form 4c-1 (23x07); and 11 (a
number of the form 4c-1) if one of the factors is of the form 4c+1 and the other of the form 4c-1 (73x07,
23x57). Thus by applying a few simple rules, any one of the 16 products in the table can be made to
depend on the single product, 48x32, of the two multiples of 4 in the table. Hence to find the ending of the
product of two odd numbers, change each into a multiple of 4 by adding or subtracting 25, multiply these
multiples of 4 together, and then add or subtract 25, as the case may require, to get the answer. A similar
principle obviously applies to the power series of any odd number; simply find the required power of the
corresponding even number, and then either add or subtract 25.
Now these properties early attracted the writer's attention, and he soon got into the habit of
transforming odd numbers into even numbers in practically all his calculations. The result was that
(if we leave out of account multiples of 5, which belong to a class by themselves and are very easy
to multiply) the whole of multiplication, so far as the endings were concerned, was reduced to the
200 possible products of any two of the 20 numbers 04, 08, 12, 16, 24, 28, 32, 36, etc.; whereas in
order to do the same work without this transformation, the 3200 combinations of the whole eighty 2-
figure end-

- 91 -

ings prime to 5 would have to be considered. In finding powers, again, he had to deal with only 20
different series, each of which repeated after 20 terms or less; so that the whole problem of finding the last
two figures of any power of any number was reduced to less than 400 simple cases, instead of an
indefinite number of cases. He never committed these products and powers to memory; it was not
necessary; with practice he was soon able to count to any desired one with great rapidity, in fact, just as
rapidly, in the simpler cases, as he could have recalled the answer if it had been previously memorized.
To recapitulate: The writer's mental calculations usually deal only with the 2-figure endings of
numbers, rejecting all previous figures if there are any; by far the commonest problem is to find (the
 ending of) some given power of a given number, or to investigate some property of some power or
group of powers of one or more numbers; and problems involving odd numbers (except, of course,
odd exponents) are almost always solved by changing the odd numbers into multiples of 4 (by
adding or subtracting 25), and changing back to an odd number in the same way, if necessary, after
the work of calculation is over. He might go on and indicate many other properties of numbers, or
rather of endings, which be discovered and used in calculating; but enough has already been said
to give a fair idea of the general nature of the processes employed, the gradual development of the
calculating power, and the advantages of the various specializations which came to be adopted.
Of course his calculations are not absolutely confined within these limits. Besides finding endings in
the power series of even numbers, he can also multiply endings very readily, and add or subtract
them (by counting forwards or backwards) somewhat less rapidly, or divide them where the division
is known to be exact; and he can work, though very much more slowly, with odd numbers. But even
in the power series of 3, the odd series with which he has worked oftenest, it is easier in most cases
to change 3 into 28; and in any other odd series he can scarcely work at all, except with the
greatest effort. The even series in these other cases are so much easier and more familiar that it is
practically impossible to resist the temptation to work in them, even when he tries to work
laboriously in the odd ones as such.
When the calculation takes account of all figures of the result, not merely of the last two, the writer's
powers of mental arithmetic are probably very little above the average, certainly not equal to those
of any one who has had a moderate amount of practice in the work. Even the multiplication of two
2-fig-

- 92 -

ure numbers takes him longer mentally than on paper; and with 3-figure numbers it is such an effort for
him to remember the partial products that usually each one must be repeated aloud two or three times,
and even then he is apt to forget the first partial product by the time he has found the third. With small 2-
figure numbers, however, he finds no difficulty in multiplying (on paper, using only one figure of the
multiplicand at a time,) in a single operation, especially where the number is even, e.g., 24 or 36. With 19
or 23, too, it would probably be easier for him to multiply in a single operation than in two operations in the
ordinary way; but in such a case after the products exceeded 100, the multiplication would often tend to
resolve itself into counting, - rapid and automatic, but counting nevertheless. Thus up to 23x5=115 he
would probably count by 23 directly, or depend on his memory; but after that, to pass to 23x6=138, he
would first count in the 3, then the 20, thus reaching 138 from 115 via 118 and 128.
There are two cases in which the writer can find complete products with fair readiness. The first is in
squaring numbers; here, however, the process is usually neither counting nor multiplication directly,
but an application of some algebraic formula. Up to perhaps 32, and in certain other cases, such as
36, 48, 54, 64, 72, 81, 96, 144 (i. e., numbers containing no other prime factors than 2 and 3), he
would give the squares from memory; but usually he finds only the last two figures by memory, and
gets the rest by interpolation between two known squares or by the formula for (a+b)².
The second case is where two numbers are to be multiplied, neither of which contains any prime
factors except 2 and 3. Here his method is to count (multiply) by 2's or 3's to some convenient
multiple of one of the numbers, then by that multiple to some other, and so on, until the required
product is reached. Thus to find 48x64 be would count by 48 to 384 (=48x8), then by 384 to 1536,
then to 3072 (=384x8=48x64), the required answer. To square 162, again, the stages would be 486,
1458, 2916, 8748, 26244, i. e., multiplying successively by 3, 3, 2, 3, 3.1 In these cases much of the
work would be automatic and half-unconscious. Thus up to 2916 (=162x18=54²) in the second
example the numbers in full would be very familiar, and perhaps only the 58 of 1458 would

1Buxton, it will be remembered, in multiplying 456 by 378, multi plied successively by 5, 20, and 3, to get 300x456; then multiplied 456x5 and
that product by 15, and added the result to 300x45r, to get 375x456; and finally completed the operation by adding 3x456. This indicates pretty
clearly that his method was like the one described above, a counting in the series of multiples of the multiplicand, rather than the ordinary
method.

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be distinctly formulated; but above that he would have to formulate all the figures distinctly and take
account of them in the counting process. In the first example, 48x64, perhaps only the 84 of 384 and the
36 of 1536 would be distinctly formulated until the end, when 3072 would be given as a whole. It will be
seen, then, that part or all of the intermediate numbers of the calculation may remain below the level of
clear consciousness, and that where the numbers are familiar, part of a number may be in clear
consciousness and not the rest of the number. At the same time the whole number functions in the
calculation, otherwise the correct answer would not result.
There is just one class of problems in which the writer could compete with the real mathematical
prodigies, viz., finding the square and cube roots of exact squares and cubes. In fact, extracting the
roots of perfect powers and testing the possible factors of given numbers are the only fields in
which the properties of 2-figure endings are really useful, and even these problems, however
interesting to the mathematical prodigy, are of little practical importance to the mathematician.
Bidder. Colburn, and Safford made a specialty of these problems, and there is good evidence that
all three solved them by the aid of the properties of 2-figure endings. A brief description of the
"method of endings" will therefore not be out of place.
Given the last two figures of a number, the last two figures of its square are known; but given only
the last two figures of a perfect square, the last two figures of the square root are not definitely
known, although the possible values are usually only four in number. Similarly, an odd ending has
only one possible cube root, but an even ending has either none, or two which differ from each
other by 50. Now, suppose a given number is known or suspected to be a perfect square or cube,
and its root contains only three figures. The first figure can readily be determined by inspection; and
the last two figures must be one of a limited number of possible roots of the ending of the given
number. It is usually easy, after a little practice, to tell almost at a glance which of the possible roots
to choose in a given case. In doubtful cases (multiples of 5. e. g., where the number of possible
roots is greater) such expedients as casting out the 9's, squaring or cubing one of the suspected
answers or some number near it, or using the 3-figure instead of the 2-figure ending, will help to
decide which is the correct root.
The application to factoring is still simpler. If the number to be factored is not already odd and prime
to 3 and 5, it is easily made so by simple division. Now, in the case of an odd number prime to 5, if
the last two figures of one of its

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divisors are known, and the division is exact, the last two figures of the other can have only one value; and
it is easy to construct a table showing the different pairs of endings in the factors which will produce a
given ending in the product. Now, suppose it is suspected that a given number is a factor. From the table,
or by a computation in accordance with simple rules, which need not be considered here, find the last two
figures of the other factor; if desired, the hundreds figure can also be determined by casting out the 9's.
This done, it is necessary to carry the division only far enough to decide whether the required last two or
last three figures can result; as soon as this is seen to be impossible, the work is abandoned, since only
an exact divisor is wanted. It is thus evident that much work may be saved, especially where the numbers
involved are not very large; indeed, a factor may often be rejected almost at a glance which would
otherwise have to be divided through to the end.
So much for the application of 2-figure endings to evolution and to factoring. The latter problem
never attracted the writer, owing to the habit he so early developed of confining his attention to the
last two figures; but in any case where a given number is known to be a perfect square or cube, and
its root contains not more than three figures, he finds no difficulty in discovering the root by
inspection. This would apply almost equally to higher roots, except that in some cases it would be
difficult to tell the root if it contained more than two figures; but in general, the higher the root the
easier the problem, and square and cube roots are the only ones which often come up. It is evident,
however, that skill in solving this class of problems does not imply special skill or quickness in other
branches of mental arithmetic, and that a careful distinction must be made between the cases
where the given number is a perfect power and those where it is not. Where the root is not an
integer, the ending gives no aid in finding it; memorization of a large number of perfect squares and
cubes, or some process of real calculation, must then be resorted to, instead of the simple method
of guessing by inspection of the ending of the given number.
Before closing this part of the paper, the writer may say a few words about his memory type. He
learned to count orally, and his calculations began at once, without further aid; he cannot remember
ever counting on his fingers, using pebbles, or the like; and even when he learned to make written
figures later on, they never came to be associated with his mental calculations, which remained
strictly auditory (or auditory-motor) throughout. Ordinarily the motor element is almost entirely
 absent; when the calculations remain in the familiar fields

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already described, they are accompanied by no perceptible innervation of the muscles of speech. When
he attempts un practiced feats, however, such as complete 3-figure multiplications, the tendency to
pronounce some or all of the figures is marked.1
But while the writer's type is unquestionably auditory in calculation, the presence of written figures
is not a hindrance to him, as it is to Inaudi. On the contrary, if the numbers involved are at all large, -
say a 9-figure number whose cube root is to be found, - the presence of the number on a sheet of
paper before him is a distinct aid, saving a considerable effort of memory, and greatly facilitating
such tests as casting out the 9's. Outside of calculation the writer's type is predominantly auditory;
but he can use visual images at will with no special difficulty, and in geometry or similar fields uses
them habitually as a matter of course. In general, then, his type is mixed, but with a slight
predominance of auditory images.
It only remains to add that his calculating powers have increased, though very gradually, from the
time he learned to count until the present, constantly taking advantage of the results of his
mathematical studies, and at intervals following out new lines of inquiry and classes of problems
based upon new properties of numbers and endings. There has been no tendency, however, to
enter the broader fields of calculation cultivated by the mathematical prodigies; in the main, his
calculations are confined within the limits already described, and even within these limits it often
happens that of two problems which, to an ordinary calculator, would be of equal difficulty, one will
be far easier for him than the other, owing to the peculiar preferences which have guided the
distribution of his practice in calculation. While mental arithmetic has sever absorbed a
disproportionate share of his time, there is scarcely a day in which some of the old familiar series do
not at some odd moment or other run through his head, usually quite automatically. He has never
had any fondness for written computation for its own sake, and is perhaps, if anything, a trifle
slower at it than the average man with an equal knowledge of mathematics. He is liable to
occasional errors unless he carefully tests every stage of his work. 2

1Much the same thing was true of Safford; we are told (Chambers's Journal, VIII, p. 265) that it was his custom to talk to himself when
originating new rules, but, by implication, not when carrying on computations by familiar rules.
2In the foregoing account an attempt has been made for the most part to avoid technical terms that would not be. clear to the non

mathematical reader. The student of the theory of numbers will readily recognize that "2-figure endings" are least positive residues

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III.

We are now ready to interpret the facts thus far set forth, and to construct from them an explanation
of the mathematical prodigy.
Heredity. The table1 gives such information as could be found concerning the heredity of the
different calculators. Just what part these various circumstances actually played in the development
of the different prodigies is a difficult question, which it would hardly be worth while to discuss here.
This much is clear, however, that whatever the influence of heredity in some cases, it is in no sense
an explanation of mental calculation, but at most a favoring circumstance. A satisfactory theory
must rest on a much more definite basis than such general terms as heredity, environment, and the
like can afford; it must explain the cases where hereditary influence is lacking, as well as those
where such influence seems to be present. Hence we may safely leave the question of the relation
of heredity to mental calculation for other investigators, and devote our attention to other
questions.2
Development. - (a) Precocity. There is nothing more striking about the mathematical prodigies,
nothing which has been the subject of more uncritical amazement, than their almost uniform
precocity. Gauss began his calculations before he was 3 years old; the present writer, at 4; Ampere,
between 3 and 5; Whately, at 5; Pugliese and Succaro, at about 5; Colburn, at 5; Safford, at 6 or
earlier; Mathieu le Coq, Mr. Van R. of Utica, Bidder, Prolongeau, and Inaudi, at 6; Mondeux, at 7;
 the Countess of Mansfield's daughter, at 8 or earlier; Ferrol, Mangiamele, Grandmange, and Pierini,
at early ages not definitely stated. Buxton's mental free beer record began from the age of 12;
Zaneboni's calculations began at the same age; Dase attended school at the age of 2½, and took to
the stage at 15. In short, precocity is unmistakably the rule; if we

(modulus 100), and that the writer's process of changing odd numbers into even simply changes the modulus to 25 instead of 100, using residues
which ≡0 (mod 4). It would be easy to generalize many of the properties described above, and to show their application to n-figure endings and
congruences in general; but such a task would carry us, far beyond the limits of the present paper.
1See Appendix II.
2There are two points, however, on which a word may be saw. In the first place, it is a pretty safe guess that Colburn's extra fingers and toes
were an accident, as far as his calculating power was concerned, and had no connection with his mental abnormalities. On the other hand, the
nervousness which he showed, and which he shared with Safford and an unnamed calculator in the neighborhood of Troy, N. Y. (Memoir, p.
173), may have predisposed him to less active participation in childish games, if not to actual illness, and so have increased the time available
for his mental calculations.

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count as unprecocious Zaneboni, Buxton, Dase, Diamandi (who began to calculate at 16, but had excelled
in mathematics in school from the age of 7), the slave Tom Fuller, and the younger Bidder (about whom
nothing definite is known in this respect), we have at the worst 6 unprecocious calculators as against 18
who were precocious.1
To understand this precocity we must note, first of all, that arithmetic is the most independent and
self-sufficient of all the sciences. Given a knowledge of how to count, and later a few definitions, as
in Bidder's case, and any child of average ability can go on, once his interest is accidentally
aroused, and construct, unaided, practically the whole science of arithmetic, no matter how much or
how little be knows of other things. Addition is only a shortened form of counting. The same is true
of multiplication;2 the writer's own case shows that the calculator need not even sit down and teach
himself the multiplication table, as Bidder did, but may multiply by simple modifications of his
counting process. Involution is simply a modification of multiplication; it has already been pointed
out that the powers of numbers are natural resting-places in counting along the series of multiples
of the numbers. The inverse operations of division and evolution grow naturally out of the direct
operations of multiplication and involution; much more easily and naturally in mental than in written
arithmetic. Once these elementary operations are mastered, such processes as reduction of years
to seconds, compound interest, and any

1From this list has been omitted Huber's blind Swiss, who learned to calculate, presumably, late in life, by artificial methods, and obviously
does not belong to what Binet calls the "natural family of great calculators." Binet's average of 8 years (op. cit., p. 191) for the precocious
calculators is too high; it is obtained by rejecting (without sufficient ground, so far as the writer can see) the cases of Gauss (3 years old) and
Whately (who, as we have seen, began to calculate at 5, not at 3 as stated inadvertently in Scripture's table), and by taking in several cases
the age at which the prodigy was exhibited before the Acad. des Sciences at the age when his calculations began. But on Binet's own
showing, Mondeux had calculated for three years before he was exhibited in Paris; so that it will not do to average together such dissimilar
data. Where the age of exhibition is later than 7, no attempt has been made to date the beginning of the calculations; if we then average the
ages of the known cases of precocity (some of which are undoubtedly too high by a year or more), we get 5 to 5½ as an average, not 8. This
is much more natural if the "natural calculator" usually begins to calculate from the time he learns to count. Of the six men not known to be
precocious, two (Fuller and Buxton) were densely ignorant, and two of the others belong to the visual type, which, as we shall see later, is in
certain respects intermediate between the "natural" or auditory and the "artificial" type.
2In multiplication the counting is, of course, done in the series of multiples of the multiplicand, not in the series of natural numbers; cf. part II of

the present paper.

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other arithmetical problems are simply a matter of understanding the meaning of the question and then
applying known rules, plus a varying amount of ingenuity, to the solution. In accordance with the tendency
of all mental operations, psychological shortenings of the processes involved will come with practice, and
mathematical properties of the sort already described still further facilitate the work; so that in favorable
cases the whole process may become in large measure automatic, and may go on while active attention
is given to something else.
Moreover, the various symmetries and properties of numbers and series attract the attention of the
calculator from the start, and keep up his interest until the habit of mental calculation has been
firmly fixed. After that, if nothing intervenes to change that interest, there is practically no limit to
which he may not attain, as the case of Dase abundantly shows.
 We must note, furthermore, that practically an unlimited amount of time may be available for these
calculations if the prodigy wishes so to use it. Mental arithmetic requires no instruments or
apparatus, no audible practice that might disturb other members of the family, no information save
such chance scraps as may be picked up almost anywhere for the asking, or absorbed, without
even the trouble of asking questions, from older brothers and sisters as they discuss their school
lessons. The young calculator can carry on his researches in bed, at the table, - if he allows himself
to be "seen and not heard," - during the perhaps laborious process of dressing or undressing; in
short, at almost any time during the twelve or fourteen hours of his waking day, except when he is
engaged in conversation or active physical play.
Thus, if an interest in counting once takes hold of a child either not fond of play or not physically
able to indulge in it, - and stringing beads, counting the ticks of a clock, or even a chance question
like "Let's hear if you can count up to 100", may start such an interest, which will then furnish all the
material for its own development, - he may go on almost indefinitely, and become a prodigy long
before his parents suspect the fact. Indeed, the interest in counting may seem so natural to the
child that he may never think of doubting that every one else possesses it, and months or even
years may elapse before some accident reveals the direction of his interest to his astonished
relatives. Several of the calculators - Mondeux, Mangiamele, Pierini, Inaudi - were shepherd-boys,
an occupation which, since it requires an ability to count and affords ample leisure, is peculiarly
favorable for practicing calculation; several, again, - Grandmange (born without arms or legs),
Safford, Pierini, the present writer, - were sick or otherwise

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incapacitated for active play to a greater or less extent, and thus enjoyed an equally good opportunity to
practice calculation. Fuller and Buxton, on the other hand, whether precocious or not, were men of such
limited intelligence that they could comprehend scarcely anything, either theoretical or practical, more
complex than counting; and their purely manual occupations left their minds free to carry on almost
without limit their slow and laborious calculations.
These considerations put the whole matter of mathematical precocity in a new light. Instead of
joining in the popular admiration and awe of these youthful calculators, - and even psychologists
have not been wholly free from this uncritical attitude, - we must say that precocity in calculation is
one of the most natural things in the world. If a person is to become a calculator at all, he will
usually begin as soon as he learns to count, and in most cases before he learns to read or write;
and his development, while it will of course be gradual, - in Bidder's case probably a year elapsed
between his learning to count and the early incidents which made his gift known, - will be so greatly
facilitated by the amount of time available, the intrinsic interest of calculation, and the ease with
which new information can be picked up as needed, that he may become a full-fledged calculator
before he is suspected of being able to count without the aid of his fingers. His preoccupation with
his calculations may give rise to a false appearance of backwardness, or be may really be of very
low intelligence, or he may be an all-round prodigy like Safford, Gauss, and Ampere; mental
arithmetic is so completely independent and self-sufficient that it is equally compatible with average
endowments or with either extreme of intelligence or stupidity.
Mathematical precocity, then, stands in a class by itself, as a natural result of the simplicity and
isolation of mental arithmetic. There is nothing wonderful or incredible about it. The all-round
prodigy like Ampere or Sir William Rowan Hamilton or Macaulay is possible only in a well-to-do and
cultured family, where books are at hand and general conditions are favorable, and he must
possess genuine mental ability. The musical prodigy, again, - Mozart is the stock instance, - must
come of a musical family, hear music, and have at least some chance to practice, and hence cannot
long hide his light under a bushel. But the mathematical prodigy requires neither the mental ability
and cultured surroundings of the one nor the external aids of the other. He may be an all-round
prodigy as well, like Gauss, Ampere, and Safford; it is not improbable that Bidder, under favorable
conditions, would have developed into such an "infant phenomenon"; but he may also come of the
humblest family, and be unable, even under the most

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favorable conditions, to develop average intelligence. He may proclaim himself to the world almost at
once, like the all-round or the musical prodigy, or keep his gift a secret for months or even years. If we are
to call him a prodigy at all, it is important to realize how widely he may differ from other prodigies, and to
avoid carefully the popular confusion due to the misleading associations of the words "prodigy" and
"precocious."
(b) Loss of Power. Mental calculation, then, starts from an interest in counting; at the outset it
demands only that ability to count by 1's, 2's, 3's, 7's, and the like, which all of us require for such
every-day purposes as keeping track of the days of the week. But if for any reason this interest in
counting is lost, practice in calculation will cease, and the skill already acquired will disappear, just
as the pianist's skill is lost when interest and practice cease. There are two striking instances of this
among mental calculators: Whately and Mr. Van R. of Utica, both of whom began to calculate at an
early age, but lost the power after two or three years. Here, again, however, there need be no
mystery; the disappearance of the gift with the loss of the interest in which it originated is as natural
and normal as its original appearance.
Just what caused the loss of interest is not always easy to say. In Whately's case the trouble may
have been that on going to school he was taught arithmetic or "ciphering" by methods very different
from his old ones, became confused, failed to establish a connection between the two, and lost his
interest in calculation as a result of his distaste for "ciphering." In Colburn's case the loss of skill
seems to have been much more gradual, and probably never complete. In this respect he is like the
pianist who retains his interest in music, but is prevented by other occupations from keeping in
practice; if later on he is able to resume practicing, his skill is soon regained.
Education. A glance at the table of mathematical prodigies1 will show that education as such,
whether mathematical or general, has little or no influence on the calculating power, either to help or
to binder it. At the one extreme we find Fuller and Buxton, men of dense ignorance and limited
powers of calculation, and near them Dase, the greatest of all calculators, who even in mathematics
was scarcely less stupid. At the other extreme stand Ampere, Gauss, Bidder, and Safford, in whom
unusual mathematical and general ability and a wide range of interests exist side by side with
marked skill in mental calculation; while, on the other hand, the ordinary

1See Appendix II.

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mathematician or man of culture has little or no gift for mental arithmetic. That the calculating power
should be independent of general education is not particularly surprising; but its independence of
mathematical training and ability seems at first less natural and obvious.
In a general way, we may distinguish three grades of mathematical ability in the great calculators.
Those of the first class never get beyond the stage of pure counting, though of course the counting
process comes to be abbreviated more or less with practice. At this stage the point of view is not
even arithmetical; the calculator thinks not of arithmetical operations, but of properties of numbers
and of series, and the short-cuts he uses are of a relatively simple sort, showing no mathematical
insight. Without insisting too sharply on the distinction, we may term these men "calculating
prodigies."
Those of the second class may be called, from the present point of view, "arithmetical prodigies";
Colburn and Dase will serve as examples. Here we find a fairly well developed knowledge of
arithmetic, and a distinctly arithmetical point of view; it is operations of calculation, rather than mere
properties of numbers, in which these men are interested, and the various short-cuts used are, we
may suppose, suggested by practice in calculation rather than by mathematical keenness.
The third class comprises the "mathematical prodigies" 1 proper, of whom Bidder may be taken as
the type. Here we find real mathematical ability, power to take a distinctly algebraic point of view, to
generalize, and hence to discover all sorts of ingenious short-cuts and symmetries. Bidder's
compound interest method is perhaps the most striking example; Mondeux's unconscious use of
the binomial theorem is another.
Such a classification must not be taken too seriously, of course; a good deal of hair-splitting would
certainly be needed to establish hard and fast lines between the different classes. The important
point is that mental calculation and mathematical ability are essentially independent, and that
almost any degree of the latter is compatible with any degree of skill in the former. Where the two
are found together, calculation usually appears first; but even to this there are exceptions,
 1These terms are here used merely as a convenient means of temporarily designating different grades of skill in calculation; the writer would
not advocate their general adoption as here defined. For a general term embracing all three classes, "arithmetical prodigies" seems the best;
the reason this term was not taken as the title of the present paper was that Scripture's article already bore that title, and it seemed
undesirable to run the risk of confusing later students by adopting it for a second article on the subject.

- 102 -

sines Diamandi excelled in mathematics at school for nine years before be discovered his gift for
calculation.
Neither mathematical nor general education or mental ability, then, has any direct influence on
mental calculation. Indirectly, however, education may have an important influence. We have seen
that if for any reason the interest in calculation is lost, the calculating power will disappear. Now
mental calculation is a narrow and special field, with little practical importance for most men; hence,
other things being equal, as a boy's sphere of interests widens, his interest in mental calculation is
likely to sink into the background. This explains why so many ignorant men have excelled as
calculators; ignorance, by preventing the intrusion of other interests, leaves the calculator free to
develop his one gift, and keeps him from realizing how trivial it is, and how groundless is the public
amazement which, perhaps, contributes to his support. On the other hand, if the interest in
calculation is retained despite the widening of the sphere of interests resulting from education, the
calculating power may prove to be of considerable practical value. The two Bidders will serve as
examples. The father owed his striking success as an engineer primarily to his powers of mental
calculation, which not only won him the friends who contributed to pay the cost of his education, but
were of constant use to him in his profession, especially as an expert witness before Parliamentary
committees. The son, a lawyer, tells us that he finds it an immense advantage to have in mind a
number of formulas and constants for ready reference, 1 and doubtless his readiness in using these
formulas and constants in mental arithmetic was still more useful. Gauss and Safford are
illustrations of the obvious possible usefulness of mental calculation to the mathematician.
Calculation. If mental calculation naturally arises out of counting, we might at first suppose that
addition would be the favorite operation of the mathematical prodigies; but there is no evidence to
this effect in any known case. Bidder specifically states that multiplication is the fundamental
operation; Colburn found multiplication easier even than addition or subtraction; Buxton's favorite
problems seem to have been long multiplications, yet we have seen reason to suspect that his
calculations never progressed far beyond the counting stage; the younger Bidder performed 15-
figure multiplications, Safford (though in a very easy case) an 18-figure multiplication, and Dase one
of 100 figures which did not seem seriously to tax his powers. The reduction of years to seconds
and similar problems, resting on simple applications of multiplication, have

1 Spectator, LI, 1878, p. 1635.

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been favorites with many calculators. In short, multiplication and not addition seems to be the fundamental
and favorite operation in mental calculation.
Nor is this difficult to understand. It has been suggested above that in the earlier stages the
"natural" calculator who begins with counting - as distinguished from the "artificial" calculator who
begins relatively late in life, using book-methods from the start - is interested mainly in properties of
numbers and of simple series. Now these properties are revealed not by addition, but by
multiplication, or the forms of counting which are equivalent to multiplication. Addition and
subtraction bring out no properties of particular interest. Given any number, another number can be
added to it or subtracted from it so as to produce any other number whatever, by processes which
are mechanical and not particularly interesting. Where the addition of a series of terms does
produce a result of any interest, as in the series 1+2+3+4 . . . . or the series 1+3+5+7 . . . . the
interesting property belongs to the sum not primarily as a sum, but as a function or multiple of the
nth term: in the first case the sum of n terms is ½n(n+1), which is a multiple of the next term n+1, or
of half the next term in case that next term is even; while in the second case the sum of n terms is
always equal to n², which is the product of two equal factors. Addition and subtraction, in short,
apart from multiplication, are mechanical processes, and are of very limited interest to the
 calculator, whereas multiplication is the key to all those properties which arouse his interest and
stimulate him to establish the calculating habit. The differences between odd and even numbers,
the properties of prime and composite numbers, as well as of squares, cubes, and other powers,
series of all sorts, 2-figure endings, casting out the 9's, and the like, all grow directly out of
multiplication.
The Methods used in mental multiplication are various. The simplest is, as we have seen, a more or
less abbreviated process of counting. It is of course difficult to say just which individual calculators
remained permanently in this stage; we have seen, however, how large a part this counting process
plays in the writer's own case, and it is not unlikely that this was the method of both Fuller and
Buxton.
Several of the prodigies began multiplying at the left, instead of at the right as in the ordinary written
method. The advantage of this procedure, as Colburn and Bidder explain, is that the larger figures
first obtained are easily remembered, because ending with so many zeros, and that there is at any
given stage of the work only one result to keep in mind. The result is changed, to be sure, by each
new partial product incorporated with it; but the great difference between written

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and mental arithmetic is that whereas in the former it is easiest to record the partial results and later
combine them all at once, in the latter it is much easier to combine at each separate stage, and relieve the
memory of the strain of remembering the partial results throughout the process. Probably in most cases
the partial products actually are remembered, as by Inaudi, e. g.; but the fact that they may be forgotten if
desired without interfering with the calculation, relieves the calculator of all anxiety in the matter.
Such is, in general, Bidder's explanation of this method. It is obvious, however, that no such
carefully reasoned considerations can influence the calculator at the early stage when his methods
are taking shape; and in mental arithmetic it is almost always easier to go on with an old method,
however imperfect in theory, than to learn a new one. The real reason for Bidder's adoption of this
method is doubtless the very simple one that it is more natural to begin with the first figure of the
multiplier than with the last; if, however, the calculator should accidentally form the habit of
beginning with the last figure, it is hard to see where any real inconvenience would result. In mental
as in written arithmetic, much depends on custom and habit; it is hard to see any great difference in
convenience between beginning at the right and beginning at the left, either in mental or in written
multiplication. Of the two processes below,
256 256
243 243
768 512
1024 1024
512 768
62208 62208
it is custom, rather than the minute difference in convenience, that sanctions the first rather than the
second.
There are two calculators, the younger Bidder and Diamandi, who are known to have used cross-
multiplication; the elder Bidder, however, as we have seen, did not use this method, despite his
son's statement to that effect. It is probably not a coincidence that both the users of cross-
multiplication were of the visual type; for while this method has advantages which have already
been explained, it is a radical departure from direct counting, and would naturally arise only as an
abbreviation of written multiplication, or of mental multiplication done by the methods of written
multiplication. In short, it is an "artificial" method of mental calculation. Cross-multiplication would be
greatly facilitated by a mental picture

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of the figures as arranged for written work; and we know that both these men possessed such mental
pictures, though doubtless in a modified form. Diamandi learned mental arithmetic after his methods of
written arithmetic had taken definite shape, and it is fairly safe to assume that the same was also true of
the younger Bidder; this would imply, of course, that he was less precocious than his father.
 Another method of multiplication possible for a visual calculator is that explained by Richard A.
Proctor.1 In brief, according to this explanation, each number is for the calculator a visual group or
pattern of dots, discs, or the like, and multiplication consists in mentally juxtaposing or otherwise
combining as many of these patterns of the multiplicand as there are units in the multiplier, and then
rearranging the dots into a simpler pattern which indicates the product at a glance. Of course all
sorts of short-cuts would come in with practice; but in principle the method is as indicated. The
essential characteristic of these mental dot-patterns is their plasticity, the ease with which the
pattern can be changed while the number of dots remains unaltered. Proctor tells us that as a child
he himself acquired some little facility in mental arithmetic by this method, and probably with
sufficient interest and practice it would give good results in the case of a visual calculator. Up to the
present time, however, Proctor's case is the only one of the sort that has come to light, and there is
no ground for extending this explanation to other known cases.
Another explanation of mental multiplication, proposed by Proctor and Scripture, attributes to the
prodigies an extended multiplication table. Proctor conjectures that it may even reach (in the case
of Bidder) to 1,000x1,000; Scripture, however, suggests only 100x100. On this theory, the
multiplication of two 12-figure numbers would proceed by the division of each number into six 2-
figure periods, or four 3-figure periods, which would then be used in the same way as ordinary
mortals use single figures, giving the answer in 6 partial products of 6 operations each, or 4 partial
products of 4 operations each, instead of 12 partial products of 12 operations each.
Doubtless such a method is theoretically possible, and would materially reduce the time required for
multiplication; but can we attribute it to any calculator of whom we have specific knowledge? We
know, of course, that any book-method or artificial aid of written or mental arithmetic can be utilized

1Cornhill Mag., XXXII, 1875, p. 157; Belgravia, XXXVIII, 1879, p. 450.

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with sufficient practice. Teachers have taught whole classes of pupils to multiply with the aid of more or
less extended tables; Gauss used logarithms in his mental calculations; and the younger Bidder, Ferrol,
and probably Huber's blind Swiss used mnemonics of some sort. The question is, however: Did such men
as Buxton, Colburn, Mondeux, Dase, and Bidder -men who undoubtedly belong to the "natural family of
great calculators," i. e., whose methods of calculation took shape in the first instance independently of
books - use multiplication tables reaching to 100x100, or even 50x50, or can their feats be explained
without presupposing a table reaching beyond 10x10 or 12x12?
There are two ways in which such an extended multiplication table might be acquired. In the first
place, the calculator might sit down and figure out the various products, either mentally or on paper,
and then commit them to memory, a few at a time, until all were fully mastered. In this case the
multiplication of 48 by 64 would take the mental form, "Forty-eight times sixty-four are 3,072," or, in
a shortened form, the numbers 48 and 64, connected by the multiplication sign or the words
"multiplied by," would call up directly the idea of 3,072, without any intermediate calculation, either
clearly conscious or automatic; just as 9x7 means 63 for the ordinary man, without the intervention
of any of the other multiples of 9 or 7. Fatigue or lack of practice might render the process slower,
but would not introduce any intermediate links of calculation. In the second place, the calculator
might, with practice, be able to multiply 48x64 so readily and rapidly, by more or less automatic
processes, that he would get the answer, 3,072, as quickly as if he had relied on a direct act of
memory; and if the process of calculation happened to be mainly or wholly automatic, he might
even be ignorant of its existence, and suppose he had actually found the result by direct and
unaided memory. At times, however, brief flashes of these intermediate calculations would pass
through his mind; and when he was tired or out of practice, his calculations would not only be
slower, but would be of a more clearly conscious character. The intermediate links, which had been
made automatic and half unconscious by practice, would return as soon as fatigue or disuse
reduced the calculator's speed.
In this second case, however, it is evident that the whole 5,000 or 10,000 entries of a multiplication
table to 100x100 cannot properly be said to exist already computed in the calculator's mind. We
shall have to discuss a little later the various ways of shortening the calculation on the psychological
side; but in dealing with the enlarged multiplication table theory, we must insist that the only
legitimate interpretation of the
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theory is that such a table is deliberately committed to memory by the calculator, and not reached in
particular cases by an abbreviated process of calculation whose omitted links could return under any
ordinary circumstances. Fatigue or lack of practice might prolong the time of unmeditated recall, but could
never interpolate into it even the briefest flashes of calculation. If, then, no specific evidence is at hand
that such an enlarged table actually was used by any of the "natural calculators," - and no such evidence
has been adduced by the advocates of the theory, - we cannot accept this explanation unless it is shown,
either that the enlarged multiplication table is a more natural method than the smaller table, or that the
actual achievements of some or all of the calculators cannot be explained, in any other way. Actually, the
latter of these arguments is the one on which the defenders of the theory seem to rely; it will be safest,
however, for us to examine the former as well.
In the first place, then, it can hardly be claimed that a multiplication table extending much beyond
10x10 is either natural or useful in the early stages of mental calculation, if the calculation arises in
the natural and not in the artificial way. The child who becomes a calculator begins to multiply soon
after he learns to count, certainly before he has learned to count beyond 1000, and hence before
his multipliers have exceeded 31. It will hardly be argued that up to this point a table beyond 10x10
would be of any use. Hence the calculator's habits and methods of multiplication are definitely
formed before a table beyond 10x10 is needed. Such a table serves all the purposes even of written
multiplication for most of us; in fact, even if we know the multiplication table to 12x12, we rarely use
it beyond 10x10. How many of us in multiplying 412,976 by 3.128, for instance, would think to treat
the 12 in either the multiplicand or the multiplier as a single factor? It is only where the multiplier
itself is simply 11 or 12 that the 12x12 table excels the 10x10 table for any practical purpose.
Hence, unless an enlarged table extended all the way to 100x100, its utility would be relatively
slight. In mental multiplication, too, we know that Inaudi, who could multiply 6 figures by 6 figures,
used a table reaching only to 10x10. We are thus brought to our second question: In multiplication
by 12-figure numbers or larger, need we presuppose a table extending beyond 10x10 in order to
explain the actual achievements of known calculators? Must the calculator enlarge his table as the
size of the numbers he uses is increased, or does he simply depend on practice, and on new short-
cuts other than enlargement of his multiplication table, to extend his powers and increase his
speed?
Bidder's answer to this question in his own case is explicit.

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He says:1 "Now, for instance, suppose that I had to multiply 89 by 73, I should instantly say 6,497; if I read
the figures written out before me I could not express a result more correctly, or more rapidly; this facility
has, however, tended to deceive me, for I fancied that I possessed a multiplication table up to 100x100,
and, when in full practice, even beyond that; but I was in error; the fact is that I go through the entire
operation of the computation in that short interval of time which it takes me to announce the result to you. I
multiply 80 by 70, 80 by 3; 9 by 70, and 9 by 3; which will be the whole of the process as expressed
algebraically, and then I add them up in what appears to be merely an instant of time."
This testimony is unequivocal; Bidder, as Scripture admits certainly did not have a multiplication
table extending beyond 10x10, yet he was able, on one occasion at any rate, to perform a 12-figure
multiplication. Furthermore, Bidder's calculations were so rapid and automatic that he was himself
deceived in this matter, and thought he actually had such a multiplication table as Proctor attributes
to him. Even if we grant that when Bidder wrote this account, in his 50th year, his powers had
slightly diminished, with the result that his calculations were somewhat less automatic than in his
youth, it is clear, nevertheless, that even in his prime as a calculator he depended on calculation,
not on a memorized multiplication table beyond 10x10.
What shall we say, now, of other calculators? Fuller, the man who required 2 minutes for a simple
calendar problem, may be dismissed at once; he needed no enlarged multiplication table. Buxton,
Scripture tells us,2 "preserved the several processes of multiplying the multiplicand by each figure
of the lower line in their relative order, and place as on paper until the final product was found." The
reference for this passage is not given. The statement, however, is directly contradicted by Buxton's
own accouut of his method of multiplication, according to which, as we have seen, he multiplied by
5, then by 20, then by 3 to multiply by 300.3 It is safe to omit Buxton, therefore, from the list of users
of large multiplication tables. Colburn's account of his method of multiplication 4 is almost identical
 with Bidder's, and leaves no doubt that he multiplied

1Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 256.

2Op. cit., p. 58. On this statement, which is almost certainly incorrect, Scripture bases his belief that Buxton had a good "imagination," i. e.,
belonged to the visnal memory type.
3In the light of this example, which he himself quotes (p. 48), it is hard to understand why Scripture thinks (p. 46) -we can presuppose the
enlarged multiplication table in the case of Bnston.
4Memoir, pp. 189-191.

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by but one figure at a time. Mondeux, we are told, 1 "actually possessed part of such a table." Here again,
unfortunately, the reference is omitted. The only statement in Cauchy's report that looks like a foundation
for this assertion is that Mondeux "knows almost by heart the squares of all whole numbers under 100."
But, as we have already seen, the powers of numbers strongly attract the interest of the calculator at an
early stage; hence iu the absence of other evidence it is not legitimate to infer the presence of a complete
multiplication table, or any essential part of it, from the presence of a table of squares. Inaudi's methods
are fully described by Binet, and show that he used a table extending only to 10x10. Diamandi aud the
younger Bidder used cross-multiplication, and there is no definite evidence that they used more than one
figure at a time. Safford so closely resembles Bidder and Colburn that, in the absence of evidence to the
contrary, we may safely assume that his method of multiplication was the same as theirs. Zaneboni did
not possess a systematic table extending to 100x100, though he knew many squares and a few scattered
products beyond 10x10.2 Concerning Ampere so little is definitely known that it is idle to speculate about
his methods; but this is hardly a proof that he used an enlarged multiplication table.
There remain, then, only Ganss and Dase. It must be admitted that these men may have used
enlarged multiplication tables; the assertion cannot be disproved on the basis of available evidence,
and both men seem to have excelled practically all other calculators. But while Gauss undoubtedly
began as a "natural" calculator, he afterwards also used logarithms and other "artificial" methods in
his mental calculations; so that, even if we grant - though there is no known evidence for the view -
that he used a large memorized multiplication table, his case affords no basis for inferences
concerning the procedure of other calculators less gifted mathematically. Thus the case of Dase
alone among the "major calculators" remains for further consideration.
We have already seen that in rapidity and extent of calculation Dase stands in a class apart. It
would therefore be unsafe to say dogmatically that his methods did not differ from those of other
calculators. Even in his case, however, the ordinary methods are sufficient to explain all his feats,
without recourse to the extended multiplication table theory. Inaudi could perform a 2-figure
multiplication, by the ordinary method, in 2 seconds, the partial products involving 6 figures, or at
the rate

1Scripture, op. cit., p. 46.

2Riv. sper. di Fren., XXIII, 1897, p. 411.

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of 180 figures of partial product per minute. Dase required 54 seconds for an 3-figure multiplication, with
not more than 72 figures of partial product, or 80 figures per minute, a falling off of about 55% from
Inaudi's speed in the shorter operation. For any other calculator a much greater falling off would naturally
be expected; but in a 40-figure multiplication, performed in 40 minutes, Dase was able to maintain a
speed of 41 figures of partial product per minute, and in a 100-figure multiplication a speed of about 20
figures per minute, in complete defiance of the rules that bold for other calculators. 1 Hence even if we
grant that Dase divided the numbers into 3-figure periods, he may well have multiplied within those
periods by the ordinary method, without having recourse to a table larger than 10x10.
There is no warrant, then, for supposing that any of the prodigies except Gauss and Dase used a
multiplication table larger than that of ordinary mortals; and even in these two cases there is no
direct evidence, only a bare possibility; all their known feats are explicable on the supposition that
they used the small tables of Bidder, Inaudi, and the rest. We may therefore dismiss the theory of
enlarged multiplication tables,
 1In Binet's tests Inaudi performed a 2-figure multiplication in 2 seconds, 3-figure to 6.4 seconds, 4-figure (the limit of his ordinary stage
exhibitions) in 21 seconds, 5-figure in 40 seconds, but 6-figure in 4 minutes, or 240 seconds. This sudden increase in the time, 6 times as long
for 6 figures as for 5 figures, seems to indicate that in passing; from 5 to 6 figures Inaudi exceeded the limits of his ordinary practice, and
became confused. Bidder (Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 256) suggests that in cases where the multiplicand contains the same number of figures as
the multiplier, the difficulty should increase roughly as the fourth power of the number of figures in the multiplier, since the number of partial
product figures involved increases as the square of the number of figures in the multiplier, while the difficulty of remembering the larger
numbers also increases roughly as the square of the number of figures in the multiplier. On this basis, the time for 6 figures ought to be about
twice as long as for 5 figures, whereas with Inaudi it was 6 times as long, or 3 times the theoretical speed. In Dase's case, however, the results
are all in the other direction. In passing from 8 figures to 40 figures his time increased only about 44-fold, or 1-14 the theoretical increase (625
times); and in passing from 40 figures to 100 figures the increase in time was only 13 instead of 39 times, or 1/3 what we should expect on
Bidder's theory. Of course these comparisons cannot pretend to be exact; still they are interesting, as showing how little Dase's powers were
strained by increase in the size of the numbers. Nowhere in his calculations is there any indication of such confusion as overcame Inaudi in
passing from 5 figures to 6 figures. In fact, we may well suppose that only physical fatigue could limit the extent of Dase's calculations in a
single sitting. If he could, like Buxton, after a night's rest resume his work where be left off on the previous day, it is safe to assume that even a
200-figure multiplication would hardly have been beyond his powers.

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at least until its advocates have brought forward further and more definite evidence than any that has yet
been produced.
Factoring was a favorite problem with Colburn, Bidder, and Safford; none of the others, however,
are known to have explored this field. Colburn and Bidder, and doubtless Safford 1 as well, used 2-
figure endings in solving problems of this class.
We have seen that square and cube root problems were favorites with several of the prodigies.
Here, as in multiplication, Dase towers above all the rest; he could extract the 30-figure square root
of a 60-figure number in an "incredibly short time," and the 50-figure square root of a 100-figure
number in 52 minutes. His method was probably similar to the ordinary written method, but with the
short-cuts suggested by his great familiarity with large numbers. Whether he found part of the
numbers by simple division, or preferred to continue his approximations in the ordinary way to the
end of the process, is not known. He was almost certainly acquainted with some of the properties of
2-figure endings.2 and may have used them in finding the roots of small numbers. More probably,

1The evidence in Safford's case is as follows; (1) The general similarity between Safford on the one hand, and Colburn and Bidder on the
other. All three specialized in evolution and factoring, where 2-figure endings are peculiarly helpful; Colburn and Bidder tell us explicitly that
they used these endings; hence it is probable that Safford did also. (2) Safford extracted the cube roots of three 7-figure numbers "instantly."
Now the ending method is instantaneous for numbers up to 9 figures, and is the only known method that is instantaneous. (3) When asked the
cube root of 3,723,875, he answered, "155, is it not?" whereas in the case of numbers not ending with 5 his answers were categorical. Now for
most odd endings there is only one possible cube root; but for the ending 75 there is a choice between 15, 35, 55, 75, and 95. A slight
hesitation between 135 and 155, or 155 and 175, would therefore be natural if he depended on the ending primarily, whereas if he depended
on memorization of other cubes, or direct calculation, multiples of 5 would be no harder than other numbers.
2The evidence in this case is that Dase was fond of finding 5th powers, because the last figure was always the same in the 5th power as in the
given number. (Gauss-Schumacher Briefwechsel, V, p. 382.) Now the 5th power also has the property that, in many cases, the last figure
alone of the given number determines the last two figures of the 5th power. Any one who had found 5th powers often enough to acquire a
preference for them could hardly fail to note this property, which in turn might easily lead to the discovery of the properties of 10th and 20th
powers, especially since 10th and 20th powers are also themselves 5th powers. But since at the 20th power there are only four possible
endings, - 00 for numbers ending with 0, 25 for numbers ending with 5, or for all other odd numbers, and 76 for all other even numbers, - and
since after the 20th power the cycle of endings repeats, - the 21st power ending being usually the same as the 1st, the 22nd always the same
as the 2nd, etc., - the properties of the whole cycle are readily investigated, and would be almost certain to attract the calculator's attention, as
soon as he bad become really interested in 5th powers.

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however, he knew by heart the squares of all numbers at least up to 100, in which case 2-figure endings
would be of less use to him. In dealing with numbers of 60 or 100 figures they would be practically
useless, for the reason that where the given number is as long as this, it is usually selected by the
questioner at random, rather than formed by laboriously squaring a large number. Hence the given
number will rarely be a perfect square, and the method of endings will not give even the last two or three
figures. Whether it can be used at any of the intermediate stages of the work is doubtful. 1
Most of the other prodigies who have made a specialty of square and cube root problems either
depended on 2-figure endings, resorting to guess and trial when the given numbers were not
perfect squares or cubes, or else kept in mind the squares and cubes of many or most of the
numbers up to 100 or beyond. Such methods would work fairly well when the root contained not
more than 5 or 6 figures. Answers can be obtained "instantly," however, only by the method of
 endings, and even by that method only when there are not more than 3 figures in the root; though
the method might be made "instantaneous" for 4-figure roots of exact squares and cubes if the
calculator had committed to memory the squares and cubes of all numbers under 100.
Inasmuch as the part played by 2-figure endings has hitherto been little recognized by students of
the mathematical prodigies, it seems worth while here to determine, if possible, just how widely they
were used by the different calculators. Colburn, Bidder, Safford, Zaneboni, and the present writer,
we have seen, used them more or less freely. There is some evidence, not conclusive, however,
that Dase was familiar with their properties. The daughter of the Countess of Mansfield extracted
readily the square and cube roots of 9-figure numbers, and may have used this method. Gauss was
familiar with many propositions in number-theory, of which the properties of 2-figure endings are
only special cases; it would hardly be safe to infer, however, that he used these properties
extensively in his mental calculations. A bare possibility exists in the case of one or two other
calculators - Mondeux, for instance - that

1John Wallis (1616-1703), according to letters of his reprinted in the Classical Journal, XI, 1815, p. 179, and in the Spectator. LII, 1879, p. 11,
extracted the square root of 3,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000 mentally, and on another occasion the square root of a
53-figure number. The third figure of the first answer is wrongly given in both journals as 7 instead of 3; as the next 3 or 4 figures are correct,
however, for |/3. the error is probably only typographical. In the Spectator the first problem is wrongly given as 30000, etc., instead of 3,00000,
etc. Scripture (op. cit., p. 38) carries over both errors from the Spectator without comment.

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the properties of the endings were more or less fully known. Without seeking to exaggerate the
importance of these endings, therefore, we may safely say that of the calculators we have studied, about
one in every four was familiar with them. Their importance for us here, however, is rather as an illustration
of the sort of numerical symmetries and properties which arouse the interest of the calculator than as new
and valuable discoveries; in fact, from the mathematical standpoint they are trivial and of very limited
interest. To answer questions in evolution and factoring, the mathematician would turn to his tables of
factors or roots, or to a logarithm table; he would regard the properties of the mathematical prodigy's 2-
figure endings as unimportant special cases of more general propositions in the theory of numbers. Up to
the present time, then, these endings are of merely curious interest except in connection with mental
calculation; though it is conceivable, of course, that if a new and comprehensive theory of their properties
were worked out, it might find a subordinate place in the theory of numbers. 1
It will be noted that the term "ending" has been used in the present paper as a synonym for "2-
figure ending," the implication being that no other kinds of endings are of importance in mental
calculation. It is easy to see why this should be so. The properties of 1-figure endings, or last
figures, are so simple that many of them are familiar to the average schoolboy, and they tell so little
about the answer to a given problem that their utility in mental arithmetic is negligible. To study 3-
figure endings, on the other hand, would involve a large number of 3-figure multiplications; so that
here, as in the case of the multiplication table, if the endings are used at all, the use of the smaller
(2-figure) endings becomes a fixed habit long before larger ones could be of any real use. The only
known exception occurs where the given power ends with 5; in this case there is an unusually large
number of possible roots, and in seeking for some way of choosing between them, some of the
calculators (Bidder, for example) noted what 2-figure roots corresponded to the various 3-figure
endings for multiples of 5. It is obvious, however, that the use of 3-figure endings in this exceptional
case would not warrant the inference that they were used in any other case; and Bidder's testimony
shows clearly that he, at any rate, made no further use of them.

1Inone sense, however, these endings may be regarded as the properties or functions of numbers analogous to logarithms, and previously
unknown to mathematicians, which some writers suggested might explain Colburn's rapidity in calculation, especially in evolution and
factoring. (Phil. Mag., XL, 1812. p. 115; Analectic Mag., I, 1813, p. 128.)

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Many simple algebraic problems were solved mentally by the different calculators. Those who had a
general mathematical training of some sort - Ferrol, Safford, and Gauss, for example - doubtless
solved these problems by algebraic methods. Many of the others, however, depended on simple
 trial, or on little tricks which are readily discovered for certain classes of problems, and need not be
dwelt on here. It is safest to assume that the method was one of simple trial in all cases where there
is not definite evidence to the contrary.
Bidder's method of solving compound interest problems has already been described. In this
particular branch he seems never to have had a rival.
Arithmetical Association. Under this caption Scripture,1 in part following De Morgan and others, has
given an account of some of the ways in which the psychological processes of mental calculation
can be shortened. He points out, in particular that with practice the mental calculator can easily train
himself to omit useless words, and think only of the numbers concerned; thus instead of saying, "3
and 4 are 7," "3 times 7 are 21, put down 1 and carry 2," and the like, he can learn to say simply, "3,
4, 7," "3, 7, 21, 1, 2." etc. As De Morgan expresses it, 2 "Don't say 'carry 3,' but do it." It is evident,
furthermore, that as the process gradually becomes more and more familiar and automatic, many of
the intermediate steps of the computation may partly sink into the background of consciousness,
perhaps even disappearing altogether from the field of attention; thus, as we have already seen, the
intermediate links in Bidder's 2-figure multiplications were at one time so completely automatic that
he believed they were altogether absent, and supposed he possessed a multiplication table
extending to 100x100 or even beyond. Moreover, where the given numbers are familiar, only part of
a number may be clearly conscious, even when the whole number functions in the calculation. Thus
in the present writer's case the ending of a number may for many purposes completely replace the
number itself. A further abbreviation which may be noted is that, in the case of an auditory
calculator, any chance visual associations which may be present in the early stages of his
calculations, but which play no active part in them, may gradually drop out as his skill increases.
The same thing may happen, in certain cases, with the associated motor tendencies, if they are not
too strong. These psychological short-cuts, in

1Op. cit., p. 42 ff.

1Elements of Arithmetic. London, 1856, p. 164. In this work (pp. 161-5) will be found a very clear account of the natural counting process, with
some of its modifications and short-cuts, by which the "natural" mental calculator is developed.

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connection with the mathematical short-cuts to which we have already referred, explain the great rapidity
attained by some of the prodigies in their mental operations.
A certain amount of caution is necessary, however, in attributing these various short-cuts to
individual calculators, except where we have their own explicit testimony as a check. Binet was able
to establish that Inaudi, in his mental multiplications, made little, if any, use of these short-cuts; and
simple repetition of the unabbreviated calculations will produce a considerable increase of speed
without further aid in the way of mathematical or even psychological short-cuts of the sort just
described. We have seen how little ground there is for attributing extensive multiplication tables to
most of the prodigies; yet some writers have supposed that this was the simplest, if not the only,
explanation of the speed with which many of the prodigies could calculate. In theory, there is no
definite limit to the short-cuts possible in mental calculation, and it is evident that in the case of such
a man as Dase a good many of these short-cuts must be actually realized in practice; at the same
time, it is not safe to attribute any particular short-cut to a given calculator unless specific evidence
is at hand that he actually used that particular method and not some other equally rapid.
Memory. (a) Memory versus Calculation. It has become customary, in the literature on mathematical
prodigies, to distinguish more or less sharply the parts played by memory and by calculation proper
in the various operations, especially where the numbers dealt with are very long. Bidder tells us that
only the limits of his memory would stand in the way of performing immense calculations in an
incredibly short time. Buxton was excessively slow in calculating, but had such a tenacious memory
that he could work on a problem for weeks, and so solve almost any problem, long or short, that
happened to arouse his interest. Dase, according to this view, differed from ordinary mortals mainly
in the possession of a wonderful memory; but as far as the calculation proper is concerned, we
have the authority of Gauss for the statement that Base's 100-figure mental multiplication, which
required 8¾ hours, could be done on paper in perhaps half the time. 1 This view implies, then, that
the processes of the calculator in a very long mental multiplication are essentially the same as in a
very short one, being in either case substantially those of written multiplication; in other words that
the work, computed bit by bit in the long as in the short multiplication, is retained in the memory in a
more or less isolated and mechanical fashion, just as
 1Gauss-Schumacher Briefwechsel, V, p. 297.

- 116 -

on paper the partial products are first computed and recorded figure by figure, and then added. Practically,
then, the view is a sort of common-sense faculty psychology, seeking to justify itself by pointing to the
difference in speed between mental and written multiplication.
Now it can hardly be questioned that the mathematical prodigy's figure-memory is superior to the
ordinary man's. Dealing constantly with figures, the mental calculator learns to assimilate them
readily. A 20-figure number, which for most of us is a meaningless string of figures devoid of
interest, for him "makes sense," and so is easy to learn, just as a page of French is more easily
learned by a Frenchman than by a foreigner who knows little or nothing of the language. Hence we
may safely assume that the calculator's figure-memory will outstrip his powers of calculation; that is
to say, by the time he can mentally multiply two 6-figure numbers, let us say, he will have little or no
trouble in remembering almost at a glance, or after a single hearing, two numbers of 7 or 8 figures
each. This is on the supposition, of course, that he has never practiced remembering long numbers
merely for their own sake; we must here distinguish those calculators, like Zaneboni, who were fond
of committing statistics or very long numbers to memory without any immediate intention of using
these numbers in mental calculations, from those who made no effort to develop their memory for
figures except in the service of calculation.
The question is, then: Will special practice in memorizing numbers, apart from their use in
calculation, extend the powers of the prodigy in calculation proper? In other words, does he use the
same mathematical and psychological processes in a long multiplication as in a short one, except
that in the former he stops every now and then to deposit some of his partial results temporarily in
his memory, later returning and picking them up in order to unite them into a final result? In written
arithmetic we compute a series of partial results, register these results on paper at each stage, and
later come back to unite them, by a separate operation, into the total product; is this the general
scheme of mental multiplication also?
It would perhaps be unsafe to answer this question dogmatically in the negative; at the same time,
we should have to distinguish as an "artificial" calculator any one who proceeded in this way, even
granting that it has ever been done, which is not known to have been the case with any recorded
prodigy. We have already seen that both the mathematical and the psychological processes
involved in mental multiplication differ considerably from those of written multiplication. Moreover,
the two have quite distinct origins; mental arithmetic grows

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naturally and independently out of counting, written arithmetic out of more or less arbitrary rules learned
from teachers and books. Any argument based on the methods of written multiplication, therefore, or on
the difference in speed between the two dissimilar operations of mental and written arithmetic, must be
accepted with considerable caution. The fact that on paper the computing and the recording are two
distinct operations does not prove that in mental arithmetic memory and calculation are two separate
faculties, and that when the numbers to be multiplied are very long, the difficulty is all on the side of
memory and not at all on the side of calculation.
Even in Buxton's case, where the discrepancy between memory and calculating power seems as
clear as anywhere, we cannot give the credit to memory, as opposed to calculation. Buxton's
calculations, to be sure, whether long or short, were excessively slow; but so was his memory (in
the sense of power of acquisition of figures): we are told that he comprehended even (simple)
arithmetical questions "not without difficulty and time." 1 Like Bidder and many - perhaps most -
other calculators, he began work at the left of the numbers, adding up the partial products as he
went along, and not waiting until all were obtained. Moreover, we have seen fairly good reasons for
supposing that he worked by a process of modified counting, rather than by multiplication proper,
dividing the work into stages in his own peculiar way, but for the most part keeping in mind only one
or two partial results, and using them in calculation as soon as possible. This means, however, that
his processes in a long multiplication were not simply the same as in 2-figure multiplications, plus a
 tenacious memory; he really calculated with the large numbers, and in dealing with them doubtless
used some special short-cuts, though far fewer than most other calculators. In short, he really was,
in his way, a "great calculator," not a "little calculator" with a "big memory." He calculated with large
numbers because they had an interest and a meaning for him which they have not for the ordinary
man. The difference between the man who can unravel a half-page sentence of technical German
and the one who can scarcely understand a two-line sentence is not primarily a matter of memory,
but of interest and meaning; and the same holds good of the calculator who bandies large numbers,
as compared with the one who does not. Zaneboni had an unusual interest in memorizing figures
for their own sake, and Inaudi had a highly developed figure-memory, yet we do not read that these
men made a specialty of long multiplications;

1Gent. Mag., XXIV, 1754. p. 251.

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their figure-memory as such and their figure-memory as subservient to their interest in calculation were
quite distinct.1
We cannot agree with Binet,2 therefore, that mental calculation combines the two distinct and
independent elements of memory and calculation, of which memory is really distinctive in the case
of the great calculators, the one characteristic in virtue of which they are inimitable and indefinitely
superior to the rest of mankind. Inaudi, to be sure, was inferior to the department-store cashiers on
short multiplications, because he had not practiced them as much as his rivals had; but his
superiority in long multiplications is equally due to practice in calculation, not to superior memory as
such. Some of his calculations were slower than those of a good computer on paper, others were
faster; but the mental and even the mathematical processes are so different in the two cases that
no value attaches to the comparison. His skill in memorizing long numbers was the result of
practise, perhaps in the service of addition, perhaps for its own safe, but was not the secret of his
calculation. That he remembered the 200 or 300 numbers used in one of his public exhibitions was
due to his interest in the figures, on account of their connection with his calculations; where that
interest was lacking, he could remember only a third as many figures in the same period of time.
And how little connection his figure-memory had with his calculations proper is shown by the fact
that when he exceeded the range of his practice in calculation, and passed from a 5-figure to a 6-
figure multiplication, he required six times as long, - a result inexplicable, in a man who could retain
42 figures on a single hearing, if memory is the real secret, but much less surprising if practice in
calculation is the important thing. In short, figure-memory is important in the psychology of mental
calculation only in so far as it stands in the service of calculation and intimately bound up with it; to
make a sharp distinction between the two, and lay the emphasis on memory as opposed to
calculation, is to be led astray by a distinction of common-sense psychology whose usefulness has
long since been outgrown.
(6) Memory type. We have seen that up to 1892, when Inaudi was shown to belong to the auditory
type, it was generally taken for granted that all mathematical prodigies were visual. Of the two
important calculators since discovered,

1In the case of long additions, such as Inaudi's additions of 21-fignre numbers, the distinction between memory and calculation may at first
seem clearer than in multiplication. Actually, however, the two are, if anything, more closely connected in addition than in multiplication; for the
calculation involved is so simple and automatic that it probably always begins during the process of memorizing the second number.
2Op. cit., p. 194.

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Diamandi is undoubtedly visual, and Zaneboni is so described by the authors of the article in the Rivista di
Freniatria, though, as we shall see, his case is somewhat doubtful. Up to the present time, then, Inaudi
has been supposed to be the only non-visual calculator on record; no one seems to have raised the
question whether all the supposedly visual calculators actually were visual and not auditory. It is proposed
here to make an attempt to answer this question; and while it will, of course, not be possible in all cases to
reach perfectly definite conclusions, we can at least make a start in the right direction, and put the whole
subject on a more satisfactory and critical basis.
First, however, it will be necessary to define our terms. It should be understood at the outset that no
absolute line can be drawn between the two types: In ordinary life the most common type would
probably be the "mixed" type. But it will be impossible, on the basis of the available data, to enter
upon this question of the general memory type of the different calculators. The most we can hope to
do is to determine to which type they belonged in their mental calculations; and while it is probable
that this will usually coincide with their general type, the fact can by no means be taken for granted.
Fortunately, however, it is much easier to decide in a narrow field than to decide the general
question; and in calculation, especially, there are a number of fairly definite and reliable indications
which will render the task somewhat easier than it would be in many other fields.
By a visual calculator, then, we shall mean one in whose mental calculations visual images of some
sort play an essential part. Auditory elements will probably always be present besides, in greater or
less degree; but if the visual elements play an essential role, we may call the calculator visual, since
any more minute classification would be impracticable without more detailed information than we
possess concerning the individual men. The visual elements may take various forms. The calculator
may see numbers as dot-patterns, as Proctor did. He may have a number-form. Or he may see the
figures of his calculations written or printed before him, more or less distinctly, but not necessarily in
complete detail, since short-cuts and abbreviations may be connected with visual images as well as
with any others. In other words, the visual image need not be a photographic reproduction of the
complete written calculation; if it is essential, in however schematic and abbreviated a form, its
presence is the mark of a visual calculator.
Inasmuch as written figures are the commonest form of the visual image, - Proctor is the only
calculator known to have used dots in his actual calculations, - it is to be expected that in most
cases the visual calculator's methods of calculation will

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not take shape until after he has learned to write figures. Since the visual image is simultaneous, while the
auditory image is successive, it will be easier for a visual than for an auditory calculator to reverse his
image, and call off a number backwards Hence the ability to read off a number from memory either
forwards or backwards will establish a presumption in favor of visual type. This is not a conclusive
indication, however, since with practice an auditory calculator also could learn to reverse his numbers,
especially where they were short. At the same time, the reversal is so much easier for a visual than for an
auditory image that it must be considered as establishing at least a presumption in favor of the visual type,
especially when corroborated by other indications.1
We may call a calculator auditory (or auditory-motor), on the other hand, when there is some
definite reason for believing that visual images do not play an essential part in his mental
calculation, or that motor tendencies are closely associated with it. Visual images need not be
completely absent, especially in the early years of a precocious calculator; but if they were present
at the start, we must have some reason for believing that they became unimportant as his
proficiency increased. Similarly, the motor tendencies may, with practice, partly or wholly drop out;
but in this case they will tend to return when new and unpracticed facts are attempted. In
consequence of the verbal nature of the counting process in which natural mental arithmetic begins,
it is hard to conceive of a visual calculator in whose operations words (and hence auditory images)
do not play a part of greater or less importance; it is much easier, on the other hand, to conceive of
an auditory calculator in whom visual elements are almost wholly absent, except in the form of an
occasional chance by-play of associations which have no essential function in the calculation
proper. If this is the case, however, it constitutes a presumption that any given calculator is auditory
unless evidence exists to the contrary, and throws the burden of proof upon the visual side.
The most definite indications of auditory type are as follows: (1) A tendency to articulate during
calculation, especially in relatively unfamiliar operations; this may be regarded as practically
conclusive evidence of auditory (or auditory-motor)

1Curiously enough, however, we have no specific record of the possession of such a power of reversing numbers by either Diamandi or the
younger Bidder, the only two calculators for whom we hare perfectly definite and unequivocal evidence of visual type; though it is practically
certain that Diamandi, at any rate, possessed the power in some degree, since after learning a square of figures by rows from left to right he
could, with little difficulty, repeat them in ascending or descending columns.
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type. (2) The absence of any indication of visual elements in the prodigy's mental calculations. This
argument, however, is of no practical weight except in cases where we have a fairly full account, from the
prodigy himself, of his methods of calculation. Where this is the case, it is fairly safe to assume that at
least some of the various indications of visual type will be present in the narrative if the calculator is really
visual. Colburn and Bidder are the only men who have left us such narratives, and in neither case do we
find any reference to visual processes; hence a strong presumption exists that both these men were
auditory. (3) General resemblance to known auditory calculators. This, is not a very satisfactory indication,
in general, unless the resemblance is close in several important respects; but in certain cases, owing to
the meagreness of the sources of information, it is almost the only indication we have. It is more reliable,
of course, if it covers several indications which, though perhaps each inconclusive by itself, may have a
cumulative weight.
Let us now examine the evidence in the case of the different individual calculators, in each group
taking those cases first where there is least room for difference of opinion.
As visual calculators we may name at once the younger Bidder and Diamandi, both of whom
possessed number-forms and used cross-multiplication; the younger Bidder, moreover, made the
not very profound observation that be could "conceive no other (non-visual) way possible of doing
mental arithmetic." Diamandi took up mental calculation after leaving school, at the age of 16, and
hence after learning to read and write; the same is probably true of the younger Bidder, though
inasmuch as his number-form shows the influence of the clock in the circular arrangement of the
numbers up to 12, he may possibly have learned numbers visually from this source before he
learned the alphabet.
Whether Dase was of the visual type it is difficult to say. He may have learned to read and write
before he began to calculate,1 though this is not certain; he could repeat numbers backwards with
great ease; he could learn a number of 12 figures almost at a glance; and his skill in rapid visual
counting was remarkable. All these indications point in the visual direction, yet they are by no
means as satisfactory as the proofs in the other two cases. We have already seen that Dase stands
in a class by himself, and that an enormous amount of practice is presupposed by his feats,
whatever his memory type; it is

1He attended school at the age of 2½, but attributed his skill in calculation to later practice and industry rather than to his early schooling.

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not impossible, therefore, that he was auditory, since with sufficient practice an auditory calculator could
learn to reverse numbers readily and to count objects at a glance. Robert Houdin and his father, we know,
acquired by practice a considerable power of rapid visual counting. Moreover, it does not follow that a man
who by practice has developed a power of visualization in this field will likewise use visual images in
mental arithmetic, especially since the precise amount of visualizing power needed for Houdin's feats is
not at all easy to determine. But in order to avoid one-sidedness we may give the visual theory the benefit
of the doubt, and call Dase a visual calculator, bearing in mind, however, that the evidence is by no means
as satisfactory in his case as in the case of Diamandi or the younger Bidder.
The case of Zaneboni is likewise somewhat doubtful. He began to calculate at the age of 12, after
learning to read and write, and used written lists in some of his memory feats; he also seems to
have made more or less use of visual images in answering questions concerning railway distances
and the like. He could repeat a memorized 256-figure number almost as readily backwards as
forwards. It is not at all clear, however, to just what extent he used visual images in his mental
calculation proper, as distinguished from figure-memory proper; and in the experiments of
Guicciardi and Ferrari there are some indications which clearly show a leaning in the auditory-motor
direction. If we were discussing his memory-type in general, instead of his type simply in
calculation, we should undoubtedly be safe in describing him as "mixed"; but the definitions we
have adopted of the terms "visual calculator" and "auditory calculator," do not admit any
intermediate type, since we have agreed to call a calculator visual if visual images play any
essential part in his calculations. A detailed examination of the available data concerning his type as
a calculator would take up far more space than its importance would warrant, and even then would
leave us in doubt just where to place him. It seems wisest, therefore, to give the visual theory once
 more the benefit of the doubt, and call Zaneboni a visual calculator, despite the inconclusiveness of
the existing evidence. We find so far, then, four visual prodigies, - the younger Bidder, Diamandi,
Dase, and Zaneboni, - of whom only the first two, however, are above suspicion. 1
As auditory calculators we may name at once Inaudi, Ferrol, who in ordinary life was an abnormally
poor visualizer, Saf-

1The name of Proctor has been omitted from this list, owing to the absence of information concerning the extent of his calculating power; there
is no doubt, however, that his calculations, as far as they went, were visual in the sense already defined.

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ford, who talked to himself when originating new rules, and the present writer. The cases of certain other
calculators who were almost certainly auditory require some discussion, since at first sight the evidence
appears to be conflicting.
That Bidder was of auditory type is shown by the following considerations. (1) He learned to count
and calculate before learning to read and write, and constantly emphasizes the importance of this
fact in his lecture before the Institution of Civil Engineers. After learning to count, he taught himself
the multiplication table to l0x10 by means of rectangles of shot; but he expressly speaks of
counting1 the shot after thus arranging them, not of seeing a picture of them, or of grouping them in
visual patterns. Again, when he recommends this method of teaching mental arithmetic, 2 he lays
stress on arranging the actual objects and then counting them, not on seeing such vivid mental
pictures as would render the presence of the actual objects superfluous. Hence we are warranted in
assuming that if Bidder had visual images of his shot and marbles at first, they played no part in his
actual mechanism of mental calculation, and later dropped out. If this is the case, then the use of
pebbles and the like in childhood is not, as it would at first seem, a proof of visual type.
(2) Bidder's reiterated emphasis on the teachableness of mental arithmetic, by his methods, to any
person of average ability,2 is itself a fairly good indication of his auditory type. Any one can learn to
count in auditory terms, but not every one can learn to visualize numbers, to "have a good
imagination" for them. If visual aids played any essential part in his mental calculations, then, we
should expect him to stipulate that the mental arithmetician must possess a certain minimum of
imagination. Bidder's son, it will be remembered, who was of strongly visual cast, could "conceive
no other way possible of doing mental arithmetic." The elder Bidder, on the other hand, can
discover in himself4 "no particular turn of mind, beyond a predilection for figures, which many
possess almost in an equal degree with myself."
(3) There is a notable absence of visual metaphors in Bidder's descriptions of his calculating
operations, and a strong insistence on the successive character of the processes involved; whereas
a visual calculator, in an account so full and clear as Bidder's, could hardly have avoided at least a
few visual comparisons, and would not have laid stress on the serial, one-thing-at-a-time character
of the processes. Bidder speaks5 of

1Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 258.

2Ibid., p. 278.
3Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, pp. 252, 253, 256, 261, 278.
4Ibid., p. 253.
5Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 254.

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"registering" the numbers in his memory, not of seeing them; in mental calculation ''every mental process
must be analogous to that which is indicated in working out algebraical formulae," and, "no one step can
be omitted." In reading the page of a book, "every letter of that page passes in review through the mind";
note the abstractness of the phrase here, where a visual figure would be almost inevitable for a man of
visual type. Ideas of numbers are best impressed on the mind 1 "without any reference to symbols"; written
figures are2 "unmeaning symbols.'' As soon as we attempt to go beyond 3-figure multiplications to those of
4 figures, "another idea must be seized by the mind", namely, the idea (word) "thousands," and "this
increases the strain on the registering powers of the mind." 8 In multiplication, one fact and only one is to
be kept in mind at each stage.4 Bidder would5 "despair of any great success in the pupil's progress in the
science of arithmetic if he did not commence before he knew anything of symbols, and if his first
conception of numbers was not derived from their real tangible quantity and significance." Here, as
frequently throughout the paper, the written symbols (visual and simultaneous) are contrasted with the
"significance" of the numbers, i. e., their place in the (successive and auditory) series of numbers used in
counting.
In the one place (p. 255) where Bidder does use a visual comparison, it is the hackneyed one of a
flash of lightning - an expression which has passed so completely into the every-day vocabulary
that its original figurative force is seldom distinctly realized by those who use it. Bidder employs the
phrase simply to show the rapidity and clearness with which needed numerical ideas come into his
mind; this no more indicates visual type (where the counter-evidence is so strong) than the familiar
phrase "like a flash" proves that things "understood" in that way are "seen" in visual terms. In fact,
the verb "see" and the commoner stereotyped visual metaphors ("clear," "like a flash." etc.) are so
firmly established as synonyms for "understand," etc., that, unless corroborated by more definite
evidence, they prove nothing at all concerning the memory type of any one who uses them.

1Ibid., p. 263.
2Ibid., p. 261.
3Proc. Inst. C. E., XV, p. 263, Inaudi, like Bidder an auditory calculator, always keeps in mind the names (thousands, millions, billions, etc.) of
the different periods of numbers, whereas a visual calculator would be much more likely to depend simply on his visual memory of position,
and drop out the names of the periods as useless, like the words "put down 3 and carry 2," etc.
4Ibid., p. 260, 263.
5Ibid., p. 279.

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There can be little or no doubt, then, that Bidder was an auditory calculator. Scripture's sole
evidence1 of visual type in Bidder's case consists in wrongly attributing to him the younger Bidder's
remark about the only conceivable way of doing mental arithmetic. The only other apparent
evidence that Bidder was a visual calculator is the fact that he had good powers of visualizing
diagrams and the like.2 But we are not trying to determine Bidder's memory type in general, but
only his type as a calculator; and the evidence in the latter field is practically conclusive in favor of
auditory type. If we knew absolutely nothing else about Bidder's memory type in general except that
he was a good visualizer of diagrams, that fact might establish a very slight presumption in favor of
visual type even as a calculator; but in the presence of more definite evidence the fact is quite
irrelevant here, except in so far as it shows that he was not, like Ferrol, of extreme non-visual type
outside of calculation.
What, now, of Colburn's memory type? In Gall's account3 we are told that "in calculations at all
complicated, he [Colburn] is often heard to multiply, add, or subtract, aloud, and with incredible
rapidity." In the Philosophical Magazine,4 too, we find a reference to the "motion of his lips while
calculating," and this we may take as practically conclusive evidence of auditory (auditory-motor)
type. As corroborative evidence we may point to the close resemblance of the three calculators
Bidder, Safford and Colburn, all of whom learned to calculate before learning to read and write, and
showed a marked preference for a class of problems (evolution and factoring) not cultivated to an
equal extent by any other recorded calculator. All of them began multiplication at the left, and in
general had the same methods of calculation. Two of them, Bidder and Safford, we have already
found to be auditory, and in Colburn's case the reference to the motion of his lips is strongly in favor
of the auditory theory. Moreover, we find in him the same nervous contortions which are recorded in
the case of Safford, and, to a less extent, of Inaudi, 5 both auditory (-motor) calculators.
In Colburn's case, as in Bidder's, there is one piece of apparent evidence of visual type. We read in
Gall's account6 that Colburn "was asked how he made his calculations. He an-

1Op. cit., p. 57.

2Spectator, LI, 1878, p. 1634.
3Op. cit., V, p. 85.
4Vol. XL, 1812, p. 122.
5Binet says of Inaudi (op. cit., p. 37), "Pendant les calculs, il fait differents gestes, tics sans importance et du reste tres variables."
 6Op. cit., V. p. 87, quoting from Med. and Phil. Jl. and Rev., 1811; Scripture, quoting the remark, gives the reference as p. 22 of that journal.

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swered, that he saw them clearly before him." But, as we have already seen, the use of the words "see"
and "clearly" is not a satisfactory proof of visual type, especially when strong and definite evidence points
the other way. If Colburn had depended on Proctor's dot-patterns, that fact ought to be evident from his
account of his methods in the Memoir, whereas we find there no reference to visual images. That Colburn
saw written figures is hardly probable, since it was only in London, when almost at the height of his
calculating power, that he learned to read and write. Furthermore, when the 1811 article was written on
which Gall's account is based, Colburn was only 6 years old, and hence would naturally use concrete
language (visual metaphors) rather than abstract language, 1 whatever his memory type. In the light of all
the available evidence, therefore, it seems safe to call Colburn an auditory calculator, though it is of
course just possible that at first he had visual associations also, which later may have disappeared more
or less completely from his calculations.
Let us next consider the case of Buxton. His ability to repeat numbers either forwards or backwards
establishes a slight presumption, as we have seen, in favor of visual type. On the other hand, there
is no lack of presumptive auditory indications and points of resemblance to auditory calculators.
Buxton not only learned to count before learning to read and write; he never learned to read and
write at all. He not only, like Inaudi, retained the names of the different periods (thousands, millions,
etc.) in thinking of numbers, but invented peculiar names of his own for the earlier periods of very
large numbers. Like Inaudi, again, he began calculating by "naming the several figures distinctly
one after another, in order to assure himself of the several dimensions [the problem was in
mensuration,] and fix them in his mind."2 Like Bidder, Colburn, Inaudi and Safford, he began at the
left in multiplication; whereas the two unmistakably visual calculators, Diamandi and the younger
Bidder, are known to have used cross-multiplication. He retained a marked fondness for that
counting in the simple series of natural numbers with which the auditory calculator always begins; at
the theatre, for instance, he counted the exits and entrances of the different characters, the words
spoken by each, the number of steps

1Assume for the moment that a child of 6 is an absolutely non-visual calculator, and is asked to describe his methods; what language has he
at command but the visual metaphor of "seeing clearly"? He does not yet distinguish words from thoughts, hence cannot say, as a grown man
might, that he "hears" his calculations, or "speaks" them mentally. The psychology of a young child, like popular psychology in general,
inevitably tends to explain everything in visual terms.
2Gent. Mag., 1751, p. 61.

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taken in the dance, and the like. His mental record of all the free beer he had had from the age of 12 must
have been at least partly in verbal (auditory) terms. His skill in estimating areas by pacing them does not
indicate any visualizing ability, but rather a step of uniform and known length and an ability to count and
calculate. Like Inaudi and a few other calculators, none of them known to be visual, he could carry on a
conversation while computing. And when a new style of problem (cube root) was proposed to him, he was
heard to mutter to himself, after puzzling over it for some time, that he would master it yet. 1
The vast extent of some of Buxton's calculations, to be sure, suggests Dase, the only other
calculator known to have gone beyond 15-figure multiplications; but, even granting that Dase was a
visual calculator, the value of this analogy is destroyed by the fact that whereas Buxton required two
months and a half for a 39-figure multiplication, Dase performed a 40-figure multiplication in 40
minutes. And of course if Buxton had possessed anything like Dase's power of instantaneous visual
counting, such trivial occupations as counting words and steps could scarcely have retained any
interest for him. On the whole, then, - since the ability to repeat numbers backwards is the only
indication of possible visual type, and since we can easily explain that ability, in a man whose
mental processes were all so slow, by supposing that he became interested in reversing numbers
and practiced the feat with his usual perseverance, - it seems fairly safe to call Buxton an auditory
rather than a visual calculator.
The remaining calculators may be dismissed somewhat more briefly, since in the absence of more
definite information than we have it is only possible to indicate probabilities as established by
 comparison with better known prodigies. Fuller so closely resembles Buxton that if we call the one
auditory, we may assume that the other was likewise. Mondeux has various points of resemblance
with Inaudi on the one hand, and with Bidder on the other, both of whom we have found to be
auditory, hence Mondeux also may be placed in this class. Ampere, like Mondeux and Bidder, used
pebbles in his early calculations, an indication which we have found to be no disproof of auditory
type; like them, again, he learned to count at an early age, - earlier, in fact, than either of them, -
before learning to read and write. A presumption therefore exists that he, too, was auditory. Gauss
began earliest of all, before he was quite 3, if we accept his own account, as it seems safe to

1Gent. Mag., 1753, p. 557. The exact wording of the passage is, "after some time, he said to himself there were nooks in it [the problem], but
he would sift them about."

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do in the case of a man of his scientific eminence, who had so little need to exaggerate his own ability;
moreover, the fact that at the gymnasium he mastered the classical languages "with incredible rapidity"
suggests auditory rather than visual characteristics. Concerning the minor prodigies it would hardly be
safe to speculate; we have seen, however, that many of them learned counting before reading and writing,
and this establishes in these cases a slight presumption of auditory type.
These conclusions, it will be seen, involve a radical departure from the current views. Scripture
names three calculators -Buxton, Colburn, and Bidder - as using visual images; and while he admits
the absence of specific information in the case of other calculators, he thinks it safe to assume that
visual images played a considerable part in all cases. We have seen, however, that the evidence in
each of the three cases named is either based on a misconception, or counterbalanced by stronger
evidence of auditory type. On the other hand, two of the prodigies in Scripture's list, Dase and the
younger Bidder (who obviously should have been named, since he and not his father was
responsible for the remark quoted by Scripture), show some evidence of visual type, and of the
three others - Inaudi, Diamandi, and Zaneboni - since described, Diamandi is unmistakably visual,
while Zaneboni is rather doubtful. Apart from these four men, we find in almost every case not only
no evidence supporting the visual theory, but at least some evidence, of more or less weight,
favoring the auditory theory. In other words, if the conclusions here reached are sound, mental
calculation is primarily an auditory operation, a matter of verbal associations, and in the majority of
cases no appreciable aid is rendered by visual associations. In fact, while it would perhaps be going
too far to say that the "natural" calculator is always the auditory calculator, and that the visual
calculator, just in so far as he is visual, is an "artificial" calculator, such a statement would be very
much nearer the truth than the current view that mental calculation is primarily a visual operation. 1
In case this view seems unduly radical, however, it must be remembered, in the first place, that we
are dealing only with mental calculation as such, leaving quite open the question of general
memory type; and in the second place, that we have

1Diamandi, we have seen, learned mental calculation only after leaving school, and used cross-multiplication, which is not a "natural" method.
The younger Bidder used cross-multiplication and a mnemonic system, and may have had no "natural" gift for mental calculation at all, but
simply have taught himself by deliberate practice, in imitation of his father, or by his father's suggestion or guidance. The cases of Dase and
Zaneboni, cannot profitably be discussed from this point of view in the absence of fuller information than we possess.

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adopted a very narrow definition of the two types. By calling a calculator auditory we do not imply that
visual images are by any means wholly absent from his mind during calculation, but only that they are not
uniformly present, and that their absence is not an embarrassment, or their presence a material aid, to the
calculator. Probably in most cases what we have called chance visual associations will enter in to a
greater or less extent, especially where the numbers are presented to the calculator in written or printed
form. And it may conceivably happen that a man who is, in general, predominantly visual may be auditory,
in this sense, as a calculator. Yet after all qualifications have been made, the fact remains that mental
calculation, as we have seen again and again, naturally takes its rise from counting, which is essentially a
verbal process. However widely the extent and relative weight of visual and auditory elements may vary, it
can hardly conceivably happen, - certainly does not happen in any known case, - that the verbal elements
play no part whatever in the calculating process; whereas the function of the visual elements may well be
reduced practically to the vanishing point. And the sooner we get rid of the old idea that mental calculation
is in essence the same as written calculation, but with a mental instead of a written tablet, on which the
faculties of memory and imagination inscribe the figures of the written calculation in perfect order and
complete detail, the sooner we shall begin to understand the psychology of mental calculation.
Summary. The results of our study of the mathematical prodigies may be summarized as follows:
(1) In Part I is presented a fairly complete list of the more important prodigies on record, with those
data in each case which shed most light on the nature and development of the calculating power.
An effort is also made to correct several errors which have crept into the literature, and to bring out
a few points whose significance has been overlooked; so that the present account, it is hoped, will
be found reasonably complete and reliable. In particular, the case of Zerah Colburn has been
entered into in some detail; this man has certainly received less than his due from both Scripture
and Binet.
(2) In Part II is described a new case, that of the present writer. The calculating power is in this case
very slight, and in itself unimportant. It has been described at some length, however, to bring out the
naturalness of the "precocity" involved, the gradualness of the development of the calculating
power, the important part played by counting, - first in the series of natural numbers, and later in the
series of multiples and powers of various numbers, - the general character of the numerical
properties brought to light in this way, - properties

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which awaken the interest of the calculator, furnish the motive for continued practice, and shorten the
labor of calculation, rendering the whole process self-sufficient and independent of outside aid, - and, to
some extant, the nature of the psychological and mathematical processes and short-cuts used in this
particular case. The part played by "2-figure endings" has been entered into in some detail, as shedding
light on a class of problems - evolution and factoring - which have often puzzled students of the subject,
owing to the surprising rapidity with which some of the prodigies have solved them. In none of these
respects is the material here presented wholly new. Most of it, perhaps, could be deduced from a careful
study of Bidder's case. At the same time, it remains true that the significance of these facts has not been
fully brought out by previous investigators; hence it has seemed worth while to dwell on them here at
greater length than would otherwise be necessary.
(3) The data thus collected have been studied in Part III, and conclusions drawn under several
heads. Attention has in the main been confined to the "natural" calculators who develop
spontaneously, at least in the first instance, without external aid from books and teachers; as
distinguished from the "artificial" calculators who use external aids from the start. Huber's blind
Swiss is perhaps the only "artificial" calculator here considered; but the distinction must not be too
sharply drawn, since several of the others have made use of "artificial" methods, such as mnemonic
systems. A calculator may begin in the "natural" way, but later make use of "artificial" methods
besides, in order to extend his calculations further, as Gauss did in his use of logarithms; if the
younger Bidder had any "natural" gift to start with, - a question we must here leave open, - he
belongs to the same class with Gauss in this respect. In general, it is obvious that skill in calculation
attained by using these "artificial" methods, either from the start or at a later stage, constitutes no
special problem for the psychology of mathematical precocity, belonging rather to the psychology of
deliberately practiced operations in general, and hence need not be discussed in such a study as
the present.
Into the question of heredity in mental calculation we have not attempted to enter, not only because
of the scarcity and uncertainty of the data, but because such general terms as heredity and
environment do not carry us far in the study of any special function like mental calculation.
Precocity in calculation, we have found, is natural and normal; not only is the popular amazement
over it groundless, but there is no need even to regard it as "remarkable." Owing to the origin of
mental calculation in ordinary counting, and the complete independence and self-sufficiency of
mental

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arithmetic, mere mathematical precocity falls in a different class from musical precocity, and still more
from the all-round precocity shown by such men as Ampere and Macaulay. If for any reason the
mathematical prodigy loses his interest in calculation, or the opportunity to practice it, his power is likely to
diminish or eventually to disappear; in this respect mental calculation is like piano-playing, or any other
highly specialized activity dependent on long practice.
Skill in mental calculation is, owing to the isolation of mental arithmetic already noted, independent
of general education; the mathematical prodigy may be illiterate or even densely stupid, or he may
be an all-found prodigy and veritable genius. Furthermore, mental calculation is entirely
independent for mathematical ability and education; the calculator may never rise above the
counting stage, or may acquire merely arithmetical skill, or may develop a keen insight into
algebraic relations, or even, like Safford and Gauss, a marked aptitude for higher mathematics.
Hence it is not helpful to classify the mathematical prodigies either by general education or by
subsequent mathematical development. Indirectly, however, ignorance favors a high development
of the calculating power, by preventing other and more important interests from taking its place.
Where the power is retained in spite of the widening of interests, its practical value may become
considerable, especially to the mathematician, the lawyer, or the engineer.
Although mental arithmetic naturally develops out of counting, the fundamental operation is
multiplication. This operation may remain permanently in the counting stage, i. e., may proceed
without the use of a memorized multiplication table; usually, however, a multiplication table up to
10x10 is used. Many of the prodigies begin at the left in both multiplication and addition. Proctor
describes in his own case a method by the aid of visual dot-patterns, but no other calculator is
known to have followed this method. Two of the visual calculators, Diamandi and the younger
Bidder, used cross-multiplication. The theory has been proposed that a large multiplication table,
perhaps to 100x100, is used by some of the prodigies; but there is no evidence that any of them
actually did use such a table, and even Dase's feats are explicable without presupposing it.
Problems in square and cube root (especially of exact squares and cubes) and factoring are
favorites with some of the calculators; in those cases where the answer is given "instantly," the
simple properties of 2-figure endings are used.
Various mathematical and psychological short-cuts explain the speed attained by some of the
prodigies in their mental operations. Problems done "instantly" are either very simple, or else are
solved by guess and trial, with the aid of little

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tricks and properties readily discovered by the calculator. Many algebraic problems are thus solved, and
the same is true of square and cube roots of perfect squares and cubes, as we have just seen.
The distinction which is so often made between memory and calculation, with the implication that
the great calculator is simply a little calculator with a big memory, using the same methods as his
lesser rivals, is misleading; the process is always (in the "natural" calculators) a true calculation,
and memory for figures is important only in so far as it stands in the service of calculation.
Finally, many of the calculators heretofore supposed to be of visual memory type turn out, on closer
examination, to belong to the auditory (or auditory-motor) type, at least in calculation; and, in
general, since counting is essentially a verbal process, the calculator who begins from counting,
before he learns to read and write, will usually belong to the auditory type, and will make relatively
little use of visual images in his actual calculations. At least two of the "major" prodigies, however,
and possibly four, belong to the visual type.

APPENDIX I.
NOTE ON ZERAH COLBURN.

Scripture, at the beginning of his treatment of Colburn (op. cit., p. 11), says: "Autobiographies do not
always furnish the most trustworthy evidence in regard to the man himself; when, moreover, the
author is convinced that he is nothing less than a modern miracle: and, finally, when having had no
scientific and little literary education, he at a later date writes the memoirs of his youth, we are
obliged to supply the lacking critical treatment of the narrative." A little earlier (p. 8) he tells us that
Gauss, "if he had had the misfortune to have been gifted with nothing else [than his calculating
powers], . . . . might even have proclaimed himself in the Colburn fashion, as a miraculous
exception from the rest of mankind." Again (p. 16), "It is to be remarked that Colburn's calculating
powers, such as they were, seemed [sic] to have absorbed all his mental energy; he was unable to
learn much of anything, and incapable of the exercise of even ordinary intelligence or of any
practical application. The only quality for which he was especially distinguished was self-
 appreciation. He speaks, for example, of Bidder as 'the person who 1 approached the nearest to an
equality with himself2 in mental

1The words "in the writer's judgment" are here omitted by Scripture without the customary sign of omission. (Memoir p. 175.)
2Colburn's word here is "him," not "himself," (Loc. cit.)

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arithmetic.' Again, 'he thinks it1 no vanity to consider himself first in the list in the order of time, and
probably first in the2 extent of intellectual power.' "
In similar strain Binet says (op. cit., p. 9), "L'histoire de Zerah Colburn serait extremement
interessante si elle reposait sur des documents dignes de confiance; il n'en est malheureusement
pas ainsi. Le principal document qni reste de lui est son autobiographie, et comme il s'est exhibe
dans des representations publiques, et qu'il parle de lui-meme avec une vanite insupportable, on
peut supposer a bon droit qne cette biographie est une reclame." And again (pp. 10-11), "Colburn a
passe pour un individu d' une intelligence mediocre, et crevant d'orgueil; sa biographie en donne
mille preuves naives, et il affirme a plusieurs reprises qu'on doit le con-siderer comme la plus
grande intelligence de la terre."3 Other passages of a similar sort might be quoted from both
Scripture and Binet, but those above given are sufficiently typical.
These statements, it will be seen, are plain and unqualified. If they are true, Colburn was a man of
little or no education, incapable of ordinary intelligence, utterly unqualified to write a historical
document; and his Memoir is historically unreliable, an exhibition of intolerable vanity, proclaiming
him as a modern miracle, the greatest intellect that ever lived, etc., in the most naive fashion. In a
word, these writers portray Colburn as a sort of Buxton proclaiming himself as a Bidder or a Gauss.
Let us now examine the facts, and see how far they bear out this interpretation.
An account of Colburn's education has been given in Part I of the present paper; from that account
it will be seen that Scripture's statements are, to say the least, somewhat sweeping. We are
interested in the matter, however, only in so far as it concerns Colburn's qualifications for writing a
reliable account of his own life; and of those qualifications the Memoir is itself the best test. After a
careful reading, the present writer finds it internally consistent, and to all appearance painstaking
and trustworthy, with no aim other than to set the facts in their

1The original reads, "it is no vanity", etc. (p. 176).

2The word "the" here is not in the original (p. 176). Thus Scripture here gives us four misquotations in three lines, - an eloquent commentary
on his method of supplying "the lacking critical treatment of the narrative"! His "critical treatment" of the Bidder family has already been
discussed.
3Binet admits (p. 1) that his historical account is superficial and second-hand, and (p. 2, note) that he has borrowed largely from Scripture; we
shall therefore not, as a rule, take account of his misstatements, though they are not few. Scripture's account, however, processes to be based
on the original sources, and so may properly be held accountable for its use of those sources.

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true light; and externally ha has found only one or two slight discrepancies between it and other available
documents, none of them at all comparable to some of the inaccuracies we have found in the article on
Arithmetical Prodigies. We may therefore dismiss this general charge, until it is backed up by specific
instances of Colburn's alleged incompetence, and turn our attention to the charge of naive vanity and self-
advertisement brought against Colburn by his critics. This is the real ground on which they have sought to
discredit the Memoir.
There are three classes of passages in the Memoir on which a charge of undue self-appreciation
may be based. (1) Those in which Colburn speaks of his calculating power as a gift of God, and the
like. (2) His section (p. 173 ff.) on "Other Calculators," in which he attempts to estimate his own
place among the calculators he had met or heard of. (3) A few scattered passages in which his
language is, if not vain, at least in appearance a little unguarded. Let us consider the passages in
this order.
(1) Passages of the first class may be very briefly dismissed. Colburn was brought up with
eighteenth century ideas of a personal Creator, and at the time of writing the Memoir was a
Methodist minister. For him, therefore, it is the plainest and most matter-of-fact statement possible
 to say that his power is a "gift of God," and unless the context shows undue pride in that gift, no
charge of vanity receives the slightest support from such statements. Now actually Colburn uses
these religious expressions only in this matter-of-fact way; he nowhere boasts of his gift, but, on the
contrary, is frankly puzzled as to the Divine purpose in bestowing it, since it remained a mere "freak
of nature." so to speak, and contributed neither to his material nor to his spiritual success. (Cf.
Memoir, pp. 165-6.)
(2) We may now examine those parts of Colburn's section on "Other Calculators" (pp. 173-8) which
bear on his own estimate of himself. The section begins with an account of his early nervousness,
and concludes with some generalizing reflections, so that we may, without unduly crowding our
space, quote practically in full the relevant parts of the section (pp. 173-6).
"The inquiry has frequently been made whether the writer ever became acquainted with any other
persons who were endowed with a gift of mental calculation similar to himself. He thinks not, as to
extent of solution." Here follows an account of what he had heard concerning Buxton, but with no
attempt to compare himself directly with Buxton.
"The Countess of Mansfield called upon Zerah Colburn, while he was first exhibited in London, and
alluding to the singular gift he possessed, stated that she had a daughter, Lady

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Frederica Murray, who was about his age, and gave indications of superior skill in figures. He was
afterwards invited to call at her ladyship's residence, and found the young lady did possess a certain
degree of mental quickness uncommon in her sex and years. But her elevated rank, and the necessary
attention to those pursuits which were more in accordance with her station in life, probably prevented her
attending to that endowment. She was afterwards married to Colonel Stanhope, and dying young, her
widowed husband, after the lapse of a few years terminated his existence by suicide.
"The person who in the writer's judgment approached the nearest to an equality with him in mental
arithmetic, was a youth from Devonshire county, in England, named George Bidder. This person did
not begin to excite attention until after Zerah had retired from public exhibition in London, sometime
in the year 1815. Bidder was at that time ten years old. 1 Having never had any acquaintance with
him, the author cannot speak correctly of the manner in which his talent was first communicated
and exhibited.
"The only thing he ever heard on this point was, that his father being engaged in some difficult sum,
George answered it at once; that in view of his unexpected readiness, he was put to school, and
considerable pains were taken to train him for exhibition. This however may be as incorrect as
some of the stories in circulation relative to the subject of this memoir. It is certain, however, that in
London he [Bidder] never received that general patronage which his predecessor enjoyed. 2
"Some time in 1818, Zerah was invited to a certain place, where he found a number of persons
questioning the Devonshire boy. He [Bidder] displayed great strength and power of mind in the
higher branches of arithmetic; he could answer some questions that the American would not like to
undertake; but he was unable to extract the roots, and find the factors of numbers. The last time
that the writer was in Edinburgh, he

1Bidder was not ten years old until 1816, so that Colburn, writing from memory some fifteen years or more after the event, has mode a mistake
of a year in one of these figures.
2If this sentence exhibits vanity at all, the vanity is hardly of the naive sort of which Colburn's critics hare accused him. More probably,
however, he states the simple fact. The Colburns had by this time worked the London field over pretty thoroughly, and the public must have
had a genteel sufficiency of calculating prodigies. Even if we assume that Bidder's father was as assiduous as Colburn's in efforts to raise
money from the nobility, which is doubtful, the generosity of the noble lords may well have faltered a trifle after Colburn had both worn off the
novelty of the thing and collected all the subscriptions they were willing to give. At any rate, this passage is hardly as unequivocal a proof of
vanity as we need to substantiate the sweeping charges of Scripture and Binet.

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was informed that the lad was in study, under the patronage of a Scotch nobleman.
"At different periods, Zerah Colburn has heard of a number of persons, whose uncommon aptness
in figures rendered them subjects of astonishment to others. He thinks it is no vanity to consider
himself first in the list in the order of time, and probably first in extent of intellectual power. 1 It would
be very easy to indulge in speculations in regard to the increasing number of persons thus
 endowed; but speculation avails little in so exact a science as mathematics, and would profit
nothing on the present occasion. It is his opinion that should a similar case occur again," sufficiently
promising, his education should be made a matter of public interest, etc. "'It then would be seen
more clearly than in any other way what was the object of the gift, and if a valuable help is therein
concealed, it would be made public, and thousands might share in its advantages." The remaining
paragraphs of the section on "Other Calculators" consist of general reflections which do not here
concern us.2
Colburn thinks, then, that he has never met any one with a gift of mental calculation similar to
himself, as to extent of solution; that Bidder, in his (Colburn's) judgment, came the nearest to being
such a person, and was superior in several respects, but was unable to extract the roots and find
the factors of numbers; and that among the calculators who have been subjects of public
astonishment (i.e., among professional calculators, hence not including Buxton), it is no vanity to
consider himself first in the order of time, and probably first in extent of intellectual power (extent of
solution). Such is Colburn's estimate of himself as a calculator.
Undoubtedly Colburn was mistaken; Bidder far excelled him, even at the time of their meeting in
1818. But we cannot leave the matter thus; in order to decide whether Colburn was led to this
conclusion by vanity, we must examine the grounds he gives for it. Bidder, he tells us, displayed
great strength and power of mind in the higher branches of arith-

1This is the only passage the present writer has found that even remotely supports Binet's assertion that Colburn "affirme a plusieurs reprises
qu'on doit le considerer comme la plus grande intelligence de la terre." It need hardly be pointed out that by "intellectual power" in the present
context Colburn means simply "power of calculation." Note the similar references to the "mental quickness" of the daughter of Lady Mansfield
above, and to Bidder's "strength and power of mind."
2From these extracts the reader may judge for himself both of Colburn's style and of his historical ability or inability. In these respects, as well

as for the purpose of illustrating Colburn's attitude toward his own gifts, they seem to the writer to be quite typical of the whole book.

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metic, and answered some questions he (Colburn) would not like to undertake; but Bidder "was unable to
extract the roots, and find the factors of numbers." Now Colburn was not much of a mathematician, but
one thing he did know, from the mathematicians who had examined him: up to his own time, no one had
discovered any general method of finding the factors of numbers. Colburn himself had a new and original
method of performing this operation very rapidly for numbers up to 6 or 7 figures, and of finding almost
instantly the roots, of exact squares and cubes. He could not be expected to understand that this method
(by 2-figure endings) was really trivial; he did know that he could solve these problems, by an original
method, and that eminent mathematicians were more amazed at this feat than at any other in his
repertoire. Shall we blame him, then, for considering himself superior as a calculator to any one who
simply excelled him in straight arithmetical operations, and that, too, at a time when he had given up
public exhibitions and lost not a little of his former skill? Colburn could appreciate his own feats, but could
not adequately appreciate Bidder's compound interest method, for example; he gives Bidder full credit,
however, for "great strength and power of mind in the higher branches of arithmetic," and for defeating him
in the competitive test in other directions.
Viewed in this light, the passage implies simply that Colburn was honestly mistaken in spite of a
sincere effort to face the facts impartially. The charge of vanity receives no support from this part of
his book, the one part above all others where vanity ought to show itself. The laudatory account of
Bidder in the London paper, on the other hand, can be explained either by a better realization of the
difficulty of Bidder's feats, particularly that of solving compound interest problems, by faulty memory
on the part of the reporter or his informant, or even by simple patriotic partiality to the English boy.
The War of 1812 was still fresh in the public mind, and love for persons and things American was
not strong. Since it is not until 1819, the year after the meeting between Bidder and Colburn, that
we find any record of Bidder's solving problems in square or cube root, there is no reason to dispute
Colburn's statement that in 1818 Bidder had not discovered the methods he afterwards applied to it.
So far, then, Colburn is completely vindicated; the charge of vanity rests on misinterpretation and on
a failure to take account of all the circumstances in the case.
(3) The third class of passages need not long detain us. Two of them we have already examined;
those, namely, in which Colburn says that Bidder "never received that general patronage which his
predecessor enjoyed," and speaks of him-
 - 138 -

self as "first in extent of intellectual power." After what has been said, a fair-minded critic will hardly attach
serious weight to either of these passages. The only other one which seems to offer any chance for
misunderstanding, even to a superficial reader, occurs on p. 63. Colburn is describing the plans for the
projected book for which a committee of his admirers had been attempting, not very successfully, to
collect subscriptions The book was to be "a quarto volume, with a portrait; printed on the best paper, in a
style of superior elegance. How many pages they [the committee] calculated upon is not known, but it
must have required a mighty mind to extract matter sufficient to be worth eight dollars, from the history of
three years of a child's life, even if that child were Zerah Colburn." Here we have a passage which may at
first appear egotistic; yet the context is surely not inordinately vain. If instead of the words "Zerah Colburn"
we read, "probably the greatest calculator on record," we have said the worst, and simply shown another
passage in which Colburn's honestly mistaken opinion of himself comes to light. It is safe to say that but
for a misinterpretation of passages of the first two classes, no one would attach any special importance to
those of the third class as proofs of vanity.
Furthermore, Colburn is in several passages perfectly frank in stating his own defects. In fact, one
of his critics, as extreme in one direction as Scripture and Binet are in another, speaks of the
Memoir as "an inane production, which would be tedious in the extreme except for its absurd
naivete and the frankness with which the author admits his mediocrity." (Spectator, 1878, p. 1208.)
The following passage from the Memoir (p. 104) will illustrate the basis on which this critic rested
his estimate of the book:
"At the period of his entrance at Westminster school, he [Colburn] was a few days over twelve years
old - quite old for the class in which he was placed, but for that reason better able, as well as by his
eight months' attendance at the Lyceum in Paris, to get speedily removed into a higher class.
During the two years and nine months that he was connected with this institution, he accomplished
the labor for which the boys generally spent four or five years. He learned with facility, and the
continual practice preserved what he acquired fresh in his memory. It is, however, a truth which may
as well be stated here as anywhere else, that the mind of Zerah was never apparently endowed
with such a talent for close thinking on intricate subjects as many possess. He was not peculiarly
fortunate in arriving at a result which did not readily present itself, or for which the process leading
thereto was not soon discovered. It is for this reason that he has

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been unable to discover a prospect of his extensive usefulness in mathematical studies, or of justifying the
high expectations which many had reasonably formed on account of his early endowment, and hence he
feels more reconciled than he otherwise might in abandoning the wisdom and literature of this world for
the duties of his present important calling [the ministry] While in school he generally sustained himself
among the four at the head of the class; but was not remarkable either for quickness of mind or closeness
of application."
Again, in trying to account for his gift, he says (pp. 165-6), "If the notoriety of his youth was
designed [by his Maker] as an introduction to him in his ministerial capacity, it would be a natural
expectation that his talents as a Preacher would be equal, if not superior, to the striking displays of
his early precocity. This howev[er] is far from being the case."
One other possible criticism remains to be met: it may be said that Colburn's vanity is proved by the
very fact of his writing an autobiography. But the plan of writing a memoir, as we have seen, did not
originate with him; and it is only when (p. 165) "at length his situation has become such that an
effort was necessary to obtain some pecuniary means for supporting a wife and three little girls,
over and above the contributions of the people among whom he has been laboring during the past
year," that "for want of any more promising employment, this has been undertaken."
The statement seems to be warranted by the passages quoted from the Memoir, and the facts
presented as bearing on them, that Colburn was, on the whole, free from vanity, and erred only in
accepting the uncritical popular estimate of himself. Even here his error was far less than we might
have expected; in fact, the wonder is that a child who was so constantly before the public in his
early years, so praised and marvelled at by famous mathematicians as well as by popular
audiences, did not develop into just the sort of vain fool that Scripture and Binet have accused him
of being. But if he ever had any illusions in this matter, the hard knocks of his later life effectively
removed them. In the Memoir he stands before us as the painstaking and conscientious historian of
"a very remarkable fact in the annals of the human mind"; and while he is not alway skillful, and at
times becomes, it must be confessed, too much of a preacher to be an ideal historian, his book
 must be taken seriously, as an important contribution to the literature on mathematical prodigies.

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APPENDIX II.
GENERAL TABLE.

The following table gives a bird's-eye view of the more important mathematical prodigies, for
convenience in comparing the different men. In the column headed "heredity" are| found such
possibly relevant facts as are known about each man's parents and relatives. In the next column is
a brief account of the circumstances attending the "development" of the calculating power;
precocity here refers only to calculation, unless "all-round precocity'' is specified. Under ''education''
are described both the general and the mathematical training of the calculator. The next column
deals with the scope and methods of his mental calculations; the next, with his figure-memory
(extent, etc.), and his probable memory type; a few facts about his memory in general are added in
one or two cases, but usually this has not been considered necessary. In the last column are noted
other peculiarities of the calculator, whether connected with his calculations or not.
It has not seemed worth while to extend the table to other prodigies, owing to the meagreness of
the available data, and the sacrifice of compactness that would be involved. It is hoped, however,
that the table here given will be found helpful. Every effort has been made to render it accurate, and
as complete as was consistent with the desired degree of condensation.

- 141 -

MENTAL
NAME. HEREDITY. DEVELOPMENT. EDUCATION. MEMORY. REMARKS.
CALCULATION.
TOM Brought from Probably not None. Reduction of Probably of
FULLER Africa as a precocious; first years etc., to auditory type.
(1710-1790) slave, at age of records of his seconds; sum of a
14 calculations find geometrical
him at age of 70. progression; 9
figs, x 9 figs. Very
slow calculator.
JEDEDIAH Father and Perhaps not preco- None; very Handled immense Kept mental Could calculate
BUXTON grandfather cious; but mental stupid from numbers; once free beer areas pretty
(1702-1772) men of some free beer record childhood; squared 39-fig. record. Proba- accurately by
education dates from age of grasped even no. Methods bly of auditory pacing. Could
12. mathematical clumsy, extremely type. calculate while
problems with slow; never got working, or
difficulty. much beyond carry on two
Practically no counting stage. different
interests calculations a
outside of once.
calculation.
ZERAH Son of a farmer Began to calculate Fairly good, Ordinary Figure memory Supernumerary
COLBURN of little when 5 years old. but in- arithmetical fairly good. Of fingers and
(1804-1840) education. Power developed termittent. operations, mul- auditory type. toes. Nervous
Supernumerary gradually and Showed tiplication by 5 contortions in
fingers and gradually moderate figs., square and his early years
toes hereditary. deteriorated liking for cube roots and when
through lack of mathematics, factors by use of answering
practice. but preferred 2-figure endings. questions.
languages.
HENRI Son of a wood- Tended sheep at Received Ordiuary Memory fair Could attend to
MONDEUX cutter. age of 7; learned private in- arithmetical for figures, other things
(1826-1862) mental calculation struction in operations, invo- poor for other while
by using pebbles. mathematics, lution, simple things. calculating.
Became a and showed algebraic Probably of
professional considerable problems, partly auditory type.
calculator. aptitude up to by algebraic
a certain point. methods;
ingenious
processes.
JACQUES Family not Began calculating Very limited; Subtraction with Auditory type; Talking during
INAUDI talented; at age of 6. while learned to read two 21-fig nos., somewhat his calculations
(b. 1867) prenatal influ- tending sheep; at 7 and write at addition of five 6- absent-minded; sliehtly delays
ence (?) could multiply 5 age of 20. fig. nos., 5 figs., x highly de- but does not
figs. by 5 figs. 5 figs., division of veloped figure confuse him.
mentally. Became two 4-fig. nos.; memory, but
professionsl simple algebraic forgets
calculator. problems by trial. unimportant
figures after a
short time.

- 142 -

MENTAL
NAME. HEREDITY. DEVELOPMENT. EDUCATION. MEMORY. REMARKS.
CALCULATION.
UGO Mother had Calculations began Fair. Memory feats based Perhaps of
ZANEBONI good memory. at age of 12; well on railway and simi- visual type;
(b. 1867) developed at 14. lar statistics, evolu- good figure
tion wlth aid of 2- memory;
fig. endings, also possibly has a
roots of imperfect simple num-
powers, probably by ber-form.
trial and memory.
PERICLES Mother had Excelled in mathe- Good; excelled Multiplication up to Good
DIAMANDI good memory; matics at school, in 5 figs, x 5 figs., etc. memory
(b. 1868) a brother and a aged 7-16; discov- mathematics; Uses cross-multipli- visual type;
sister share his ered calculating knows five cation. Calculations has a number-
gift for calcula- power on entering languages. slow. form, and
tion. business, aged 16. colored
audition for
some names.
JOHANN Attended school at Slight; stupid Practically Prodigious Could count
MARTIN age of 2½, took, to in everything unlimited power of figure some thirty
ZACHARIAS the stage as a cal- but cal- handling large nos.; memory. objects at a
DASE culator at 15; prob- culation, even 100 figs. x 100 figs. Perhaps of glance.
(1824-1861) ably precocious in including in 8¾ hours, |/100 visual type.
calculation. mathematics. figs. in 52 min.
Computed
logarithm and factor
tables, etc.
GEORGE Son of mason; Learned to count Good; was a Ordinary arithmeti- Of auditory
PARKER one brother bad at age of 6, and man of wide cal operations, mul- type in his
BIDDER a remarkable soon became interests and of tiplicatlon up to 12 calculations,
(1806-1878) memory for excellent mental considerable figs. x 12 figs., but had good
Bible texts, calculator; retained ability, both compound interest. visual
another was a the power through mathematical Roots and factors by memory for
good life, using it in his and general. the aid of 2-fig. end- diagrams, etc.
mathematician; profession. Used ings, etc. Methods
a nephew had pebbles, shot, etc., often original and
great at first. highly ingenious.
mechanical Calculated rapidly.
talent; son was
excellent
mathematician
and mental
calculator; two
granddaughters
were above
average ability
in mental
arithmetic.

- 143 -

MENTAL
NAME. HEREDITY. DEVELOPMENT. EDUCATION. MEMORY. REMARKS.
CALCULATION.
GEORGE P. Son of G. P. Good; was 7th Could multiply 15 Visual type; Possibly an
BIDDER. Jr., Bidder. wrangler in figs. x is figs., but has number- "artificial"
Q. C. (the 1858. Prac- slowly, and with oc- form. Uses a calculator, in
younger Bid- ticed law. casional errors, system of mne- imitation of
der) Used cross-multipli- monics in his his father.
(b. 1837) cation. calculations.
TRUMAN Father All-round Good; Interest Ordinary arithmeti- Memory Nervous
HENRY interested in precocity; began to in all studies, cal operations; mul- encyclopedic in contortions,
SAFFORD mathematics, calculate between but especially tiplication of two scope; of aud- or at least
(1836-1901) mother of agea of 3 and 5; in mathematics very easy 18-fig. itory type. great
nervous tem- development and astronomy. nos. Roots and restlessness,
perameut; both steady; studied factors by aid of 3 during
had taught higher fig. endings. Rapid calculations
school. mathematics at 8, calculator. in boyhood.
 computed and
published
almanacs at 9 and
10.
ANDRE All-round Good; all- Specific information Perhaps of
MARIE precocity; counted round scholar. lacking. auditory type.
AMPERE with pebbles, etc., Very retentive
(1775-1836) at age of 3 or 4. general
memory.
CARL Maternal uncle Precocious in sev- Good all- Specific information Very tenacious
FRIEDRICH mechanically eral directions; be- round edu- lacking; probably, figure-
GAUSS and math- gan mental cation; became like Safford, an all- memory; per-
(I777-1855) ematically calculation in his a round mental calcu- haps of
gifted. third year, and mathematician lator, by natural and auditory type.
probably retained of the highest book methods com-
the power through rank. bined. Made use of
life. logarithms in his
mental calculation.

- 584 -

July 2 1908

VISUAL MEMORY. COLORED VISUALISATION. MENTAL CALCULATION

(Notes and observation on Miss U.Daimandi)1

By L. Manouvrier

Foreword

Miss Urania Diamandi is the twenty year old sister of the well known calculator Pericles Diamandi.
She possesses the same aptitudes towards mental calculation as does her brother and the same
(visual) type of memory with, as well, quite remarkable colored visualisations.
She presented herself in November 1907, after a meeting at the Anthropological Society and kindly
accepted to repeat her brilliant mental calculations at my teaching session at the Anthropological
School, which brought her legitimate success anew. She then kindly made herself available for
numerous interviews at the Anthropological Laboratory at the Superior Studies School.
I thought it best not to waste such an occasion, to study a case so interesting and so rare and until
now new. Miss Diamandi, while a foreigner, does speak French fluently, has a good understanding
of the questions and demonstrate a generally obvious sincerity in her answer. It was indicated to
take full advantage of these happy conditions to extract from her all the possible subjective data
that may be acquired from an intelligent subject. It is the task which I undertook not without an
intense curiosity about the obscure facts and sometimes bizarre appearance which I had to
examine.
In such a situation, only an oral interview possesses the indispensable flexibility allowing for an
exact understanding of questions by the subject, and of the replies by the observer. And it is
important to give it all the necessary time. I had to, time and again, interrupt the interview and go
back to certain points which did seem quite categorically defined, but which were in contradiction
with other newer, better defined points. It is possible that that the questions may need to be
explained, developped, asked in a different fashion, in order to obtain valid responses (answers). It
is also possible that the observer be brought, quite surreptitiously, to ask questions suggested by
 some of the answers or by budding hypotheses. A great many mistakes, as we know, may be
avoided by paying attention to induces of familiar language, and often when the language carries
nothing foreign to the pursued topic.
As well, it is through the spontaneous development or provocation of her own responses that the
subject sometime offered the observer the most precious and unexpected clues.

1Seanse was at January 23, 1908.

- 585 -

For diverse reasons, which are not necessary to explain to psychologists and medical doctors, the
direct and sustained interrogation of a single subject who answers with simplicity and docility may
have an explanatory range of consequence. This is why I did submit to the test the patience of miss
Diamandi During twenty long sessions she displayed puzzlement, rather than amazement at the
amount of unusual questions, to which it was sometimes difficult to reply.
This labor was started under improvised conditions, since I originally simply planned reporting to
the Anthropological Society, I had neglected all attempts at a bibliography. I had witnessed Inaudi's
presentation by Broca in 1880, and Pericles Diamandi's which I had subsequently witnessed on
numerous occasions, and I had personally observed certain cases of colored audition. But since I
had never seriously considered these questions before this occasion presented itself and excited
my curiosity, it is only after writing up the present communication that I acquainted myself with the
M.A. Binet book "Psychology of Grand Calculators...", in which the two presented cases are
precisely Inaudi and Pericles Diamandi, and with the book by M. Flournoy sur les Synopsies. In this
last book the answers to a questionnaire elaborated by M Claparиde were used quite judiciously.
Whatever were the previously published works on the topic, it is my feeling the material would not
have been very careful in elaborating a my own observations and it might have been preferable in a
certain way that these could have been made independently from all suggestions.
An isolated case would not be sufficient to elaborate a general theory. Very often, however, a single
observation may have put on the direction of valid theories or serve as a departure point of eventual
generalization attempts. So I hope that I will not be blamed to have used Miss Diamandi in a
particular fashion. It is possible that the explanations elaborated here do not apply to all similar
cases. But if it appears to be exact in the case of one individual, then it is probable that it will be
applicable to a complete category and will be one difficulty less towards the classifying of other
types.
My attention, in the case of Miss Diamandi, was primarily focused upon:
1° Facts related to visual memory and the phenomena of visualization:
2° The genesis of schema of calculators and analog schemas:
3° The genesis of mental calculation virtuosity in the subject;
4° The colored visualization.

- 586 -

Miss Urania Diamandi was born in the Ionian island of Cephalonie, She is the youngest survivor of
a family of ten children, of which her brother Pericles is the older sibling. She is of excellent health.
In her youth, she was only afflicted by measles. It is smallpox and typhoid fever which took the life
of four of her brothers and sisters, in their youth; her brother Pericles appears to be of strong
constitution and health.
Her mother accompanies her constantly, is brown haired, of robust built; both calculators would
have inherited their memory skills from her. They say that one of their dead brother and one of their
dead sister, as well, would also have inherited memory skills predisposing to mental calculation. But
this remains rather imprecise. The family does not present anything unfavorable in terms of physical
characteristics. Nothing extraordinary would have been present in the ascendants. On the paternal
side of the family, commercial professions. the father is tall, svelte, brown with blue eyes; on the
maternal side, liberal professions.
Miss Diamandi is a rather pretty lady, of average height, dark skinned, apparently of the
Mediterranean type, Hellenic variety. Without the classical fronto-nasal profile of Greek statues, her
 face is still quite reminiscent of the antique art school type. Eyebrows are horizontal and very long.
Short superior lip, fleshy mouth with accentuated lips, round chin. The eyes are not as superficial as
would be expected from one of Gall's disciple. She appears vivacious, even more so when she
speaks. The gaze is intense and bright.

- 587 -

The character seems amiable with nothing abnormal. No nervous dysfunction (Note from translator
- actually, 'tares' translate more to flaws, but the usage in french has evolved since.) Excellent
health. Normal childhood without morbidity except for measles. Emotivity levels, considering her
femininity and and meridian background is not excessive. The attention capacity is revealed
through mental calculation, during which the gaze loses its brightness and is lowered (translator's
note; the busy calculator looks down during calculating.), No timidity; no stage fright during public
performances.
Pericles Diamandi, her calculating brother, is tall and wide shouldered, appears bolder than his
sister, speaks abundantly and with much gesticulations, but with appropriate restraint. He is of
sharp mind, inventive, and of characteristic sthenique temperament He appears quite apt at
showcasing his talents and has been using, he says, his visual memory to diagnose temperament
according to the tenets of physiognomy. To test his physiognomic capacities I told him to evaluate
me. With what he told me, I feel that he could be very successful at that particular trade.
Here are the measurements that I have taken on him and his sister:
Pericles D. Miss D.
Taille 1 m. 775 1 m. 56
Poids - 56
Tete Diam. antero-post. maximum 206 183
Tete Diam. antero-post. metopique 200 -
Tete Diam. transverse maximum 159 149
Tete Diam. aurieulo-bregmatique vertical 140 -
Tete Diam. frontal minimum 206 116
Tete Diam. bixygomatique 206 153
Indice cephalique (sans seduction) 77,1 80,3
Idem avec le diametre metopique 79,3 -
In one and in the other, the head size is larger than average, considering their height. In the brother,
the difference between the anterio-posterior diameter of the cranium and the metopic diameter due
to the development of the glabelle and of the frontal sinuses. in relation to the stature.
For this reason the difference between the sister and the brother when considered under the
cephalic ratio must be considered as null. Both must be considered as being part of the mixt
mesalchephalic class. the brother is brown, as is the sister. Il is much taller than her in relation to
normal skeletal development.
These numbers have no role in my demonstration. They are to be considered as accessory.
Miss Diamandi is gifted intelligence-wise.

- 588 -

classic corresponds more or less to the average degree of young girls school, but it does improve upon
o=it in certain fashion. She learned to speak french at a tender age from a french governess (Note from
translator: "Nanny") so that she converses in french almost as easily as she speaks greek. She also
speaks rumanian which she learned in Rumania. Finally, she does have notions of english and german.
She picks up languages easily as well as history. In mathematics, her knowledge does not extend beyond
elementary arithmetic, except for classically unusual processes which she uses for mental mathematics.
She pretty much like literature, has a moderate interest in music (which she did not cultivate). She has
aptitudes for drawing but never seriously pursued that particular interest. One should consider that she did
display an unusual gift at the age of 13, something which she did pursue and perfect. So it is
understandable that her efforts were less stimulated towards more common interests.
In primary school her academic successes were in arithmetic and history.
She noticed for the first time at the age of 7, in school, that she could complete simple calculations
faster than her friends on the blackboard. She made the same observation at the age of 12, and
pleased herself realizing that she could perceiver the result before anyone else, but she brought no
attention to it until the age of 13. Only then dod the early successes of her brother incite her to feel
pout her personal aptitudes, and then to cultivate them. She trained herself through the
memorization of squares and to calculate mentally. At 15 she gave a first public performance in her
native country, which she followed up with a small tour in Greece. She never experienced fatigue
after the shows, never at that time and never since. She only experience tiredness when she tries
unusually long operation, such as the recall of an excessively long digit series demanding an
uninterrupted concentration of an hour's time. Then she does feel tension on the top of her head.
The absence of stage fright can be explained by the fact that she is sure of her success and that
each oof the operations that she does in a public performance will never fail to produce unanimous
applause. I feel that she might actually be inclined to prolong a session which already lasted in
excess of 45 minutes.
The operations performed by Miss Diamandi are the following:
1° 5 rows of n digits are written on the board. she observes this square for a 1 to 3 minute period,
then recites the contents of the square in all directions. She can call out a number in a specific
position on demand.
2° Addition of the 5 5 digit numbers, without looking at the board.
3° Subtraction. Two 12 digits numbers were written on

- 589 -

the board; she watches them for a few seconds, time to read them, and then calculates the difference and
makes the proof.
4° Multiplies two numbers of 5 and 10 digits.
5° Squaring up a 4 to 6 digits number.
Example: 674252 = 4546130625
6° Raising a digit to the 20th power
Example: 820 = 18014398509481984
7° Extracting the square or cubic root of a number from 8 to 10 digits
Cube root of 15352892 = 258
8° extracting the fourth to eight root of a 8 to 12 digit number.
Example: 7th root of 100663296 is 16
9° Writing on the board, non stop, the square of all numbers from 2 to 100.
10° Calculates the number of minutes and seconds since a specific date, for example the year
1453, keeping in mind the leap years.
11° Performance of Day At Any Date, with the day known by the interrogator.
12° After all these operations, the board is covered with all the proposed numbers, all the solutions
written up either by the operator by the questioners, independently from the the 25 digit square the
total written up in the first challenge. Miss Diamandi looks at the board or boards (at the
Anthropological Society there were three) for a few seconds, then she recites the contents of the
everything, from the first to the last digit.
The time needed to learn the 25 digit square varies by a third or more, depending on the subject's
disposition, more or less preoccupied.
Miss Diamandi can learn and recite "squares" of 30, 36, 40 numbers. But as the necessary time to
learn a square increases faster than the number of digits, she prefers to limit herself publicly to 25
digits. Otherwise, the time taken up by the memorization would be too long and the effect would be
diminished.
An appreciation for the virtuosity of Miss Diamandi in mental calculation will be given in a special
chapter, at the end.
The time taken p for these diverse operations, all performed mentally, is sometimes equal,
sometimes faster than that of a calculator of average ability. The number of errors committed was of
only two in all the calculations performed in my presence and of 2 only during the recall phase. the
correction was prompt.
 - 590 -

II

MEMORY. VISUALIZATION

Visual Memory. - The preceding facts suffice to highlight without a doubt the superior visual memory
of Miss Diamandi as well as her attention capacity. In regard to the numbers and for the familiar
operations, this superiority appears prodigious and implies, besides the acquired ability, a natural
aptitude. This manifests itself outside the realm of numbers and calculations and I witnessed during
our many interviews that Miss Diamandi has an excellent general memory. But what she displays
there is not more than regular people who are said to have a good memory. It is just enough to be
noticed, simply.
We do however note an extraordinary development in memory in a particular direction, and this
development, with its diverse particularities, is of high psychological and physiological interest.
The first of the operations mentioned above (the recall), as of all the others, stun the spectators. It
seems that the the number square is fixed in a block in the brain as if on a photographic plate. I
concluded that it was learned "by heart" exactly as if it were memorized by any other person, row by
row, with occlusion of the eyelids once in a while and movements of h lips which seem to indicate
the end of each incorporation, and then a glance for review.
The speed of the operation is surprising; but one can track the speed of reading the numbers,
obtained through exercise, which must favor the prompt fixation of a very complex image. There is
nothing other to note than an aptitude to learn quickly. But we are now about to discuss the
particularities of the visual memory of Miss Diamandi with an exceptional intensity.
As soon as learned, the numbers appear to her as if written on an imaginary board in the same
order as as on the real blackboard, so that she seems to read the digits off the imaginary board. In
other words, as soon as the image is incorporated, mentalised rather than vague and fugitive as in
the common people, is sustained in the conscious mind in all of its complexity and and with
remarkable clarity. Once disappeared, it may be recalled after a surprisingly long time, considering
that the image of the number is devoid of sense and having limited interest are generally forgotten
almost immediately. I witnessed that after a week, three week, miss Diamandi remembered all the 7
or 8 digits which were featured in the operations made in the operations

Magician's Tricks: How They are Done

Henry Hatton and Adrian Plate, 1910

Mnemonics as Applied to Conjuring

The Alphabet of Figures

WHILE it is not within the province of this book to go into a study of a system of artificial
memory, there are certain conjuring tricks frequently presented to the public as "Mental
Phenomena," that have a system of this kind for their groundwork, as, for example, the
following which depend, mainly, on numbers, for their effects: "Second Sight" the memorizing
of a long list of words at one reacting; the instantaneous raising of any two numbers to the
cube or third power; the memorizing of a pack of cards or a set of dominoes, etc., etc.
"Second Sight" can not be considered here, for the trick as exhibited to-day, with its varied
codes, would need almost an entire volume to explain clearly, and calls for deeper, longer,
and more continuous study than most conjurers would care to devote to it. Some of the other
tricks, however, while also requiring some study, will, we believe, prove interesting to our
readers.
The first step in this study is to learn so thoroughly that they may be recalled without the
slightest hesitation, (1) the Alphabet of Figures and (2) the Table of Fixed Ideas. In the first,
the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 are represented by letters, as follows:
The Alphabet of Figures
T and D represent 1 J, ch, sh, zh, z in azure, represent 6
g soft as in genius,
 N represent 2 K, C hard, G hard, and Q represent 7
M represent 3 F and V represent 8
R represent 4 P and B represent 9
L represent 5 S and Z represent 0
As will be seen, all these letters are consonants. The vowels a, e, i, o and u, and w, h, y are
merely to form words, as, nail (n-l),=25; chess (ch-s)=60.
"But," asks the reader, "how shall I remember which consonant represents three or which
eight?" Very easily by bearing in mind that t is made with one down-stroke; n with two down-
strokes; m with three down-strokes; r is the last letter of four, which has four letters; L, in
Roman notation is fifty, but with the cipher oil it is five; J looks somewhat like a reversed six;
K, inverted, is much like seven; f in script, resembles eight; p is a reversed nine; c is the first
letter of cipher and stands for naught.
The above are the primitive letters, and in practice each letter is pronounced as if it were
followed by e, as, te, ne, me, re, le, je, ke, fe, pe, ce. Remember it is the sound, not the
spelling, is the guide. The other letters are those that have similar sounds, as, for example, d,
which sounds like t and represents 1; ch, sh, tch, zh, z in azure, g soft as in genius, sound like
j, and stand for 6; g hard and q sound like k and stand for 7; v sounds nearly like f and stands
for 8; b is almost the sound of p and represents 9; s and z sound like c in cipher and stand for
0. As proof that these sounds are similar, the foreigner often says dat for that, chudche for
judge.
Silent letters, those that are not pronounced, have no value, as, for example, knife (n-f)=28;
lamb (l-m)= 53; gh in thought; l in palm. Double consonants are treated as one letter, as
mummy (m-m) =33; butter (b-t-r) =914; but if the double letters have distinct articulation, then
each letter has its own numerical value, as, accept (k-s-p-t) =7091; bookkeeper (b-k-k-p-r) =
97794. As the cipher never begins a whole number, s, which represents the cipher, may be
prefixed to any other letter, as stone (t-n)=12; snow (n)=2.
At first glance it may seem a difficult task to learn these letters and their equivalent numbers,
but half-an-hour's careful study will generally prove enough for the greatest dullard.

Table of Fixed Ideas

THE next study is that of a table of one hundred words, known as a Table of Fixed Ideas, and
this will prove to be time well spent, for by its aid most of the conjuring "stunts" are effected.
By sounding to one's self the letters that represent the numbers the word may be easily
recalled. It is advisable to prepare such a table for one's self, but those who do not care to go
to that trouble will find the following good and perfectly reliable. One thing, however, must be
borne in mind, that this Table ought not be changed, once it is memorized.
1 Tea 21 Note 41 Rat 61 Shot 81 Food
2 Noah 22 Nun 42 Rain 62 Chain 82 Fan
3 Ma 23 Gnome 43 Room 63 Gem 83 Foam
4 Hare 24 Nero 44 Rower 64 Chair 84 Fire
5 Ale 25 Nail 45 Rail 65 Shell 85 File
6 Shoe 26 Niche 46 Rush 66 Judge 86 Fish
7 Key 27 Nag 47 Rug 67 Cheek 87 Fig
8 Hive 28 Knife 48 Roof 68 Shave 88 Fife
9 Pie 29 Knob 49 Rope 69 Sheep 89 Fob
10 Dice 30 Maize 50 Lass 70 Case 90 Boys
11 Date 31 Mat 51 Lad 71 Cat 91 Bat
12 Den 32 Moon 52 Lion 72 Cane 92 Bone
13 Dime 33 Mummy 53 Lime 73 Comb 93 Bomb
14 Door 34 Mare 54 Lyre 74 Car 94 Beer
15 Doll 35 Mill 55 Lily 75 Coal 95 Ball
16 Dish 36 Match 56 Lash 76 Coach 96 Bush
17 Dog 37 Mug 57 Leg 77 Cake 97 Book
18 Dove 38 Muff 58 Leaf 78 Cave 98 Beef
19 Tub 39 Map 59 Lip 79 Cab 99 Baby
20 Noose 40 Rose 60 Chess 80 Face 100 Doses
This Table being perfectly mastered, so as to call instantly the letter or word which represents
a certain number, the pupil is prepared to learn some of the tricks made possible by a
mnemonical system. To begin let us describe one which was introduced to this country by
Cazeneuve, a wonderfully clever conjurer, when he visited us in 1876.

Cazeneuve's Trick

HANDING out a pack of cards he allowed several persons in his audience to shuffle it and
then to distribute the pack among themselves, as it suited them. He then requested them to
arrange their cards in any order they pleased and to keep them in the same order. Going from
one to another he rapidly looked at the cards, and retiring to his stage called off the names in
the order they were arranged. In like manner he distributed a set of dominoes and some Loto
cards, and these he called off after looking at them a moment. Finally he allowed one of the
audience to select one of four or five volumes offered, and requesting that it be opened,
preferably about the middle, he read off the first three, four, or five lines. The trick made a hit,
especially with his audiences, who were mostly educated people.
The cards, dominoes and Loto cards were all done on one principle, and as to explain one is
to explain all we shall confine ourselves to an explanation of the cards.
Each card in the pack is represented by a word. The initial letter of this word tells at once the
suit, the words representing Spades beginning with S, Hearts with H, Clubs with C, and
Diamonds with D. So far it is simple. The other consonant or consonants in the word
represent the number of spots on the card, according to the Alphabet of Figures, counting the
Jack as eleven, the Queen as twelve, and the King, thirteen. As the preparation of these
words requires some time and thought we give herewith the card list that we have used for
years.
CARD LIST
1 Soot Hood Coat Dodo
2 Sun Hun Cone Down
3 Seam Ham Cameo Dam
4 Sore Hero Crow Deer
5 Sail Hail Claw Dial
6 Sash Hash Cash Douche
7 Sock Hook Cook Duck
8 Safe Hoof Calf Dive
9 Soap Hoop Cap Dope
10 Seed Hothouse Cats Dots
11 Statue Hot tea Cadet Deadhead
12 Stone Heathen Cotton Dudeen
13 Steam Haytime King Diadem
King is used as no other word could be found that would as well express the King of Clubs;
Deadhead may be represented by a skull; and as a Dudeen may not be a familiar word to
some of our readers, let us say it means a short tobacco pipe.
In exhibiting the trick let us suppose that seven cards are taken from the pack at first, as, for
example, the nine of diamonds, the deuce of hearts, the seven of spades, the four of spades,
the six of clubs, the Queen of diamonds, and the ten of hearts. When the conjurer goes to the
person who drew the cards, he asks, " How many cards have you, please ~ " and when he
hears "seven, " he at once pictures to himself a tea-table with, say, a large key lying on it, and
remembers (without trying to remember) that seven cards have been drawn by the first
person. Then he connects tea (the first word in the Table of Fixed Ideas) with dope, the nine of
diamonds. How does he connect them, In any way, as, for example, by comparing the two
words and seeing in what way they are alike, in spelling, in appearance, in characteristics, in
color, taste, or what not, or how they differ, or he may make a mental picture of the two things
(not words), as, for instance, a man refusing a cup of tea because there is some axle-grease
(which is dope) floating in it. We believe that the latter method, that of making use of a mental
picture, will prove the best for most persons. Proceeding he connects then, the deuce of
hearts, with Noah, the second word in the Table of Fixed Ideas, as, let us say, Noah looking
out on the waters of the flood, while a hen is perched on his shoulder. Absurd, the reader may
say, but absurd or not it does the work, and, in most cases, the more absurd the mental
picture the stronger the impression will be, as he who does this work night after night can
testify. For the second lot of cards let us suppose that twelve cards are drawn. The performer
says to himself, seven and twelve are nineteen, and he immediately connects eight, hive, with
nineteen, tub, and then the mnemonical name of the first card with hive, and so on to the end.
Difficult and complicated as this may seem, we assure our readers that in practice it will be
found most simple and always reliable.
 The reading of a book is very different. The books are all the same, but with different title-
pages and corresponding titles on the covers. Not only are they all the same, but they are
made up of two pages only, repeated over and over. The performer, as will be remembered,
asks that a page about the middle of the book be selected, and in that way is assisted by the
person who opens the book.
Another trick that makes a good impression on the average audience is that of Memorizing at
One Reading a Long List of Words Suggested by the Audience.

Memorizing at One Reading a Long List of Words

Suggested by the Audience
THIS is a regular exercise with the teachers of Memory Systems, but as a trick it was first
presented, to the best of our knowledge, by the senior editor of this book. It was introduced
later in this country by Ernest Patrizio, a Spanish conjurer, who first appeared in New York in
1878. It is simple and consists merely in connecting the words suggested by the audience
with those in the Table of Fixed Ideas. When this connection is clearly made there is no
difficulty in repeating a hundred words in the order set down, or recalling them backward or
telling the number any particular word or words occupy in the list.
A somewhat similar trick, one that has proved something of a puzzle to professional and
amateur conjurers, is that commonly known as Kellar's Cube Root Trick.

Kellar's Cube Root Trick

AS HERE presented we have substituted other cues for those used by Mr. Kellar, and, we
believe, with advantage, but the method is identical with his.
In several system of mnemonics as many as three and four Tables of Fixed Ideas are used,
and in this cube-root method we use one that differs in most words with Table No. 1.
In presenting this as a trick it is generally offered as something similar to the so-called
"Lightning Calculation, " and not as a feat of memory. Mr. Kellar prefaced it with merely a few
words in which he announced that if the audience would call out any one number or two
numbers he would immediately write down the cube on the blackboard and he did. It will be
seen by the following Table that each number is represented by one word and the cube by a
short sentence. These are connected in the performer's mind, in the manner already
described; the moment a number is called out he thinks of the word that stands for it and that
word, if his table is properly memorized, will revive in his mind the word or sentence that
stands for the cube. The cubes of tens are not noted here, as they can be recalled instantly by
calling the cubes of units thousands, as, for example, the cube of 3 equals 27; the cube of 30
is 27,000; the cube of 7 equals 343; the cube of 70 is 343,000. Now or the Table itself.
2   7
3 Ham       An egg 1 4 0  6 0    8
6  4 52 Lion      Dares chase a foe
4 Rye       Sherry 14 8    8   7  7
1 2  5 53 Lamb      Drove off a cook
5 Lie       Denial 1 5 74  6 4
2   1  6 54 Liar      Idol crusher
6 Hash      On a dish 1   6  6   3   7  5
3  4  3 55 Lily      Dutch show my equal
7 Key       My room 1 75      6  1  6
5  1   2 56 Slouch    Tacle a schottishe
8 Hive      Wild honey 1    8 5    1  9  3
7  2 9 57 Look      The evil witty poem
9 Bee       Go nip 1  95  1        1 2
1  3  3  1 58 Loaf      Double the weight now
11 Date      With my maid 2   0  5 3  7 9
1 7   2  8 59 Sloop     When I sell my cup
12 Dine      Take enough 2  26  9    8  1
2 1  9  7 61 Shod      An inch by a foot
13 Item      Note Book 2 3   8 3  2     8
27   4 4 62 Jane      Name of my new wife
14 Author    Ink hirer
3  3  75
15 Tell      Me meekly
4 0  9  6
16 Dish      Rose bush
4 9  1  3
17 Talk      Ripe theme
5 8  3 2
18 Thief     Love money
6 8    5 9
19 Daub      Save a lip
9 2 6 1
21 Hand      Punched
1  0  6     4 8
22 Nun       Does show her vow
1 21  6 7
23 Name      A dandy joke
1  3  8 2  4
24 New Year  With my fine rye
1  5  6 2  5
25 Nile      Dull Channel
1  7   5 7  6
26 Wench     Took all cash
1  9      6   8      3
27 Nag       To buy each wife a home
2  1 95 2
28 Knave     Neat plan
2   43  8 9
29 Nob       No army fop
2   9 7 9  1
31 Mad       In a big pout
3   2   7   6   8
32 Money     May now catch a foe
3     5 9  3    7
33 My Home   Home will be Mohawk
3   9    3 0 4
34 Mary      May be a miser
4  2   8   75
35 Mule      Ruin a vehicle
4  6 6   5 6
36 Smash     Rich jewel show
5 0     6  5    3
37 Smoke     Lose a chilly home
5   4      8  7 2
38 Move      Lower a heavy can
59 3  1  9
39 My pay    Help me to buy
6  8 9  21
41 Road      Chief point
74  0   8 8
42 Run       Accross a five
7  9 5 0  7
43 Rum       Keep losing
8 5 1 8 4
44 Rower     Awful diver
9 1 1  2 5
45 Rail      A bad tunnel
9 7 3  3   6
46 Rich      Big mummy show
25   0 0   4  7
63 Chime     Only uses a rock
2   6 2  14   4
64 Chair     No china drawer
2  7 4   6  2 5
65 Shallow   Niagara channel
2  8 7  4  9  6
66 Judge     No fake rubbish
3 0    0  7  6 3
67 Joke      Amuse a sick chum
3   14      4 3  2
68 Shave     May draw your moan
3 2 8  50    9
69 Shop      Woman feels happy
3 57 9  1   1
71 Goat      Milk by the day
3 7  3 2 4 8
72 Coin      Make men rave
3 8   9   01 7
73 Come      Move up a stake
4 0     5 2  2 4
74 Choir     Rose Hill nunnery
42   1  8 7  5
75 Quill     Worn out of gall
4 3 8  9  7 6
76 Coach     Remove baggage
4 5  6     5  3  3
77 Cook      Relish a oily mummy
4   74  5 5 2
78 Cuff      Sore, cruel line
4 9   3 0  3  9
79 Cop       Rip a museum up
5 3 1    4   4  1
81 Food      Well made arrow root
5   51  3    6 8
82 Fine      Loyalty may shave
5 7  1 7   8  7
83 Foam      Liquid quaffing
59 2  7 0 4
84 Fire      Albany gas ray
6  1 4 1  2    5
85 Fall      Shatter town hall
6 3     6  0  5   6
86 Fish      Shame a choice leach
6   5   8  5 0  3
87 Fake      Shall a fool swim
6 8 1   4 7  2
88 Five      Shaved a racoon
7  0   4 9  6 9
89 Fop       Kiss our bishop
75  3  5  7  1
91 Piety     Gloomy lookout
7  7   8  6   8     8
92 Pony      Kick a fish off a hive
8  0 4 3 57
93 Poem      Vassar milk
8 3  0 5  8 4
94 Bar       Famous loafer
8 5   7 3 7 5
 95 Pill      Vile chemical
10 3    8  2 3
8 8 4  7   3  6
47 Rake      Hits my wife numb
96 Page      Favoring a mash
1      1 0      5  9 2
9  1 2    6 7 3
48 Rough     The head sea will open
97 Pack      Beaten each game
1  1 7     6  4  9
9 41 1   9 2
49 Rube      To take a chair up
98 Puff      Part the bun
1   3 2  6 51
9 7  0   2 9 9
51 Lad       The man child
99 Pup       Big as a nabob

Let us caution our readers to observe carefully the exact sounds of the letters, the variations
in sound of the same letter, and the silent letters, as, for example, g in judge is sounded like
ch=6; in baggage, the double consonants are sounded like a single K=7, whereas the third g
has the sound of ch=6; in chair the ch equals 6, while in chemical it has the sound of K=7.
These several sounds once mastered no further trouble will be experienced and no one, we
believe, will regret the time devoted to the study of this branch of mnemonics.

Journal of Experimental Psychology

Volume 21, 1937

- 382 -

AN EXAMINATION OF THE COMPUTING ABILITY

OF MR. SALO FINKELSTEIN

A. ADMINISTRATION, DESCRIPTION OF THE TESTS, AND

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS
BY JAMES D. WEINLAND

B. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN

NUMBER OF SEPARATE ACTS OF ATTENTION IN TESTS,
WITH TIMS REQUIRED, AS WELL AS WITH
ACCURACY OF PERFORMANCE
BY W. S. SCHLAUCH

I. CHARACTER AND BACKGROUND OF THE SUBJECT

Salo Finkelstein, Jewish, 35 years old, born in Lodz, Russia, now Poland, and carrying references
proclaiming him a 'lightning calculator' to be compared with Dr. Ruckle, Inaudi or Diamondi,
presented himself at the laboratory of New York University, School of Commerce, and offered to
subject his calculating ability to examination and test.
He gave the following information: As a boy in school he did his number work more quickly than the
average student, and liked arithmetic better than history or geography, but he had no premonition of
the calculating ability which he was later to discover in himself. When he was 23 years old, and out
of school, a friend of his claimed that he could multiply mentally two numbers of three digits each. F.
tried it and found he could do even better. He easily multiplied in his head two numbers of six digits
each! F. analyzed the process and found that to multiply numbers by memory, it is not necessary to
be a good calculator, but it is necessary to have a good visual imagery to keep the numbers in
mind. He tried to repeat both acoustically and visually presented numbers. He did it well and began
demonstrating for the public. He lost interest however and gave up the practice till his 27th year
 when he read a newspaper account of a man with a good

- 383 -

memory for numbers. He recalled his own success of the previous years and tried again. This time he
gave demonstrations to which medical men, teachers, scientists and the newspapers were invited. He
tried to do things never before attempted and did them without mistake. Soon after this he was employed
in the State Statistical office of the Polish Government. He frequently was assigned to the treasury
department on special problems where especially quick and exact work was necessary. In calculating
budgets, sums must be combined in various ways, and the results known quickly. This he did for the
treasury. He worked for the government for 11 years and in that time not a single error was found in any of
his calculations. The explanation of this is that he always checked his work, doing the problem In sosae
other way than at first. It is his custom still to check each calculation he makes and in his public
performances he usually follows his statement of the answer with the words, "check ... no mistake." If any
mistake is found after he gives the signal, F. has made the standing offer that he will pay $100 to have it
pointed out.
In 1928, F. was invited by Professor Hans Henning in Danzig for a test. As Prof. Henning had
previously tested Ferroll and Ruckle he could make a comparison. He found F. a superior calculator
but was most interested in the associations he found with numbers. F. had an aesthetic feeling an
regard to numbers. He felt in them a beauty comparable to music or art. In 1930, at the age of 33 F.
was invited to the international convention of insurance mathematicians in Stockholm. This group
confirmed the previous judgments that his abilities were marvelous. In 1931 F. gave up his position
with the government to go around the world to demonstrate his abilities and submit to scientific
tests. He was tested by Bela Sandor in the Institute of Industrial Psychotechnics in the Technical
Highschool in Berlin. This investigation is reported in Character, 1, 1932, page 47. Sandor found his
memory for letters average, his memory for drawing below average. In the United States F.
demonstrated in a number of universities. For a period covering

- 384 -

several months F. came frequently to the School of Commerce, New York University, and submitted to the
tests in calculation presented here. He did not wish to take an intelligence test. His calculating abilities
speak for themselves.

II. THE SUBJECT'S ATTITUDE TOWARD HIS OWN ABILITY

F. can analyze and give some insight into his own mental processes. He has studied psychology,
especially that relating to memory, and knows of the performance of the preceding lightning
calculators. But with all his ability to manipulate numbers, F. is not a mathematician. By using his
special abilities he is able to make calculations he believes of value to mathematicians and also to
many others. For instance, concerning mathematical processes, he is able to reduce numbers to
the sum of three or four squares very rapidly. Thus he reduced 9,413 to the sum of 95² plus 12² plus
12² plus 10² in ten seconds. No principle or law explaining how this can be done is known.
So far as we can observe, F. works merely by trial and error, but works so rapidly that it would be
possible to gather a great amount of data concerning his methods in a short time. General
principles might possibly be derived if we had more detailed and elaborate data on his
methodology.

III. THE TESTS AND THE DATA THEY YIELDED

Various devices were used in the calculating tests. A pendulum chronoscope was connected with a
balloptican, in such a way that time was measured as long as the figures were projected on the
screen. F. threw the light on and snapped a switch in his hand, turning it off, as soon as he felt that
he could answer the problem. The whipple statistoscope was used for some exposures. The
calculating tests requiring more than four seconds were measured with a stop watch. A paper with a
problem written on it was presented to F., or while his back was turned the problem was written on
the blackboard. At the signal, beginning the time measurements, F. turned, made a line through the
 numbers and wrote down the result. Drawing the line seemed to help him, as though

- 385 -

"he was prodded with a stick." When he was trying to work very fast he would draw the line with more
emphasis. In difficult experiments he has noticed the strain on his body. He says he has had a pulse of
140 in some performances. "I feel not so bad today because the artist in my personality defends me from
it, and seeing my success counterbalances the weakness I experience during the performance." He
reported that he feels the strain most when obliged to make experiments outside the field of numbers
where his ability is 'above average but not phenomenal.' He showed a wanning up curve with increasing
concentration on each test day. He would worfk om his calculation for half a day at a time. He claimed he
did not get tired. He said there was no work to it ... but he would pace back and forth under high nervous
tension. He showed slight distractibility and little fatigue. He believes concentration to be the dominating
factor. He eliminates other things that might influence. In more difficult calculations, memory is the most
important thing. It is important in recalling at the proper time the right associations and the right method of
work to deal with the vast quantity of material in the mind. F. states that he never practices except in giving
demonstrations. He claims that he discovered his ability and did not develop it. He has an active Intense
preference for complexes rather than for individual numbers. It worried him considerably if he made
several mistakes in succession. He then would stop for the day. He explained that to work so very rapidly
he had to have confidence. Anything that disturbed his confidence made it Impossible to work. He claimed
that he did not have eidetic imagery and stated In evidence of this that no matter how digits were
presented to him, no sooner was the exposure ended than he saw the digits in his own handwriting. He is
not dependent on mood or health. He can notice changes in these respects but others can't tell the
difference. He believes his attention and concentration are always above the average; sometimes
extraordinary. He could add or multiply much more rapidly than he could divide, and preferred these
processes. Only once did he do a problem in division at New York University,

- 386 -

dividing mentally 67,916,288 by 8,558 and giving the correct answer in three minutes. He knows 300
decimals of Pi. He knows logarithms from 1-100 to 7 decimals. He knows logarithms from 100-150 to 5
decimals. This helps him in his calculations.
He remembers many hundreds of dates, but only when the matter is specially interesting or when
the number is 'nice.' 0 for instance is not 'nice.' The nicest numbers are combinations that happen
to please. A great many tests were given F. at N. Y. U. The results of a few of these tests are shown
in Tables I-III.
TABLE I
TIME IN SECONDS OF HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL ADDITION
Number of Number in Total No. Addition Time in Seconds
Columns Column Digits Horizontal Vertical
1 60 60 15.4 13.8
2 30 60 15.7 15.9
3 20 60 19.7 16.5
4 15 60 14.0 19.5
5 12 60 17.3 15.7
6 10 60 15.1 17.6
10 6 60 17.3 16.9
Methods: F. reports that simple numbers mean nothing to him. He likes them only when they are in
complex form. His mental processes in adding the digits 97438759874 he gave as follows: 9 + 7 +
4 + (3 + 7) + (8 + 5) + (7 + 4) + (9 + 8) = 71. In his mental calculations F. does not use mnemonic
methods. He does not reduce the numbers to factors. When he multiplies in memory or on the
blackboard, he uses well known methods from commercial arithmetic. He made use of the
distributive law, multiplying 58 x 43 in seven seconds as follows: 50 = ½ of 100. ½ x 43 = 21.5, ... 50
x 43 = 2,150. 8 x 43 = 344. 2,150 + 344 = 2,494. By the factor method he multiplied 44 x 88, writing
the answer at once. 44² = 1,936. 88 = 2 x 44. 1,936 x 2 = 3,872. By single factor multiplication he
wrote the product of 77 x 33 immediately. 3 x 77 + 231 (x 10) + 231 = 2,541.

- 387 -

TABLE II
REDUCING TO SUM OF THREE SQUARES
Result
Number Time (Seconds)
Reported**
129 11-2-2 2.0
99 9-3-3 1½
74 (8-3-1)-(7-4-3) 4½
67 7-3-3 (?)
53 6-4-1 5.0
45 5-4-2 7.0
37 (Cannot be done) 16.0
33 (4-4-1)-(5-3-2) 3.0
29 4-3-2 3½
27 (5-1-1)-(3-3-3) 1½
25 (Cannot be done) 2.0
21 4-2-1 (?)
13 (Cannot be done) (?)
10 (Cannot be done) (?)
876 (26-10-10)-(26-14-2) 7.0
645 23-10-4 4.0
944 28-12-4 5.0
895 (Cannot be done) 1 minute
488 18-10-8 6.0
111 (Cannot be done) (?)
832 (Cannot be done) 2 min. 10 sec.
472 20-6-6 1½
907 27-13-3 3.0
391 (Cannot be done) (?)
395 15-13-1 3.0
*555 23-5-1
101 9-4-2 1.0
186 13-4-1 7.0
487 (Cannot be done) (?)
921 29-8-4 12.0
456 (Cannot be done) (?)
876 26-14-2 7.0
579 23-7-1 8½
753 20-17-8 6.0
749 27-4-2 4.0
747 23-13-9 8¾
745 22-15-6 1 min. 56 sec.
743 (Cannot be done) 1 min.
741 23-14-4 6.0
425 20-14-3 1.0
427 15-11-9 1.0
133 9-6-4 (?)
 131 11-3-1 1.0
*Note: Dissatisfied with first large number, tried to find numbers more nearly equal in size; couldn't.
** This column means, e.g., 129 = 11² + 2² + 2²; 488 = 18² + 10² + 8².
He used the cross product method a great deal. An example of the mental operations necessary to
multiply a four place number by a four place number are as follows. In the mental

- 388 -

TABLE III
REDUCING TO SUM OF FOUR SQUARES
Result
Number Time (Seconds)
Reported*
863 27-11-3-2 60
1486 38-8-4-1 12
9625 95-22-10-4 6
1100 24-22-6-2 25
4444 62-22-10-4 15
6777 76-31-6-4 15
366 16-10-3-1 3.5
8123 81-39-5-4 50
4567 61-29-2-1 25
7889 81-36-4-4 30
753 24-13-2-2 26.5
6328 32-20-2-70 10
9417 95-12-12-10 10
* This column means, e.g., 863 = 27² + 11² + 3² + 2²; 9413 = 95² + 12² + 12² + 10².

multiplication all of these operations must be held in mind till the final answer is given.

By the use of this method F. multiplied 6,943 x 7,859 and gave the correct answer in 17.5 seconds.
F. stated that there is no known method of reducing numbers to the sum of squares. It must be
done by trial and error. All numbers above a certain number can be reduced to the sum of four
squares, but certain ones can not be reduced to the sum of three squares. Mental operations
reported by F. in reducing certain numbers are as follows: Problem: reduce 6,328 to the sum of four
squares. Thought that 71² = 5,041. Thought of subtracting it; didn't like it, so didn't. Thought 72².
Doesn't know it. 70² = 4,900 subtracted from 6,328 = 1,428. Has it. 1,428 into 3 squares equals 32²
+ 20² + 2², ... 6,328 = 70² + 32² + 20² + 2². Problem: reduce 9,413 to 4 squares. Took 91², it is
8,281. Subtracted from

- 389 -

9,413, result is 1,132. Subtracted 30², result is 232. 232 into two; 144 = 12²; not good; 32² = 1,024;
subtract from 1,132 = 108. Rejects this also since he can't reduce this to two squares. Threw 91 away;
took 95² = 9,025. Subtracted, 388. Thought of 324 = 18²; not good. Took 16² = 256. 388 - 256 = 132; not
good. 388 = 2 x 144 + 100. Answer 95² + 12² + 12² + 10².
 Time: Ten seconds for each of the above problems, both done mentally.

IV. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE TESTING PROCESS

(A) Though F. calculates much more rapidly than the average person, his thinking processes are
responsive to the same mental laws. His own idea that practice has no effect does not seem to be
substantiated. This is evident from his work in division. He seldom demonstrates in division, has
little practice in it, finds it somewhat difficult, and is comparatively slow. F.'s learning of numerical
facts and associations has been very rapid, but it is nevertheless learning of the usual kind. His
'lightning calculations' all require time for their performance. Problems solved 'immediately' were not
solved but recognized. F. had previously worked them and remembered the result. The fact that the
solution-time is so often very short is an indication of skill and native quickness, not of any unnatural
powers.
(B) Concentration, memory, and confidence are among the most necessary mental qualities for this
kind of work.
(C) The fact that F. added horizontally, with little practice, as rapidly as vertically after much
practice, is significant. He required much less practice in horizontal addition. The speed may have
indicated transfer of skill from the eye movements of reading, or it may be due to the wider span of
horizontal than of vertical perception. With equal practice horizontal addition should be faster than
vertical addition. The results indicate that, disturbing conventional accounting and bookkeeping
systems aside, the speed of addition for people in general might be increased by teaching
horizontal rather than vertical addition.

- 390 -

B.. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

BY
W. S. SCHLAUCH

The general psychological conclusion that even in the case of a computing prodigy, time is required
to complete an addition or a multiplication naturally raises the questions, "How much time is
consumed?" and "Does the time consumed vary in any regular way with measurable elements of
the computation problems solved?" The tests show that in the case of addition, the time needed to
add depends on the number of digits added, and is not appreciably affected by the number of
columns into which the digits are arranged. In multiplying numbers of varying numbers of digits, the
evidence indicates that the time varies not with the number of digits, but with the separate acts of
attention involved in the process, which rapidly increases as the number of digits is increased.
The last statement is true also of addition, as the number of acts of attention here varies with the
number of digits. So that in computation, whether addition or multiplication, the correlation seems to
be between number of separate acts of attention and time taken, and also between number of
separate acts of attention and accuracy of the result.
It is important to know, not only that the time taken increases as the number of acts of attention
involved increases, but also the law of increase or variation. Is the increase of time needed in
proportion to the number of acts of attention, or does it vary as the square of the number oг
separate acts of attention? These questions can be answered, provided the data are adequate, by
a statistical analysis. We proceed, therefore, to a study of the correlation problems involved in these
experimental data.

V. CORRELATION OF TIME CONSUMED IN ADDITION, WITH NUMBER OF DIGITS TO BE

ADDED

In adding a column of digits there is a separate act of attention for every digit added to the sum of
the digits pre-

- 391 -

viously united. (Thus the span of attention is widened approximately in proportion to the number of digits
to be united.) The number of columns of digits also enters into the problems slightly as, for example, 24
digits in one column involve 24 acts of summation of each succeeding digit with the units digit of the
previous sum and the corresponding 'carry.' If the 24 digits are in two columns we have the same number
of 'unite' and 'carry' acts, but there is a break in registering the units digit of the sum of the first column
before continuing with the second column. There is also the shift after the addition in the second column
of again considering the digits of this result as units of the next higher order. There would thus be 25 acts
of conscious manipulation involving attention. However, this element disturbs our results only slightly, as
may be seen from the graph showing the relation of time in seconds to accomplish horizontal and vertical
addition to the number of digits added.
The moving average of the time for vertical addition is also shown on the graph. It follows a straight
line trend so closely that we are justified in finding linear correlation of these elements.

FIG. 1. Graph of time to add, in seconds.

- 392 -

Correlation of Time to Add with Number of Digits Added in Vertical Addition

Using the data of Table IV we may derive the equadon of the regression line of time to add on
number of digits added, by using the individual items. For this purpose we set up a table in which
the items in the column 'Number of Digits' are called X, those in the column headed 'Observed
Time' are
TABLE IV
FINKELSTEIN TESTS
Time in Seconds for Vertical and Horizontal Addition
Vertical Adding Horizontal Adding Vertical Adding Horizontal Adding
No of Time Time No of Time Time
Digits Ob- Moving Ob- Moving Digits Ob- Moving Ob- Moving
served Average served Average served Average served Average
27 4.8 4.3 64 15.0 16.3 17.0 16.1
28 5.4 6.5 65 16.4 16.4 15.6 16.0
29 6.5 6.2 6.5 6.0 66 20.2 17.8 16.8 16.6
30 6.7 6.5 6.7 6.4 67 17.3 18.6 15.2 17.1
31 7.5 6.8 6.1 6.3 68 20.2 18.7 18.5 17.5
32 6.2 6.9 6.2 6.2 69 19.0 18.2 19.5 18.1
33 7.0 7.1 6.0 6.2 70 16.6 18.2 17.4 18.5
34 7.3 7.1 6.0 6.5 71 18.0 18.3 19.8 18.6
35 7.5 7.4 6.7 6.8 72 17.4 18.7 17.5 18.8
 36 7.6 7.7 7.7 7.4 73 20.3 19.4 18.8 19.2
37 7.6 8.0 7.5 7.9 74 21.0 20.0 20.8 18.6
38 8.7 8.1 9.3 8.0 75 20.5 21.4 19.1 19.6
39 8.7 8.3 8.5 8.2 76 21.0 21.4 17.0 20.4
40 8.1 8.9 7.2 8.4 77 24.3 21.3 22.2 19.9
41 8.6 9.5 8.5 9.1 78 20.4 21.7 22.8 19.9
42 10.3 9.9 8.5 9.5 79 20.2 21.9 18.4 20.5
43 11.6 10.6 12.5 10.1 80 22.8 22.7 19.0 21.7
44 11.2 11.0 10.8 10.7 81 21.9 22.7 20.4 21.6
45 11.2 11.2 10.0 11.3 82 28.3 23.7 28.0 22.8
46 10.7 11.1 11.7 11.0 83 20.6 23.4 22.4 23.4
47 11.2 11.1 11.4 11.9 84 24.9 23.5 24.2 23.8
48 11.3 11.3 11.2 12.3 85 21.2 23.5 22.2 22.7
49 12.4 11.7 14.9 12.1 86 22.8 23.6 22.3 23.0
50 11.8 11.5 12.0 12.4 87 27.9 23.3 22.4 22.8
51 12.8 11.8 10.8 12.4 88 21.1 23.3 23.8 22.8
52 10.5 12.1 12.8 11.9 89 23.5 23.1 23.6 23.4
53 12.6 12.2 11.5 12.2 90 21.0 22.3 22.2 23.7
54 14.0 12.4 12.5 13.1 91 21.8 23.2 25.0 23.9
55 12.4 12.9 13.2 13.1 92 24.2 23.6 24.2 24.4
56 13.4 13.2 15.5 13.9 93 25.5 24.8 24.6 25.0
57 13.0 12.9 12.8 14.0 94 25.5 25.8 25.8 25.3
58 14.2 13.1 15.5 14.5 95 27.1 26.1 25.4 25.8
59 12.4 13.3 13.0 15.1 96 26.9 27.1 26.2 26.1
60 13.8 14.0 15.4 15.7 97 25.6 27.3 27.0 26.3
61 14.3 14.0 18.5 15.6 98 30.6 27.3 26.0 26.3
62 16.4 14.6 15.8 16.4 99 26.5 26.8
63 14.4 15.1 15.2 16.4 100 26.7 25.6

- 393 -

called Y. The column headings of the table are then: X, Y, X²XY, and Y². The totals of these columns are
respectively:
4665, 1201.0, 330 993, 86 939.5, and 23 112.92.
The table itself is omitted to save space. From these totals we find:
Mx = 4665 = 63.904, My = 1201 = 16.452.
73 73
For the equation of the regression line, Y' = a + bX,
SXY - nMxMy 86939.5 - 73 x 63.904 x 16.452
b= = = 0.31.
SX² - nMx² 330993 - 73 x 63.904²
a = My - bMx = 16.452 - 0.3099 x 63.904 = - 3.35.
The regression equation is:
Y' = - 3.35 + 0.31X,
where Y' is the most probable time in seconds to add, and X is the number of digits added. Thus, if
we wish to find the most probable time necessary to add 80 digits,
Y' = - 3.35 + 0.31 x 80 = 21.45 seconds.
The experiments showed actual time taken was 22.8 seconds. The coefficient of correlation is given
by
SXY -nMxMy 10191.0
r= = = 0.972.
√[SX² - nMx²][SY² - nMy²] √32881.4 x 3354.1
If we adjust for number of samples, calling the adjusted coefficient r, we find
r = 0.968.
 The high coefficient of correlation indicates that a very close estimate of the time it will take this
prodigy to add a given number of digits can be made by using the regression equation. To measure
how accurate the estimate is, we pro-

- 394 -

ceed to find the standard error of the estimate. For this purpose, a column of values of Y', corresponding
to each given X of the experiment, was calculated; then a column of values of Y - Y' (or Z), and a column
of values of Z².
The Z² column total is 190.71.
The unadjusted standard error is
Z 190.7
S= = = 2.64875,
n-1 72
from which S = 1.62 sec.
The adjusted standard error is
S = 1.64 sec.
This means that there is about a 2 to 1 chance that the actual time taken in such an addition
problem will not differ from the estimated time by more than 1.6 seconds.

FIG. 2. Correlation of vertical addition time with number of digits added.

- 395 -

These facts are illustrated in the following graph, Fig. 2. RR is the regression line, and the dotted
lines SS are the limits of the standard error of the estimate.
The rather wide fluctuation of the time required for the addition when the number of digits exceeded
80 makes S wider than would be the case, if the standard error had been calculated from the
specimens whose number of digits ranged from 27 to 76.
The conclusion seems safe that the time needed for executing the mental processes involved in
adding digits is a linear function of the number of digits added.
It also appears that for this individual at least, residual factors such as a feeling for certain digits, or
other like elements, play a small part in the process. The memory factor, as well, requires no more
time as the number of digits increases.

VI. STATISTICAL INTERPRETATION OF MULTIPLICATION TESTS

 In these tests, examples were given, covering the multiplication of two digits by two digits, three
digits by three digits, four by four, and five by five. The number of separate acts of attention called
for in these four classes of examples were respectively six, twelve, twenty-one, and thirty-two. The
data are thus somewhat scanty from which to draw valid conclusions as to the regression line. If
three digits by two digits, three by four, etc., had been included, we should have some basis for
deciding whether the regression line is linear or follows a parabola of the type
y = ax² + bx + c.
Since the multiplying of one number by another involves not only a certain number of acts of
attention which are easily accomplished because they have been previously routinized, but involves
as well (and simultaneously) the mental arrange-

- 396 -

ment of partial results according to order of digits, as units, tens, etc. and then their summation as
additional separate acts of attention, it may well be that the regression is actually a curved line. Certainly
the second degree parabola would fit the data with a smaller standard error than the straight line does.
Additional tests must be made to determine the real nature of this regression curve. The straight line
regression affords a good estimate of the time needed by Mr. Finkelstein for mentally multiplying numbers
up to five digits by five digits.
If we average the time needed to complete each of the four types of example used in the
multiplication test, and find the percent of each type solved correctly we have:
TABLE V
AVERAGE TIME AND ACCURACY IN MULTIPLICATION
Range of Time Average Time
Type of Example to Complete No. of for Type Percent
(Seconds) Examples (Seconds) Correct
1 2 3 4 5
2 by 2 (6 acts) 2.0-14.0 30 4.03 93.3
3 by 3 (12 acts) 5.5- 5.6 6 5.7 83.3
4 by 4 (21 acts) 12.0-18.5 10 13.5 60.0
5 by 5 (32 acts) 19.2-28.6 9 25.8 44.4
Plotting columns 1 and 4 shows positive correlation, while columns 1 and 5 show decided negative
correlation. The linearity of the first is in doubt, but that of the second is not doubtful, so far as these
four types are concerned.
Since the number of items is not great we use the separate items in finding the coefficient of
correlation and the equation of the regression line. This, of course, gives a more accurate result
than if a double entry table had been used. The details of the calculation can be understood by
inspecting the following table and the formulae following it.

- 397 -

TABLE VI
No. Time
Acts of in
Atten- Sec-
tion onds
X Y F FX FY FX² FY² FXY Y' Z=Y-Y' FZ²
6 2.0 1 6 2.0 36 12.0 3.4 - 1.4
6 7.0 1 6 7.0 36 42.0 3.4 + 3.6
6 4.0 1 6 4.0 36 24.0 3.4 + 0.6
6 9.0 1 6 9.0 36 54.0 3.4 + 5.6
6 14.0 1 6 14.0 36 84.0 3.4 -10.6
6 1.0 4 24 4.0 144 24.0 3.4 - 2.4
6 3.5 3 18 10.5 108 63.0 3.4 + 0.1
6 4.7 4 24 18.8 144 112.8 3.4 + 1.3
6 5.5 4 24 22.0 144 132.0 3.4 + 2.1
6 2.8 5 30 14.0 180 84.0 3.4 - 0.6
6 3.1 5 30 15.5 180 93.0 3.4 - 0.3

12 5.5 1 12 5.5 144 66.0 8.2 - 2.7

12 5.5 2 24 11.0 288 132.0 8.2 - 2.7
12 5.6 3 36 16.8 432 201.6 8.2 - 2.6

21 18.5 1 21 18.5 441 388.5 15.4 + 3.1

21 12.0 1 21 12.0 441 252.0 15.4 - 3.4
21 17.5 1 21 17.5 441 367.5 15.4 + 2.1
21 12.3 2 41 24.6 882 516.6 15.4 - 3.1
21 13.0 2 42 26.0 882 546.0 15.4 - 1.4
21 12.1 3 63 36.3 1323 762.3 15.4 - 3.3

32 19.2 1 32 19.2 1024 614.4 24.2 - 5.0

32 26.3 2 64 52.6 2048 1683.2 24.2 + 2.1
32 28.6 2 64 57.2 2048 1830.4 24.2 + 4.4
32 25.8 2 64 51.6 2048 1651.2 24.2 + 1.6
32 26.0 2 64 52.0 2048 1664.0 24.2 + 1.8
4.00 1.96
49.00 12.96
16.00 0.36
81.00 31.36
196.00 112.36
4.00 23.04
36.75 0.03
88.36 6.76
121.00 17.64
39.20 1.80
48.05 0.45

30.25 7.29
60.50 14.58
94.08 20.28

342.25 9.61
144.00 11.56
306.25 4.41
302.58 19.22
338.00 11.52
439.23 32.67

368.64 25.00
1383.38 8.82
1635.92 38.72
1331.28 5.12
 1352.00 6.48
55 750 521.6 15570 8811.2 11400.5 424.00
Mx = 750 = 13.636, My = 521.6 = 9.484.
55 55
For Regression line Y' = a + bX,
SXY - nMxMy 11400.5 - 55 x 13.636 x 9.484
b= = = 0.8024.
SX² - nMx² 15570 - 55 x 13.636²
a = My - bMx = 9.484 - 0.8024 x 13.636 = - 1.456.
The Regression Equation is: Y' = - 1.458 + 0.802X,
where X = No. acts of attention involved in problem,
Y'= No. seconds required to solve on the average.

- 398 -

For the Coefficient of Correlation:

SXY - nMxMy
r= √[S(x²) - n(Mx)²][S(Y²) - ,
n(My)²]
4287.69 4287.69
...r = 5343.27 x 4947.04 = 5138.93 = 0.8344.
If we adjust r for the number of samples, r being the adjusted coefficient, as r is the unadjusted
coefficient, we have:
r = 0.831.
We may thus estimate the time in seconds it will take this prodigy to find the result in multiplying, up
to 5 digits by 5 digits by the equation
Y' = - 1.458 + 0.802X,
and most of the variation of time required is accounted for by the number of separate acts of
attention involved in the multiplication of the separate digits and the addition of the partial results.
To find the standard error of the estimate made from this regression line we find Y' for X = 6, 12,
etc., and find the residuals of the separate trials.
If X = 6, Y' = - 1.458 + 4.812 = 3.354.
X = 12, Y' = - 1.458 + 9.624 = 8.166.
X = 21, Y' = - 1.458 + 16.842 = 15.384.
X = 32, Y' = - 1.458 + 25.664 = 24.206.
These values, given by the regression equation, fall between the actual averages. We use these
values in columns 9, 10 and 11.
The unadjusted Standard Error of the Estimate (made by our regression line), is
Z² 424.00
Sxy² = = = 7.8518.
n-1 54
... Syx = 2.80 sec. or 2.8 prac.
For the adjusted Standard Error:
Syx = 2.83 or 2.8 practically.

- 399 -

This means that if we estimate the time it will take Mr. Finkelstein to finish a problem in
multiplication of the above type from the number of acts of attention involved in the problem, and
repeat this a considerable number of times, approximately 68 percent of the actual times would not
differ from their corresponding estimated times by more than 2.8 seconds.
On the accompanying graph, the Regression line is shown, and a band on either side, 2.8 seconds
wide, limited by the dotted lines, shows the region within which 68 percent of the estimates will fall.
The separate black dots (.) on the diagram show the actual time records of the test. The open
circles (o) show the average of the trials in which six acts of attention, 12 such acts, etc., were
involved.

FIG. 3. Correlation of time required with number of separate acts of attention in multiplication.

- 400 -

Probable Curved Regression Line for Time Required in Multiplying

If we use the method of least squares to fit a second degree parabola to the average data:
No. Acts of Attention (X) Time to Complete (Y)
6 4.03
12 5.70
21 13.50
32 25.80
we find that the equation is:
Y' = 0.0212X² + 0.0473X + 2.6994.
The calculated values for Y (Y') for X = 6, 12, 21, 32 respectively are:
3.75, 6.32, 13.04, 25.92.
This, of course, is a better fit than the straight line, and would greatly reduce the standard error of
the estimate. If the data for 9, 12, etc. acts of attention fell near this parabola we should be
reasonably sure that for multiplication, the time of performance increased faster than shown by the
linear regression, and tended to vary as the square of the number of acts of attention.
This parabolic regression line is indicated on the graph, labeled PP, while the linear regression is
labeled RR.

VII. REGRESSION OF ACCURACY ON NUMBER OF SEPARATE ACTS OF ATTENTION IN

MULTIPLICATION

It may be seen from Table V that 93.3 percent of the problems involving six separate acts of
attention were solved correctly by Mr. Finkelstein; 83.3 percent of those involving twelve acts of
attention were solved correctly, 60 percent of those involving 21 acts, and 44.4 percent of those
involving 32 acts of attention.
If these data are plotted, as shown on the graph following, it is evident that there is negative
correlation between percent accurate and number of acts of attention involved and that the
regression is linear. By using the equations of condition
 aSx² + bSx = Sxy,
aSx + bn = Sy,

- 401 -

we find the coefficients a and b of the regression line

y = ax + b.
Substituting the values of Sx², Sx, Sxy etc. (where x is the number of acts of attention, and y the
percent accurate),
1645a + 71b = 3886.5,
71a + 4b = 269.9.
Solving,
a = -2.35
b = 109.19.

FIG. 4. Regression of accuracy on no. of acts of attention. y = - 2.35x + 109.19.

The equation, showing how accuracy declines, on the average as the number of separate steps of
attention increases is thus
y = - 2.35x + 109.19.
To test the accuracy of fit of this line, we find calculated average values of y, to compare with the
observed average values.

- 402 -

(Calc. y) (Obs. y) (Devia.)

If x = 6, y = 95.1 93.3 + 1.8
x = 12, y = 81.0 83.3 - 2.3
x = 21, y = 59.8 60.0 - 0.2
x = 32, y = 34.0 33.3 + 0.7
It may be seen that the sum of the deviations of the observed average accuracy percents from the
calculated values is zero.
If our regression line equation gives the correct formulation of the relation involved, we should be
able to calculate within very narrow limits of error the percent of problems this prodigy would solve
correctly for any combination of digits. Thus, if he tried multiplying four digits by three digits, as
7,345 x 639, and tried such problems a number of times we should expect that y (percent accurate)
would be, since x = 17,
y = - 2.35 x 17 + 109.19 = 69.2.
 That is, we should expect him to have about 69 percent of such problems correctly solved.

General Conclusions as to Multiplication

1. The time consumed in multiplying one number by another mentally increases about 0.8 second
for each additional act of attention involved, for problems of two digits by two digits to those of five
digits by five digits. (On the assumption that the regression is linear.)
2. As the number of acts of attention (or mental manipulations) is increased, the accuracy
decreases rapidly. The decrease in percent of accuracy is 2.35 percent for each additional act of
attention involved in the Example, on the average.
(Manuscript received March 29, 1937)
Fast calculating
Jakov Perelman. 1945

REAL AND FALSE PHENOMENONS

All who had possibility to be present at show of our mental calculator Arrago, no doubt be amazed his
astonishing calculating abilities. Here we see not trick, but rare natural talent. Cube of number 4729,
for instance, Arrago calculate near me in the mind less than one minute (result 105756712489), and
for multiplying 679321 x 887064, also in mind, he use only 1½ minutes.
I had a possibility to watch a computing work of this phenomenal calculator not only on stage, but in
the home situation, from the eye to the eye, and could make sure that no particular computing
acceptance he use, but calculate in the mind in general in the same way, as we on the paper. But his
unusual memory for numbers helps him work without writing the intermediate results, and fast
cleverness allows work with two-digit numbers in the same way easy, as we produce actions with one-
digit numbers. Due to this multiplying of six-digit number on six-digit for him problem not much
difficulty, than for us - a multiplying three-digit on three-digit.
Such phenomenons, like Arrago here or in the West Inaudi, Diamandi, Ruchle and best of all Dr. Fred
Brauns are unic. But alongside with they act special mathematicians of other sort, based they art on
one or another arithmetical tricks. You, probably, heared or even be present at shows of "geniously
mathematicians", what calculate in the mind with the striking speed, how much you passed the days,
minutes, seconds, in what weekday was your birth &c. To execute a most of these calculations, not
needed, however, possess unusual mathematical abilities. Necessary only know some secrets of
these focuses, - a denouncement which we presently begin.

MEMORIZING NUMBERS
Fast calculator must first of all possess an exceed developed memory on numbers. What super
possibilityes reaches such memory beside best calculators, show the following records. Famous
german calculator Ruckle learned number, consist of 504 digits, on 35 minutes, but his compatriot Dr.
Brown has beat this record, having do same less than 13 minutes!
Of course, such phenomenal memory had from nature only unic ones. Professional calculators, acting
on scene, without having such natural memory on digits, help themself by different artificial
acceptance (so called "mnemonic"). In usual life we themselves time to time are torture to use similar
acceptance, most of what unhappily chosen. With idea, for example, memorize phone number 25-49,
we entrust hopes on that number this will easy manage restore in memories, since it is constitute of
two exact squares: 25 = 52, 49 = 72. But when come really necessary recall it, we get extensive choice
of numbers:
16-25, 36-64, 25-16, 64-16, 81-25 и т.д.
Such failure we get on another situations too. Phone number 17-53 we try to remember, by using fact
that first two numbers together (1 + 7) are equal two last (5 + 3). But final not better, than in the
previous case. But after all is necessary do not forget, to whose telephone was aplying that and to
what other combination. Possible only wonder, as persistently people are torture to use this obviously
unimproved acceptance. Passion to it witty has deride a writer J. Gashek in his famous "Adventures of
soldier Shweik":

"Some time Shweik looks number of gun and finally has say:
- Number 4268. Just same number has one locomotive on Pechka on sixtenth way.
Locomotive must be moved to Lissa for repair, but this was not so easy, because the
machinist, which must made it, has a very bad memory of numbers. Then chief to distances
 call him to the chancellery and speaks him: "On 16-м way stands a locomotive N4268. I know
you have a bad memory on numbers, but if I will write a number on paper, you paper will lose.
But if you stell so weak on the numbers, try to remember that I presently say to you, and you
see that possible with lightness to notice any number. Well, so here is. Locomotive, which you
is necessary conduct in the railroad yard, is listed for the number 4268. Here is and call
attention. The first number - four, second - two. Remember, it become 42, i.e. two on two -
four, that gives us first number, and if devide it on two, we will get again two, and thereby
beside us we get 4 and 2. Further already simply. Eight, isn't it? Now you move it to memory,
that eight in our number is a last. Now you have remember that first numbe - four, second -
two, and last - eight. So, we need only to remember a number six before eight. But this is very
much easy. Because first numbe 4, second 2, and together will be 6. So number 4268 firmly
has seeded beside you in the head. You can also come to this result more easy way, as
follows: from 8 subtract 2, will be get 6. Remember: 6. From 6 subtract two, will be get 4. We
have already 4 and 68. Now is necessary only between these two numbers to put a number 2,
and we get 4268. Possible to do enother, too easy by using multiplyings. Запомните, что
дважды 42 равно 84. В году двенадцать месяцев. Надо вычесть 12 из 84, останется
72, и из 72 еще раз вычесть 12 месяцев. Получится 60. Вот у нас уже есть 6, потому
что ноль мы можем просто отбросить. How much will two on four? Remember that twice
42 is 84. Per annum twelve months. Is Necessary subtract 12 from 84, will stay 72, and from
72 once again subtract 12 months. Get 60. Here is beside us already be 6, because zero we
can simply reject. Значит, если мы напишем 42-6-84 и отбросим последнюю 4, то
неминуемо получим число 4268, т. е. номер паровоза, который надо отвести"".

Methods of variety calculators are absolutely other type. Here is one of them, which can be useful for
each of us. Calculator involves with numbers determined consonant letters, firmly learn:
numbers 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Н Г Д К Ч П Ш С В Р
letters
М Ж Т X Щ Б Л 3 Ф Ц
Так как буквы выбраны только согласные, то их можно, не боясь путаницы, сочетать с гласными,
составляя короткие словечки. Например:
numbers words numbers words
1 еж
6 шея
2 яд
7 усы
3 око
8 ива
4 щи
9 яйцо
5 обои
Сходным образом составляются слова и для двузначных чисел:
11 - гага 14 - гуща
12 - год 15 - губа
13 - жук 16 - игла и т. п.
Чтобы запомнить число 2549, эстрадный счетчик мысленно подписывает под цифрами
соответствующие им буквы:
2 5 4 9
д п ч р
т б щ ц

и быстро составляет из них слова, например:

25 49
дуб ящер
"Дуб" и "ящер" не только легко запомнить, но и связать как-нибудь с фамилией гражданина или
названием учреждения, которым принадлежит телефон.
This is one of mnemonic method, used among musik-hall calculators. 1 There are anothers, to which
we, however, do not concentrate, and will go over to ways of performing the calculating program
numbers.
- I am ... years old. How many days to me? - asked somebody from the public and immediately gets
from stage an answer.
- How many seconds to me, if my age ...? - ask another and get answer immediately.
How to made such calculatings?

"HOW MANY DAYS TO ME?"

Problem
Чтобы по числу лет быстро определить число дней, счетчик прибегает к такому приему:
половину числа лет множит на 73 и приписывает ноль - результат и будет искомым числом. Эта
формула станет понятна, если заметить, что 730 = 365 x 2. Если мне 24 года, то число дней
получим, умножив 12 x 73 = = 876 и приписав ноль - 8760. Самое умножение на 73 также
производится сокращенным образом, о чем речь впереди.
Поправка в несколько дней, происходящая от високосных лет, обыкновенно в расчет не
принимается, хотя ее легко ввести, прибавив к результату четверть числа лет, - в нашем
примере 24 : 4 = 6; общий результат, следовательно, 87662.
Прием для вычисления числа минут читатель, после сказанного в следующей статье, не
затруднится найти самостоятельно.

"HOW MANY SECONDS TO ME?"

Problem
If age of man who ask is expressed even number not biger than 26, on this question also possible
enough quickly to answer, using following acceptance: half of number of years multiply by 63; then
same half multiply on 72, result put near by first and prefix three zeroes. If, for example, number of
years 24, for the determination of number of seconds you made next:
63 x 12 = 756; 72 x 12 = 864; result 756 864 000.
Like in previous example, here not use leap years - error, what nobody ask calculator, because he
show how he work with hundreeds of millions (also it possible improve, by adding number of seconds,
corresponding quarter of years).
What based this example on?
Solution
Correctness of our formula is realize much simply. To define a number of seconds, conclude in the
given number of years, needed years (in our example 24) multiply on the number of seconds on one
year - on 365 x 24 x 60 x 60 = 31536000. We do same, but only big multiplier 31 536 divide on two
part (prefix of zeroes is comprehensible). Instead of multiply 24 x 31536, we multiply 24 on 31500 and
on 36; but for make it easy calculations change to others, as can seen from the following scheme:
24 x 31 500 = 12 x 63 000 = 756 000
24 x 31536 = {
24 x 36 = 12 x 72 = 864
756 864
We should prefix only three zeroes, and total result is: 756 864 000.

METHODS OF FAST CALCULATING

Мы упоминали раньше, что для выполнения тех отдельных действий умножения, на которые
распадается каждый из указанных выше приемов, существуют также удобные способы.
Некоторые из них весьма несложны и удобоприменимы; они настолько облегчают вычисления,
что не мешает вообще запомнить их, чтобы пользоваться при обычных расчетах. Таков,
например, прием перекрестного умножения, весьма удобный при действии с двузначными
числами. Способ не нов; он восходит к грекам и индусам и в старину назывался "способом
молнии" или "умно-

1Подробнее об этом см. в моей книжке "Фокусы и развлечения".

2Указанными далее приемами ускоренного умножения эти операции облегчаются до
чрезвычайности, и миллионный результат получается очень быстро. Советую читателю
попробовать произвести то же вычисление и обыкновенным путем, чтобы на деле убедиться,
какая экономия времени получается при пользовании указанной формулой и приведенными
далее приемами.
MENTAL PRODIGIES

Fred Barlow. 1951

147

CHAPTER XI
FAMOUS MEMORIZERS

I've a grand memory for forgetting, David.

R. L. STEVENSON.
IN modern medical and psychological text-books, the function of remembering is usually divided
into three parts: registration, retention and recall.
Registration of the material to be remembered necessitates a certain amount of concentration.
Thus, a maniac will tend to remember only those things that especially impress him. In
unconsciousness, we are told, nothing can be registered, and in a semi-conscious state only partial
recollection may occur.
Retention may be disturbed by various causes but such disturbance should only be assumed if it is
certain that registration and recall are unaffected.
Recall, according to the specialists, may be either automatic or voluntary. In abnormal mental
conditions it is quite feasible that the capacity for voluntary recall may be impaired whilst automatic
recall may be almost perfect. These phenomena, it is claimed, may often be observed in normal
individuals who are fatigued, or in the aged, and the disturbance is most marked in the effort to
recall names. The ability to recall is facilitated by richness and rapidity of association.
In consequence, slowness of association may make memory disturbances appear more severe
than is really the case.

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"Repression" may play an important part in determining which material cannot be recollected although this
does not, of course, apply to all memory disturbances. Total loss of memory, over a long period, is
generally a hysterical symptom. A normal quality of remembering is that it tends to mould the past
according to desire and to fill in defects in memory with facts which may have been there rather than with
facts that are genuinely recollected. When there is a pathological loss of memory, the gap is often filled in
with the most elaborate fabrications. Patients not infrequently get the sequence of past events all wrong.
The problem of time perception is still very obscure.
That individuals differ markedly in the way they think and imagine was proved by Francis Galton.
When he questioned people about their power of conjuring up mental pictures of things they had
seen, some maintained that they could picture an object in their mind's eye as vividly as if it were in
front of them. Many disclaimed any such power and found it difficult to believe that others
possessed it.
In the achievements of calculating boys, the ability to memorize appears to have been restricted
entirely to figures. If their ability had not been so restricted they might have become men of genius.
It is by no means unusual to find in ,each individual considerable variation in the ability to remember
different things.
The ability to remember figures, however, to an unusual degree, is not exclusive to calculating boys.
As an example, consider the amazing ability of the famous John Wallis, the teacher of Sir Isaac
Newton. This English mathematician was born on 23 November 1616, and died in 1703. He was
one of the founders of the Royal Society. In a letter to Thomas Smith of Magdalene College (quoted
in the Spectator, 1879, Vol. III, p. ii) he writes:

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"December 22nd 1669. - In a dark night, in bed, without pen, ink or paper, or anything equivalent,
 I did by memory extract the square root of 30000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000,00000
and did the next day commit it to writing." (Note by the author: the figures were grouped in fives,
as indicated.)
"February 18th, I670. Johannes Georgius Pelshower giving me a visit, and desiring an example of
the like, I did that night propose to myself, in the dark without help to my memory, a number in 55
places: 2468135791011121411131516182017192122242628302325272931 of which I extracted
the square root in 27 places: 157103016871482805817152171 proxime, which numbers I did not
commit to paper till he gave me another visit, March following, when I did from memory dictate
them to him.
Yours etc, John Wallis."
Reference has already been made to Shanks, an English mathematician who in 1873, determined
the value of pi to 707 decimal places. Dagbert, the French mentalist, claims to have memorized pi
to 707 places so he may have obtained his figures from this source. One cannot help feeling that to
memorize endless strings of figures in this fashion seems an appalling waste of time and energy. It
would be dangerous to make this observation to a "figure fiend", however, in case he should
retaliate by asking whether it was considered that the millions of hours that have been spent on
crossword puzzles, chess and the like were not an even more appalling waste of time!

INHERITED ABILITY

It would be difficult to cite a more typical example of inherited ability than that of Macaulay, to whose
prodigious

150

memory reference has already been made (p. 137). He was able to recall pages and pages of hundreds
of volumes, a knowledge of which he had acquired by simply reading them through once only.
His grandfather, the Rev. John Macaulay, was a minister who lived at Inverary. He was a most
eloquent preacher and is mentioned in Dr. Johnson's Tour. Lord Macaulay's father, Zachary, the
slave abolitionist, was also a very capable man and a lucid and rapid writer. Lord Macaulay's uncle,
Colin Macaulay, was a famous general and the right-hand man of the Duke of Wellington, in his
Indian campaigns. He governed for many years a large part of the Madras Presidency and in spite
of his active life, was a first-rate scholar both in ancient and modern literature. He was constantly
mentioned in contemporary literature as a wonder for his erudition and abilities. Another uncle,
Aulay Macaulay-was a brilliant conversationalist and wrote much of value. He was tutor to Caroline
of Brunswick but died in his prime. A cousin of Lord Macaulay was the Headmaster of Repton and a
good scholar. Many other relatives and descendants were famous men.
Other examples of hereditary influence are those of the father of Seneca, who had one of the
greatest memories on record in ancient times, and Porson, the Greek scholar-what came to be
known as the Porson memory was hereditary in his family.

EXCEPTIONAL MEMORIES

Seneca refers to a man who, after hearing a poet read a new poem, claimed it as his own, in proof
of which he would repeat the poem from beginning to end, which was more than the author could
do! Pascal is said never to have forgotten anything that he had ever known and read. Grotius,
Leibnitz and Euler are also said to have been endowed with a similar power of memory.

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Cyrus, it is stated, knew the name of every soldier in his army, and the Athenian, Themistocles, knew the
name of every one of the twenty thousand inhabitants of Athens. In more recent days, Daniel Webster, the
great American lawyer, was credited with knowing by heart, amongst other books, the whole of the Bible,
all Shakespeare's plays and Paradise Lost. Until he reached his teens his memorizing ability was well
below the average. The renowned South African statesman, General Smuts (1870-1950), as a child was
far from being precocious in that he did not learn to read until he was twelve years of age. Whether this
was a handicap or not would be difficult to prove since he eventually memorized the whole of the contents
of his library of 5000 books and could give immediately chapter and verse references of any quoted
passage.
Ripley, of "Believe it or not" fame, says that Elijah, the Gaon, one time Chief Rabbi of Lithuania,
possessed such a wonderful memory that he never forgot a book once he had read it. Professor
Graetz, the noted contemporary historian, stated that Elijah committed to memory some 2500
volumes. He knew these by heart and could quote any passage at will. This venerable scholar
resided at Vilna, the ancient capital of Lithuania which, at the time, was the largest Jewish
settlement in the world. Ripley says that his memory is revered to the present day by the Jews of
Eastern Europe and his portrait is prominently displayed on the eastern wall of almost every
orthodox dwelling. Dr. Johnson, it is said, never forgot anything that he had seen, heard or read.
Burke, Clarendon, Gibbon, Locke, Tillotson, were all distinguished for strength of memory.
In allusion to this subject, Sir W. Hamilton observed that for intellectual power of the highest order,
none was distinguished above Grotius and Pascal both of whom forgot nothing they had ever read
or thought. Leibnitz and Euler were not less celebrated for their

152

intelligence than for their memory; and both could repeat the whole of the Aeneid. Donellus knew the
Corpus Juris by heart, and yet he was one of the most profound and original speculators in jurisprudence.
Ben Jonson tells us that he could repeat all that he had ever written, and whole books that he had read.
Niebuhr, the historian, was not less distinguished for his memory than for his acuteness. In his youth he
was employed in one of the public offices of Denmark. An account book having been destroyed by fire, he
restored it by an effort of memory.
Dante was, perhaps, more than any man of his age, skilled in the learning of his times. He
sustained, at the University of Paris, an argument against fourteen disputants. It is claimed that he
was conqueror in all.
Many extraordinary things are related of James Crichton - surnamed the Admirable Crichton (1560-
1585)). He took his M.A. degree when he was 15. Whilst still a boy he could answer his professors
in any of twelve languages. Before his 20th year he had gone through the whole circle of the
sciences and was distinguished for his skill in singing and playing upon all sorts of instruments. In
Paris, he disputed in Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, English, Dutch,
Flemish and Slavonic and, what is more extraordinary, in either prose or verse. He was killed in a
brawl.

THE VALUE OF CONCENTRATION

There appears to be considerable difference of opinion as to the value, or otherwise, of

concentration as an aid to memory. A study of the statements and examples of calculators goes to
show that concentration is not an important feature in their performances. By way of explaining the
conflicting views for and against concentration, it would be fair to say that mental gymnastics of an
automatic nature,

153

such as the multiplication of two numbers, do not necessitate concentration. In fact, in such cases
concentration might well be more of a hindrance than a help. A good car driver is one who eventually goes
through all the actions of driving quite automatically. Like a good pianist, when he has become
experienced, if he endeavours to think out the various processes as he goes along he will become
confused. On the other hand, a creator-whether it be in music, poetry or science-must of necessity
concentrate his whole attention on the occupation on which he is engaged.
Mental giants of the past have exercised this power of concentration to a degree which may appear
marvellous. It is said of Socrates that he would frequently remain an entire day and night in the
same attitude-absorbed in meditation. La Fontaine and Descartes experienced the same
abstraction. Mercator, the celebrated geographer, found such delight in the progression of his
studies that it was only with difficulty he could be persuaded to leave his maps for such mundane
purposes as eating and sleeping.
 In Cicero's On Old Age, Cato applauds Callus*who, when he sat down to write in the morning, was
surprised by the evening; and when he took up his pen in the evening was surprised by the
appearance of the morning. It is said of' Marini, the Italian poet, that when absorbed in revising his
Adonis, he suffered his leg to be burnt for some time, without experiencing any sensation of
discomfort. Poggious relates of Dante, that he indulged his meditations more strongly than any man
he knew. When the first idea of the Essay on the Arts and Sciences overwhelmed the mind of
Rousseau, his agitation was such as almost to approach a delirium.
It is related that when he was questioned respecting the mental qualities which formed the
peculiarity of his character he referred it entirely to the power he had acquired of continuous
attention.

154

Writing of himself, Hamilton said: "Men give me some credit for genius. When I have a subject in hand, I
study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me and I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes
pervaded with it. People are pleased to call these efforts the fruits of genius. Genius is the fruit of labour
and of thought."
It would seem that a perfect memory can be a mixed blessing. The famous Dr. Leyden could repeat
correctly a long act of parliament, or any other similar document, after having once read it. On one
occasion when congratulated by a friend on his remarkable power in this respect he maintained that
instead of being an advantage his memory was often a source of much inconvenience. If he wished
to recollect a particular point in anything which he had read, he could only do it by repeating to
himself the whole, from the beginning, until he reached the point which he wished to recall.
All the arithmetical prodigies possessed a remarkable impressibility in that they were able to grasp
large numbers of figures on only once seeing or hearing them. Dase's memory, in this respect, was
remarkable: "Twelve figures being written down . . . he would just dip his eye on them, not allowing
his glance to rest on them for more than half a second. He would then repeat them, backwards and
forwards, and name any one, such as the ninth or the fourth, at command."
Perception must not be confused with concentration, the meaning can better be covered by the use
of the colloquialism "quick on the uptake". This ability to grasp immediately any matter concerning
figures is well illustrated by Buxton who would allow two people to propose different questions, one
immediately after the other, and give each their respective answers, without the least confusion. He
would also talk freely while working out his questions, as if it were no hindrance at all.

155

Again, "cramming" is not the same thing as concentration. It is much easier to learn something by going
over it twice a day for a week than by reading it over fourteen times consecutively. Tests conducted by Dr.
H. M. Johnson are said to have proved conclusively that the best time to memorize anything is just before
going to sleep. According to Popular Science 1Ylonthly (Bib. 20), in the Johnson experiments "bedtime
memorizers" scored consistently twenty to thirty per cent higher than the rest. Apparently, material that
has just been memorized "sinks in" more effectively in the drowsy period before actual slumber. The
benefit was lost, Dr. Johnson observed, if even as little as two hours intervened between the time of study
and bedtime. Condorcet related of himself, that, when engaged in some profound and obscure
calculations, he was often obliged to leave them in an incomplete state, and retire to rest; and that the
remaining steps, and the conclusion of his calculations, had more than once presented themselves in his
dreams.
In further evidence of the ability of most calculators to do two things at once, reference may be
made to Fuller (see p. I7) who would suffer interruptions without the least discomfort and then go on
from where he had left off, if desired, giving any or all of the stages through which the calculation
had passed. Dirichlet, the mathematician, says that he "established the solution of one of the most
difficult problems of the theory of numbers, with which he had for a long time striven in vain, in the
Sistine Chapel in Rome, while listening to the Easter music".

INDIAN EXPERTS IN CONCENTRATION

 The reader who would like to pursue the matter further is referred to a little book by Professor
Ernest W. Wood

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(Bib. 2I). This book has an interesting chapter on the Memory men of India. It tells of an expert who did
the following eleven things in his mind (at one time) and afterwards correctly repeated the whole:
1. Played a game of chess, without seeing the board.
2. Carried on a conversation upon various subjects.
3. Completed a Sanskrit verse from the first line given him.
4. Multiplied five figures by a multiplier of four figures.
5. Added a sum of three columns, each of eight rows of figures.
6. Committed to memory a Sanskrit verse of sixteen words-the words being given to him out of their
order, and at the option of the tester.
7. Completed a "magic square" in which the separate sums in the several squares added to a total
named, whether tried horizontally or vertically.
8. Without seeing a chess board, directed the movements of a knight so that it should make the
circuit of the board within the outline of a horse traced on it, and enter no other squares than those.
9. Completed a second "magic square" with a different number from that in the above named.
10. Kept count of the strokes of a bell rung by a gentleman present.
11. Committed to memory two sentences of Spanish, given on the same system as No. 6.
Of even greater interest and importance, however, was an exhibition personally witnessed and
vouched for by Professor Wood, in the State of Morvi in Kathiawar. In this case, the memory expert,
Mr. Nathuram P. Shukla,

157

remembered a hundred items. There was a large gathering of people, seated on carpets in a big hall.
Twenty people were selected and seated directly in front of the pandit.. He attended to each of the twenty
people in turn, and went along the line five times. Several gave him sentences composed of five words,
each person using a different language Gujarati, English, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Mahratti, French and
Latin-and the words were given out of order. One sitter gave him moves in a game of chess. Two others
gave him figures to be multiplied and added together. Another carried on little conversations with the
pandit on various topics. Another struck a little bell a number of times on each round. There were
calculations of dates, completion of short poems and other items. After a hundred points had been made,
the pandit meditated for a little while; then answered questions relating to the items, and finally repeated
the whole.
Professor Wood had the good fortune to obtain from the pandit details of the method of memory
culture in vogue in his profession. Professor Wood is also of the opinion that anyone who cares to
do so may, with comparative ease, perform many of the feats of the Ashtavadhanis with a
reasonable amount of practice. Various suggestions and methods of training are given by Professor
Wood in his book.
Professor T. I-i. Pear (Bib. 22) makes the following interesting remarks on the subject:
"Experiment upon memory has made it clear that, whatever the relation between rapidity of learning
and permanence of retention may be, it is certainly not simple and inverse. Some of the talents
which make it easy for a person to learn quickly also contribute to subsequent ease and precision of
recall. In this case, as in many others, the sentence which most nearly expresses the truth is "To
him that hath, shall be given". The suggestion that either quick learning or prompt recall must
invariably be paid for by

158

a lack of "depth" betrays an inability to distinguish between the raw materials of thought and the finished
article, and is probably dictated by sentimental factors."
 "DATAS"

In June 1901, a fresh arrival in the entertainment world was the occasion of much speculation. The
name of this new attraction was W. J. M. Bottle but it was as "Datas" that he rapidly became
publicly known. As the name indicates, "Datas" specialized in dates. He claimed that the power of
memorizing was a natural gift and in proof of this he expanded this power to such an extent that in
the particular sphere of his operations he eventually reached a stage almost of infallibility.
"Datas" was born on 20 July, 1875, at Newnham, Kent, where his father kept a small shoe-maker's
shop. As an infant, he was very delicate and was unable to walk until he reached his sixth birthday.
It will be readily understood that the education of a young sickly child of poor working parents, who
had a family of eleven to support, left much to be desired. By the time he had received sufficient
schooling to enable him to read, the family removed to London and at the age of eleven "Datas"
was working as a newspaper boy. Some eight months later he became a parcel boy at Lordship
Lane station and remained there for three years. Then followed a short period as errand boy and in
November, 1891, at the age of sixteen, he obtained employment at the Crystal Palace Gas Works.
For a period of five years he was occupied in various ways at the gas works, eventually landing in
the blacksmith's shop as a striker, for which he was paid twenty-four shillings a week.
From the time he was able to read, "Datas" began habitually to commit items of information to
memory with the object of repeating them afterwards at leisure. From

159

memorizing shopkeepers' names he got to cabbies' and policemen's numbers and then to reading Lloyd's
newspaper. Writing of himself, "Datas" said: "Paper in hand, I would sit down on a little stool in a cosy
corner by the fireside, and, my head resting against the chimney-piece, I would concentrate all my
attention on the matter I wished to learn. I soon exhausted Lloyd's, and, though continuing to read it
weekly, went further afield. A copy of Tussaud's calendar of events came into my possession. The mention
of famous names therein whetted my appetite for works of history and adventure."
This process of acquiring information was carried on in the little spare time that was available and it
would appear that "Datas" took particular care to ensure that each impression was sufficiently vivid
to enable him to retain it indefinitely and to recall it at will. It was not until after he began his stage
career that he knew anything of mnemonics but what he describes as "mental pictures" were
undoubtedly of this nature, as witness: "Suppose I am asked the date of the Great Fire in London. I
give the correct answer - 1666 - and immediately there rises before me a panoramic scene, as it
were, of that calamity, from its start in Pudding Lane, to its finish in Pie Corner. The picture that is
thus marvellously and so expeditiously drawn for me is one of my own fashioning entirely. The
pencils are Nature's and the materials are the suggestions conveyed to the optical nerves by the
facts hidden safely away in my mind. In what precise manner they act I know not. Suffice to say, I
have the vision, and it materially assists me in narrating my version of the facts, acting as an
allpowerful mentor. When in the future you are called upon to answer any questions, endeavour to
call up at the same time some `mind pictures', for you will find their help of immense value.
Remember that failure is the result of a weak mental impression due in the first place to lack of

160

concentration of thought on the subject matter you are endeavouring to commit to memory. Make up your
mind always to create the strongest impression you are capable of creating and eventual success will not
be wanting. To me, it is now all the same, whether it is a matter of trivial or great importance. Practice has
enabled me to store and reproduce each fact, mentally and visually; with practice, lengthy and constant,
you can do the same."
This is how "Datas" described the events of a day in June, 1901, that launched him on the
successful career of a memorizer: "I had been working on the night shift, from ten o'clock till six and
reaching home about 6.30, I went to bed. By mid-day I was up again, had dinner, and then took a
walk to the Crystal Palace where fate had much in store for me. While taking a little refreshment, I
overhead two gentlemen discussing the date of the finish of the great Tichborne trial. Neither knew
the correct date so I ventured to give this. Finding how surprised they were at my knowledge, I felt
encouraged, and continued with a number of dates of events in English history, etc. Quite unnoticed
 by me, a third gentleman was a listener to our conversation and when I had finished my long string
of dates, he quietly came up to me and put the momentous question: "Would you like to go upon
the stage?" He then and there took me to the Standard Music Hall, Victoria where I gave my first
performance."
The new form of entertainment became an immediate success and "Datas" left the gas works for
the stage. He travelled throughout the British Isles and eventually acquired a world-wide reputation.
During his performances, many curious and unusual questions were put to him and it is said that
only on rare occasions did he fail to give a correct or satisfactory answer. As in mnemonics, "Datas"
claimed that what he described as the "law of association" was the only real help in memorizing. He
goes on to say:

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"One idea begets another; therefore, when memorizing one idea, kill two birds with one stone, and also
memorize the corresponding idea. It may be that you will not at once discover the associated idea, or
ideas. Here you will again perceive the necessity for a searching analysis of your subject-matter. Suppose
you wish to remember the date of the opening of the first railway line in England. Instantly the figure of
George Stephenson arises before you. You recall the date of his birth, etc., the year of the great financial
railway bubble, the opening of the Mont Cenis and Simplon tunnels, the dates of notable collisions, etc. A
host of things come to mind, the mine of recollection fired by the magic word "railways".
"Where you have ideas which are, so to speak, unconnected, it is essential that in order to commit
them to memory successfully, you should establish an intermediary idea as a connecting link, an
idea which although not directly associated with either one of the two ideas you wish to memorize,
is nevertheless indirectly associated with both so that in remembering either, the link manifests itself
which binds the two together. You wish to remember Newtongravitation, the link is the word "apple".
You say to yourself an apple falls from the tree to the ground; falling is an act of gravitation. Who
watched a similar action and noted the result?-Newton. You also have an extra aid by reason of a
certain sort of apple being named after the great scientist."
"Datas" insisted that all questions put to him should be brief and definite. His replies, whilst giving
the dates asked for frequently included additional information associated with the replies. For
example, if he were asked: "When was Big Ben set up at Westminster?" he would, in addition to the
actual date include other items of interest concerning Westminster and Big Ben. The following is a
selection from the many thousands of questions he was asked to answer:

162

When did Lord Beaconsfield make his maiden speech?

When was Rugby School founded?
When was the Isle of Man purchased?
When was an observatory built on the top of St. Paul's?
When was the magic lantern invented?
When was Elizabeth Gaunt burnt at Tyburn for treason?
When was the first cannon cast in England?
When was Alexander the Great born?
On what date was Queen Elizabeth crowned?
When did Nero set Rome on fire?
When was Aristotle born?
When was the first Prince of Wales created?
When did the Married Woman's Property Act come into operation?
When was the first stone of Blackfriars Bridge laid?
When did a steamship first cross the Atlantic? When
was Manchester first made a city?
What was the date of the first parachute descent in England?
When was the Metropolitan Railway opened'?
When did the Glasgow Bank suspend payment?
When was Queen Anne's Bounty established?
When was Toronto University destroyed by fire?
When was Chambers' Journal first published?
 Who was the first Jew to receive the honour of knighthood and when?
When was Kensal Green cemetery consecrated?
When was a duty imposed upon soap?
When did Captain Blood try to steal the Crown jewels?
When were Corinth and Carthage destroyed by the Romans?
When were top-hats invented? When was the first theatre built?

163

It should be placed on record that when asked how he was able to remember dates so accurately, "Datas"
would frequently claim that he had no idea how it was done. Nor could the usual arrangements obtaining
at a music-hall be described as anywhere approaching "test conditions". When inviting questions in the
ordinary way, these would be fired at him from various parts of the building so that, to some extent, he had
a choice from which to make his selection or to ignore awkward questions. It is also quite possible that to
increase the entertainment value of his show a "stooge" or "stooges" were employed. To such a question
as "When was Kruger vaccinated?" his answer "On March 15, 1826 and it took in four places-is that right,
sir?" scarcely ever failed to bring down the house. This does not affect the genuine nature of his gift of
which there was no question.
On one occasion the Lord Chief Justice of England was an occupant of the stalls. He put three
questions: "When was the Utopia wrecked?" "When were the Corn Laws repealed?" and "When did
Mr. Low propose to put a tax on matches?" "Datas" did not know until afterwards who was his
questioner. After his '-turn", however, whilst in the dressing-room his Lordship visited him and
congratulated him stating that the correct answer had been given to each of the three queries. On
another occasion, Sir Edward Clarke put a series of difficult questions to which "Datas" gave the
correct replies.
A lengthy notice in the Evening News said of him: "The dark, well-knit young man who is appearing
under the nom du theatre of `Datas' at the Palace is a human Haydn's Dictionary brought up to
date. For six weeks he has answered, quick as thought, all sorts and kinds of questions on subjects
of historical or public interest. He predicts nothing, but forgets nothing that he has ever heard or
read. . . ."
"Datas" did not confine himself to a knowledge of worldwide events. His acquaintance with the local
history of the

164

towns he visited was equally thorough. When visiting a fresh town this was his procedure: "I would first
visit the police headquarters, where I could generally obtain a great deal of information regarding famous
crimes and criminals associated with the place, big accidents, and so forth. Then I proceeded to the fire
station to learn all that I could about important fires that had occurred in the neighbourhood. The
remainder of the time I would fill in by inspecting local cathedrals, churches, museums etc., from all of
which I managed to extract a great deal of valuable information. A few hours spent in the manner
described, used to suffice to give me all the history of the place I wished for."

LESLIE WELCH - THE MEMORY MAN

The nearest approach to "Datas" at the present day is the well-known memorizer, Leslie Welch-the
Memory Man. The many thousands who have both heard him on the radio and seen him on the
television screen have been impressed alike by his ability and modest bearing. In his radio
demonstrations, Mr. Welch has given many proofs of his phenomenal memory of sporting events
and, it is said, he is equally at home in replying to questions of a geographical or historical nature.
His responses to the questions set him are spontaneous and are frequently accompanied by many
additional items of information. For example, if he was asked the name of the winner of the Eclipse
Stakes in 1947, he would probably include in his reply the horses in the second and third places
and the number of runners, etc.
On the rare occasions when he is caught napping his failure, as often as not, is due to the fact that
the information sought was not of sufficient importance for him to memorize; e.g. if asked to name
 the billiards champion for Wales in 1923 he would promptly admit that he did not know the

165

answer. When he could not give the reply he would ask the questioner for the necessary information and
when this was forthcoming would say: "I shall know the answer next time!" This indicates that his
registration and recollection are practically automatic. In following his procedure one gets the impression
that all the information he has acquired has been neatly docketed in a card-index mind and that it is
immediately available when it is wanted.
Mr. Welch was good enough to reply to a long list of questions, concerning his gift, put to him by the
author. He was born in Edmonton, London, on 29 December, 1907, and, in due course, attended
the Latymer Secondary School. Mathematics was one of his best subjects at school but he does not
claim to have possessed any outstanding ability in that direction. There does not appear, in his
case, to be any indication of extraordinary memorizing ability during childhood and adolescence,
apart from the fact that over these periods he always knew that he had a good memory.
As already indicated, Mr. Welch appears to possess an automatic memory but he states that this
applies mainly to those subjects in which he is interested. In his case, his memory is of
considerable practical use, apart altogether from its entertainment value, because in addition to
giving memory demonstrations he is the general manager of a weekly sporting review and it is part
of his job to study all forms of sport.
His recollections are of an auditory nature. He does not employ mnemonics and does not claim to
be able to do more than one thing at a time. There is no question of his making use of any magical
"stunts", nor does telepathy play any part whatever in his exhibitions. So far as he is aware, Mr.
Welch has no physical or psychological peculiarities. In fact, Mr. Welch is a very ordinary man with
a very extraordinary memory. His answer to the question "How do you do it?" is "a well-trained
memory, a genuine interest (this is most important) and an expert knowledge on the subject".

FASTER THAN THOUGH

B. V. Bowder. (pp. 311-315)
Chapret 26
Thought and machine processes
Cogito, ergo sum - DESCARTES
I do not think, therefore I am not - D R. STRABISMUS (whom God preserve) of Utrecht. President of the
Anti-cartesian Society

SO FAR WE HAVE DESCRIBED the construction of these new digital computers, and tried to show how useful
they can become by doing routine computations. If we are to complete the story we must also try to
assess the limitations of the machines which we can build today, and, if possible, to discuss any limits
to the performance of machines which may be built in the future. We shall try to compare the
processes which go on inside them with those which are responsible for the thoughts in our own
minds. This subject is far too complicated to be dealt with in a single chapter, but we shall try to
describe some of its more important aspects. We shall begin by giving an account of some of the
astonishing feats of mental arithmetic which are demonstrated by those rare individuals who are
known as "calculating prodigies." Many accounts of these men have appeared, of which one of the
best known is to be found in W. W, R. Ball's book,* to which the reader is referred for a comprehensive
historical account of the subject.
At rare intervals there have appeared men and boys who display extraordinary powers of mental
arithmetic. In a few seconds they can give the answer to questions which an expert mathematician
could obtain only in a much longer time with the aid of pencil and paper. Some of them have remained
otherwise illiterate; others, such as Gauss, Ampere, and Bidder, have risen to positions of eminence
as mathematicians, physicists, or engineers. Many of them seem to have taught themselves the rules
of arithmetic in their childhood, and to have learnt the multiplication table by playing with pebbles. Few
of these prodigies have been able to explain in detail how they achieve their apparently miraculous
results, but two of the most remarkable of them have been kind enough to discuss their methods with
us. We are therefore much indebted to Dr. A. C. Aitken, F.R.S., Professor of Mathematics in Edinburgh
University, to several of his old students, to Dr. Stokvis, and to Dr. van Wijngaarden and Mr. William
Klein of the Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, for the information which we have used in the
following pages.
As far as we can judge, Professor Aitken and Mr. Klein use very similar methods in their mental
computations; their speeds are quite comparable, and they are at least as fast as, and probably faster
than, any of the prodigies whose performances have been described in the past.
Both men have most remarkable memories - they know by heart the multiplication table up to 100 x
100, all squares up to 1000 x 1000, and an enormous number of odd facts, such as 3937 x 127 =
499999, which are very useful to them, and seem to arise instantaneously in their minds when they
are needed. In addition Mr. Klein knows by heart the logarithms of all numbers less than 100, and of all
prime numbers less than 10,000 (to twenty decimal places) so that he can work out sums like
compound interest by "looking up" the logs in his head, after factorizing the numbers he is using, if
need be. He has also learnt enough about the calendar to be able to give the day of the week
corresponding to any specified date in history; he learnt most of the Amsterdam telephone directory for
fun. Professor Aitken has neglected logarithms in favour of mathematical formulae and the piano
music and violin sonatas of Bach and Beethoven, but nevertheless he learnt 802 places of p by heart
in about fifteen minutes, an operation which to him was comparable in difficulty to learning a Bach
fugue.
If one realizes that in addition to their phenomenal memories both men possess an equally
phenomenal ability at mental arithmetic, one can begin to understand some of the feats which they
perform every day. Mr. Klein multiplies together numbers of up to six digits by six digits faster in his
head than an ordinary man can do by using a desk calculating machine. For example, he wrote down
the products of six pairs of three-digit numbers in nine seconds; an experienced calculating-machine
operator took a minute to do the same calculations.*
Mr. Klein multiplied
1388978361 x 5645418496 = 7841364129733165056
completely in his head, a calculation which involved twenty-five multiplications each of two two-digit
numbers and twenty-four additions of four-digit numbers - forty-nine operations in all - in sixty-four
seconds. The reader might care to try it himself with pencil and paper. A dozen of us tried it here in
Manchester; the times we took varied between six and sixteen minutes, and all our answers were
wrong excepting one.
Professor Aitken's students tell many stories of the prodigious ability in mental arithmetic which he
demonstrates in his lectures. For example, he is accustomed to ask members of his class to give him
at random nine numbers, each of two or three figures, which will form the elements of a 3 x 3 matrix.
He then mentally evaluates the nine co-factors and the determinant, thus obtaining the adjugate and
the inverse matrix. He also works out all four roots of a quartic equation with real roots, the coefficients
of which have been given to him by his class.
As an example of Professor Aitken's methods we shall describe the operations which he performed
while he was mentally evaluating the square root of 567, which he finally checked by comparing his
answer with 9V7. His method is based upon the fact that if a is a first approximation to Vn then ½(a +
n/a) is considerably closer, but his calculations are facilitated by his astonishing familiarity with tables
of reciprocals.
He noted 24 as a first approximation, and 23,8125 as a second (23,8125 = ½(24 + 567/24)). At the
same moment he recalled that 1000/42 = 23,809523 the digits of which are close to 23,8125. He
performed 567 x 42 = 23814 almost before he had thought what he was doing. Averaging
23,809523 ... and 23,8140 he had as a third approximation 23,81176190476. He recalled
simultaneously that 1/84 = 0,0117619047619 ... and in extraordinarily less time than it takes to
describe it, perhaps in three seconds at most, he registered 23,811762 as the square root he wanted.
But now, how many places are right? He noted that the mid-point of 23-8095 and 23,8140 commits an
error of deviation of 0,00225 or relatively, 1/10583. Like lightning he squared this and halved it, and
reduced his first answer by one part in 224 million, obtaining 23,8117617985, and announcing as a
second result 23,81176180 (in fact it is 23,8117617996). "It would be unreasonable," says Professor
Aitken, "to ask for anything more accurate. Words cannot describe the speed of association in these
matters, and the resources upon which the memory and the calculative faculty draw. The will rises and
makes a most powerful imperative; brain and memory obey like an electric switch."
All calculating prodigies acquire, with long experience, an astonishing familiarity with the properties of
numbers. For example, Professor Aitken was once asked to multiply 123456789 by 987654321; he
immediately remarked to himself that 987654321 is 80000000001/81, thereby converting a tedious
sum into a "gift." Asked for the recurring decimal form of 41/67, he multiplied numerator and
denominator by 597, obtaining 24477/39999, and writing down immediately
0,611940298507462686567164179104477.
Even as a schoolboy he was able to astonish his fellows by squaring 57586 in his head in two
seconds. He worked it out as follows, using the formula a2 = (a - b) (a + b) + b2.
 575862 = 57500 x 57672 + 862
= 23 x 144180000 + 862
= 3316147396.
These short cuts, which are an essential part of the repertoire of all mental prodigies, are quite beyond
the scope of a machine, which makes much better time by using straightforward methods once the
problem has been explained to it; but it is in this sort of way that Mr. Klein performs a type of
computation in which he has a most unusual skill. He can express prime numbers of the form 4n + 1
as the sum of two squares; if they can be expressed as 8n + 1, in the form 2c 2 + d2, etc. For example -
5881 = 752 + 162
= 2 x 542 + 72
= 3 x 322 + 532
= 5 x 92 + 742
= 7 x 242 + 432
all of which he did in 100 seconds. Any machine would take a relatively long time to do such a computation,
as it would have to work by a tedious process of trial and error. A mathematician would probably take an hour
or so to prepare a tape of instructions for a machine which was to handle the general case, a second or so to
feed in the particular number which he wanted to investigate, and the machine would take two or three
seconds at most to produce the whole series of squares once it had started to work. The point is, of course,
that the machine has to be told everything it needs to know for this particular problem, and even when it
knows how to proceed it may well take so long for a man to pose a problem to the machine that a human
calculator may have done the sum long before his colleague has had time to punch a tape with which to feed
the numbers into the machine.
A calculating prodigy draws continually on the accumulated experience of a lifetime's arithmetic and
both his "strategy" and his "tactics" are opportunist. Professor Aitken says: "Though these processes
take time to describe, they pass in the mind with prodigious speed, though with the ease and
relaxation of a good violinist playing a scale passage. Often the mind is so automatic that it anticipates
the will.
"The power of numerical memorizing came to me later than verbal, but rapidly improved with mental
calculation; and soon all three kinds, verbal, numerical and musical advanced equally. If the number to
be scanned had a strong mathematical interest, like p or e or Euler's constant y, or those almost
uncanny numbers like e pV163 which is 262537412640768743,999999999999250 (incredibly close to a
whole number), then I could hardly help absorbing them to very many decimal places.
"The numbers come into view as one needs them, but even to say that they come into 'view' gives a
false impression. It is not 'seeing' in the ordinary sense; it is a compound faculty that has never yet
been accurately described. The analogy of music will throw light on calculation. The violinist (unless he
is momentarily in a difficulty) docs not need to visualize the notes on the stave, or the fingering or the
bowing; the melody is everything - he is caught up in what he is playing. So it is with the mental
calculator; visualizing occurs last of all, and only as required when all else has been done."
The rest of us must be content to marvel.
Mr. William Klein's brother Leo, who died at the hands of the Gestapo during the war, was almost as
good a computer as William, and a better mathematician. Dr. Stokvis, of Amsterdam, made a
psychological study of the brothers;(1) he found that although their performances were very similar,
their methods of operation were quite different. For example, Mr. William Klein remembers numbers
"audibly"; he mutters to himself as he computes, he can be interrupted by loud noises, and if he ever
does make a mistake it is by confusing two numbers which sound alike. Leo, on the other hand,
remembered things "visually"; and if he made a mistake it was by confusing digits which look alike.
Both brothers were fascinated by numbers from their earliest childhood; William practised arithmetic
almost all the time, but Leo hardly ever. Leo studied mathematics at the university, but William read
medicine, took a medical degree, and had "walked the hospitals" before he finally decided to earn his
living as a computer. Dr. Stokvis investigated the effect of drugs and of hypnosis on Mr. William Klein,
and found that neither improved his performance as a computer if he was using methods in which he
was experienced and in which he had already achieved an "optimum" performance. Apparently Mr.
Klein forgot to go to Dr. Stokvis's lecture so that the public demonstration of his talent which had been
arranged had to be indefinitely postponed.
Many other mathematicians whose skill in arithmetic was much less than that of Professor Aitken or
Mr. Klein have nevertheless been fascinated by the properties of numbers. Professor Hardy once
visited the Indian mathematician Ramanujan, who was lying ill in hospital. To make interesting bed-
 side conversation Professor Hardy remarked that the number of his taxicab was 1729, which is a
multiple of 13, and said he hoped that this was not an ill-omen. "On the contrary," said the sick man,
brightening up at once, "1729 is a beautiful number; it is the smallest integer which can be expressed
in two different ways as the sum of two cubes." That it can be so expressed is fairly obvious; to prove
that it is the smallest such number may occupy the reader in leisure moments for some time, but he
may derive, in the process, some idea what mathematicians with a gift for arithmetic talk about in their
spare time.
The reader may feel that he is overwhelmed by the possibility of this kind of calculation, but before he
decides to take up farming instead of arithmetic let us for one moment consider the mental arithmetic
which is sometimes done by a certain Lakeland shepherd. During the course of a day his dog may
drive past him a flock of perhaps two thousand sheep. At the end of the day he knows not only how
many sheep are missing, but which sheep are missing. Now even if one assumes for purposes of
argument that a man can learn to tell the difference between one sheep and another, one must admit
that even a shepherd requires and can exploit a skill in mental arithmetic which few of us could ever
hope to achieve.

...

* Mathematical Recreations and Essays. See also Common Sense and Its Cultivation, by
Hanbury Hankin, and Mental Prodigies, by Fred Barlow.
* Kiyoshi Mastuzaki may have been a calculating prodigy, using his abacus as Mr. Klein might use his
pipe - to occupy his fingers (see page 6).

Monday November 1, 1954

W. R. Howard, President in the Chair

THE ART OF MENTAL CALCULATION; WITH

DEMONSTRATIONS
By Professor A. C. AITKEN,
M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., Hon.F.S.E.
The President extended a hearty welcome to the guests who were present and
expressed (he hope that they would have an enjoyable evening.
Professor Aitken, he said, needed little introduction. He was born and educated
in New Zealand, but after war-time service with the New Zealand Forces in the
1914-18 War, where he was seriously wounded, he returned to New Zealand and
eventually went to Edinburgh in 1923 for post-graduate study in mathematics. In
1925 he was appointed to a lectureship in Statistics and Mathematical
Economics in Edinburgh University.
He had written textbooks on algebra and statistical mathematics, was joint
author of a textbook on higher algebra, and likewise the author of some seventy
memoirs and papers on mathematical subjects.
Notices of the meeting indicated a few of the honours which had been bestowed
upon the lecturer, and when he himself visited Edinburgh in May of this year to
attend the centenary celebrations of the Society, it was his privilege to hand to
Professor Aitken the Diploma of Honorary Fellowship of the Society, which was
the greatest honour the Society could bestow.

PROFESSOR AITKEN
I wish first of all to express my sense of the honour conferred on me by the
Society of Engineers in electing me an Honorary Fellow in its centenary year,
and in inviting me to give a lecture to its members on the present occasion. I
was, I must confess, a little doubtful concerning my qualification to do this. It is
true that our sub-department of Technical Mathematics in the University of
Edinburgh has for half a century taken its part in preparing future graduates in
Engineering, who are now to be found in all parts of the world. Yet I am myself
not a professional engineer, and my published work, though quite a proportion
of it concerns numerical analysis and was conceived with the modern
calculating machine in view, is, I fear, rather abstrusely algebraic and does not
lend itself to general discourse. I was assured, however, by some Fellows of the
Society that if I shook off a certain reluctance and spoke more freely than I have
hitherto done on one of my personal proclivities, namely a bent, very
unfashionable in the present era, for extensive mental calculation, I should meet
a not unfriendly audience. Therefore I decided to do this, strengthened by the
reflection that there was an excellent precedent; for in February 1856, nearly
100 years ago, George Parker Bidder, a notable calculator to whom I shall refer
later, in his capacity of President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (and
doubtless on request), gave an address on Mental Calculation, describing and
exemplifying his own methods. (This is to be found in the Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. xv, 1855-56; and vol. Ivii, 1878-79.) Bidder's
address is in fact the locus classicus on the topic, the most detailed and
straightforward account in existence, and by a professional man of standing.
I may remark that I think demonstrations of rapid mental calculation should be
reserved for educative and instructional occasions. I deplore all tendency to
surround the faculty with an aura of the marvellous, as I likewise deplore certain
traces of something like charlatanism that I fancy I perceive here and there in the
historical records. Before the present audience I shall feel no constraint, since I
am sure they will perceive my didactic intention.
First, some brief historical remarks. At rare intervals so-called "lightning
calculators" are observed, quite often persons possessing the minimum of
general intelligence, almost idiots, but obsessed by menial arithmetic and
capable of astonishing feats. You will find these prodigies described and
compared in such works as W. W. Rouse Ball's Mathematical Recreations and
Essays, in the Napier Tercentenary Celebration Handbook (article by W. G.
Smith, M.A., Ph.D., pp. 60-68), or in Mr. Fred Barlow's Mental Prodigies
(Hutchinson, 1951); while two in particular, the famous Jacques Inaudi, who
died only four years ago, and an Ionian Greek, Pericles Biamandi, were
subjected in 1895 to a series of tests by the famous French psychologist Binet.
You will lied reference to Jedediah Buxton, a Derbyshire ploughman of the 18th
century; to Zerah Colburn, an American youth of the early 19th; to Zacharias
Base, of a hundred years ago, whose powers were employed for making tables
of factors, prime numbers and logarithms; Henri Mondeux - but I need merely
refer you to Rouse Ball or to Mr. Barlow's book. One with much more education
and intelligence than most of those was George Parker Bidder (1805-1878), "the
elder Bidder," whom I have mentioned, who interests us all here as having been
a notable professional engineer, and who especially interests me in that he
attended the University of Edinburgh and gained the prize in mathematics there
in 1822. His son, bearing the same name, a barrister and Queen's Counsel, was
similarly gifted, though not so strongly. Both admit that they practised
incessantly. I merely remark that they were fortunate in having leisure to do so.
Of noted mathematicians, not many have been rapid mental calculators: John
Wallis, Euler, Gauss; possibly the Indian, Srinivasa Ramanujan, though perhaps
he hardly came into the really rapid class. But Gauss was certainly a prodigy,
showing it, moreover, as a very young child.
For the most part, then, the faculty is extraordinarily infrequent, the instances
are few, and biographically of hardly any general interest whatever. But with
perhaps only one exception (and it is a doubtful one), all these calculators,
whether undistinguished in other respects, as the very great majority are, or
outstanding, like the illustrious Gauss, were child prodigies in this special talent.
May I remark at this point that I never was; not until I was at secondary school
and approaching fourteen years of age did I look into arithmetic from this point
of view, and it was then not arithmetic at all, but algebra, that first stimulated my
interest in the processes of calculation. Incidentally, I regard mental algebra as
on a much higher plane than mental arithmetic, and incomparably more
rewarding.
There is perhaps time for brief digression, for a very remote cast into the past.
Recent work in deciphering cuneiform inscriptions seems to prove that the
Babylonians of 3 600 years ago were arithmeticians of very high proficiency.
There is one inscription which gives a list of triads of integers which can be the
three sides of a right-angled triangle. The Babylonians used simultaneously our
scale of ten and a scale of sixty, the sexagesimal. Their multiplication table ran
to 59 times 59, expressed in sexagesimals, and there has actually been found a
table of reciprocals, giving to three places the sexagesimal equivalent of
fractions from 1/40 to 1/80. I incline to think (though of course I have no proof)
that among these Babylonians there were some who knew by heart their
multiplication table.
But now to our subject. What kind of sums are the stock-in-trade of the rapid
calculator? I would say, for the most part very ordinary ones, which personally I
find rather dull, involving one or two multiplications and perhaps a division or
two; with large numbers, of course. For example a problem like the following,
which was proposed to the elder Bidder:
"The Equator has 360 degrees of longitude, each degree measuring there 69½
miles; how many coins each of diameter 13/8 inches would span the Equator?"
(Answer: 46 080 by 25 020=1 152 921 600, by noting that mental multiplication
by 25 is division by 4, and by 20 is mere doubling; having observed first that
360 by 69½ is 25 020. This was not how Bidder did it.)
Or again - this was asked of another calculator - "What is the cube root of 327
082 769?"
(Answer: 689, since by inspection it must be a little less than 700, for 7 cubed is
343; also it must end in 9, and cannot be 699.) [ Such cube-rooting (and there is
a good deal of it in the records) is almost trivial, since the important digits yield
by inspection the first I digit, and mere inspection of the last digit of the
proposed number gives; the last digit of the answer (for example 7 would give 3,
while 3 would i give 7); the rest is commonsense, having no reference at all to
the other digits. The real test of ability to do square, cube or any other root is, in
my view, to have a number proposed that is not an exact power, and to I be
asked to give the answer to several decimals; but this type of question you will
hardly find in the published records.
As I have said, I began myself, as a boy of thirteen or more, with algebra. With
advancing years I will not now try what sanguine youth then prompted me to try,
for instance to square numbers of eight, nine or ten digits. I will be satisfied to
leave that to the machine which, whatever anyone may say, is now faster than
any mental prodigy. But I will ask for a few numbers of three or four digits to be
given to me (Dr. Taylor has very kindly gone to the trouble of preparing
questions for me), and I will square them.
[Dr. Taylor here asked for the squares of the three-digit numbers 251, 299, 413,
568, 596, 777 and 983, each of which was correctly given almost
instantaneously, 568 and 777 taking a little longer. Dr. Taylor then proposed the
four-digit numbers 3 189 and 6 371; in each case the square was given in about
five seconds, the lecturer making a momentary error and correcting it in the first
case.]
All that I use, perhaps more than once in the course of a calculation, is the
algebraic identity a⊃ = (a+b) (a-b) + b², where a + b or a - b is conveniently
chosen, one or other of these numbers ending in one or more zeros, and b being
relatively small. For example, when Dr. Taylor asked me to square 777, I took b
as 23, mentally multiplied 754 by 800, and added the square of 23, namely 529.
The same with the rest; some wore especially easy.
You can see that, with some practice, such as nowadays I have not the leisure to
afford, it would be possible to square mentally numbers of five or six digits in a
very short time; but why do so, when an electrical machine is at one's elbow?

Square Root. The central idea here is Newton's; but, remarkable to state, the
Babylonians have it in their cuneiform inscriptions, and so did the wonderful
Archimedes, the Syracusan Greek. I will consider the square root of 51. As a
first approximation for the square root, 7 will serve. Note then that 51/7 is
another. The mean of the two, that is, of divisor and quotient, is 50/7, and this,
7.1428..., is a much better approximation.
But we might have begun with 50/7, and then, dividing 51 by it, we have 7.14.
The mean of divisor and quotient is now 7.1414285... , and in fact Barlow's
Tables give 7.1414284 to 8 significant digits.
But the resources of mental division are not exhausted even here. An expert
would know very well that 7.14141414... is 707/99, and dividing 51 by this we
have 5049/707, easily accomplished by dividing by 101 first, yielding
49.990099009900... and then by 7, so that we have 7.141442715700... , and the
mean of this and 7.14141414141414... is 7.14142842857 to 12 digits, whereas
the true value of the square root of 51 is 7.14142842854 to that degree of
accuracy.
I am making the point here that this can be done mentally by an expert
calculator. The great thing is to seize on a good and useful first approximation;
and here experience, resource and opportunism are required; also a certain
steadfastness of purpose, for in mid-calculation it may flash upon one that a
better approximation had been available, but one must resolutely ignore that and
keep on riding the inferior horse.
I will now ask for some numbers to be proposed for extraction of square root.
[Dr. Taylor here proposed several of the previous numbers, namely 251, 299,
413, 596, 777. In each case the square root was given in two or three seconds to
five significant digits, with the remark that for 299 and 596 the last digit might
be in excess, as it was. Dr. Taylor then proposed the four-digit numbers 3189
and 8765. In each case the result was quickly given to five digits.]
To revert to 51. How near is 50/7 to the square root? It was got from a divisor 7
and quotient 51/7. These are in ratio 49 : 51. The halfway mark between them is
50; I will say therefore that both 7 and 51/7 "deviate" by 1 in 50. The square of
this is 1 in 2500. I double and say, 1 in 5000. Now 50/7 reduced by 1 in 5000 is
4999/700 = 7.1414285
remarkably near the true value 7.1414284..., and in fact identical with the
second approximation given above. It is clear by this time that we have several
methods to choose from. There is yet another. Looking again at the first pair, 7
and 51/7, we note once more their ratio 49 : 51. Quarter the distance between 49
and 51, and take the first and third quarter, namely 49½, 50½, their ratio being
99 : 101. I say then that
7 by 102/99 = 7.14141414...
is a good approximation to the square root of 51. Alternatively that
51/7 by 99/101 = 7.141442715700...
is equally good; but we have met both of these before, and have seen that their
average is spectacularly good. There are even subtler and more powerful
approximations still. There is one known to me, quite simple, which I may
illustrate by saying that in our example here (rather hard worn by now) we could
correct 50/7 by reducing it not by 1 in 5000, but by 1 in 4999½. The result is
7.141428428557..., as against 7.141428428543
and so committing an error of 1 in 500 000 000 000. This is an extreme
approximation for square root; and I have never gone beyond it in mental
calculation.

Cube Root. I will take for illustration the cube root of 128. You can see that it
must be near 5, since the cube of 5 is 125. Trisect the interval from 125 to 128.
The "middle third" yields the ratio 126:127. I assert that
5 by 127/126 = 5.0396825...
is very close to the required cube root, which is in fact 5.0396842 eight
significant digits. This method of "thirding" is here ever so slightly in defect; it
is the business of the algebraist to ascertain the formula for the small error
committed. I will not go into these delicate refinements. Here of course a
proposed number may prove rather intractable, being remote from any suitable
cube of an integer, or of a fraction with small denominator. I may mention also a
similar method which I call "sixthing." Here for example we have that 128 is 5
by 5 by 5.12. I divide that former interval, 125 to 128, into six parts, and taking
the first and the fifth of these I form the ratio 251:255. We have then
5.12 by 251/255 = 5.0396863,
an approximation almost as good as the other, this time slightly in excess. I am
not aware that this approximation has ever received notice.
As for higher roots, fourth, fifth and so on, they can be done by mental
calculation using appropriate devices (such as "fifthing" for the fifth root); but
they become progressively more difficult.

Decimalization of Fractions. Now I pass to something which I find of great use,

as must already have been observed, but which I hardly find at all in the
literature of mental calculation; namely the expression of the reciprocals of
numbers, or of vulgar fractions generally, as decimals, in particular as recurring
decimals.
To begin with a very elementary example, it is not generally known that one can
divide by a number like 59, or 79, or 109, or 599, and so on, by short division.
Take for example 1/59, which is nearly 1/60. Set out division thus:
6 / 1.016949152...
0.0169491525...
Here we have the decimal for 1/59, obtained by dividing 1 by 60; as we obtain
each digit we merely enter it in the dividend, one place later, and continue with
the division.
As another example consider 5/23. Write it as 15/69. Then proceed:
7 / 15.21739130...
0.217391304...
In fact 5/23 = 0.2173913043478260869565, a recurring decimal with a period of
22 digits. One could equally well have written it as 65/299, then carrying out
division by 3, two digits at a time, and entering in the dividend two places
further along.
[Dr. Taylor here proposed 71/83 and 31/67. In each case the first five digits of
the decimal were given at once, but the lecturer remarked on a curious and
unusual inhibition, preventing him from running on freely with many more
digits. On the other hand, 47/91 was given at once as 0.516483, the six digits
being said to recur.]
There are other possibilities. For example the mental calculator is, or should be,
very familiar with the factorization of numbers; he should know not merely that
23 times 13 is 299, but that 23 times 87 is 2001. For example 5/13 is equal to
435/2001; and if we note that 435 is the same as 434.999999999..., we have
another method, in which, as we obtain the digits, we subtract them from the
dividend, so many places later. Thus in the present case:
2 / 434 782 608 695 652 ...
217 391 304 347 ...
For example 217 from 999 gives 782, which we then divide by 2, obtaining 391;
this, subtracted from 999, gives 608; and so on.
My aim has been to demonstrate, in these various rather simple examples, some
part of the repertoire, the armoury of resource upon which (as I hold) a mental
calculator may draw, and in regard to the choice of which he must make
instantaneous decisions, and keep to them.
[Here the remark was made that memory and calculation were sometimes almost
indistinguishable to the calculator. This was illustrated by the recitation of the 96
digits of the recurring period of the decimal for 1/97, checked by Dr. Taylor.
Probably because 97 was the largest prime number less than 100, this particular
example had been frequently proposed.]

Primes and Factorization. The memory of significant results and serviceable

devices plays a predominant part in the equipment of the mental calculator;
almost exclusively so in the question of recognizing prime numbers, or of
factorizing composite numbers. In my brief introductory remarks I mentioned
that Zacharias Dase compiled factor tables. He would doubtless have been told
by Gauss such important facts as Fermat's Theorem, namely that every prime of
the form 4m+1 is the sum of two squares in one way only. If we find that a
number is the sum of two squares in two different ways, then it is not a prime,
and there is a simple algebraic technique for its factorization. Let us ask: is 977,
the half of 1954, the number of the present year, a prime? One sees it to be 961
plus 16, the sum of the squares of 31 and 4; and a very rapid trial, since we have
only to try, for one of the terms, squares above 22 squared, assures us that there
is no other such resolution. Thus 977 is a prime.
I will now try to recognize whether proposed numbers are primes, or to factorize
them if they should prove to be composite.
[Here Dr. Taylor proposed the numbers 1327, 871, 989, 401, 1193, 1157, 1447,
901 and 1369. The primes 1327, 401, 1193 and 1447 were instantly recognized,
except for a moment of hesitation about 1447. The factorizations of the rest,
namely 13 by 67, 23 by 43, 13 by 89, 17 by 53, and 37 squared, were given at
once.]

Memory. Last of all, before I pass to psychological considerations, before I ask

whether the visual, or the auditory, or the rhythmic, plays the principal part in
mental calculation, I shall say something about memorizing. My memory is not
as good as it was some twenty or twenty-five years ago. At that time I found it
easy to remember not only numbers and formulae and mathematical proofs, but
music and poetry and indeed most things. The one requisite was that a live
interest in the subject should fix an uncdeviating attention. Mnemonics I have
never used, and deeply distrust. They merely perturb with alien and irrelevant
association a faculty that should be pure and limpid. Our present civilization, not
only urban but rural, full of noise and interruption as it is, offers every hindrance
to that relaxed meditation upon which the strength of memory thrives best. I
grew up in a remote part of the Empire, before the days of radio, when even the
telephone, that modern necessity but chief among the interrupters of thought,
was a rarity.
This is incidental. Memory in my own case is visual if I desire, though in the
main auditory, but resting on a rhythmic foundation. I was interested to find Mr.
Fred Barlow, in his book (p. 149), referring to the "appalling waste of time and
energy" committed by Dagbert, a French calculator. Dagbert claimed to have
memorized it to the 707 places of decimals to which it had been calculated by
W. Shanks in 1873. It amused me to think that I had done this myself some years
before Dagbert, and had found it no trouble whatever. All that had been
necessary was to range the digits in rows of fifty each, each fifty being divided
into ten groups of five, and to read these off in a particular rhythm. It would
have been a reprehensibly useless feat, had it not been so easy.
[This was illustrated first by reciting p to 250 digits, the five-rhythm being in
evidence. Dr. Taylor then proposed that the run of decimals from the 301st
place, beginning with 72458, should be given. After 150 had been given, he then
asked that the same should be done at the 551st place, beginning with 80943.
This was also done, being checked by Dr. Taylor from the value computed to
1000 decimals, mentioned in the next paragraph.].
Some twenty years later I learned that this feat had indeed been a waste of time,
in that Shanks, noted and responsible calculator though he was, had gone wrong
at the 528th place, and that the last 180 digits of his value were therefore
erroneous. Quite recently the famous electronic machine ENIAC has shown up
in the strongest light the puerility of the efforts of the human calculator, by
evaluating and checking p to 2035 decimals in 70 hours. I amused myself again
by learning the correct value as far as 1000 places, and once again found it no
trouble, except that I needed to "fix" the join where Shank's error had occurred.
The secret, to my mind, is relaxation, the complete antithesis of concentration as
usually understood.
Interest is necessary. A random sequence of numbers, of no arithmetical or
mathematical significance, would repel me. Were it necessary to memorize
them, one might do so, but against the grain.
Finally, the psychological analysis. The fastest mental calculators seem to have
been of auditory, not of visual, type. Mr. Wim Klein, whom I recently met and
who is notably fast in performing multiplications, finds it necessary to speak
rapidly in Dutch while he is calculating. The visualizers, almost without
exception, are slower; the Greek, Pericles Diamandi, was found by Binet to take
about six times as long in his calculations as Inaudi, who was of auditory-
rhythmic type. (This is one of the most interesting comparisons in the literature.)
I myself can visualize if I wish, and at intervals in a calculation, and also at the
end when all is done, the numbers come into focus; but mostly it is as if they
were hidden under some medium, though being moved about with decisive
exactness in regard to order and ranging; I am aware in particular that redundant
zeros, at the beginning or at the end of numbers, never occur intermediately. But
I think that it is neither seeing nor hearing; it is a compound faculty of which I
have nowhere seen an adequate description; though for that matter neither
musical memorization nor musical composition in the mental sense have been
adequately described either. I have noticed also at times that the mind has
anticipated the will; I have had an answer before I even wished to do the
calculation; I have checked it, and am always surprised that it is correct. This, I
suppose (but the terminology may not be right), is the subconscious in action; I
think it can be in action at several levels; and I believe that each of these levels
has its own velocity, different from that of our ordinary waking time, in which
our processes of thought are rather tardy. But here I am conscious of wading into
deep waters; I am in danger of vagueness and imprecision. Therefore I cut short
such introspective analysis.
The machine, whether desk, hand or electric, or electronic, is bound to have a
deleterious effect on mental calculation. When I came from New Zealand thirty
years ago and first used an arithmometer, even of the antiquated types then
available, I saw at once how useless it was, how gratuitously useless, to carry
out for myself any mental multiplication of large numbers. Almost automatically
I cut down my faculty in that direction, though I still kept up squaring and
reciprocating and square-rooting, which have a more algebraic basis and a
statistical use. But I am convinced that my ability deteriorated after that first
encounter.
Mental calculators, then, may, like the Tasmanian or the Moriori, be-doomed to
extinction. Therefore - if you have borne with me so far - you may be able to
feel an almost anthropological interest in surveying a curious specimen, and
some of my auditors here may be able to say in the year A.D. 2000, "Yes, I knew
one such."
I thank you for your kind attention to these discursive remarks.

VOTE OF THANKS
The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, said he was not
really capable of doing justice to the occasion. He was sure many people far
better fitted than he had done so on many many occasions, and it would be
impertinence on his part to try to pay all the compliments that were due to
Professor Aitken.
He had shown ability - if he (Mr. Howard) might say so-quite out of the run of
ordinary mortals. Such skill and ability in dealing with calculations established
that he was unique, and one could well understand the reasons for the numerous
awards and honours that had been granted to him. His method of relaxation was
quite different from that of ordinary individuals! !
However, very briefly but most sincerely, on behalf of all present and on behalf
of the Council of the Society, he tendered the very best thanks to Professor
Aitken for making the journey from Edinburgh to address the meeting that
evening.
The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.
 DISCUSSION
Dr. H. G. Taylor said that it was interesting, since this was the Society of
Engineers, to link what Professor Aitken had said with engineering. There were,
in engineering, a number of problems which could be solved the more easily
with the mental ability he had shown. In the structural field, calculations caused
a good deal of trouble and took days, if not weeks, to carry out. The practice of
his methods would help considerably, if the necessary ability could be
developed.
He himself had discovered that Sir Charles Parsons had, in a way, something of
the same characteristics; though he was perhaps not a marvellous calculator. In
reading a biographical note about him only the other day, he had come across
the following. In engineering, although he was Eleventh Wrangler in his year (he
was at St. John's. College, Cambridge), he found formal calculation of very little
interest. He generally reached his results almost instinctively by some obscure
mental process which even he himself did not properly understand.
He rather gathered from what Professor Aitken had said that he did not entirely
understand how his wonderful brain worked, and it would seem that Sir Charles
Parsons had something of the same sort of brain.
His achievements in engineering were, of course, well known and perhaps this
was partly the explanation for them.
To turn to the lecture, he could not refrain from paying tribute to those
incredible people who learnt all the sexagesimal scale and who knew
multiplication up to 59 x 59. It must have made the child's life far more tiresome
than it was now. When one considered the trouble one had to get children to go
up to 12 x 12 and remembered all that lay between that and 59 x 59, one realised
that it must have been a very foul period. Perhaps not much else was learnt in
those days.
Professor Aitken had shown his method of calculating cube roots, and it seemed
to be a pretty good method. It worked very well, and some people could make it
work with paper and pencil. Everybody knew square roots and most people
probably knew there was an arithmetical method of doing cube roots. But when
he was faced with the problem of providing questions, he obviously did not
know himself what to do! However, one could always take a number and cube
it.
Professor Aitken made the very interesting remark that if one started on the
wrong track, one should not stop in the middle of a calculation, although one
realised that there was a better way of doing it. It seemed obvious that his mind
was working at two things at once. When he was asked to produce an answer
very quickly, he wasted half the time saying how difficult it was. No doubt, he
was only giving himself time.
He had asked Professor Aitken, when he lectured at the branch in Scotland, why
if he had such a wonderful memory, he went to the trouble of writing down his
lecture. The reply was that he could do so but did not want too much
showmanship. Professor Aitken had noticed people in the audience whom he
had not seen for many years - Dr. C. E. R. Brace, for instance - and had even
remembered their initials.
It was interesting that he had a memory for things other than figures. Perhaps he
would give the meeting some information about them. For example, he gave a
remarkable display to the psychologists at Edinburgh who wanted to know how
his brain worked with music. It was a remarkable achievement in memorising
passages of music just as well as he memorised strings of figures.

Professor Aitken said he was not sure how to tackle Dr. Taylor's questions.
Which did he regard as the most important?

Dr. Taylor said everyone was interested in cube root.

Professor Aitken thought it would take too long to explain and would convert
the room into something like a class room. There was a method - Homer's
method - of extracting not merely cube root but the root of any algebraical
equation. The ordinary square root one learnt at school was just Homer's method
diluted for school children. The cube root was also Homer's method but it was
not given in many books. He could think only of Workman's Arithmetic, where
it was given in some detail.
This brought him to the question about the ability of the Babylonians and the
multiplication table up to 59 x 59, and the trial it must have been to the
Babylonian children. It was not; because they did not have to learn it. Education
among the Babylonians was not education in the modern sense. There was a
consecrated priesthood of Chaldeans - astronomers - and they were set aside. He
imagined that what might be called the proletarians had very little to do with
calculation at all. It was this high priesthood and their novices and acolytes who,
by a special vocation, were dedicated to arithmetic and calculation and
astronomy. They were a caste set apart.
The inscriptions to which he had referred were very special indeed. They were
marvellously interesting. It was wonderful to see in the very modern books on
the history of ancient mathematics these cuneiform inscriptions and to learn to
decipher them for oneself, the sexagesimal system, for instance, and to see what
they were doing. He had some ideas about that. He might write something of
what he saw in these tablets which had, he thought, escaped the commentators.

Mr. Green said he would like to limit himself to one question, if he might. It
was clear from what Professor Aitken had said that in some of the calculations
there were various stages. There was a certain calculation to be carried out
mentally, and there was a different sort of calculation to be worked out. In the
end the two had to be collated. The Professor had explained that in some
mysterious way he was conscious of two calculations going on at once. But
sometimes there must be even more than two. Would he be good enough to
explain, if he knew the answer, whether, having arrived at an intermediate result
he was able to store it away in his memory so that it was no longer an
encumbrance and he could get on with an entirely different sort of calculation?
Could he, at will, bring this earlier calculation out of the attic, dust it, and
combine it with later ones in order to produce a composite answer?

Professor Aitken replied that he was able to put aside in storage for a future
occasion a result that had already been obtained. He knew that he would be able
to bring it out correctly. It would have been noticed in his demonstrations that if
he was diffident - as he had been once or twice - he was not so good and might
make an error.
He thought this ability to put an answer in storage was what distinguished the
calculator from what might be called the man in the street. The man in the street
forgot the stages between. One of the most interesting things about Bidder was
that he did his stages one at a time and each one obliterated the preceding stages.
He went from A to B to C to D, and finally he arrived at the answer PQR. He
himself did not work in that way: nothing was obliterated. He could pull
everything out tit any time in the course of the calculation.

Mr. Lewis said he was expert at going up and down columns of Figures and
getting them wrong. The answer was to take the greater number for an expense
account and to split the difference and call it a day for an engineering account!
Engineers had to deal with a vast range of science, chemistry, physics,
mathematics, and so on. If they could train their memories to store more facts
than some of them seemed to be able to do it, it would be of great advantage to
them. It was not of much use to an engineer to be able to remember p to one
hundred places. But to remember odd bits of chemistry and physics, different
formulas, and so on, would be of immense use to him.
He had heard of people who stored numbers. A telephonist had once told him
she had an amazing facility for remembering literally hundreds of numbers. He
had said to her that with an amazing memory like that she must find it easy to
memorise the Saturday morning shopping list. "Oh, no," she had replied, "my
memory is like a shelf. If I add one more book at one end, a book falls off at the
far end. At this moment it in chock-a-block with telephone numbers."

Professor Aitken said he had never found until recently that if a book was
added at one end another fell off at the far end. It might he that he was reaching
the age when this was the case.
He had been interested in many things, other than mathematics. Calculation did
not interest him nearly so much as might be thought. He was far more interested
in algebra; in very high algebra and very high analysis, in modem analysis and
probabilities and all kinds of things. His interest was far greater in these than in
casual and occasional calculations, which had just happened.
He was also far more interested in literature and music and very many more
things. He was interested in history; he was interested in economics. Interest was
the thing. Interest focussed the attention. One practised a bit and at first one
might have to concentrate, but as soon as possible one should relax. Very few
people did that. Unfortunately, it was not taught at school. It was not taught in
the Scottish schools where knowledge was acquired by rote, by learning by
heart, sometimes against the grain. The thing to do was to learn by heart not
because one had to but because one loved the thing and was interested in it.
These were the first stages. It was like Yoga. It was practised in the physical
plane but in the mental plane as well. One had to concentrate at first-to put
chains on oneself. But there came a time when one in no way felt the chains at
all. Then one had moved away from concentration to relaxation.
As to the subconscious, everybody had solved problems in their sleep. He did
not suppose there was a single person in the room who had not wakened up with
the thing clear in the morning when it was far from clear at night.
He himself made a practice of it, again by confidence. That was to say, at an
hour not too late - say 10.30 or 11 p.m. - feeling that a piece of research was
becoming rather turgid, one forgot about it and played something on the piano,
or the viola, or the violin. In the morning early, perhaps at 2.30 a.m., one put on
the light and wrote.

Dr. C. E. R. Bruce said he remembered reading in Hadamard's book how, when

this subconscious process was going on, he could look down and watch what
was happening. The subconscious kept pushing up little solutions into his mind
and his conscious mind could look down and watch the process going on. He
supposed that that was not possible in Professor Aitken's calculations. There
would be no time.

Professor Aitken said there was no time to split oneself into two and watch
what one was doing.

Dr. Bruce, continuing, said he supposed one would get into the position of a
centipede asking which leg came before which.
These powers were so exceptional that he wondered whether there was anything
of a distribution of them among the populace. Was this something absolutely
exceptional, right beyond the pale of distribution? It was an entirely different
process from the processes of ordinary mortals. it was really out of all
comparison with the normal processes adopted in calculation.

Professor Aitken said he was not sure about this. When he began at school
himself it was not so remarkable. He did not win the prize in arithmetic in his
first year at secondary school. He thought he was rattier poor at arithmetic. It
was only when his interest was fructified by an encounter with algebra that he
began to move ahead so quickly.
He understood the question to be whether the ability was different in degree or
kind. He thought it was different only in degree. He had heard of calculators and
had got to know them. He had not gone out of the way particularly to make their
acquaintance. He had met a few who had local or other reputations. They were
not so very remarkable. To tell the truth, he thought the ability was very rare, but
if one had the germs of it, one could develop it by application, as he himself had
done.
He should mention that there was heredity in it. His father was quite good. He
had helped his father with his books after school. When they added a column
one up and the other down they got the same answer.
His father was an excellent arithmetician and it was probably his example that
shielded him (Professor Aitken) from fear about arithmetic. Many persons had
fear about arithmetic and that handicapped them. There was no fear in his family
at all.
His father's elder brother, whom he himself had never seen because he went to
Australia to make his career, the first in that generation, by family tradition, was
very remarkable. He did all his calculations, as did Professor Aitken himself,
mentally and without paper. He was a farmer's son and it fell to him to work out
volumes of timber and barrels, and so on. He had perhaps found in a book on
mensuration Simpson's formula or variants of it and did them in his head. His
(Professor Aitken's) father used to say that his uncle was the best arithmetician
he had ever known by far and by far, and this legend or tradition was preserved
in the family. He supposed that was why when he became thirteen or fourteen he
wanted to be something like Uncle Tom. His own daughter said quite frankly
that one mathematician in a family was enough. She could work out square
numbers as quickly as he could without trouble. If she thought it worth while,
she could do some of the things he did, but she did not think it worth while. He
thought it could be developed by small degrees, but he thought it developed
exponentially and that each step was more rewarding, after a while. In the end
one got clean away from the ordinary distribution which one would imagine to
be among the populace. That was what he thought, but he might be wrong.

Mr. Boyd thanked the Society for allowing him to attend the meeting. It was a
long time, he said, since he had so thoroughly enjoyed an evening, and questions
simply bubbled up in his mind.
He would like, however, to stick to principles. He wondered whether Professor
Aitken had analysed this extraordinary mental machine which he possessed. He
obviously had analysed it very thoroughly, and it was to be hoped that he would
publish the results for posterity. It had a very utilitarian purpose in connection
with the development of calculating machines. No doubt he had already placed
it at the disposal of the experts. It must have a more general application,
however, and would be of enormous value to students and engineers and all
sorts of people. It would be of great advantage to be able to control one's mental
processes better.
In his calculating machine did Professor Aitken use a different radix from the
one people were accustomed to? It was usual to use the binary system. Did he
ever find it useful to do such a thing in his own mind?

Professor Aitken said this was a very interesting question. He was asked
whether he used the binary scale, or perhaps the scale of eight, as Mr. E. W.
Phillips had once suggested. He had not used this, but he once used the scale of
twelve. He used it for amusement to see whether it could be done.
He carried out mental arithmetic in the duodecimal scale with twelve instead of
ten and found that he could be very proficient in that too. It was very useful.
There was one-third in the duodecimal scale - 0.4 - because 3 x 4 = 12, one-sixth
= 0.2; and so on. There were also terminating decimals, and factorials with
strings of noughts because there was a high power of twelve. After a while he
stopped because he did not see any future in the duodecimal system.
There was an enthusiast about the world at that time - George S. Terry, of
Massachusetts - who believed that if mankind would only adopt the duodecimal
system, peace in our time would be ensured. The logic might not be clear to
those present, and it was not quite clear to him either.

Professor Bickley said it had been enjoyable to watch Professor Aitken at work
and see the remarkable things he could do. He would like to know why 67 was
so difficult: sometimes one could learn almost as much from the things one
could not do as from the things one could.

Professor Aitken said it was really a question of what he might call

undercutting or overcutting his drive. 67 ought to have been a gift, but it was
not. He just missed it. 67 x 597 was 39,999. This was 40,000 minus 1.
Ordinarily he would have made instant use of this.

Mr. G. Coates asked whether Professor Aitken ever worked with much cruder
approximations than he had mentioned. He himself was acquainted with the fact
that the square root of 10 was 3.162 and that p was 3.142 or thereabouts. He was
accustomed to those numbers for about fifteen years before it dawned on him
that they were very close together. Whenever he had a square root and it in the
same calculation, he played with the square root until it came to something with
a 10 and, of course, after that it did not matter. One could still cross out p5 or p7.
With that crude approximation one could shorten a number of calculations. If he
was lucky it did not take him longer than with a slide rule. If he was unlucky it
took him about ten thousand times as long as it would take Professor Aitken.
The point was that this trick which he imagined was known to a lot of people,
together with a number of other such tricks, depended on a very crude
approximation, about 1 per cent. That was quite good enough for a lot of people
who wanted approximate results. Did Professor Aitken use this technique, and if
so could be give any examples?

Professor Aitken said he did not use this technique. He might begin with a
crude approximation, but it was his method to deduce a better approximation
from it, and from that a very much better one. In raising to high powers there
would be a fairly considerable error in approximating 3.162 to 3.142. If one
started with an error which was 1 in 150 and raised it to 6 in 150, or 4 per cent,
this would be outside the limits of tolerance in the engineering sense.
As for the square root of 10 as an approximation to p, Mr. Coates was late in the
 field. Some of the Greeks had it and the Egyptians had 256/81, which is the
square of 16/9 and equals 3.1605.

Mr. J. N. Walker asked whether Professor Aitken made use in recognising

prime numbers and factors of the sum of the sum of the digits.

Professor Aitken said he did not. Was it casting out nines that that was meant?
No doubt Mr. Walker was thinking of digital root. This had no interest whatever
for him. When he was asked a question about, say, 1327, he asked himself
whether it was a prime or not. If it was not a prime he asked himself what were
its factors and that threw up the thing straight away.

The President, in closing the meeting, said that a formal vote of thanks had
already been passed, but he felt sure everyone would wish him to say how much
they had appreciated the way in which Professor Aitken had dealt with the
discussion and the inimitable manner in which he had replied to the questions
that had been put to him.

Mnemonic - Articles
The Magic of NUMBERS
Robert Tocquet. 1960
(First publicated in France in 1957 by Pierre Amiot as "2 + 2 = 4")

While the facts given in this book are sound, the

author's intention is to amuse rather than instruct.
For this reason "textbook" terminology has been
avoided wherever possible.
Chapret 1
Yesterday and Today

L IGHTNING CALCULATORS, especially when illiterate, have drawn the attention of the public in all
Ages by their extraordinary abilities. They can solve in their heads, sometimes instantaneously and without
apparent effort, problems often so complicated that most of us, even mathematicians accustomed to juggle
with figures, could solve them only with pencil and paper and over a much longer time, without being sure
even then of succeeding. Some of them, too, when they have been set a problem, can talk freely with
bystanders, discussing subjects completely foreign to the question they are dealing with, and then suddenly
give the required solution, as if a cerebral mechanism had been working within them without their knowledge.
As a general rule, and this is a fact which should be emphasised immediately, the lightning calculators,
apart from the faculty they have of handling figures with exceptional virtuosity, are of below average
intelligence; sometimes they are even mentally retarded. Thus, Colburn was always at the bottom of
his class, Buxton could not even write his name and Inaudi did not learn to read or write until he was
over twenty years of age. There are certain exceptions, however, to this rule, for some have been
known who have educated themselves normally and there have even been geniuses who were
phenomenal calculators: Ampere, Arago, Georges Bidder, Whately and Gauss being examples.

Lightning calculators of the past

Among calculating prodigies who were otherwise backward or who had very little education, let us
recall those who had the greatest renown in the past before examining present-day calculators in
greater detail.
The Greek writer Julian mentions a certain Nikomachos, who lived at Gerasa in Palestine in the
second century of our era, and who found solutions to difficult problems very rapidly.
Balthasar of Monconys, in an account of his third journey in Italy, records that in 1664 Mathieu le Coq,
then aged eight and unable to read or write, had been performing advanced arithmetical operations,
such as multiplications with five or six figures and extractions of square and cube roots, for some two
years previously.
Thomas Fuller, nicknamed the Virginian Calculator, or the Negro Calculator, was almost totally
ignorant. A slave in Virginia in the middle of the eighteenth century, he could neither read nor write and
he died at the age of eighty without ever having learned to do so. Scripture records the following story
about him in the American Journal of Psychology:
"When Fuller was about seventy years old, two gentlemen of Pennsylvania, William Hartshorne and
Samuel Coates, both men worthy of confidence, heard of the calculator and had the curiosity to have
him brought before them and put to him the following problems: First, how many seconds are there in
a year and a half? Fuller replied in two minutes that there are 47,340,000 seconds. Secondly, how
many seconds has a man lived who is aged seventy years, seventeen days and twelve hours? Fuller
replied at the end of a minute and a half: 2,210,800,800. One of the gentlemen who examined him had
taken the trouble to do the calculation on paper and told Fuller he was wrong and that the number of
seconds was less. But Fuller pointed out promptly that this difference in the two results had to do with
leap years."
Jedediah Buxton, who was born at Elmeton, near Chesterfield, lived in England from 1702 to 1762. A
poor labourer, totally illiterate to the point that he was unable to scribble his own name, of below
average intelligence, Buxton had the greatest difficulty in learning the multiplication table. This was in
fact the only education he received. On the other hand, like most lightning calculators, he had a highly
developed memory for figures. For example he knew the exact number of seconds in a day and in a
year. Possessed of a positive mania for arithmetic, "he could perceive only figures, and pretexts for
mental operations", writes Alfred Binet, "his mind being completely closed to anything else". When he
came to London he was taken to Drury Lane Theatre to see Richard III played by Garrick. When he
was asked afterwards if the performance had pleased him it appeared that he had found in it only an
opportunity to perform calculations; during the dances he had fixed his attention on the number of
steps executed; there were 5202; he had also counted the number of words the actors had spoken:
12,445; he had also remembered the number of words spoken by Garrick, and all this was found to be
accurate. In his calculations he reduced all lengths to an eccentric standard, the thickness of a hair,
which he had probably fixed arbitrarily.1
He was not merely a mental calculator of great capacity; he had also a very accurate eye, a sort of
divinatory power for areas. When he went through a field or a simple piece of land, he could, so it is
said, give the area as exactly as if he had measured it with a surveying chain. In this way he
determined the extent of the Elmeton estate in acres, and for his personal satisfaction, worked out the
result in square inches and in squares having the thickness of a hair.
Zerah Colburn, who was born in the State of Vermont, U.S.A. in 1804, began calculating without
knowing how to read or write. One day his father noticed his unusual aptitude by accident. The child
was repeating aloud the products of the multiplication table without, it seems, ever having had the
table at his disposal. Astonished, Mr. Colburn asked him: "How much is 13 times 97?" and the child
replied at once: "1261". He was then six years old.
Mr. Colburn saw in this gift for calculation a means of earning money and had the idea of exhibiting his
son. Zerah Colburn thus became the first of the professional lightning calculators. He performed at
Boston, and then, at the age of ten, came to London, and to Paris where, apparently, his performances
had no great success. When an attempt was made to get him to reveal the secret of his mysterious
gift, he invariably replied: "It is God who has put these things into my head and I would not know how
to put them into yours".
Thanks to the support and patronage of Washington Irving he was admitted as a pupil at the Lycee
Napoleon in Paris, then at the College of Westminster, but it was found that apart from mental
calculation his mind was closed to all normal forms of instruction. He lost his faculty to calculate,
without any apparent reason, at the age of twenty. It is worthy of note that Colburn had one curious
physical peculiarity; a certain sign of degeneracy: he had an extra finger on each hand and an extra
toe on each foot.
Zacharias Dase, born in Germany in 1824, distinguished himself from the majority of lightning
calculators by the fact that he placed his ability at the service of science. He calculated the natural
logarithms of the numbers from 1 to 100,500 and the table of factors and prime numbers from the
seventh to the eighth million. But he was never able to learn conventional mathematics, despite the
efforts of the eminent teachers who interested themselves in him; in addition he showed no
intelligence in anything which did not have to do with figures or numbers. Both his faculty for counting
and his memory were prodigious: the astronomer Gauss made him multiply mentally one by the other,
numbers each composed of a hundred figures. One is literally stupefied to realise pen in hand what an
enormous array of figures such an operation entails. Yet Schumacher reports that Dase multiplied two
numbers of 8 figures each in fifty-four seconds and two numbers of 20 figures each in six minutes. He
had also a great rapidity in perception and a visual memory for estimating the number of objects
contained in a group, for instance the number of books in a library.
Vito Mangiamele was a little ten-year-old Sicilian shepherd boy when he came to Paris to be examined
by Arago in 1837. Though he had had no education he had worked out for himself calculating
processes which have never been properly explained. At the Academie des Sciences where he was
introduced he was asked, for example:
"What is the cube root of 3796416?"
At the end of a minute he replied: "156", which was correct. It took him no longer to solve the two
equations:
x3 + 5x2 - 42x - 40 = 0 and
x5 - 4x - 16799 = 0
Henri Mondeux became very famous. Born in 1826 at Neuvy-le-Roi, near Tours, he was the son of a
poor woodcutter. At the age of seven, when he could neither read nor write, he used to amuse himself
by doing involved calculations while guarding his sheep. Being ignorant of figures he counted with little
pebbles arranged in different ways. A Tours schoolmaster, M. Jacoby, who had been told of this, tried
to teach him but without any success.
Ultimately he was taken to Paris and presented to the Academic des Sciences. An examining
committee was set up which included Arago, Serres, Sturm, Liouville and Gauchy.
It was speedily recognised that the child had an abnormal faculty for mental calculation, a prodigious
memory for numbers, but an almost total absence of memory for the names of places or people, or of
objects which did not interest him. It was observed also that while solving a problem he could engage
in completely unrelated activities. Finally the committee published some of the calculating processes
he had invented. These are given in the report by Gauchy from which the following passages are
taken:
"In many instances Henri Mondeux invents methods, which are sometimes remarkable, for solving a
number of questions which are ordinarily treated by algebra, and determines in his own fashion the
exact or approximate values of whole numbers or fractions which must fulfil required conditions. When
he has to multiply whole numbers by one another Henri Mondeux frequently splits these numbers into
groups of two figures. He has succeeded in finding out for himself that the operation becomes simpler
in cases where the factors are equal, and the rules he then uses to arrive at the product or the power
required are precisely those which would yield the formula known as the binomial theorem. Guided by
these rules he was able to give at the very instant he was asked for them, the squares and cubes of a
multitude of numbers, for example the square of 1204 or the cube of 1006. As he knows pretty well by
heart the squares of all the whole numbers below 100, the splitting of larger numbers into groups of
two figures enables him to obtain their squares more easily. Thus he was able to find the square of
755 almost immediately while in the presence of the Academic.
"Henri has succeeded unaided in discovering the established method for finding the sum of an
arithmetical progression. Among the rules which he has invented for solving different problems are
several which can be inferred from certain algebraical formulas. The method he has worked out for
calculating the sum of the cubes, and the fourth and fifth powers of natural numbers, can be cited as
an example. To solve two simultaneous equations of the first degree Henri has made use of a device
which is worth mention. He has sought first for the difference between the unknown quantities and to
do this he has subtracted one equation from the other, after having multiplied the first by the ratio
which exists between the sums formed successively by adding the one and the other to the
coefficients of the two unknowns.
"Where it is a case of solving not simultaneous equations of the first degree but a single equation of a
degree higher than the first, Henri habitually uses a method which we will explain by an example. We
put a problem to him of which these are the terms: Find a number such that its cube, increased by 84,
furnishes a sum equal to the product of this number when multiplied by 37. Henri gave as a solution
the numbers 3 and 4. To obtain them he began by transforming the equation which it was required to
solve by dividing the two numbers by the number sought. The question was then reduced to the
following: find a number such that its square, increased by the quotient obtained on dividing 84 by this
number, gives 37. By the aid of this transformation Henri Mondeux was able to recognise immediately
that the number sought was inferior to the square root of 37, by consequence to 6; and very soon a
few simple trials led him to the two numbers we have indicated.
"Even questions of indefinite analysis are not beyond the reach of Henri Mondeux. One of us asked
him for two squares of which the difference was 133. As solution he gave immediately the system of
the numbers 66 and 67. It was insisted that a simpler solution be obtained. After a moment of
reflection he indicated the numbers of 6 and 13.
"This is the manner in which Henri proceeded to reach the two solutions. The difference between the
squares of the numbers sought exceeds the square of their difference by a quantity equal to twice this
difference multiplied by the smaller. The question put can thus be reduced to the following: subtract
from the number 133 a square such that the remainder will be divisible by double the root. If a trial is
made one after the other of the squares 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49 ... it will be recognised that among
these squares 1 and 49 are the only ones which satisfy the new question. By subtracting these from
133 and dividing the remainders 132 and 84 by the doubled roots, that is by 2 and 14, the quotients 66
and 6 are obtained, each of which responds to one of the solutions given by Henri Mondeux. It is
perceived that in following the procedure we have described Henri did not first arrive at that of the two
solutions which seems to us the simpler, but that which offers the squares whose roots are nearest to
each other."
Gauchy ends his report by expressing the hope that Henri Mondeux would distinguish himself one day
in a career of science, but despite this optimistic hope this lightning calculator died in obscurity.

Contemporary Lightning Calculators

Jacques Inaudi
We come now to the best known and most popular lightning calculator of our own time: Jacques
Jnaudi.
Jacques Inaudi was born of a very poor family, at Onorato, in Piedmont in 1867. He was a shepherd
boy, nearly six years old, when he was seized by a passion for figures. While guarding his flocks, he
practised working out numbers in his head, so that by the age of seven he was already able to do
mental multiplication involving five-figure numbers. And he did not know the multiplication table! After
his mother died he left the neighbourhood and set out to wander with his brother, exhibiting a tame
squirrel. The brother played the organ, while Jacques displayed the squirrel and collected the money.
He talked to bystanders they met about mental calculations, of which they naturally understood
nothing. At the markets he helped the peasants do their accounts: "As a matter of fact", he writes, "I
was very surprised that these men, who were generally fairly astute, should not have known the totals
of their accounts, which I knew myself, almost instantaneously, just by listening to them; this gave me
the courage one day to take part in an argument about the settlement of an account between two
peasants who were about to come to blows, and whom I was able to calm down after demonstrating to
them that they were both wrong; this altercation naturally attracted a crowd, astonished that a little
chap like me should know how to count better than the grown-ups. Those who were good at figures
put various questions to me to which I replied correctly and very easily, still remaining amazed that
anyone should be ignorant of answers which seemed so natural to me. Afterwards the peasants came
to seek me out whenever a difficulty arose".
Soon Inaudi made his appearance in cafes where he was noticed by a commercial traveller, a M.
Dombey, who became his impresario and took him on tours in the provinces and then to Paris. There
he attracted the attention of Camille Flammarion, who devoted some articles to him in various
scientific journals. The well known anthropologist, Paul Broca, examined him in his turn and prepared
a short report on his case. Broca noted that Jacque Inaudi's head was very large and irregularly
shaped. The young prodigy afterwards gave performances in the Salle des Capucines in Paris, and
later at the Robert Houdin Theatre. By this time he was aged thirteen.
It was 1892 when he returned to Paris; he had learned meanwhile to read and write and his
intelligence had developed somewhat. He was now a young man of 24; short and stocky, with a strong
head, eyes half closed, the facial angle very developed, almost straight. According to Binet, he had a
gentle and modest disposition, spoke little and was rather reserved. His education was not yet
extensive; hence subjects for conversation remained limited.
His impresario, who was then M. Thorcey, introduced him to the Academic des Sciences, which
formed a committee to study the calculator. It included MM. Darboux, Poincare, Tisserant and Charcot.
Alfred Binet became a member later. After numerous tests the committee gave its conclusions, via the
pen of M. Darboux.
"It should be pointed out first of all", the well known mathematician wrote, "that the results of which we
were the witnesses depended above all upon a prodigious memory. At the end of a session attended
by our students, Inaudi repeated a series of numbers comprising more than 400 figures. At one of our
meetings we gave Inaudi a number of 22 figures. He was able to repeat it eight days after, although
we had not warned him that he would be asked for it again. A second point, which seems to me of the
highest importance, has been neglected by the majority of those who examined him. They have
analysed with great care the processes, certainly very simple in themselves, which Inaudi uses for
various operations; but they have not noted one very evident fact: that these methods have all been
invented by the calculator himself, and that they are wholly original. And, what is also interesting is that
these rules differ from those which are taught everywhere in Europe, though some of them resemble
in certain respects those which are followed for example, among the Hindus. This will be evident from
the following:
Addition. - Inaudi easily adds 6 numbers of 4 or 5 figures; but he proceeds successively, adding the
first two, then their sum to the next and so on. He always starts adding from the left, as the Hindus do
today, instead of from the right as we do.
Substruction. - This is one of Inaudi's triumphs. He subtracts easily, one from the other, two numbers
consisting of a score of figures, beginning always from the left.
Multiplication. - The methods used are all elementary, but they require the memory of an Inaudi. For
example, to multiply 834 by 36 he makes the following breakdown:
800 x 30
24000
=
4800
800 x 6 =
1080
30 x 30 =
2 144
4 x 30 =
30024
Total
In all these partial multiplications, none of the factors ever has more than one significant figure.
Despite this Inaudi knows and uses the property of the factor 25; he knows that to multiply by this
number it is sufficient to take the quarter of the centuple. For example, for the square of 27, he will
make the following breakdown:
25 x 27
675
=
54
2 x 27 =
729
Total
Sometimes he uses partial products bearing the index sign - (minus). For example, for the cube of 27,
that is the product of 729 multiplied by 27, he makes this breakdown:
(700 x 20; 700 x 7; 30 x 20; 30 x 7) - 27
or 730 x 27 = 19,710 - 27 = 19,683.
Division. - Here Inaudi fundamentally follows the ordinary rule, which reduces the division to a
subtraction, but sometimes uses simplifications made possible by his memory, to which we must
always return.
Raising to powers. - For raising numbers to powers, Inaudi knows and applies the rule relative to the
square of a sum. For example, for the square of 234567 he uses the breakdown:
2340002 + 2 x 234000 x 567 + 5672.
Extraction of roots. - Here no rules are followed; there is only a simple trial and error. For example, to
find a root which is 14,072, Inaudi would have tried 14000 and 15000, then 14600, then 14650, 14660,
14670 . . . and each time, the power of the number tried would have been subtracted from the higher
number.2
"Inaudi also solves difficult questions in arithmetic and algebra to which the answer is furnished by
whole numbers."
Here are some of the problems which are not mentioned in the report by M. Darboux:
1. Find the number whose square root and cube root differ by 18. Answer: 729, given in one minute
fifty-seven seconds. (Revue Scientifique.)
2. Find a number of two figures such that the difference between four times the first figure and three
times the second equals 7, and which, reversed, reduces the number by 18. Negative solution found
at the end of two minutes.
3. Find a number of four figures of which the sum is 25, given that the sum of the figures of the
hundreds and thousands is equal to the figure of the tens, that the sum of the figures of the tens and
the thousands is equal to the figure of the units and such that, if the number is reversed, it increases
by 8082.
Answer: Since the number increases by 8082 when it is reversed, therefore the figure of the
thousands should be 1 and the figure of the units 9; I therefore take away 9, which is the figure of the
units, from 25; I have 16 left for the three other figures. Next, the figure of the thousands plus that of
the hundreds is equal to that of the tens; the figure of the tens must necessarily be the half of 16, that
is 8. Three of the figures being known, it is sufficient to take them from 25 to have the hundreds, 7,
and to find that the number required is 1,789. (Revue Scientifique.)
4. The sum of three numbers is 43 and that of their cubes 17299. Answer: 25, 11, 7.
5. Find a number of four figures of which the sum of the figures shall be 16, given that the 3rd is twice
the 1st, that the 4th equals three times the 1st plus the 3rd. This number reversed increases by 3456.
Answer: 1825.
6. The distance from Paris to Marseilles is 863 kilometres. A train starts from Paris at 8.15 a.m. for
Marseilles at a speed of 39 kilometres an hour. Another train starts from Marseilles for Paris at 10.30
a.m. at a speed of 46 kilometres 500 metres per hour. Find at what distance from the two cities the
trains will meet.
Answer: The trains will meet at 7 hr. 31 min. 13 and 4/6 sees, p.m., at 419 kilometres 451 metres and
80 centimetres from Marseilles, and at 344 kilometres 548 metres and 20 centimetres from Paris.
7. M. Laurent, examiner at the Ekole Polytechnique, having told Alfred Binet that the calculator
Winckler was able to break down a number into four squares, the test was tried with Inaudi.
Alfred Binet proposed the number 13411.
In three minutes Inaudi gave the four following numbers:
115, of which the square is 13,225; 13, of which the square is 169; 4, of which the square is 16; 1, of
which the square is 1. Total of the four squares: 13411.
One minute later the calculator found another solution:
113, of which the square is 12,769; 25, of which the square is 625; 4, of which the square is 16; 1, of
which the square is 1. Total of the four squares: 13411.
Finally, some time afterwards (the exact time has not been specified), Inaudi produced a third solution:
113, of which the square is 12769; 23, of which the square is 529; 8, of which the square is 64; 7, of
which the square is 49. Total of the four squares: 13411.
M. Lebesgue, author of Introduction a la Theorie des Nombres, has admitted that he would have
needed a fortnight to arrive at a similar result.
Inaudi indeed calculated at an astonishing speed. Thus in 1924 Maurice d'Ocagne had the notion of
organising a competition at the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils to match the calculator with calculating
machines of the period. Inaudi beat the machine in addition, subtraction, raising to powers, extraction
of roots and in most of the multiplications. It was in multiplications of five figures upward that the
machine showed itself quicker than the man.3
In the other cases Inaudi had already given the answer to the problem before the machine had
finished taking down the factors. Moreover, like the majority of lightning calculators, Inaudi gave the
day corresponding to any date almost instantaneously, which the machine could not do.
Alfred Binet, who studied Inaudi from a psychological point of view, has shown that the calculator was
essentially an "auditory" type and that his memory was very specialised. While he had the faculty of
remembering hundreds of figures he was incapable of repeating more than five or six letters
enunciated in a certain order: a, r, g, f, s, m, t, u, for example. He displayed the same inability to recite
two lines of verse or prose. On the other hand he could maintain a conversation and answer questions
wittily and to the point, while solving a complicated problem in his head.

Pericles Diamandi
The lightning calculator, Pericles Diamandi, who was a contemporary of Inaudi, does not belong to the
group of calculators of less than average intelligence or of slight education. On the contrary he was a
highly cultivated man, but as he was studied at length by Alfred Binet and sought to match himself
against Inaudi we will mention him here.
Diamandi, born in 1868 at Pylaros in the Ionian Islands, came of a family of grain merchants. During
his student period he was consistently first in mathematics. In 1884 he left school and began work in
the grain business. It was at this time that he realised that he had exceptional powers of mental
calculation. He cultivated these and discovered methods of simplification. At the same time he learned
Rumanian, French, German, English and two other secondary languages, and wrote verses and
novels. Having read by chance in a newspaper one day an account of a performance by Inaudi, he
was seized with a desire to emulate him and gave performances himself of mental calculation in
Greece and Rumania. He came to Paris in 1893 in order to match himself with Inaudi; but for various
reasons the encounter did not take place. Diamandi soon had himself presented to the Academic des
Sciences, before whom he wished to demonstrate his aptitudes as a calculator. The Academic
entrusted the examination of the young man to the same committee which had tested Inaudi. An
investigation was made, and at its conclusion Professor Charcot published a study of Diamandi in the
Revue Philosophiqiie.
Later Alfred Binet revised and completed Charcot's work find also published the result of his own
investigations in the same review. These showed that Diamandi had approximately the same
capacities as Inaudi but that his memory was "visual" whereas that of Inaudi was, as we have seen,
"auditory". Diamandi "saw" the figures in his head, in front of the frontal lobes, as if they had been
written up on a screen. They seemed to remain fixed there until by an effort of will he caused them to
be effaced.
When, instead of seeing figures, he heard them, he was obliged to operate a sort of transformation
from an auditory to a visual image before starting to calculate. Diamandi therefore asked that for
preference the numbers on which tests were to be based should be written down on a piece of paper
or on a blackboard. For example he asked one of the assistants to write any five numbers of five
figures on a blackboard:
4 9 3 5 7
8 0 2 4 6
9 5 3 1 4
2 7 6 9 5
7 6 2 3 2
He looked at them for a few seconds, then, from memory, repeated them at will from bottom to top,
from top to bottom, from left to right, from right to left, diagonally and in any other desired direction.
Spectators had the impression that these figures had been photographed on his memory and that he
read them within himself with the same facility as if he were reading them from the blackboard.
Like Inaudi, Diamandi could perform arithmetical operations very rapidly. He was asked, for example,
to multiply a number of fifteen figures by a number of four figures. He dictated the answer at the end of
half a minute. He took about two minutes to extract the square root of a number of ten figures. At the
end of the proceedings he repeated from memory the figures concerned in all the operations he had
been carrying out and which were inscribed on the blackboard, first in their correct order, then in the
reverse order, without hesitation, without error, and so fast that it was almost impossible to follow. On
several occasions he had to be asked to repeat them, by so much did his inward eye outdistance the
normal eye of the examiner.
Diamandi could also give instantaneously the day of the week for any given date, but whereas Inaudi
performed a calculation to obtain this result, Diamandi had devised a table on which the dates forming
the last hundred years were inscribed in circular form. On this table a sort of grille turned, carrying the
names of the months and days of the week. To know the day of a given date he had only, by turning
the grille, to bring the name of the month together with that of the year in question. The name of the
day appeared automatically. But Diamandi had no need to have this apparatus before his eyes. He
had engraved it on his memory, and upon that mental screen he could read as upon a real table.
Rightly or wrongly, Diamandi believed that the faces of individuals represent one of the ways in which
their psychology is expressed. Thanks to his exceptional visual memory he had formed a mental
collection of the faces of innumerable people whose characters he knew; thus when he found himself
confronted by people unknown to him he could, he said, describe their state of mind.
In this form of exercise his successes appear to have been remarkable and many who consulted him
declared themselves absolutely astounded by the disclosures he made to them about the most secret
inclinations of their minds, but it is clear that in this field a check is almost impossible.
"During my ten years of travel throughout the world", he confided to Gaston Mery, director of the Echo
du Merveilleux, "I had opportunities of observing faces of all categories. In this way a sort of
cinematographic museum was formed in my mind, extending over an immense variety of types. When
I study a face its image evokes all the corresponding images, and these stand out as from a group and
appear before me; I have only to compare. I know that this wrinkle, that fold of the lips, that expression
of the eyes, that shape of nose are the mark of this or that psychological disposition, the stigmata of
this or that way of thinking or feeling. It is true that I had to work by trial and error for a long time, and
that for certain traits of character I still do. But on balance, if in face reading I have not succeeded in
attaining the absolute precision of a mathematical operation, I have achieved a relative precision,
which I shall try to improve more and more by new observations, but which already seems to me to be
far from negligible."
One of his sisters, Uranie, was also a lightning calculator. It was at the age of seven that she noticed
her special aptitude. Her brother's first successes later encouraged her to cultivate this gift. Her
visualising power extended not only to figures, which appeared to her as coloured; similarly she
attributed colours to the letters of the alphabet and the names of the days.
Here are the colours she associated with figures, as well as certain letters and days of the week:
0 White (like the letter O).
1 Black (like the letter I)
2 Bright yellow (like the letter S and the word "Sunday")
3 Vermilion (like "Wednesday")
4 Very dark brown
5 Royal blue (like "Saturday")
6 Bright yellow (as for 2, but darker)
7 Very dark navy-blue
8 Grey blue
9 Sepia (like F and "Thursday").
Uranie Diamandi affirmed that she remembered most easily numbers containing figures with light and
conspicuous colours framed by figures of dark or dull colours. She found that in these cases the
association of colours and figures aided her memory.
"For instance", she said, "104 (black, white, brown) is easy to learn and to remember because 0,
which is white, is here placed between two dark colours. In the same way 129 (black, bright yellow and
sepia) is better learned and remembered because of the contrast."
The mental arithmetic carried out by Uranie Diamandi was somewhat similar to that performed by her
brother. Five rows of five figures were inscribed on a blackboard. She looked at the square for about a
minute then, turning her back, recited it in all directions and named any figure whose position in the
square was given her. She added up the rows mentally, carried out the most varied operations upon
the numbers: subtractions, multiplications, divisions, raising to powers, etc., and was moreover able to
raise a figure up to the twentieth power, which corresponds to a number formed from between 7 and
20 significant figures.

Louis Fleury
Inaudi, who has been justly considered for fifty years as the giant of lightning calculators, has had
rivals worthy of him in recent years: Louis Fleury, Mlle. Osaka and Maurice Dagbert.
Louis Fleury, born near Belfort on April 21, 1893, was afflicted from birth with a double ophthalmia
which made him completely blind. Abandoned by his parents at the age of eighteen months, he was
placed by the Public Assistance in a family of small farmers. At the age of ten he could barely walk and
could neither wash nor dress himself. An effort was made to give him some education at the school for
the blind at Arras; it appeared that calculation was his weak point: he learned addition and subtraction
with difficulty and multiplication with even more difficulty, while the mechanism of division remained
totally incomprehensible to him. In contrast to most of the great calculators, Fleury was thus a mentally
retarded case where elementary arithmetic was concerned.
At fifteen, considered as ineducable, he was placed in a home for incurables.
"He had been there two months", writes Dr. Osty, "when he received a sudden and violent shock. A
man of about forty, his neighbour at table, uttered a loud cry and rolled on the floor in an epileptic fit. In
his night of blindness, the convulsions of the patient and the cries of those about him assumed
terrifying proportions for Fleury. The emotional shock was so great that he became ill for several days.
This first and violent terror long haunted his mind, like an agonising obsession.
"A mental transformation resulted. For psychologists this is perhaps the most interesting aspect of
Fleury's case.
"Seeking within himself for a cure for his obsession, he had the idea of concentrating upon work which
was the most absorbing for him because it was the most difficult. He set himself to do mental
additions, subtractions and multiplications which up to then he had been able to do in the writing of the
blind only up to a certain degree of complexity. It was miraculous! All the calculations he attempted
resolved themselves with wonderful ease, rapidity and sureness. Even division, that irreducible
fortress, was as easy as the other operations.
"From then on the abstract world of figures became his real inward life; his mind worked therein
without effort and with delight. Mental calculation became his great distraction, a kind of sport, the
intellectual sport of a man whom circumstances and blindness had condemned to live most of his time
sitting down. A sport however without much real progress, for all that he undertook he achieved. His
practice in calculation was not so much a forward march towards greater accuracy or facility, as the
exploration of the extent of his capacities.
"And this gift for calculation, which had emerged from the depths of a psychotic crisis, brought about a
general, improvement. His mind, hitherto clouded, became wholly cleared. This was manifested by a
feeling of greater aptitude for learning and a desire to educate himself."
Fleury in fact asked to return to a blind school, but the Public Assistance would not agree to this. He
then resolved to escape at all costs from the depressing futility of the environment in which he lived,
and to this end he simulated madness. He was admitted to an Armentieres mental hospital, where it
was rapidly perceived that he was not mad, but that on the contrary he possessed exceptional powers
of mental calculation. In order to widen the scope of his capacities it was explained to him what the
square of a number is, and he at once calculated the squares of numbers of three and four figures.
Next, a square root was defined for him, but without indication of its method of extraction. Within a few
days Fleury discovered a method enabling him to extract square roots for four figure numbers mentally
and without mistake.
When he came of age, Fleury left the hospital at Armentieres and gave some exhibitions in France;
then he went to England and to the United States, where he gave performances in schools, theatres
and travelling circuses. He returned to France in 1927, and it was at this time that he was examined at
the International Psychical Institute by Dr. Osty and his colleagues. The programme for the tests was
the following: M. Sainte-Lague, who held a mathematical degree and was a professor at the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers of Paris, played what amounted to the role of examiner.
Before the demonstrations he prepared a certain number of operations to be carried out, as well as
their answers. The questions were put orally at a rapid rate; as soon as one answer was supplied by
Fleury, another problem was put. Dr. Osty measured the time for each calculation with a chronometer.
Here are some of the questions, with the answers and the duration of the mental calculation:
Multiply 553 by 88. Answer: 48664, in 2 seconds.
Multiply 649 by 367. Answer: 238183, in 10 seconds.
Divide 5364 by 43. Answer: 124, remainder 32, in 4 seconds.
Divide 20700 by 48. Answer: 431, remainder 12, in 3 seconds.
Raise 5287 to its square. Answer: 27,952,369, in 10 seconds.
Raise 94 to the power of 4. Answer: 78,074,896, in 15 seconds.
Raise 2 to the power of 20. Answer: 1,048,576 in 20 seconds.
Raise 2 to the power of 30. Answer: 1,073,741,824, in 40 seconds.
Extract the square root of 13,250. Answer: 115, remainder 25, in 4 seconds.
Extract the square root of 222,796. Answer: 472, remainder 12, in 12 seconds.
Extract the cube root of 456,609. Answer: 77, remainder 76, in 13 seconds.
Extract the fifth root of 1,935,752,415. Answer: 72, remainder 834,783, in 3 minutes 10 seconds.
Problems of a different kind were also put to him. Thus M. Sainte-Lague supplied the total of a number
raised to its cube added to another number of four figures. Fleury had to give the number which had
been cubed and the number which had been added to this cube.
The number given was 707,353,209. Answer: 891 cubed and 5238, in 28 seconds.
The number given was 211,717,440. Answer: 596 cubed and 8704 in 25 seconds.
Another problem: break down 6137 into four numbers which are perfect squares. Fleury gave three
answers successively.
First answer: 5,476, square of 74; 400, square of 20; 225, square of 15; 36, square of 6, in 2 minutes
10 seconds.
Second answer: 6,084, square of 78; 36, square of 6; 16, square of 4; 1, square of 1, in 10 seconds.
Third answer: 5,776, square of 76; 225, square of 15; 100, square of 10; 36, square of 6, in 1 minute
20 seconds.
Finally, for any date, past or future, by the Gregorian or the Julian calendar, Fleury gave the day of the
week almost instantaneously.
While the majority of lightning calculators are "visuals", Fleury is of the "tactile" type, which is very
rare. He said that he "felt the outlines of imaginary cubarithms passing beneath his fingers", that is to
say the embossed counting symbols used by blind people. "When he was carrying out an operation",
wrote Dr. Desruelles, who studied Fleury at the asylum at Armentieres, "his fingers moved with
extreme rapidity. With the right hand he grasped the fingers of the left hand one after another; one
represented hundreds, another tens, a third units. He moved his fingers feverishly over the lapel of his
jacket and it was curious to watch him using these tactile images to obtain sensations corresponding
to those he would have bad in touching cubarithms."
Like all lightning calculators, Fleury employed some simplifying processes, but, to be frank, these were
in no way remarkable and in consequence do not deserve mention. On the other hand it is of interest
to note the manner in which he proceeded to extract square or other roots, to break down a number
into perfect squares and to give the day of the week corresponding to a given date. But let us
emphasise at once (and this observation applies to a great number of operations performed by
lightning calculators) that these processes, which are carried out practically instantaneously, are for
the most part unconscious. It is thanks to analysis that it has been possible to reconstruct them. Take
for example the extraction of the square root of 1526. Fleury's technique, arrived at after successive
trials, is the following: the root required is greater than 30 and smaller than 40; 30 squared gives 900 -
this number is too small; 33 squared gives 1089; 37 squared is equal to 1369; these two squares are
both lower than 1526, and their roots will not fit; 40 squared gives 1600; this number is too high. The
square root is probably 39. In fact 39 squared is equal to 1521. The correct answer is therefore 39,
with a remainder of 5.
The breakdown of a number into four perfect squares is an application of the preceding process. Take,
for example, the breakdown of 12315 into four perfect squares. Fleury seeks first for a perfect square
fairly close to 12315. This is the case with 10000, square of 100, but 10000 is not sufficiently close to
12315; 110 squared gives 12100 and this number can serve; thus there remains 215 to be broken
down into three squares. Fleury now seeks a number which, squared, gives a result near to 215, but
he finds that the remainder cannot furnish two perfect squares; he therefore leaves it and makes a
second attempt. He tries 105 squared, which gives 11025; there remains 1290, which must be split
into three squares; he next takes 35, which he squares, giving 1225; the remainder is 65; he then sees
easily that the square of 7, which is 49, and the square of 4, which is 16, together total 65. The four
numbers sought are therefore: 11025, 1225, 49, 16.
Where a day of the week to correspond with a date is needed, this, according to Dr. Osty, is Fleury's
method. It is necessary to remember:
(a) that for a date before 1582 (Julian Calendar) the 1st of January 1582 was a Monday;
(b) when a date later than 1582 (Gregorian Calendar) is involved, what day of the week the 1st of
January of the present year is (example: January 1, 1927 was a Saturday);
(c) that the first day of the eleven other months of the year correspond to this or that day of the first
fortnight of January;
(d) that the following correctives must be used: 1. forward displacement of one day for the months of
leap years, less February; 2. in consideration of the displacement of one day in the leap years, to
make a reduction for the Gregorian Calendar of 12 days in every twenty years or of 61 days in every
hundred years, since a date must fall on the same day every seven years; 3. for the Julian Calendar
reduce by 12 days for ever twenty years and by 62 days for every hundred years.
It should be noted that Fleury worked out all these ratios in his head while at the Armentieres asylum.
It can easily be imagined what their discovery represented in terms of research and effort and in
innumerable comparisons.
Two examples given by Dr. Osty show how Fleury used these points of reference.
Question: What was the day of the week on August 13, 1911?
Base of reference: January 1, 1927 is a Saturday.
1st stage: Determine the day of January 1, 1911. Given the 16 years of interval between 1927 and
1911, refer back twenty years, that is to 1907, and reduce by 12 days to find January 1, 1907, which
gives a Tuesday. And, as each new year involves a forward displacement of one day (except for leap
years: 2 days) it follows that January 1, 1908 is a Wednesday; January 1, 1909 a Friday (2 days for
1908, a leap year); January 1, 1910, a Saturday; January 1, 1911 a Sunday.
2nd stage: To know which day August 1, 1911 was. August 1 of a year falls on the same day as
January 3 when the year is not a leap year, and January 4 when it is a leap year. Therefore, as
January 1, 1911 is a Sunday, January 3, 1911 is a Tuesday and August 1, 1911 is also a Tuesday.
3rd stage: Determine the day of August 13, 1911. August 1, 1911, Tuesday; August 15, 1911, Tuesday;
August 13, 1911, Sunday.
Now, and this is what is worthy of attention, all these points of reference and all these reasoning
processes passed through Fleury's mind in less than one second, since he gave the correct answer at
the end of that time.
Another question: What was the day of the week of September 19, 139?
Basis of reference: January 1, 1582 is a Monday.
1st stage: Apart from the points of reference already mentioned, Fleury knew, since he had worked it
out, that, in the Julian Calendar, a date falls on the same day of the week every 28 years. This enabled
him to go straight back 1400 years (1400 being divisible by 28). Hence 1582 - 1400 = the year 182.
January 1, 182: Monday.
2nd stage: Find the day of the week of January 1, 180, distant from the the year 140 by twice 20
years. January 1, 182, Monday; January 1, 181, Sunday; January 1, 180, Friday (reduction of two
days for leap year).
3rd stage: Find the day of the week for January 1, 140. From 180 to 140 there are twice 20 years,
hence a reduction of twice 12 days, which gives January 1, 140: Thursday.
4th stage: Find the day of the week for January 1, 139. This day will be one day before that of January
1, 140, therefore: Wednesday.
5th stage: Find the day of the week for September 1, 139. September 1 of a year always falls on the
same day of the week as January 6, except in leap years when it falls on the same day as the 7th.
Therefore September 1 is a Monday.
6th stage: September 1, Monday; September 15, Monday; September 17, Wednesday; September 19,
Friday.
Here, the answer was given after 4 seconds.

Mlle. Osaka
If Fleury was, as we have said, of the "tactile" type, the woman lightning calculator Mlle. Osaka
belongs, like most of the great calculators, to the category of the "visuals".
This girl, whose borrowed Asiatic name in fact disguises a Frenchwoman born a few miles from
Bagneres, was a mentally retarded child. She began walking and talking only at the age of four and a
half. Because she was sickly she scarcely attended school, so that at twenty-six she could only just
read and write. Her knowledge of arithmetic was confined to addition. One day she was present at a
performance given, if not by a lightning calculator, at least by a calculating virtuoso, and without
knowing why, she felt that she would easily be able to perform the same feats.
"Let us reflect", Dr. Osty justly notes in this connection, "upon the important psychological significance
of this fact, occurring to so many people who have been ignorant of their own exceptional gifts up to
the day when an accidental circumstance has arisen to stir in them the sense of their special
capacities in this or that direction: artistic, literary, scientific or others. In such cases it is as though the
subconscious mind is made aware of the individual's hidden resources, and under the impulse of
circumstance, succeeds in forcing its way across the threshold of consciousness and imposing upon it
the vital spark."
However this may be, Mlle. Osaka, impelled by this strange certainty, set herself to learn the rules of
calculation of which she was ignorant, that is to say subtraction, multiplication and division, but found
herself held up by this last operation, of which she was never able to understand the workings. Two
facts of great importance however soon made themselves evident to her mind. She found on the one
hand that she could calculate with extreme rapidity, and on the other that she could retain in her
memory the numbers she had manipulated in her head. This second discovery induced her to turn her
training in another direction. She stopped trying to study calculation itself and sought instead to
memorise larger and larger numbers. From this moment on, her progress was extremely rapid, so that
she could fulfil her secret desire to exhibit herself in public. She perfected her aptitudes, learned by
heart a colossal mass of numbers which she calculated on paper: the powers of numbers of 1 and 2
figures, up to the 10th; the powers of numbers of 3 figures up to the 7th or 8th, the numbers of hours,
minutes, seconds corresponding to ages, etc.
In these conditions her mental numerical luggage was literally indestructible, and Mlle. Osaka was
able to give the answer immediately and without a mistake, within the framework of her knowledge, to
every question on powers or roots; and it was equally possible for her to give the number of seconds
lived by a person of this or that age, etc., with the same facility. When she wishes to remember
numbers she sees them as if they were outside herself; when a hundred or so figures are dictated to
her it seems to her as though they were written up on a blackboard and are, as she says, "more
legible than the real ones". Thus, if she is asked for the sixth power of 97, she will "see" all the
multiplications which she has used to calculate the powers of 97, from the second to the sixth. If a
board is covered with figures and she is asked what number is inscribed on the fifth line, Mlle. Osaka,
who has only heard the figures called out, sees all the numbers on the board instantly and clearly. Her
capacity for mental retention is so great that she can repeat them either in the normal order or
backwards, with the geatest of ease. The following experiments carried out by Dr. Osty at the
International Psychical Institute give an idea of her extraordinary mnemonic capacities.
Dr. Osty asked for the square of 97, then for the 10th power of the same number, both of which the
calculator gave instantly. After that he asked for the sixth root of 402,420,747,482,776,576, then for the
square root of the same number and again these were given at once and correctly. This done, he
wrote down, absolutely at random, a succession of a hundred figures and then read them out at a
speed of approximately one figure per second.
"When I had finished this test", writes Dr. Osty, "Mlle. Osaka repeated the hundred figures in the order
in which they had been spoken. About forty-five minutes afterwards, and when we had been talking
about a number of things, I said to Mlle. Osaka, who had no reason to expect the question:
'Could you repeat to me the hundred figures which I dictated to you nearly an hour ago?'
'Very easily', she replied.
'Would it be possible to do this backwards?'
'I will try'.
And she succeeded."
In the course of a demonstration conducted with a small audience, twenty people each wrote a
number on a piece of paper, each paper bearing a control number from 1 to 20. The papers were
mixed up, drawn at random, and the numbers on them read aloud, then written as they were called on
a blackboard containing twenty sections numbered from 1 to 20. They varied from millions to
nonillions.
Mlle. Osaka, who was standing facing the public, heard them but did not see them. She turned her
back to the board which, in fact, could have been removed.
In order to complicate the test Mlle. Osaka asked that a few problems should be put to her before she
repeated the numbers on the board. One of the audience asked her for the square and then for the
10th power of 27, another for the 10th power of 55, then to go through all its powers in descending
order. It was child's play for this girl to answer these questions.
Then Mlle. Osaka was asked to repeat the twenty numbers written on the blackboard in the order from
1 to 20, which she had not heard since the order of inscription had been determined by chance. This
she did immediately with extraordinary rapidity and without any mistake.
"This was followed", writes Dr. Osty, "by requests for the powers of 3 figure numbers. Someone asked
for the 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th, then the 5th powers of 223. These were given exactly and without delay.
"To those who had supplied the date of their birth, Mlle. Osaka at once gave the number of days,
hours, minutes and seconds they had lived, leap years being taken into account. One person
proposed the mental multiplication of 624,987 by 2,358. Mlle. Osaka did this at slow speed, figure by
figure. Forty-eight figures were thus produced in seven minutes without apparent effort and without
error. Mlle. Osaka was then asked if she could repeat the numbers which had been inscribed on the
blackboard, starting at the end. She did this immediately, figure by figure, from section 20 to section 5,
then by groups of three figures for the remaining sections. She was then asked to state again the
numbers of section 6, section 13, etc. Another person asked her to repeat the number in section 7
backwards. The correct answers were immediately given them. At this moment Dr. Montier, who had
earlier asked for the multiplication of 624987 by 2358, asked Mlle. Osaka if she could again give the
result of this multiplication. The 48 figures were at once enumerated at very high speed. M. Morice, an
architect, asked, as an addition to the blackboard test, that this should be turned face to the wall and
that Mlle. Osaka should again repeat the numbers. To amuse herself, the girl repeated them all as fast
as she could utter them."
These feats appear really prodigious when it is remembered that their execution is based upon a
colossal memory for numbers. To remember thousands of numbers, each formed from 15, 20, 30 and
up to 40 figures, to bring them out instantly and exactly from the depths of the subconscious, is a
terrifying operation, which as I believe, and shall emphasise later, borders on the paranormal.
And here is another strange aspect of the extraordinary memory of Mlle. Osaka, an aspect which we
have already encountered with other lightning calculators. Apart from numbers, she has difficulty in
remembering current facts and things she learned at school. She has never been able to learn the
correct order of the letters of the alphabet.

Maurice Dagbert
M. Maurice Dagbert, the lightning calculator who came into prominence at the conjurors' congress
held in Paris in 1947, and who later displayed his full capacities at the Lausanne Congress in 1948,
has certainly not the gigantic memory of Mlle. Osaka; nevertheless his powers of memory are
exceptional. Moreover his capacities as a mental calculator are such that they seem at least to equal
Inaudi's. Among other feats performed before the Academic des Sciences, he extracted a fifth root
(answer: 243) in 14 seconds; a seventh root (answer: 125) in 15 seconds; a cube root (answer:
78,517) in 2 minutes 15 seconds; a fifth root (answer: 2189) in 2 minutes 3 seconds; and raised 827 to
its cube in 55 seconds.
Here is the report on M. Dagbert by MM. Gaston Fayet, Jean Chazy and Joseph Peres, taken from
volume 220 of the Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'Academie des Sciences:
"At the request of the permanent secretaries we have examined the 'mental calculator' Maurice
Dagbert, who wishes to be presented to the Academic. The results of this examination have been
conclusive and appear to us to be worth publishing in the Comptes rendus.
"M. Dagbert's powers of calculation seem to be comparable with those of Jacques Inaudi, presented to
the Academie by Darboux in 1892. Like Inaudi, M. Dagbert is served by an exceptional memory. He
has informed us that he works out figures with the aid of extremely vivid images which he obtains by
shutting his eyes or by staring at a white object (the ceiling of the hall in which he is operating, for
example). He sees the figures appear, as they are announced to him, as though he had written them
himself on a blackboard.4
"In the course of the examination, which lasted 2 hours 30 minutes, M. Dagbert had occasion to carry
out varied calculations (perpetual calendar for Gregorian or Julian dates, multiplications, powers and
extraction of roots). The details have been recorded in a report on the meeting which will be preserved
in the Academic archives.
"M. Dagbert has had only a primary education and his knowledge of mathematics and elementary
algebra are approximately nil. His taste for calculation was very precocious and a visit he made to
Inaudi when he was 14 led him to make a personal effort which evidently has been very fruitful. He
has told us that he has discovered for himself the rules he uses in his calculation, rules which for him
are purely empirical and of which he does not explain the reasoning. He has given us the example, a
particularly simple one, of the rule he employs to evaluate the cube of a number of two figures: he
utilises two key numbers, determined by the figure of the units u, which he knows by heart but whose
origin eludes him. It is recognised at once that the first key number x is the figure of the units, the
second y the number of the tens in 3u2. Dagbert's rule thus appears as the result of the development
of the binomial (10d + u)3, the calculation being directed to obtain the various figures of the result
successively: u3 gives the figure of the units and the remainders to be carried; xd, to which the amount
carried forward is added, gives the figure of the tens and fresh remainders; (3u + dy)d, by adding the
remainders, the figure of the hundreds; finally, the carrying forward accomplished, d3 is added, giving
the thousands of the answer.
"It is not surprising in these conditions that M. Dagbert, whose speed and powers of calculation are
remarkable in the fields he knows so well, should be put off the track by quite simple questions (like
those put to Inaudi at the time of his presentation in 1892) but which necessitate some algebraical
transformations.
"After the demonstration was over, M. Dagbert was presented to the members of the Academic and
carried out before them some of the very complicated mental calculations of which he is capable."
In his exercises in public the arithmetical operations he performs mentally overlap, so that the
cascades of figures which pour out over the audience, almost without a break, form a strange medley.
First one person is invited to give his age, then five numbers of two figures are proposed by the public.
A little while afterwards the calculator gives the third power of the first number, the fourth power of the
second number and the fifth power of the third; he then stops to indicate to a spectator that he has
lived for so many hours, minutes and seconds, and shows, by a calculation on the blackboard, that he
has taken leap years into account. He rounds off by supplying the sixth and seventh powers of the last
numbers, these two answers, be it noted, having 11 and 13 figures respectively.
More difficult feats are then proposed: raising 3 figure numbers to their cubes, then the extraction of
roots. Someone for instance gives a 15 figure number, another one of 19 figures and finally dates on
either the Gregorian or the Julian calendar; all these are given simultaneously. Instantly the artist
indicates the day of the week to which these correspond, then announces the cube root of the first
number and, partially, the fifth root of the second. He replies to further requests for dates. Finally he
gives the complete cube root of the second number. Similar operations follow with the greatest
rapidity, interspersed by replies concerning the dates of Easter, Ascension, Whitsun and the phases of
the moon.
Finally he ends the performance by repeating all the numbers that have been announced during the
session, that is to say, some hundred and fifty figures.
It should be added that in the course of his exhibitions M. Dagbert often plays brilliant pieces on the
violin while he is solving complicated calculations in his head. Thus while he has been playing a
fantasy from Il Trovatore with remarkable skill I have seen him carry out the extraction of twenty cubic
roots of 3 figures and the multiplication of a 5 figure number by another number of 6 figures. The total
operation lasted seven minutes. As he put down his instrument the calculator gave the twenty one
solutions straight off, absolutely without error. At no time did he make use of pencil or paper, even to
note the terms of the problems.

The Psychology of Lightning Calculators

After this brief study of the principal lightning calculators, let us consider in what conditions their
aptitude makes its appearance and by what mechanism it is developed.
First of all it seems that the gift of calculation is not inherited. The only two exceptions known are those
of Bidder and Diamandi. The first passed on his gifts to his children and grandchildren, while Diamandi
had one brother and one sister who possessed aptitudes for mental calculation similar to his.
Among all of them the gift has appeared spontaneously, without any outside stimulus. Indeed, many of
the lightning calculators were born of poor and even very poor parents who paid little attention to the
teaching or education of their children. It should be added, as we have already pointed out, that
several calculators were at first considered to be backward children. At the age of 17, the Belgian
calculator Oscar Verhaeghe expressed himself like a baby of 2. 5
It has been mentioned earlier that Zerah Colburn displayed a sign of degeneracy: an extra finger or
toe to each limb. Another lightning calculator, whom we have not mentioned so far, was Prolongeau,
who was born without arms or legs. Mondeux was an hysteric.
To sum up, neither the external environment in which the lightning calculators developed, nor their
general intelligence, at least in the case of most of them, gives us the explanation of their faculty: they
have had neither the influence of a teacher nor an example; they have not been drawn into their way
of life by guidance or by a normal education; their level of intelligence has often been very much
inferior to their extraordinary arithmetical capacities. As Alfred Binet has rightly said: "In the birth of
their faculty, there is something which resembles a sort of spontaneous generation".
Another trait which characterises the lightning calculator is precocity. In the cases of Gauss and
Whateley the faculty made itself manifest at the age of three years. It is reported that Gauss's father
was in the habit of paying his workmen at the end of the week and that he added to their wages a
bonus for any extra hours they had done, based on the total earned for each day. One day, when
Gauss senior had just finished his calculations and was preparing the money, the child, who was then
barely three and who had been following his father's operations without being noticed, cried out:
"Father! Father! You've done it wrong. This is the amount." The sum was done again carefully and to
everybody's astonishment it was discovered that the right amount was indeed that given by the little
boy. In the same fashion Ampere brought off quite lengthy mental operations at the age of four, when
he knew neither letters nor figures. He used nothing but a few pebbles or beans. A story told by Arago
is enough to demonstrate the point to which love of calculation had taken possession of the child.
Maternal tenderness having deprived the young Ampere of his beloved beans during an illness, he
replaced them with fragments of a biscuit which he had been given after a three days' fast
Ampere, as we know, became one of the greatest French physicists, but, strange to say, in proportion
as his knowledge of classical mathematics and science developed, so he progressively lost his
aptitude for mental calculation.
It was the same with Whateley, who notes: "My ability to calculate displayed one peculiarity. It showed
itself at the age of four and lasted three years. I could do the most complicated additions in my head,
and a good deal more rapidly than others who did them on paper, and no one ever found any mistakes
in them. But by the time I began going to school, my ability to calculate had vanished and since then I
have always been very weak in mathematics".
Safford, according to M. Scripture, could do multiplications in his head with answers running up to 36
figures at the age of five. As he had remarkable aptitude for classical mathematics, he became a
professor of astronomy, but entirely lost his faculty for lightning calculation. On the other hand the
Swiss, Leonard Euler, who began calculating at the age of five and who, according to his biographer
Lacroix, "deserves to occupy in mathematics the place which Voltaire holds in literature", retained his
prodigious facility for mental calculation until extreme old age. Possessed of an encyclopaedic mind
and gifted with a colossal memory, he not only solved the most complex problems of analysis or
geometry in his head, but also knew by heart the Aeneid of Virgil, his favourite author, and had a
profound knowledge of physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, geology and medicine as well. He was
also well versed in history and the Greek and Latin languages.
In 1937, an English Sunday newspaper published a Reuter report from Vienna that Meho Focie, aged
5, the son of a bootmaker, had amazed mathematics teachers in Zagreb. He had not learned to read
or write, but he could solve any complicated problem in his head. He was able to multiply or divide six
figure numbers and find their square roots without a mistake in a few seconds. A mathematician,
watching him at play, asked him: "I am fifty-one today; how many days have passed since my birth?"
Without stopping his game the child gave the exact answer, taking leap years into account.
Colburn, Prolongeau and Inaudi began calculating at the age of six, and Bidder, Mondeux and
Mangiamele, the less precocious examples of the series, at the age of eleven. Alfred Binet has
suggested eight as the average age for the first manifestations of the gift of lightning calculation.
However that may be, what should be especially noted on this subject of precocity is the number of
them who began to calculate before knowing how to write figures. Thus they worked out numbers in
their heads without, understanding the meaning of a written figure. This is a rather mysterious fact,
difficult for an adult accustomed to calculate with these precise and convenient symbols to understand.
An exceptional memory for numbers, the ability to keep them stored in the consciousness in a manner
bordering on the supernatural also characterises the lightning calculators. It is in both these
characteristics specifically that they surpass ordinary mortals, and in the second that they resemble
hypnotic or psychic subjects in whom sensation can take the form of hallucination.
The memory of the lightning calculator is generally a visual one, but it may also be auditory, tactile or
motory.
Mondeux and Colburn saw figures form before their eyes, as if traced by an invisible pen. Diamandi
perceived them before his frontal lobes. Mlle. Osaka saw them, when they were dictated to her, as if
written "in white upon a blackboard". It was the same for Dagbert. Dismer, the shepherd who lived not
far from Stuttgart, and Pierre Annich, the herdsman from the Tyrol, who were also lightning calculators,
were also "visuals".
Inaudi, on the other hand, was primarily an "auditory".
"I hear a voice which calculates", he often said.
This voice, however, did not prevent him from following a conversation, or from simultaneously
carrying out easier calculations than the main problem put to him, or from playing the flute. The
mysterious voice continued its soliloquy and at the end of a certain time supplied Inaudi with the
answer to an extraordinarily complicated calculation.
Fleury, as we have said earlier, was a "tactile".
Finally it seems that the majority of the calculators have also brought their "motor" memories into play,
either by involuntarily executing certain movements with their hands or by silently articulating the
figures. It was thus that Jean Hutzinger, a lightning calculator who had his hour of fame, constantly
moved his lips while calculating. To sum up, it is very probable that a particular form of memory
predominates in this or that case, but that all the memory forms play their part to a greater or lesser
degree.

The Hidden Powers of the Mind

To explain the gift of mental calculation the classical psychologists invoke certain quite ordinary
psychic qualities carried to a high degree. Their view is clearly expressed by the Swedish neurologist
Dr. Jakobson in Acta Medica Scandinava.
"The lightning calculators", he says in substance, "are subjects gifted with a highly developed visual
memory and an excellent memory of association, who are apparently unaffected by mental fatigue and
are capable of concentrating their attention upon complex operations very rapidly and for a prolonged
time. Impelled from a very early age by the development of a spontaneous faculty for mental
calculation, they acquire progressively an automatic memory for arithmetical operations which is
independent of all mathematical training properly so called. In this way they can greatly extend, by
simple memory, the numbers of the multiplication tables of which they know the products by heart.
Such subjects have no more need to reflect, that is to say engage even in a mental operation, in order
to multiply two numbers of three or even four figures, than we have to multiply the ten first numbers in
Pythagoras' table. Starting from this data they can easily reduce the most complex multiplications to a
small number of operations of which they add up the products mentally. To do this they literally see the
figures as "written in the air". Divisions are done in the same way, simplified by a method consisting in
extracting from the dividend the squares, known by heart, of the round numbers into which the divisor
can be resolved.
"Every arithmetical operation can be broken down in this way into a certain number of 'prefabricated'
operations, of which the results ure known by heart and which it is then only necessary to add up with
the remainders. In essence, therefore, it is more a question of a very special form of memory, which
has been developed by training, than of a genuine aptitude for calculation."
In reality this explanation is clearly inadequate. It explains neither their precocity nor their innate gift,
nor the fact that it can show itself in mentally backward persons, nor the often prodigious character of
the arithmetical memory of many of the calculators. Moreover it docs not sufficiently emphasise the
extent to which they perform their feats automatically.
When Inaudi hears a voice which calculates within him while he continues to converse or is
consciously doing quite different calculations, when Dagbert plays a brilliant piece on the violin and
during this time solves twenty-one complicated problems in his head, do we not see here appearing
the "unknown guest" of Maeterlinck, emerging from the normal personality, superimposing itself upon it
and proclaiming its independent existence? Certain calculators have moreover actually felt this "guest"
living within them and have distinctly recognised it.
"From my childhood", writes Ferreol, "I calculated in an entirely intuitive manner, to such an extent that
I frequently had the impression of having lived before. If I was set a difficult problem the answer
sprang directly from my mind without my knowing at first how I had obtained it; I then looked for the
method by starting from the result. This intuitive power of comprehension, which never made
mistakes, developed in close parallel with the exercises which it was called upon to do. I still often
have the impression that someone is beside me who whispers to me the answer I wish for, the paths I
am seeking, and generally these are paths which no one, or almost no one, has trodden before me
and which I should not yet have found if I had set out to lookforthcm." (Reportedby Moebius, Uber die
Anlage zur Mathematik.}
With this calculator the separation between conscious thought and the subconscious or psychic
faculties seems to have been complete, the conscious control being only an accessory condition.
It was the same with Bidder:
"He possessed", writes M. V. Pole, "an almost miraculous faculty for finding, more or less intuitively,
factors which when multiplied together gave this or that large number. Thus, given the number 17861,
he could see at once that this resulted from the multiplication of 337 by 53 ... He said that he would not
be able to explain how he did it; with him it was almost a natural instinct."
Much the same can be said of Verhaeghe, who is quite unable to explain the mechanics of the
complicated mathematical operations he carries out with such extraordinary rapidity and accuracy.
When he is asked how he sets about it, he replies: "I do not know. It comes to me like that".
Elsewhere, as with Buxton, Inaudi and Dagbert, there existed or exists an instant-by-instant
collaboration between the conscious and the unconscious, a contact between the two levels of the
mind, and it is certain that among calculators the artifices which enable operations to be simplified and
which are apparently discovered by the conscious mind, are in fact, automatically introduced by the
unconscious.
This is clearly implied in a statement by the "amateur" calculator M. Paul-Aumont Lidoreau, who uses
a certain number of established tables in the extraction of cube roots. 6
"I do my calculations entirely in my head", he said, "without any cerebral fatigue. I am aided in this in
an incomprehensible manner by my subconscious mind, and it is this, I suppose, which docs the most
important work. Thus, to extract the cube root of a 15 figure number, I have to perform an average of
12 to 15 operations in 20 seconds. Several of these calculations do themselves simultaneously in my
mind without my knowing exactly how."
Added to these are other facts of a slightly different kind which demonstrate that in our psychic
personality the unconscious is an active region, capable of creation. "It is not I who think", confided
Lamartine, "it is my ideas which think for me." Similarly Alfred de Musset said: "You don't work, you
listen; it is as if a stranger spoke in your car". Schopenhauer has also defined the role of the
unconscious: "My philosophic postulates have all produced themselves without my intervention, at
moments when my will has been asleep and my mind not engaged ... Thus my personal self has been
a stranger to my work".
This subconscious activity also shows itself in the scientific field. "Instead of forcing myself to
understand a proposition on the spot", Arago notes, "1 admit provisionally that it is true; and the next
day I am astonished to comprehend perfectly what seemed wholly obscure the night before."
Answering a question by Paul Valery, Professor Langevin made a similar observation: "Each time", he
said, "one thinks with intensity and has thus to some extent prepared the work of the subconscious,
this latter continues of its own accord and sometimes gives \varning when it has finished. I have very
clear recollections of an inner shock informing me at a given moment that a question has been solved
and that there is nothing left to do but to consciously express the result".
Joliot-Curie too stated that he had had "sudden illuminations" supplying him with the best means of
producing and observing a phenomenon, with the immediate sensation that the method thus
suggested was unique and that any other would be less simple. "This sensation", he says, "I can recall
in at least two circumstances, of which one was the proof of the explosion of the uranium atom."
On his side Professor Jacques Hadamard reveals: "I have found a long-sought solution at the precise
moment of a sudden awakening, caused by the motion of a car, and this solution has revealed itself to
me in a direction quite different from that in which I had sought it until then".
Leaping over a mass of intermediate reasoning and outstripping years and even centuries of research,
 the unconscious is sometimes capable of bringing surprising truths to the notice of the conscious.
At the death of Pierre Fermat, one of the greatest mathematicians of the seventeenth century, there
was found in his home a copy of the works of the Greek mathematician Diophantes, bearing in the
margin the following annotation in Format's handwriting: "I have demonstrated... (he states a concept
which it seems needless to quote here) but I cannot write down the demonstration, as the margin is
inadequate".
"Now", notes Jacques Hadamard, "this demonstration for which the margin seemed to him too narrow,
has been sought for in vain for three centuries past. Essential progress has been made along the lines
of his theorem: it has already been demonstrated in limited cases. But for this it has been necessary to
bring to bear a whole arsenal of algebraical theories scaffolded one upon another, and of which none
was known in Permat's time, of which none was even imagined at that time, and no allusion by him
indicates that he even suspected their existence."

1 A few years ago Dr. Ginestous drought to the Bordeaux Anatomical Society a young man who in a sense
behaved in somewhat the same way as Buxton. He continuously counted in his head all the letters contained
in the sentences he read, wrote, spoke, heard or thought. Whether he was reading a newspaper, writing
something down, or chatting with a friend or a stranger, he counted everything without this fantastic labour
occasioning him the slightest fatigue, causing him any physiological difficulty or hindering him in his
profession. From his childhood he counted all the letters in his lesson hooks and those in books he looked
through by chance, and in the lines of the Aeneid or the Iliad which he had to learn by heart. This strange
mental activity ceased at night and he did not dream. But it recommenced on waking. When he was not
being spoken to or was not reading he made up sentences which he ceaselessly counted.
This subject displayed one other peculiarity. He had the phenomenon of coloured vision. The months
and the days of the week presented themselves to him in a colour lighter or darker according to the
passage of time towards the last month of the year or the last day of the week. January and Monday
appeared to him as perfectly white; the other months and the other days of the week were slightly
tinged with grey, which darkened gradually to attain complete blackness in December and on Sunday.

2 In I948, when he was eighty-one year of age, Inaudi discovered a general law which he expressed in these
terms:
"To find, for instance, the sum of the 25 first cubes, I multiply 25 by 26, obtaining 650, divide the result
by 2, which gives 325, and I raise it to its square, which gives the number required: 105625." Thus
empirically Inaudi found the formula which gives the sum of the cubes of the n first whole numbers and
which is expressed:
n(n + 1) 2
S= ( 2 )
Henri Mondeux had also discovered this process.

3 Electronic "brains" and modern calculating machines make it possible to carry out, at the speed of light and
in infallible fashion, the most complex calculations which would otherwise occupy teams of specialists for
weeks or even whole years. These machines can give the product of two numbers often figures in less than
50 millionths of a second.
These have sometimes been described as "thinking machines". In reality this is true only within the
limits set to the invention by man and in relation to the final result which he has assigned to it. It is
certainly possible to make these machines carry out reasoning processes, such as syllogisms, on
condition, of course, that the appropriate symbols are chosen and the right circuits established. But
between this and genuine "thinking" there is a gulf which it is impossible to bridge.

4 M. Dagbert can, with absolute accuracy, represent the figures to himself as if they were written in white on
a blackboard. His mental pictures are less clear if the figures are red on a blue background, and even less
clear with yellow figures on a green bark ground.
5 Oscar Verhaeghe, horn on April 16, 1926 at Bousval (Belgium), in a family of modest civil servants, belongs
to the group of calculators whose intelligence is well below the normal. The raising to various powers of
numbers formed from the same figures is one of his specialities. Thus, 888,888,888,888,888 is raised to its
square in 40 seconds and 9,999,999 to its fifth power in 60 seconds, the results involving 35 figures. Oscar
Verhaeghe has been put through a certain number of tests by various learned groups and by the eminent
mathematician Kraichit, of Brussels University.
6 M. Paul-Aumont Lidoreau was initiated into mental calculation from a very early age. When he was at
school, he was already able to extract the roots of numbers of from 9 to 15 figures in his head by methods of
his own which he later perfected.
Like all the virtuoso calculators he performs the perpetual calendar operation, and can calculate the
age of a person in days, hours, minutes and seconds very quickly. But his speciality is the extraction of
cube roots not ending in 5. In this class he has even beaten the record of Inaudi (which was 2 minutes
15 seconds for the extraction of a cube root of a number of 15 figures) by giving at the end of 20
seconds the cube root of a perfect cube of 15 figures and in 46 seconds that of a perfect cube of 18
figures.
In the course of a demonstration organised at the International Psychical Institute, M. Lidoreau
extracted the cube roots of the following numbers in his head in a few seconds and without a mistake:
37,246,609
599,930,290,504
924,579,746,488
13,055,567,849,956,664
In contrast to the majority of lightning calculators, M. Lidoreau does not possess an exceptional
memory for numbers.

EURICA. 1969

INDIAN PHENOMENON
A lot of scientists in the World broking heads by riddles anusual possibilityes of some peoples.
Motherland of miracles and mystics India has present to scientists one more riddle: young woman with
name Shakuntala Devi solve the most complex arithmetical problems with the lightning speed and
absolute accuracy.
The most complex mathematical problem, with which Shakuntala meet, was so-called "Factorial 73".
Problem is conclude in multipluing all numbers in consequent row from one to 73. On solving "factorial
73" Shakuntala took the only two minutes.
Strikes memory of Shakuntala Devi - she memorize problems, solved her two years ago.
Mathematical talent was finded on Shakuntala in infancy, when her peers hardly distinguished one
digit from the another. Present time Shakuntala solve only arifmetical problems and have like
opponents only calculating machines.
During TV show in New York Shakuntala compete on speed solving arithmetical problems with most
modern computing machine and solved problem on 6 seconds faster. On Sidney she solved problems
on some of seconds before task move throw electronic brain of counting device.
Besides, Shakuntala Devi possesses an amazing ability instantly calls any days of the calendar. Ask
her what weekday was January 22 1921, and she, without conceiving, will give a faithfull answer.
Shakuntala Devi have no any education. Circumstances do not give her possibility regularly visit
school.

Comments from Oleg Stepanov.

This is very old article from scientific-popular every years magazine.
Looks like here mistake of translating - Devi made not factorial, but extracting 73 root.
You can everuthing?..

On Kiev's studioe was made new scientifically-popular film "SEVEN STEPS FOR HORIZON" (author a
scenario E. Zagdansky, science consultant member of APN USSR A.Petrovsky, editor F.Sobolev), told about
hidden posibilityes of human brain. Корреспондент журнала побывал на просмотре этого
увлекательного фильма и вкратце записал его основные эпизоды. Заметки корреспондента
комментирует по нашей просьбе молодой ученый Валерий СКУРЛАТОВ.

- Who like mental calculating, please, come to me. - Teacher of Gorky's Polithechnical Institute I. Shelushkov
suggest brave peoples calculate summ of digits, which he will call one to another. - 3, 5, 7, 2, 7, 9, 1, 4.
Enought? How much?
The man obviously pulls time:
- What - how much? Ah, summ... Probably, 20.
- Not important. Lets I try.
From upper rows fly a pronounce tongue twister of numbers. Write - is get line chain on one and a half. Only
has sound last - Shelushkov call a summ. First - surprisingly "correctly", but afterwards - an applause. Down
and left counter fire tasks. And once again "faithfully", "correctly".
But then begin the real miracles. Shelushkov attentively listen long unknown poem and told, how much signs
in the text. Task is complicate: needed to name 132-nd letter in other poem. Phenomenal calculator executes
this request too.
Then, gifted youth extracting roots third and fourth powers from numbers, which he get. That time, while with
the briliance dares one problem to another, someone from voluntary assistents carefully writes on the big
board 20-digit number. Shelushkov extract from it 77-th root. On this operation has left minute - exactly less,
how much needed to read several lines, which have occupy number.
And finally, experience, caused beside the whole crowded young auditorium rave perplexity. For back of
calculator is installed six revolve boards. On them numbers, from which is necessary extract roots 3 - 4-й
powers. Shelushkov gives a signal. Boards is poor roling. Only then youth revers to them and... one for other
has name six correct answers!

April 1973
THE LEGEND OF JOHN VON NEUMANN
P. R. HALMOS, Indiana University
John von Neumann was a brilliant mathematician who made important contributions to quantum
physics, to logic, to meteorology, to war, to the theory and applications of high-speed computing
machines, and, via the mathematical theory of games of strategy, to economics.

Youth. He was born December 28, 1903, in Budapest, Hungary. He was the eldest of three sons in a
well-to-do Jewish family. His father was a banker who received a minor title of nobility from the
Emperor Franz Josef; since the title was hereditary, von Neumann's full Hungarian name was Margittai
Neumann Janos. (Hungarians put the family name first. Literally, but in reverse order, the name means
John Neumann of Margitta. The "of", indicated by the final "i", is where the "von" comes from; the
place name was dropped in the German translation. In ordinary social intercourse such titles were
never used, and by the end of the first world war their use had gone out of fashion altogether. In
Hungary von Neumann is and always was known as Neumann Janos and his works are alphabetized
under N. Incidentally, his two brothers, when they settled in the U.S., solved the name problem
differently. One of them reserves the title of nobility for ceremonial occasions only, but, in daily life,
calls himself Neumann; the other makes it less conspicuous by amalgamating it with the family name
and signs himself Vonneuman.)
Even in the city and in the time that produced Szilard (1898), Wigner (1902), and Teller (1908), von
Neumann's brilliance stood out, and the legends about him started accumulating in his childhood.
Many of the legends tell about his memory. His love of history began early, and, since he remembered
what he learned, he ultimately became an expert on Byzantine history, the details of the trial of Joan of
Arc, and minute features of the battles of the American Civil War.
He could, it is said, memorize the names, addresses, and telephone numbers in a column of the
telephone book on sight. Some of the later legends tell about his wit and his fondness for humor,
including puns and off-color limericks. Speaking of the Manhattan telephone book he said once that he
knew all the numbers in it - the only other thing he needed, to be able to dispense with the book
altogether, was to know the names that the numbers belonged to.
Most of the legends, from childhood on, tell about his phenomenal speed in absorbing ideas and
solving problems. At the age of 6 he could divide two eight-digit numbers in his head; by 8 he had
mastered the calculus; by 12 he had read and understood Borel's Theorie des Fonctions.
These are some of the von Neumann stories in circulation. I'll report others, but I feel sure that I
haven't heard them all. Many are undocumented and unverifiable, but I'll not insert a separate caveat
for each one: let this do for them all. Even the purely fictional ones say something about him; the
stories that men make up about a folk hero are, at the very least, a strong hint to what he was like.) In
his early teens he had the guidance of an intelligent and dedicated high-school teacher, L. Ratz, and,
not much later, he became a pupil of the young M. Fekete and the greatt L. Fejer,"the spiritual father of
many Hungarian mathematicians". ("Fekete" means "Black", and "Fejer" is an archaic spelling,
analogous to "Whyte".)
According to von Karman, von Neumann's father asked him, when John von Neumann was 17, to
dissuade the boy from becoming a mathematician, for financial reasons. As a compromise between
father and son, the solution von Karman propo-sed was chemistry. The compromise was adopted, and
von Neumann studied chemistry in Berlin (1921-1923) and in Zurich (1923-1925). In 1926 he got both
a Zurich diploma in chemical engineering and a Budapest Ph.D. in mathematics.

Early work. His definition of ordinal numbers (published when he was 20) is the one that is now
universally adopted. His Ph.D. dissertation was about set theory too; his axiomatization has left a
permanent mark on the subject. He kept up his interest in set theory and logic most of his life, even
though he was shaken by K. Godel's proof of the impossibility of proving that mathematics is
consistent.
He admired Godel and praised him in strong terms: "Kurt Godel's achievement in modern logic is
singular and monumental - indeed it is more than a monument, it is a landmark which will remain
visible far in space and time. ... The subject of logic has certainly completely changed its nature and
possibilities with Godel's achievement." In a talk entitled "The Mathematician", speaking, among other
things, of Godel's work, he said: "This happened in our lifetime, and I know myself how humiliatingly
easily my own values regarding the absolute mathematical truth changed during this episode, and how
they changed three times in succession!"
He was Privatdozent at Berlin (1926-1929) and at Hamburg (1929-1930). During this time he worked
mainly on two subjects, far from set theory but near to one another: quantum physics and operator
theory. It is almost not fair to call them two

Speed. The speed with which von Neumann could think was awe-inspiring. G. Polya admitted that
"Johnny was the only student I was ever afraid of. If in the course of a lecture I stated an unsolved
problem, the chances were he'd come to me as soon as the lecture was over, with the complete
solution in a few scribbles on a slip of paper." Abstract proofs or numerical calculations - he was
equally quick with both, but he was especially pleased with and proud of his facility with numbers
When his electronic computer was ready for its first preliminary test, someone suggested a relatively
simple problem involving powers of 2. (It was something of this kind: what is the smallest power of 2
with the property that its decimal digit fourth from the right is 7? This is a completely trivial problem for
a present-day computer: it takes only a fraction of a second of machine time.) The machine and
Johnny started at the same time, and Johnny finished first.
One famous story concerns a complicated expression that a young scientist at the Aberdeen Proving
Ground needed to evaluate. He spent ten minutes on the first special case; the second computation
took an hour of paper and pencil work; for the third he had to resort to a desk calculator, and even so
took half a day When Johnny came to town, the young man showed him, the formula and asked him
what to do. Johnny was glad to tackle it. "Let's see what happens for the first few cases. If we put n =
1, we get..." - and he looked into space and mumbled for a minute. Knowing the answer, the young
questioner put in "2.31 ?" Johnny gave him a funny look and said "Now if n = 2,...", and once again
voiced some of his thoughts as he worked. The young man, prepared, could of course follow what
Johnny was doing, and, a few seconds before Johnny finished, he interrupted again, in a hesitant tone
of voice: "7.49?" This time Johnny frowned, and hurried on: "If n = 3, then..." The same thing
happened as before - Johnny muttered for several minutes, the young man eavesdropped, and, just
before Johnny finished, the young man exclaimed: "11.06!" That was too much for Johnny. It couldn't
be! No unknown beginner could outdo him! He was upset and he sulked till the practical joker
confessed.
Then there is the famous fly puzzle. Two bicyclists start twenty miles apart and head toward each
other, each going at a steady rate of 10 m.p.h. At the same time a fly that travels at a steady 15 m.p.h.
starts from the front wheel of the southbound bicycle and flies to the front wheel of the northbound
one, then turns around and flies to the front wheel of the southbound one again, and continues in this
manner till he is crushed between the two front wheels. Question: what total distance did the fly
cover ? The slow way to find the answer is to calculate what distance the fly covers on the first,
northbound, leg of the trip, then on the second, southbound, leg, then on the third, etc., etc., and,
finally, to sum the infinite series so obtained. The quick way is to observe that the bicycles meet
exactly one hour after their start, so that the fly had just an hour for his travels; the answer must
therefore be 15 miles. When the question was put to von Neumann, he solved it in an instant, and
thereby disappointed the questioner: "Oh, you must have heard the trick before!" "What trick?" asked
von Neumann; "all I did was sum the infinite series."
I remember one lecture in which von Neumann was talking about rings of operators. At an appropriate
point he mentioned that they can be classified two ways: finite versus infinite, and discrete versus
continuous. He went on to say: "This leads to a total of four possibilities, and, indeed, all four of them
can occur. Or - let's see -can they?" Many of us in the audience had been learning this subject from
him for some time, and it was no trouble to stop and mentally check off all four possibilities. No trouble
- it took something like two seconds for each, and, allowing for some fumbling and shifting of gears, it
took us perhaps 10 seconds in all. But after two seconds von Neumann had already said "Yes, they
can," and he was two sentences into the next paragraph before, dazed, we could scramble aboard
again.

Speech. Since Hungarian is not exactly a lingua franca, all educated Hungarians must acquire one or
more languages with a popular appeal greater than that of their mother tongue. At home the von
Neumanns spoke Hungarian, but he was perfectly at ease in German, and in French, and, of course,
in English. His English was fast and grammatically defensible, but in both pronunciation and sentence
construction it was reminiscent of German. His "Sprachgefiihl" was not perfect, and his sentences ten
ded to become involved. His choice of words was usually exactly right; the occasional oddities (like "a
self-obvious theorem") disappeared in later years. His spelling was sometimes more consistent than
commonplace: if "commit", then "ommit". S. Ulam tells about von Neumann's trip to Mexico, where "he
tried to make himself understood by using 'neo-Castilian', a creation of his own - English words with an
'el' prefix and appropriate Spanish endings".
He prepared for lectures, but rarely used notes. Once, five minutes before a non-mathematical lecture
to a general audience, I saw him as he was preparing. He sat in the lounge of the Institute and
scribbled on a small card a few phrases such as these: "Motivation, 5 min.; historical background, 15
min.; connection with economics, 10 min.;..."
As a mathematical lecturer he was dazzling. He spoke rapidly but clearly; he spoke precisely, and he
covered the ground completely. If, for instance, a subject has four possible axiomatic approaches,
most teachers content themselves with developing one, or at most two, and merely mentioning the
others. Von Neumann was fond of presenting the "complete graph" of the situation. He would, that is,
describe the shortest path that leads from the first to the second, from the first to the third, and so on
through all twelve possibilities.

Work habits. Von Neumann was not satisfied with seeing things quickly and clearly; he also worked
very hard. His wife said "he had always done his writing at home during the night or at dawn. His
capacity for work was practically unlimited." In addition to his work at home, he worked hard at his
office. He arrived early, he stayed late, and he never wasted any time. He was systematic in both large
things and small: he was, for instance, a meticulous proofreader. He would correct a manuscript,
record on the first page the page numbers where he found errors, and, by appropriate tallies, record
the number of errors that he had marked on each of those pages. Another example: when requested
to prepare an abstract of not more than 200 words, he would not be satisfied with a statistical check -
there are roughly 20 lines with about 10 words each - but he would count every word.
When I was his assistant we wrote one paper jointly. After the thinking and the talking were finished, it
became my job to do the writing. I did it, and I submitted to him a typescript of about 12 pages. He
read it, criticized it mercilessly, crossed out half, and rewrote the rest; the result was about 18 pages. I
removed some of the Germanisms, changed a few spellings, and compressed it into 16 pages. He
was far from satisfied, and made basic changes again; the result was 20 pages. The almost divergent
process continued (four innings on each side as I now recall it); the final outcome was about 30
typescript pages (which came to 19 in print).
Another notable and enviable trait of von Neumann's was his mathematical courage. If, in the middle
of a search for a counterexample, an infinite series came up, with a lot of exponentials that had
quadratic exponents, many mathematicians would start with a clean sheet of paper and look for
another counterexample. Not Johnny! When that happened to him, he cheerfully said: "Oh, yes, a
thetafunction...", and plowed ahead with the mountainous computations. He wasn't afraid of anything.
He knew a lot of mathematics, but there were also gaps in his knowledge, most notably number theory
and algebraic toplogy. Once when he saw some of us at a blackboard staring at a rectangle that had
arrows marked on each of its sides, he wanted to know that what was. "Oh just the torus, you know -
the usual identification convention." No, he didn't know. The subject is elementary, but some of it just
never crossed his path, and even though most graduate students knew about it, he didn't.
Brains, speed, and hard work produced results. In von Neumann's Collected Works there is a list of
over 150 papers. About 60 of them are on pure mathematics (set theory, logic, topological groups,
measure theory, ergodic theory, operator theory, and continuous geometry), about 20 on physics,
about 60 on applied mathematics (including statistics, game theory, and computer theory), and a small
handful on some special mathematical subjects and general non-mathematical ones. A special number
of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Societv was devoted to a discussion of his life and work
(in May 1958).
 Paul Halmos claims that he took up mathematics because he flunked his master's orals in philosophy.
He received his Univ. of Illinois Ph.D. under J.L. Doob. Then he was von Neumann's assistant,
followed by positions at Illinois, Syracuse, M. I. T. 's Radiation Lab, Chicago, Michigan, Hawaii, and
now is Distinguished Professor at Indiana Univ. He spent leaves at the Univ. of Uruguay, Montevideo,
Univ. of Miami, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Tulane, and Univ. of Washington He held a Guggenheim
Fellowship and was awarded the MA A Chauvenet Prize.
Professor Halmos' research is mainly measure theory, probability, ergodic theory, topological groups,
Boolean algebra, algebraic logic, and operator theory in Hilbert space. He has served on the Council
of the AMS for many years and was Editor of the Proceedings of the AMS and Mathematical Reviews.
His eight books, all widely used, include Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces (Van Nostrand, 1958),
Measure Theory (Van Nostrand, 1950), Naive Set Theory (Van Nostrand, I960), and Hilbert Space
Problem Book (Van Nostrand, 1967).
The present paper is the original uncut version of a brief article commissioned by the Encyclopaedia
Britannica. Editor.

Mnemonic - Articles

echniques of Juniors N7 1974 г.

Easy arithmetical puzzles our life ask us every minutes: more or less all of
us can calculate mentaly. Methods of calculations "on mind"
uncomplicated and described at the last century by Sergey Aleksandrovich
Rachinsky, great scientist and remarkable teacher, author first in Russia
tasks-book on "mental count". Apropos, S. A. Rachinsky painted like
school teacher by his student, known paintist Nikolaev Bodanov-Belsky in
the picture "Mental calculation".
Amazingly, but noncunning exercise of schoolboys of younger classes
can become a subject of the rapt attention of scientists. Phenomen of
superquick calculating, possibility to handle in the mind multi-digit
numbers at the speed of PC - here is that forces specialists in the brain to
find and research the people, possess giving abilities to the mental
calculation.

PRODIGY - CALCULATORS
Viktor Pekelis

Two thousand besoms, five hundred golik, on three coin a hundred -

how much roubles?
Old russian riddle
No one possibilities of our brain does seem such amazing, as a riddle a prodigy- Mental calculation
calculators.
...On the music hall redeem light. On the stage, brightly refresh by lights of footlights, come a person in
the strict black suit - not circus actor, not master of ceremonies, not performer popular songs. Beside a
chalk and rag in hands. He looks unaccustomed on the stage.
Show begin. Hundreds of spectators with unflagging attention keep a check on performer.
- Call me, please, - ask artist to spectators. - two multi-digit numbers and, please, find with me
together their product.
- One million five hundred ninety four thousand three hundred twenty three multiply by three thousand
four hundred fifty six, - ask from the common-room.
Passes several seconds, and all read on the board a result - 5 509 980 288.
Actor patiently waits, while spectators multiply numbers on the paper. After this he call also all results,
received during the multiplying.
What this talent is? No description,
no tale are to give us full
presentation. Needed to be present
under alive demonstrations, to
understand how equitable epithet
"prodigy".
Here is tale on the experiment,
maded one of the researchers with
Mlle. Osaka. She was asked raise
Wim Klein, human-computer of CERN. in the square 97, get a tenth power
of same number. She do this
immediately. Then offerred to extract a sixth root from 40 242 074 782 776 576. She answerred
immediately and without mistakes.
At 1927 a doctor Osty and mathematician Sent-Lage examined a blind calculator Lou Fleury. Amongst
problems was the following: is given number, needed to distribute its on the cube of certain number
and four digit number.
Fleury get number 707 358 209. He thinking 28 seconds and give answer: 891 on cub and 5236. He get 211
717 440. Answer was after 25 seconds: 596 on cub and 8704.
On Vansky region of Western Georgia live Aron Chikvashvily. He easy
manipulated on mind with big numbers. "Counting mechanism" of Chikvasvily do
not know taed and errors.
One time his friends want to check possibilities of prodigy-calculator. Task was
difficult: how many words and letters will say commentator, commented second
round football match "Spartac" (Moscow) - "Dinamo" (Tbilisy). Simultaneously
was put tape-recorder. Answer comes as dictor say last word: 17 427 letters,
1835 words. On checking goes... five hours. Answer was correct.
39-years Aron Chikvashvily graduated jurist and economic faculty of Institute.
Amongst the prodigy-calculators big popularity use
problems, in the base which lies a calendar calculus.
Mentally flying through age and millenniums,
overcoming difficulties of nondecimal correlations
(week consists of 7 days, day from 24 hours, hour
Aron Chikvasvily
from 60 minutes etc.), they, are in a matter of seconds capable to do to
hundreds the operations and report that 1 January 180 year was a friday.
And all this is done with provision for leap years, changing a calendar at
1582 years etc. They, for instance, can say how much seconds pass from a
time of deaths Neron till falling Konstantinopol. One time on the
conversation two calculators Inaudi and Dagbert jokingly asked each other
by questions of such sort: what weekday will 13 Octobers 28448723 year?
Some problems, which people-counters easy solve on couple of seconds,
in the opinion of mathematicians, have require many months usual
Phenomenal gift to calculating. After this need a long time to check received results or have
counting was finding recourse to electronic machine.
What methods use a prodigy-counters? Comes "gift" from childhood, in
from Lidoreau on three adolescence or is gain, developed during life?
years old, when he can Torture to explain this ability by the exclusive memory, that psychologists
not read and write. name "hypermnesya". Certainly, we have here a manifestation of
monstrous memory, but one memory can not to explain this phenomen.
Tell that Gauss father usually paid to workers at the end of week, adding to the daily earnings a charge
work after main time. One time, after Gauss-father has finish calculations, a child who keep a check on
operations father, which was only three year, sad:
- Father, answer not correct! Here is real sum.
Calculations have repeat and with the wonderment are convince that tot has indicate a correct sum.
Several years ago newspapers reported on the young mathematical phenomenon Borislav
Gadzhansky.
- Can you, Borislav, extract a root twenty second power from the number 348 517 368 454 361 458
872?
After minute of thinking boy sad: "Eight".
- And now calculate a root thirty first power from the number 538 436 517 832 435 456 582.
 One more minute for thinking.
- Four.
In eleven years Borislav Gadzhansky from the Jugoslavian city Zrenyane fine knew a high mathematician in
the volume of program Institute and unassisted pencil and paper produced the most complex mathematical
calculations.
Show this gift much early or much late, its appearance always
spontaneously. Occurs momentally conversion. Owner of gift
sometimes cans be "retarded" in all other objects, but between
numbers he feels itself as at home and quickly reaches fantastic
virtuosity.
What happend with prodigy-counter on future?
Usually their skill is infinitely improve up to deep old age. But can
be, that time to time it disappears, on the measure that as its
owner gets usual for all children a education. For instance,
Ampere become one of the most famous scientists but lost his
ability to mental count, until develope cnoledge on classical
mathematic. On the contrary, Gauss and Euler connected up to
deaths both sides they geniouslity.
Interesting, that many people-counters had not understandings
how they do it: "Calculate, and all! But how calculete, god
knows". Such answers are not amazing. Some counters were
quite uneducated, people. Englishman Buxton, counter-virtuos, At begining of this centyru on
so never and did not learn to read, did not know numbers. Russia was very popular
American negro a counter Thomas Fuler died ungrammatical at "mathematician on music-hall"
an age 80.
R. Arrago.
Such people always much interested psychologists and
mathematicians, which tried to realize, in than secret of their abilities. But explanations, which prodigy-
counters gave, try to reveal its skill, at first thought seemed strange, and even much.
For instance, Urania Diamandi told - have numbers she helps their colour: 0 - white, 1 - black, 2 -
yellow, 3 - scarlet, 4 - brown, 5 - blue, 6 - dark-yellow, 7 -purpul, 8 - ser-blue, 9 - dark-бурый. Process
of calculation was presented by her in the manner of endless symphonies of colour.
Mondeu and Colburn clear saw, as before their eyes are form up numbers of numbers, written whose-
that invisible hand. Their "acceptance" was conclude in that, to read this "magic" record. Brother
Urany, Periceles Diamandy, told: "Numbers as it were agglomerate beside me in my brain".
Much "easy" Inaudi method. He seemed, is wake instead of he considers whose-that voice, and, while
this internal voice produces calculations, itself it or continues to talk, or play music. Mourice Dagbert
produces dizzy calculations, playing on the violin.
Several years ago in France, in Lill, in whitness of the authoritative jury from physicists, engineers,
cyberneticses, mathematicians and psychologists Maurice Dagbert has enter in the dispute with the
electronic calculating machine, produce near million operations at a second.
Dagbert has declare that will acknowledge itself win in that event only, if machine solve seven
problems earlier, than he solve ten...
Dagbert solved all 10 problems for 3 minutes 43 seconds, but electronic machine only for 5 minutes 18
seconds!
Such competitions not easy. I most recently conducted them in the
Institute of cybernetics of Ukrainian academy of sciences. In the
competition participated a young counter-phenomenon Igor
Shelushkov, graduate student of Gorky Pollytechnic Institute (now he
already teacher of this institute and is prepare to protect a thesis) and
electronic computing machine "Mir".
I should say several of words about machine. It can solve a many
equation system of single-line programming problem, calculate
network graphs - in general, execute a number of complex
mathematical operations. Machine its creators call "evaluator with the
higher education". Not only that it remembers 12 thousand symbols (7
pages of text) and quickly counting. In it "from giving birth" are
mortgaged main formulas, which us taught in the school and Institute.
As you see partner serious.
Judged a duel a people authoritative: mathematical programming
Igor Shelushkov.
department head - a professor and its employees.
I do not know, as on competitions in France, but here created equal conditions for the person and
machine. This is because many problem machine calculate quicker than person. But there such, that
 person in general not under power. In the Institute cyberneticses have select corresponding problems,
have define moments their "entering" for the person and for the machine, necessary accuracy of
deciding - before what sign and etc.
Necessary pay talent of Shelushkov. He brilliantly won competition, either as Dagbert in France.
Last time a prodigy-counters still compete with machines, but all less use abilities for demonstrations their
public. Their more interest a practical using a talent and scientific work. Dagbert, for instance, concerns with
a mathematics, but Shelushkov will teach, prepares a thesis.
In Sydney's university in India too passed competitions of person
and machine. Shakuntala Devi too has overtake several
computing machines. She too wants to bring a practical profit. It
helped Indian banks to reconcile and reduce billionth balances,
conduct enourmous calculations, which will help for solving
complex demographic problem for India.
Some prodigy-counters were subjected to a scientific examination.
Inaudi was once invite on the meeting of French academies of
sciences. Report on the meeting was given by the mathematician
Darby. Scientists come to a conclusion, that Inaudi uses some classical
acceptance, which it itself "has re-open". One of the commissions at
academies, in which, in particular, enterred known scientific Arago,
Koshi, researched Anry Mondeux. On the certificate Koshi, half-literate
son дровосека Mondeux used a binomial theorum. To similar
conclusions come an academy and at the experiment at 1948 years
with Mourise Dagbert.
Scientists consider that gift
Shakuntala Devi
to phenomenal calculatings
as it observe beside adult counters, is in some degrees gift
"trained" (obtained as a result of systematic exercises). Strolling
on number jungles, people-counters usially find acceptance,
which give it a possibility to shorten calculations.
Probably, single scientifically motivated and sufficiently in detail
developping system of sharp raising a mental countings was
created during Second World War by Zurich professor
mathematicians I. Trachtenberg. It is known under the name
"System of quick calculating".
History of its making unusual. At 1941 an fascists threw
By reading article about Trachtenberg in prison. To bacame live in nonhuman conditions
mathematician-actor Арраго, and save normal his phyche, Trachtenberg begin to develop
labour of Melekess plant Josef principles of mental calculations.
For four terrible years of stay in prison professor to manage to
Prikhodko suddenly understand create a graceful system of speed educating a children and adult
he can perform such show. "First, bases of mental calculations.
who introduse about my abilities, After the war Trachtenberg created and led Zurich mathematical
- tells Josef, - was my wife. She institute, get world popularity. System of Trachtenberg allows
do not believe me". Now sharply to accelerate a process of performing the operations of
multiplying, dividing, adding, squaring and rooting.
Prikhodko famoust mental- As we see, fast count not a secret for seven seal, but
calculator. scientifically developped system. If there are a system, than its
possible study, follows, and use.

For all who interesting this problem, mentioned on article, we recomended read next books:
1. Мелентьев П. В., Быстрые и устные вычисления. М., "Гостехиздат", 1930.
2. Гольдштейн Д. Н., Техника быстрых вычислений. М., "Учпедгиз", 1948.
3. Катлер Э. и Мак-Шейн Р., Система быстрого счета по Трахтенбергу. М., "Просвещение", 1967.
4. Пекелис В. Д., Твои возможности, человек! М., "Знание", 1973.
5. Фаермарк Д. С., Задача пришла с картины. М., "Наука".

READER'S DIGEST, Nowember 1976

 Meet the Human Computer
In the numbers game, this Dutch wizard is unbeatable
By Samuel Schreiner, Jr

On stage in a school auditorium in Lyons, France, stands a diminutive, bespectacled

Dutchman named Willem (Wim) Klein. In the audience are 200 scientists and
mathematicians who have given Klein a 200-digit number scrawled across eight
blackboards. The test: to extract, without pencil, paper or machinery, the twenty-third root of that
number in the shortest possible time.
Suddenly, the clock hands above the blackboards being turning. Klein looks at the number, then paces
the stage, furiously muttering to himself in Dutch. The audience watches breathlessly as the clock
moves on - five minutes ... eight ... ten.
At exactly 10 minutes 30 seconds, Klein takes a piece of chalk and writes a large number on the
board. A computer quickly confirmed the answer and the audience loudly applauds the shattering of
yet another mental arithmetic record by one of the world's handful of professionals in the field. Klein's
feat - in March last year - puts him in the Guinness Book of Records for the second year running, and
once more reinforces his claim to the title of "the human computer." *
Far from being limited to such stage stunts, 63-year-old Klein's mathematical dexterity has been put to
serious use for 18 years at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) outside Geneva.
Among all the people who work at CERN, Wim Klein is unique: he is the only man whose flashing
mind can still perform feats impossible tor CERN's humming hanks of computers.
Indeed, before these sophisticated machines were available, Klein was the computer at CERN.
Whenever a scientist ran into a mathematical problem that, might take days, weeks, months to work
out on paper, he presented it to Wim and got an almost instantaneous answer.
Nowadays, the scientists tend to put problems through computers, but in some ways a human mind
like Wim's still has an edge over the machines. "Roughly speaking, the computer does; processes in a
serial order, one after the other," explains physicist Jeremy Bernstein. "Wim, on the other hand, can
see his combinations in parallel, and be discarding one that does not work while simultaneously trying
out another. This accounts in part tor his astonishing speed."
And Wim's speed is indeed astonishing. On one occasion, he asked CERN physicist Henk Wind and
myself for three two-digit numbers which he would multiply in his head while Wind raced him with a
pocket computer. We gave him 21x16x87. In less than a second, Wim sputtered, "29232." Wind
confirmed the answer a bit later. "I just couldn't put the numbers in fast enough," he said, and Wim
modestly admitted, "I can beat the operator, but not the computer."
Not surprisingly, Wim's CERN colleagues consider him a natural wonder, a sort of human Matterhorn
or Grand Canyon. Wim is inclined to take a less mysterious view of his abilities. He admits, tor
example, that be couldn't function without the continuous guttural muttering that makes him sound like
a machine gone berserk. "I don't see numbers - I hear them," Wim explains. "Once when I was young,
a Dutch psychologist tested me by making me hold water in my mouth while I did a calculation. It
slowed me right down."
In fact, nothing in Wim's story, as he tells it, would seem to put his feats out of the reach of a similarly
dedicated person. One of two sons of a Jewish doctor, Wim was born in Amsterdam on December 4,
1912. With an average IQ, Wim was an indifferent student until about the age of ten when he arrived
at what he now calls his first "blossoming": he encountered the factorization of numbers, breaking
them down to the prime numbers of which they are composed. "For example," Wim explains, "21 is
three times seven; 22 is two times 11; but 23 cannot be divided, so it is a prime number already."
So fascinated was young Wim by tearing numbers apart in his mind that "instead of playing football I
was factorizing numbers up to 20000." As a result, Wim gradually committed to memory the
multiplication tables up to 100, the squares up to 1000 and the prime numbers up to 10000. How does
he memorize numbers? "I just keep saying them to myself - hammer them into my head - the way you
learn a language." He also plays with them. If you stroll through a ear park with Wim, you'll hear him
muttering Dutch under his breath while he keeps up a spritely patter in English - he's factorizing car
number plates.
Wim's second blossoming came at 14 when a teacher, after explaining the use of logarithm tables,
loaned them to him over the weekend. Wim began memorizing them at once, and now knows the
whole table tip to 150 - making him one of only two people ever known to have accomplished this (the
other was the German mathematician Ruckle).
Far from delighting his parents, Wim's talents alarmed them. When people began asking him to make
public appearances, Dr. Klein feared Wim would be diverted from the sober pursuit of medicine. So
 Wim plodded on with his studies until his father's death in 1937, which was soon followed by the chaos
of the war.
Free to abandon medicine after the war, Wim turned to show business. He started where he could - at
the bottom. With a guitar player and an accordionist, he would perform mathematical stunts on street
corners and in parks. Soon tiring of that, he began lecturing in grammar schools in Holland and
Belgium and came to the attention of the Institute of Mathematics in Amsterdam, where he went to
work as a calculator. But show business was - and still is - in Klein's blood, and today he appears as
frequently as possible on radio and television. "It stimulates me," he says. "I like the challenge of an
audience."
One of Wim's most popular stunts is something he calls the magic square. Give him a number and
he'll draw a square of 16 blocks, into each of which he writes a different number. When he's finished,
you find you can add it up, down and diagonally and get the number you gave him. In my case, it was
111. Into the four blocks across the top, Wim scribbled 18-32-40-21; into the first column on the left 18-
38-25-30; and so on. The whole process took a mere two minutes.
We can all learn to use numbers more skilfully. The first essential, says Klein, is not to be afraid of
them. Take them apart and make them work for you. "For example, most people know that 6x6 is 36,"
Wim says, "but if you give them 60x60, they're frightened, although the answer is simply 36 plus two
noughts."
To handle numbers easily, he suggests, turn them into workable combinations you probably know
already. Most people can handle tens and hundreds in multiplication since they've been taught that ten
times anything is the number itself with a nought added: 10x3=30; 10x30=300. One hundred times
anything is the number with two noughts added: 100x30=3000. Therefore, to multiply anything by 30,
say, multiply by three and add a nought: 30x7=210.
With this in mind, breaking numbers down to the nearest tens and then adding or subtracting what's
left over becomes the short way to mental multiplication. Take 21x12. It's 20x12, or 2x12=24 with a
nought added to make 240, plus one more 12, making 252. Or another example: 23x97. The-short cut
to this one is 23x100 (2300) minus 3x23 (69) for a result of 2231.
Wim notes unhappily that nobody seems interested in teaching such methods to the young. Indeed, he
and scientists I talked to at CERN are worried that the combination of "new maths" being taught today
and inexpensive pocket calculators will entirely wipe out the art of mental calculation.
The more I talked to Wim Klein, the more convinced I became that he does, indeed, have something
to teach us all. For one thing, there is his self-renewing attitude towards life. You could compare him to
an athletic champion whose natural endowment of good co-ordination would be meaningless without
years of disciplined practice and the nerve to accept challenges. Another lesson we can learn from
Wim is a better feeling for numbers. None of us is likely to become a Wim Klein any more than we are
likely to become an Arthur Ashe. But by following Klein's methods, we can all learn to play our own
level of the mathematical game more skilfully.

*In August this year, in front of 600 mathematicians and scientists Klein beat his own record by extracting the
seventy-third root of a 507-digit number in 2 minutes 43 seconds.

"Literary newspaper". 19 july 1978 г.

THREE, SEVEN, FOUR

Alexander BORODIN

Is our future prepare "brain hypodinamy", and together with that - necessary to invent new sportses
specially for the head, to insure this nice part of the body from premature flabbiness and sclerosis?
I did not become to move on this standard fantastic way, if not one letter in the editing "Literary
newspaper". Fast and little sized lines were penetrate by notes of sincere bitterness, caused, oddly to
say, exactly intellectly pressure electronic-computing machinery. But has feel this pressure a person,
find in itself most rare, but, on its opinion, nobody today necessary ability to the superquick mental
calculating.
Amongst four billions of people inhabit our Land, probably, only several tens possess a skill to
manipulate in the brain by multi-digit numbers with the speed of modern PC. "Nor one possibilities of
our brain does seem such amazing, as a riddle a prodigy-calculators", - notes one of the popularizator
this phenomenon - a writer Victor Pecelis. But such unique gift of nature his owner - an engineer J. Z.
Prikhodko from Dimitrovgrad - values as burden!
Almost to thirty Prikhodko did not suspect that his skill to calculate in the brain is unique. But, nor in
the school, nor in Dnepropetrovsk's engineering-building institute, where pass his student years, he
never used at calculations by record or slide rule. Moreover, his friends usially use him, and time to
time asking: "How much will?.." However all of this usially amused Prikhodko, not burdenned.
And ten years ago Josef Zinovievich is accidentally looks an article in the journal "Science and Life"
about the actor-mathematician R. S. Arrago. And, all what Arrago caused a boundless amazing a
public, Jozef Zinovievich easy repeat with lightness without any preliminary trainings. "Probably, not
many who managed so amazed themself", - recalls Prikhodko.
Together with the unexpected opening come doubts. Josef Zinovievich decide made some public show
in schools and nearest pedagogical institute, and two years after, being journey in Moscow, has make
on his initiative a competition with computer in the computing pavilion of VDNH (Exebition of
Acheivements National Economy) USSR. On this fact have appear marks in number of central
newspapers.
- On this, - speaks Josef Zinovievich, - all is finish. Phenomenon interest of nobody. After I much
speculated on that, what practical profit can bring my ability to calculate in the brain, but invent nothing
normal. If I live fifty years ago, my help is render useful under complex engineering or, for instance,
bank calculations, but now with this beautifully manage machines. Change profession of engineer-
builder on the worrisome life of actor, let even actor of such original genre, I do not want. It is too
serious step, to dare on it in fourty years of age, and I have no scenic vocation.
- Josef Zinovievich, show, how you calculate, - ask I and has get from the briefcase electronic
accounting calculator.
We begin with "easie" - multiply two four-digit numbers. Prikhodko, not conceiving, write on the paper
answers, I pressed thereupon key with the sign "=", and on the indicator flashed up green numbers. All
coincided. We move to five-digits, then six-digits multipliers - a result was same. On this possibility of
calculator run short, because answers simply ceased fit in twelve-digits indicator. Then have proceed
with the extraction a roots - square, cubic, seventh degrees, twelfth... We did this so: I asked Josef
Zinovievich will be unscrew and multiple by calculator some number itself several times, and after
showed him a result. On the inverse operation Prikhodko use several seconds. Mistakes he did not do.
Come time of last, the most serious test. Before the business trip I was in the Computing center of
Academy of sciences USSR and has ask to raise arbitrarily chosen two-digit number in very greater
power. For this target most approached a computer "Mir-2". Main engineer of Computing Center Irina
Anatolyevna Lazareva typed on the keyboard a program and has say: "You can count time". Six
minutes after computer move out from their own nonothers long punch tape, "head" which then move
insert in number-typed feature. That made sound like gun-machine, skipping through itself metres of
punch tape, and as a result of I has get a common sheet of paper with twenty-one lines of numbers.
And this sheet I has deliver Prikhodko.
Two minutes Josef Zinovievich study this number-monster. Simultaneously I introduce him my plan:
when acquaintanceship with number-monster will end, I give to him number of root what exactly
degrees is necessary extract, and begin count a time.
- I am ready, - tell Prikhodko.
Looks through second arrow of my watch, I has get from the pocket and show to Prikhodko paper with
four digits - "1137". Josef Zinovievich took a look at it, knit his brows, move by lips and in nine seconds
tell:
- Thirteen!
Answer was correct.
After we told about different things: weather, fishing ("Not one weekend missed", - has say Prikhodko),
staduing of ten years son ("Best student!"). During this time Igor was lead by my calculator. He do not
stop play with this mirical of accounting technology even during our chess game, what does not
prevent him, however, without problems won against guest.
- By the way, looks like Igor has inherit my love for numbers, - say Josef Zinovievich. - Write some
forty-digit number.
I has write in one line five telephone numbers of my friends and my post-code.
- Sonny, go in that room and learn this. Igor unwillingly has postpone a calculator aside and, having
withdrew my record goes out. Two minutes after he faultless repeat all numbers.
- And now backward, - ask father.
Igor made same but backward.
What specialists think about this? After talks with mathematicians I get impression, that "human-
computer" does not present for them particular interest. "But what about all methods, simplify mental
calculations, on which told me Prikhodko?" - asked I. I explained that this area is already explored by
specialists and present yesterday of mathematic. Particularly, was mention system of quick
 calculations, developing Zurich's professor mathematicians J. Trahtenberg. About practical using a
people-calculators, here - and my collocutors divorced hands - possible invent nothing. Computers do
not tired and practically do not mistaken, can work round day, but if their needed to check, this
possible quickly do by other machines. So alas...
Psychologists have show little more interests. "Prodigy, like Prikhodko, demonstrate us enormous
reserves, which hides inside human brain", - has say an academician APN USSR Anatoly
Aleksandrovich Smirnov, long time researching problem of memory and remembering during
educating and practical activity. (Abilities Prikhodko certainly, are base on particular characteristics of
his memory.) In this area already made a lot by psychologists, biophysicists, biochemists,
physiologists. Known, what breaking a memory and thinkings cause a striking one or another brain
areas. Memory research are made on the molecular level already. But what conclude organic
differences of brain of common person from the brain of same calculators - steel unknown. To be
short, scientific side of this question looks like the card just now open mainland: sidebars are mark, but
middle - a white spot".
I call main director Russian Concerts Vladislav Stepanovich Khodykin. "We have actors, emerge with
the demonstration of different mathematical stunts, - he say. - This is varieties so called original genre.
However show unusual needs serious producers preparation. Beside, actor art has own requirements,
which not always can combine with unique natural deposits". Against these words nothing can be
objection.
So, bitterness in the Prikhodko's letter - not farfetched pose, they are caused though rare, but really
contradiction. But why is accepted such a one-side to value a phenomenon superquick mental
calculating? May be in our computer century it can be useful not as only original music-hall trick?
Ability to manipulate in the brain by big numbers, as well known, from baby years was inherent some
great scientific - Ampere, Gauss, Euler. Difficult, of course, judge, what role played this quality in their
scientific art. However we can expect that in combination with other qualities a skill to produce mental
operation with the big amount of information can promote a discovery of unknown earlier regularities
and intercoupling a material world. May be we should study this problem much seriously?
I think about Igor: if teachers can development his abilities and simultaneously vaccinated interest in
some perspective area of expertise, than who know, may be he get bright fate in the science?
...When I already finished this article, come a letter from Dimitrovgrad. "After your departure, - write
Josef Zinovievich, Igor become nag to me with asking how I calculate. I has introduce him with some
acceptance, in particular with the principle of logarithms. And now he already can in some of minutes
in the brain extract roots from big numbers. What to do? What the future?" Really, what to do?
I run dictaphone and hear high boy's voice:
- Three, seven, four..."

Here only part of number-monster from what J. Prikhodko extract root of 1137 power.

The Great Mental Calculators

By Steven B. Smith. 1983
Chapter 34
Wim Klein
In Marseille on a Sunday afternoon, there was a chap who was eating flames, there was a lady who
told the future, there was a chap with a monkey, and I was extracting cube roots. Ho, ho. I'd like to
go back and do it again. It was fun. But I did not need to do it. I just got so fascinated with this
vagabond life.
Wim Klein, reminiscing about the post war period
Unless otherwise attributed, information in this chapter is based on personal interviews with Wim
Klein.
WIM KLEIN (also sometimes referred to as Willem or William Klein) was born in Amsterdam on
December 4, 1912 - a Wednesday, as he is quick to tell you.
Klein's interest in calculation began at age 8, when he discovered factoring. "At school we had to
factor numbers up to 500. Then I continued on to 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000. As you got so often
the same combinations, it is logical that if you know that 2537 is 43 times 59, and you're doing a little
show for the godmother of a neighbor celebrating her eighteenth birthday, and they ask you for 43
times 59, you recognize straightaway 2537." Although Klein never set about to learn the multiplication
table up to 100 by 100, he gradually acquired it from repeatedly encountering the same combinations.
He contrasts this sort of memory, which comes about unbidden simply as a matter of repeated
exposure to certain material, to deliberately committing something to memory; the latter he calls
"mechanical memory." "The multiplication and the squares up to 1000 I just took as a game. Learning
the logarithm table by heart up to 150 is memorizing, but in terms of multiplication I never memorized.
It came from the experience I got by factoring - I got often that 2537 is 43 times 59, and 5074 is the
double, and 7611 three times the number - so you recognize it."
By exposure he has learned the multiplication tables up to 100 by 100, the squares of integers up to
1000, the cubes of numbers up to 100 and roughly all prime numbers below 10'000. He deliberately
committed to memory the decimal logarithms to five places of the first 150 integers. He also knows
"some other small things like the first 32 powers of 2, the first 20 powers of three and so on; some
logarithms base e, a lot of history; and I also learned by heart the date of birth and death of about 150
composers."
Klein's older brother, Leo, was also an exceptional mental calculator but Wim was the moving force
behind the brothers' interest. "Leo was a little infected by me. Because I did it, he also had to do it."
The brothers were, however, altogether different in their methods - Leo's memory was visual, while
Wim's is auditory. Leo did not share Wim's fascination for factoring, nor did he care to go beyond three
digits by three digits in multiplication.
To illustrate the difference between his methods and Leo's, Klein asked me to call out two three-digit
numbers. I chose 426 and 843. He muttered in Dutch and after a few seconds said: "359118" He then
took a piece of paper and wrote:
4.26
X 8.43
12.78
170.40
3408.00
3591.18
"My brother would say: There's twelve dollars and seventy-eight cents plus a hundred and seventy
dollars and forty cents plus three thousand four hundred and eight dollars-three thousand five hundred
ninety-one dollars and eighteen cents, which he had to translate into normal pronunciation as three
hundred fifty-nine thousand one hundred eighteen.
"But I say hey, 426 divided by 6 is 71, and 843 times 6 is 5058, 5 times 71 is 355 [in this case
thousand] and 58 times 71, by experience, without calculating it, is 4,118. You see the difference? If
you had taken 427 I should have done quite differently: I should have said '427 divided 7 is 61 and 843
times 7 is 5901; 61 times 5901 is 359961.' You see how it helps using factorization as much as
possible? There is a keyhole in a hotel and I've got a key ring with 500 keys. What I have to do is to
pick the right key for that slot. For every problem I have to think .straightaway which is the best way-
just like a flash."
The difference between the brothers' memory showed up in other areas as well. Leo would come into
a town, buy a map, scan it briefly, and know his way about. Klein recalls: "He would say to a waiter in a
pub, I have to go there.' The chap would say, 'Well, you go like this.' My brother says, 'And if you go
like this, is it not shorter?' The waiter says, yes, sir.' " When the brothers were children and took the
streetcar to school, each conductor wore an identification number on his collar. Years later they saw an
elderly man selling tickets on the streetcar. Leo asked Wim, "Do you remember him?"
"No."
"In the old days his collar number was 683."
Leo started to talk to the man and after a while he asked: "How many cars have you worked on the
tramway?"
"Oh, since.."
"Yes, and years ago you were on streetcar number 60."
"Yes."
"And your collar number was 683."
The old man looked at him: "You damn.. That is correct."
Klein says: "There were hundreds of examples like this. Funny, eh? This visualizing. I cannot do it at
all."
Klein's father wanted a successor to his medical practice, so Wim very reluctantly undertook the study
of medicine, even though he was already dreaming of show business. In spite of all the time he was
forced to devote to studies, he managed to give little shows now and then. He finished his theoretical
studies "after a hell of a lot of trouble," but before he could finish medical school his father died, and
Wim abruptly halted his studies. "The old man died in 1937. He was always very strict on the penny
with my brother and me. After he died, we got a little inheritance. So the brothers took full profit of life.
Then the war came. It became really tough, of course, as you may guess. I lost my brother in the war,
also killed like hundreds of thousands of others."
For two years Klein worked in a Jewish hospital, as other hospitals were forbidden to Jews. Then the
Germans started to take people from the hospitals to camps and Klein was forced into hiding. Leo was
not so fortunate; he was sent to a camp in Germany from which he never returned. It is not a period
Klein cares to recall. "I had to hide. Some people took care of me. Just say it was like the case of Anne
Frank. That is sufficient."
After the war Klein had to find some way to make a living, since the Germans had confiscated all his
money. "Everybody needed show business at that moment, after those awful years."
Klein's first post war role as a professional calculator was a non-speaking one. He was decked out as
a sort of Indian fakir with turban and a false beard. His partner did all the talking while Klein chalked up
the answers.
But the theatrical agency was dissatisfied: "They told me, 'Listen, this act with the beard stinks. Your
presentation is vulgar. We will get you in contact with one of the best announcers in the country, and
you will travel about with a group of excellent artists.' And then it developed as a really nice act. But
then, as Wim Klein was too cheap, they came up with 'Pascal.' In Holland they don't know Wim Klein,
they know only Pascal. Why Pascal? It is a French name, but Pascal was the inventor of the
calculating machine. When Pascal came to France, where nine out of ten people call themselves
Pascal, and my French with my Dutch accent was not good enough, so there I became Wim Klein."
(Klein is also sometimes known as "Willie Wortel" - Wortel being the Dutch word for root - from his
ability to extract roots of large numbers).
In France and parts of Belgium, Klein had to do his act in his "poor, bad, school French." (He later
learned to speak fluent, if somewhat confusing, French, German, and English.) "There was an
expression, which in Dutch was a normal expression, so I thought in French it should be the same, so
I translated it literally from Dutch into French and it meant something quite different. Nobody told me,
but the audience burst out in laughter the whole bloody week. They did not want to tell me what was
wrong with it, and only the last day, they told me it meant something like 'How often in the week do you
do it?' or something like that. Silly."
During the post war period he appeared in France and Belgium, and began doing radio broadcasts in
Holland. While in Brussels in 1949, Klein was down on his luck. "I spent all my bloody money. Then I
met some friends and one said: 'I play the guitar and he plays the accordion. You have a blackboard.
We make some music and you do some sums.' We went to nightclubs, little pubs. First they made the
music, then I came on with my sums, and then the guitarist went around with the hat. After a while we
decided to go to Paris. We went to the 'Champs Elysees' where people sit outside, and started to
perform, but the police came and said: 'Shut up, you bloody beggars.' My friends went back to
Holland, and after that I joined a little cirus. But we went broke. A chap said, 'Why don't you just set up
your act at the subway entrance? Lots of people do it.' And yes, it worked perfectly, but there were two
enemies - the rain and the police. Some cops would say 'We're here this week, but next week some
bastards are coming, so next week go somewhere else.' Or a Dutchman would say, 'Hey, can you fix
me up with a nice girl?' 'Yep.' 'Emmanuelle, I've got a guy for you.' 'Here, my dear, this is for you. A tip.'
Oh, what great time."
But as Klein had no work permit, the French authorities finally kicked him out of the country. At the
train he met a Belgian who had seen him perform several times in the Place Pigalle. The man was
living in Mons near the French border. He said that he had contacts in Belgium through which they
could organize a lecture tour in the schools. "They put me up a little pension, and they bought me
some decent clothes. After three months time I was out of debt."
In 1952 Klein got a job at the Mathematisch Centrum in Amsterdam, where he did various sorts of
numerical calculations. "Computers-they didn't exist, or nearly not. I sat in a room with these five
heavy-reformist members of the Netherlands Reformed Church, always talking about God and the
clergy. I would say 'Good God' and 'God damn it,' and they went to the boss and said, 'Klein is
swearing like a docker.' He told them, 'Don't quarrel, let him swear.' They said, 'Yes, but...' So he called
me in and said, 'Listen, Klein, quiet down. I know they are idiots, but try to do better.' 'I try, I try very
hard, but you know.."
In 1952 Klein began seriously lecturing in schools; again it came about by accident. Whenever
important people visited the Mathematisch Centrum, Klein was called upon to give a demonstration,
"not as a human computer, but as a human attraction." A French professor from UNESCO saw him
there and asked him if he would come to Paris and give a lecture in the Department of Mathematics at
the Sorbonne. The planned fifty-minute appearance stretched to two hours. As a result of contacts
made, Klein was able to obtain permission to give lectures in grammar schools throughout France. "So
I wrote to the Mathematisch Centrum and asked for leave of two months or so. They replied, 'Wim, I'm
afraid this means the end - that you will stay longer than two years. But I'm sure you will have
tremendous success.'"
In 1954 Klein met the New Zealand mathematician and calculating prodigy, Alexander Craig Aitken, at
a mathematical conference in Amsterdam. Later in that year they appeared together on a BBC
program. Klein recalls: "He was a lovely man. When Britain had not yet the decimal system, I used to
do problems like multiplying £3,7 shillings, 8 pence ha'penny by 29. When I asked Aitken about such
problems, he said: 'Oh, I've got enough trouble when I have to fill out my income tax form'
In 1955 Klein toured for nine months as one of the attractions of the "MIRACLES OF THE MUSIC
HALL, Starring Some of the Most Unusual People Ever Seen." He was billed as "the man with the
£10000 brain. The cast included - the Dare-Devil Denglaros on their Racing Motor Bikes; the Amazing
Devero, Escape from a Real Guillotine; Ladd West World's Fantastic Aerial Contortionist; Rondart,
Worlds only Dart Blower; the Roller Skating Jeretz from Geneva; Reggie 'yer see' Dennis, Britain's
new radio Comedian; the Incomparable Mime Star, Danny O'Dare; and Personal Appearance of The
Man Who Was Buried Alive - already seen by 4719329 people in 8 years tour."
Klein reflected on some of his fellow performers: "This chap was a real pig. He always escaped, but
we all hoped that he wouldnt. Danny O'Dare the Indian Rubberman, was just a poor devil. With the
Moto-devils, every second word was a swear word. You could not speak decently with those people.
"Tommy Jacobson, the armless wonder - the first thing he did was to take a rifle and shoot, then he
played the piano with his feet, then the master of ceremonies asked someone to come on the stage for
a shave. He told the chap to sit down and said. Tommy, not as much blood as yesterday.' So the poor
chap turned his head so, and Tommy took a big knife and ... sccrrr.
"Once Tommy was standing on the platform of a London bus and a chap tried to grab hold of him to
pull himself on the moving bus. He grabbed Tommy's raincoat sleeve, but there was nothing in it, so he
tumbled into the street clutching a raincoat."
The Miracles of the Music Hall gave two shows a night. After doing his act for the first house, a
performer was off until it was time to perform in the second show. Between shows one night, Klein
dropped into a pub next door. People from the audience of the first show called him over and started
buying him drinks and asking him to do calculations. By the time Klein finally went running back to the
theater, the second show was almost over. Someone said to him, "Wim, be careful. The announcer is
already in a bad mood." The announcer, who was also the manager, called out, "Wim Klein, there he
is, here comes Wim Klein." Klein says, "I was struggling up, you know. He still didn't notice, but then
he caught a funny smell of gin. He came really close and said, 'You bloody Peruvian Chinese teapot. If
you don't finish your act properly, I'll kick you out straightaway.' I said, 'Yeah, yeah, I've just been
kidding.' So I made it, more or less, after the show he said, 'Listen, I also like to drink, but never do it
between the two houses. You promise?' 'Yes.' 'Come on, let's have a drink together.' So we both got
pissed when the show was over."
After Miracles of the Music Hall, Klein returned to touring schools, in France and then in Switzerland.
But by 1957 he decided he wanted to settle down, so he returned to Amsterdam to work at the
Mathematisch Centrum. During the summer of 1958 he arranged a two-week tour of Swiss schools.
The giant research complex of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is located near
Geneva. Klein was mistakenly under the impression that some of the work of the Mathematisch
Centrum was done for CERN, so he decided to telephone CERN while he was in Geneva. He was told
to "just pop over." He was introduced to a Dutch physicist, C. J. Bakker. Klein recalled: "We talked and
he said, 'Would you like to work in Geneva?' I said, 'That's for other people to say. Is it a possibility for
me to get a job here?' And then Professor Bakker said 'Listen, Wim, I cannot decide; I'm only the
director general here, you see.' So I said, 'Not so bad.' Naturally, I had a feeling everything would be
all right."
An arrangement was made with the Mathematisch Centrum for a three-month leave of absence. After
four weeks, CERN asked Klein to stay on permanently. "These three months became eighteen years.
That's the CERN story."
In the early days Klein was in considerable demand at CERN. "Computers were not very well
developed, and the physicists did not yet program them themselves. From '58 to '65 it was all right for
me. And then, it went down, because young physicists did their own programming, and they did not
need me as much as before. But the idea to kick me out never came, because of public relations. Very
often when physicists came they could not see the machine, someone would say, 'Hey, Wim, do thing
for them.'"
Jeremy Bernstein described an encounter with Klein (1963:20): In the summer of 1961, I had an
opportunity to work with Mr. William Klein, a programmer and numerical analyst for CERN in Geneva,
who must be one of the fastest human computers who has ever lived. I was spending the summer
doing physics at CERN and had been working with a friend on a problem. After a week or so, we
produced an algebraic formula that seemed admirable to us in many respects, and we wanted to
evaluate it. CERN has a large Ferranti Mercury computer, and since at the time neither of us knew
anything about programming, we asked for help. Enter Mr. Klein. Mr. Klein is a short, kindly, energetic-
looking man in his forties. He is of Dutch origin. He looked at our formula for a few seconds, muttering
to himself in Dutch, and then gave us numerical estimates for several of the more complex parts of it.
Doing this, he said, helped set up the program for the computer in the most efficient way. I had heard
about Mr. Klein's almost incredible ability, and I asked him whether he had considered evaluating our
whole expression in his head. He told me that it would involve much too much work and that he was
quite glad to turn the job over to the machine. Watching Mr. Klein at work made a deep impression on
me.
By the mid-seventies, Klein was growing weary of CERN. In 1975 Amsterdam was celebrating its
700th anniversary, and Klein visited there some eight times. The next year he again visited Amsterdam
several times. He decided to retire. "It's too monotonous - 18 years. It was a golden cage, but I prefer
silver freedom. So at the end I retired one year before I was 65."
In June 1974, shortly before his departure from CERN, Klein became intrigued with the problem of
extracting integer roots of large numbers. The 1974 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records
reported that Herbert B. de Grote of Mexico City had extracted the 13th root of a hundred-digit number
in 23 minutes.
Klein says: "What is the use of extracting the 13th root of 100 digits? Must be a bloody idiot you say.
No. It puts you in the Guinness Book, of course.
I never came on the idea until I got this notice about this man in Mexico. I thought, hey, how
interesting. I should have thought of that. First I had to find out how to tackle the problem. Then I
needed material - I needed numbers raised to the wanted power. So they wrote a multi-precision
program on the computer. And I was practicing like hell, like hell, like hell. Once you know the system
for the first one, you have to learn another series of numbers by heart for the next one."
By October 8, 1974, Klein succeeded in extracting the 23rd root of a 200-digit number in 18 minutes, 7
seconds, and on March 5, 1975, in Lyon, he reduced the time to 10 minutes, 32 seconds.
Later, Klein went on to extract a variety of roots: the 19th root of 133 digits (1 m. 43 sec.), the seventh
root of 63 digits (8 m. 27 sec.), the 73d root of 500 digits (2 m. 9 sec.).
As explained in chapter 13, the difficulty of extracting integer roots of large numbers depends on the
number of digits in the root - the size of the power is immaterial. The Guinness Book of World Records
now accepts the extraction of the 13th root of a 100-digit number as a fair test; records now hinge
upon improving the time required.
Klein has continually improved his times for extracting such roots. In Providence, Rhode Island, in
September 1979, he achieved a time of 3 minutes 25 seconds; then in Paris, November 1979, 3
minutes 6 seconds; Leiden, March 1980, 2 minutes 45 seconds; London (BBC), May 1980, 2 minutes
9 seconds; Berlin, November 10, 1980, 2 minutes 8 seconds. Finally, on November 13, 1980, he got
below two minutes - 1 minute 56 seconds. And on April 7, 1981, at the National Laboratory for High
Energy Physics, Tsukuba, Japan, he established a new record of 1 minute and 28.8 seconds. With this
he is fairly well satisfied. He plans now to attempt to split up the four- or five-digit numbers as the sum
of four squares within one minute.
Klein describes much of his calculating as "semi-mental," in that he has the problem in view while
solving it (thus obviating the necessity of memorizing it) and because he often writes down parts of the
answer as he calculates them, before the entire answer has been found; this means that he does not
need to keep the entire answer in mind before announcing it. For example, in multiplying he uses
cross multiplication, which I allows him to write down the digits from right to left as they are obtained.
After multiplying two eight-digit numbers for me "semi-mentally," Klein remarked, "Some people say to
write down results as you go is not fair. You have to do it all in your head. But it takes five times as
long and the audience will say, 'Forget it.'"
He asked me for two five-digit numbers and I gave him 57825 and 13489. In 44 seconds he multiplied
these together mentally, without any intermediate results. He then repeated the experiment, writing
down the answer as he calculated it - the time required was 14 seconds. "The first is more scientific, if
you want. It is the real thing, but it's not what the people want."
Klein's passion, apart from numbers, is music. He is particularly fond of jazz and classical music. He
says, "In New York every night I went to Jimmy Ryan's Jazz Club. I also did that when I was in New
York two years ago. So when I popped in this time, they said, 'Hey, Flying Dutch-man, how are you?
Have a drink. What shall we play for you?'" (Here Klein gave an excellent imitation of a trombone
playing Ain't Misbehaving.)
"I play no instruments, pity enough. I've got about 600 LPs. Not very much, but.."
In spite of the justifiable pride Klein takes in his calculating ability, there is a passionate honesty in him
as well. When I suggested that he may be the world's greatest mental calculator, he replied, "I'm not
the world's greatest calculator. Perhaps the world's fastest calculator." In any case, Klein is surely one
 of the best mental calculators in history.

The Great Mental Calculators

By Steven Smith. 1983
Chapret Thirteen

Roots
Integer Roots

EXTRACTING roots of perfect powers (traditionally termed evolution) is one of the most common
1

calculations undertaken by prodigies (Aitken 1954:297):

Or again—this was asked of another calculator—"What is the cube root of 327,082,769?"

[Answer: 689, since by inspection it must be a little less than 700, for 7 cubed is 343; also it must end in 9, and cannot be 699.)

Such cube-rooting (and there is a good deal of it in the records) is almost trivial, since the important digits yield by inspection the
first digit, and mere inspection of the last digit of the proposed number gives the last digit of the answer (for example 7 would
give 3, while 3 would give 7); the rest is commonsense [sic], having no reference at all to the other digits.

Calculators have always preferred extracting cube roots to square roots, the reason being that cube
roots are more impressive because a higher power is involved, and cube roots are easier to do, since
the last digit of the power unambiguously determines the last digit of the root (not true of squares),
according to the following table:

Root Cube
0 0
1 1
2 8
3 7
4 4
5 5
6 6
7 3
8 2
9 9
For instance, the cube root of 551,368 must end in 2 (assuming, correctly, that it is a perfect cube).
The table is quite easy to remember—for zero, one, four, five, six, and nine the final digit of the cube
and the root are identical; in the other cases the final digit of the root and the final digit of the cube add
up to ten.
The first digit of the root is almost equally easy to determine. It requires that one memorize the cubes
of the integers from one to nine (1, 8, 27, 64, 125, 216, 343, 512, 729, respectively). Compare these to
the digits to the left of the leftmost comma in the cube; 2 the cube root of the number next below that of
the power is the first digit of the root. For example, 512 is the cube next below 551; therefore, 8 (the
cube root of 512) is the first digit of the cube root of 551,368. Since the cube roots of numbers less
than a million contain at most two digits, the cube root of 551,368 must be 82.
As can be seen, no great sophistication or computing skill is required to find cube roots of perfect
cubes less than a million. Three-digit roots will cover perfect cubes up to a billion, and the first and last
digits of the root can be easily found by the above methods.
An extension of the method for finding the units digit can be used to fix the last two digits of roots of
perfect powers.3 The method is described by Colburn (1833:180-82), Bidder (1856:266-67), and
Mitchell (1907:93-94), all of whom discovered it independently, and it has probably been used by all
calculators who were adept at evolution.
This method of "two-figure endings" (Mitchell's term) consists in memorizing all the terminating pairs of
digits which when cubed (or squared, etc.) will produce a power ending in a particular pair of digits.
The last two digits (tens and units) of perfect cubes determine, with some ambiguity, the last two digits
of the cube root, in accordance with table 13.1.

TABLE 13.1
Colburn's Table For Cube Roots
Cub Roo Cub Roo Cub Roo Cub Roo Cub Roo
e t e t e t e t e t
01 01 24 24 41 81 64 04 79 59
03 87 — 74 43 07 — 54 81 61
04 34 25 05 44 14 67 23 83 27
— 84 — 25 — 64 68 32 84 44
07 43 — 45 47 63 — 82 — 94
08 02 — 65 48 22 69 89 87 83
— 52 — 85 — 72 71 91 88 42
09 69 27 03 49 49 72 38 — 92
11 71 28 12 51 51 — 88 89 29
12 08 29 09 52 28 73 97 91 31
— 58 31 11 — 78 75 15 92 48
13 17 32 18 53 37 — 35 — 98
16 06 — 68 56 36 — 55 93 57
— 56 33 77 — 86 — 75 96 16
17 73 36 46 57 93 — 95 — 66
19 39 — 96 59 19 76 26 97 13
21 41 37 33 61 21 — 76 99 99
23 47 39 79 63 67 77 53
Source: Colburn 1833:182.
Colburn gives the following example of the use of his table:

Take for instance, 28,094,464. First, seek what number cubed, will end in 64. Ans. 04: then what number cubed, comes nearest
under 28. Ans. 3. Combine them, 304, the root required . . . there is not the same latitude for mistaking in the root of a cube
number, that there is in extracting the square root. Some difficulty, however, exists; tor instance, it the given cube ends in 08, it
will be a question whether 02 or 52 will be correct; and so of all similar cases.

As mentioned at the outset of this chapter, square roots have found less favor among calculators,
because of the considerably greater uncertainty regarding the correct terminating digits. Nevertheless,
calculators of the past, such as Bidder and Colburn, were frequently called upon to say "What number
multiplied by itself will give ——?" The method used again was that of two-figure endings, in accord
with Colburn's table given here as 13.2.

TABLE 13.2
Colburn's Table For Square Roots
Squar Roo Squar Roo Squar Roo Squar Roo Squar Roo
e t e t e t e t e t
01 01 24 18 41 21 64 08 89 17
— 51 — 68 — 71 — 58 — 67
— 49 — 32 — 29 — 42 — 33
— 99 — 82 — 79 — 92 — 83

04 02 25 05 44 12 69 13 96 14
— 52 — 15 — 62 — 63 — 64
— 48 — 25 — 38 — 37 — 36
— 98 — 35 — 88 — 87 — 86
— 45
— 55
09 03 49 07 76 24
— 65
— 53 — 57 — 74
 — 47 — 75 — 43 — 26
— 97 — 85 — 93 — 76
— 95
16 04 56 16 81 09
— 54 29 27 — 66 — 59
— 46 — 77 — 34 — 41
— 96 — 23 — 84 — 91
— 73
21 11 61 19 84 22
— 61 36 06 — 69 — 72
— 39 — 56 — 31 — 28
— 89 — 44 — 81 — 78
— 94
Source: Colburn 1833:181.
As can be seen there is much more ambiguity in finding the final two digits of a square root than there
is in finding the final two digits of a cube root. Bidder (1856:266-67) describes how he proceeded in
difficult cases:

In reference to square numbers terminating in 25; although all numbers ending in 5, when squared, give 25 as terminals, I
noticed that the squares of numbers ending in 5, 45, 55, and 95, ended in 025, and that those of the numbers terminating in 15,
35, 65, and 85, ended in 225; whereas the squares of those ending in 25 and 75, ended in 625. Hence in extracting the square
root of 442,225, I perceived, as before, that 600 must be the first factor, and that the last one must lie between 15, 35, 65, and
85, and judging from the position of 442,225 between 360,000 and 490,000, the squares of 600 and 700 respectively, I saw that
65 was the factor required, and root was therefore 665.

Colburn (1833:181) also discusses the difficulties attendant to finding square roots:

It is thonght that there is little difficulty, according to the rule presented, in determining the two last figures of the root; it is
obvious, however, that it requires a good share of quickness and discernment, in a large sum, to see which of the four roots in
ordinary numbers, or which of the ten, where 25 is the termination, is the right one to be employed. Such discernment, however,
the writer cannot impart.

A traditional method of testing the answers of arithmetic problems, known as the rule of eleven, or the
elevens test, can be adapted to find one digit of a root, when the other digits are known. 4
Any number can be represented as a multiple of some constant plus a remainder. In this case eleven
is taken as the constant; thus a = 11b + R, where R is the remainder upon dividing a by 11 (or, for
those familiar with modular arithmetic, a is congruent to R, modulo 11). One can check any arithmetic
calculation by carrying out the same calculation on the remainders in place of the numbers in the
original calculation. The correct answer to the original problem will have the same remainder as the
remainder of the answer obtained in this way; for example, 897 × 764 = 685,308,897 = (81 × 11) + 6;
and 764 = (69 × 11) + 5. Multiplying the remainders (6 × 5) gives 30, or (2 × 11) + 8; and 685,308 =
(62,300 × 11) + 8. The remainder is eight in both cases. The test checks. This does not mean that the
answer is necessarily correct, but if the test does not hold, the answer is certainly wrong.
With a little practice, dividing even fairly large numbers by 11 is not so difficult as it might first appear.
However, there is another method for finding the elevens remainder recommended by books on
practical arithmetic. Subtract the sum of the digits in the even-place positions (counting from the right)
from the sum ot those in the odd-place positions. (That is, subtract the sum of the tens, thousands,
hundred thousands, etc. digits from the units, hundreds, ten thousands, etc. digits.) If the answer is
negative, add 11 to get the remainder; if the result exceeds 11, subtract 11 (one or more times).
Take, for example, the cube 640,503,928. Add together the odd place digits: 8 + 9 + 0 + 0 + 6 = 23.
Subtract from this sum of the even place digits: 2 + 3 + 5 + 4 = 14 and 23 – 14 = 9. Thus 9 is the
remainder upon dividing 640,503,928 by 11.
Having established the first and last digits of the cube in the manner described above, the middle digit
(or any digit when the others are known) can be deduced by a reversal of the elevens test. The cube
remainder unambiguously determines the remainder of the root, according to the table below.

Cube Remainder Root Remainder

0 0
1 1
2 7
 3 9
4 5
5 3
6 8
7 6
8 2
9 4
10 10
(This table can be easily constructed by cubing the numbers from 0 through 10 and taking the
elevens-remainder of the cubes.) After finding the cube remainder, it is only necessary to find the
middle digit which will give the appropriate root remainder. In the case of 640,503,928, the first digit of
the root must he 8, since 9 cubed is 729 and 8 cubed 512. The last digit will be 2. We now have 8_2.
The cube remainder is 9, so the root remainder must be 4. Since 8 + 2 = 10, the middle digit of the
root must be 6 (10 – 6 = 4). Therefore, the cube root of 640,503,928 is 862.
Fifth roots have also been a traditional favorite among calculators, since the units digit of the power, as
in the case of cube roots, unambiguously determines the units digit of the root. Schumacher wrote to
Gauss concerning Dase's delight in fifth roots (Gauss and Schumacher 1861 1:382): "He was
especially fond of extracting fifth roots in his head, since he had noticed that at the fifth power the units
were the same as they were in the root. I saw that in our number system the 4n + 1 power has the
same units as the root, a principle of which his result is but a particular case (for n = 1)." This means
that the units digit of the root and power are the same for 9th, 13rh, 17th, etc. roots. There are also
roots for which the units digit behaves like cube roots: these are any roots of the 4n + 3 power, where
n is a natural number; thus 3d, 7th, 11th powers, etc. These two types cover all the odd powers.
In recent years calculators have taken to extracting roots of very high powers, and their successes in
this area have been reported in the Guinness Book of World Records. The eleventh edition (1972:43)
reported that on October 5, 1970, Herbert B. de Grote of Mexico City had mentally extracted the 13th
root of a 100-digit number in 23 minutes.
Since then the extraction of roots of high powers has become increasingly popular, no doubt owing to
the availability of computers, both for providing data from which calculators can create algorithms and
for providing problems for performances.
By the sixteenth edition (1977), the record was claimed by Wim Klein of the Netherlands, who
extracted the 23d root of a 200-digit number in 10.5 minutes. The 1978 edition reported that Klein had
extracted the 73d root of a 500-digit number in 2 minutes, 43 seconds.
The difficulty of extracting a root of a perfect power has little to do with the size of the power involved.
Much more important are the number of digits in the root and the particular power selected (note that
in none of the cases above were even powers employed). Mitchel (1907:94) observed: "in general, the
higher the root the easier the problem, and square and cube roots are the only ones which often come
up." In this regard, times have changed.
The Guinness Book of World Records now recognizes the 13th root of a 100-digit number as a
standard for testing the ability to extract integer roots. Wim Klein is the current record holder with a
time of less than two minutes. Klein comments: "The problem is harder the more digits there are in the
result. The 23rd root of 200 digits has nine digits in the result, and the same also for the seventh root
of 63 digits. The 13th root of 100 digits has eight digits, but the 19th root of 133 digits and the 73rd root
of 500 digits have only seven digits. I don't find seven digits interesting any longer. It is just a game for
me.
"With eight digits, one digit is not sure, so you have to put in special tests. With nine digits there are
two unknown digits in the middle. That makes it much tougher. The cube root of 30 digits gives ten
digits—it's a hell of a work."
Klein's methods for extracting 13th roots can be illustrated with the following number:

14762420839370760705665953772022217870318956930659
27236796230563061507768203333609354957218480390144
The first five digits of the root are fixed through the use of logarithms, Klein has memorized to five
places the logs of the integers up to 150; this, coupled with his ability to factor large numbers, allows
him to approximate the log of the first five digits of the power, which is usually sufficient to determine
the first five digits of the root, though, as he says "the fifth digit is a bit chancy."
Klein began by factoring 1,476 into 36 times 41 and taking the (decimal) log of each: log 36 = 1.55630
and log 41 = 1.61278; adding the mantissas yields 0.16908, but this is, of course, too little. Through
various interpolations Klein estimated the mantissa of the log of 147,624 as 0.16925 (it is more nearly
0.16916).
 Klein now had an approximation of the log of the 100-digit number above—99.16925. This must be
divided by 13 to obtain the log of the 13th root. Since 99=13 × 7 with a remainder of 8, to obtain the
mantissa of the antilog of the 13th root he divided 8.16925 by 13, which is approximately 0.62840. He
estimated the antilog to be about halfway between 4.2 and 4.3 and decided to try 4.25. The result was
exact, so the first five digits of the root should be 42500, as indeed they are.
It is now necessary to determine the last three digits of the root. This he does from an examination of
the last three digits of the power. In the case of odd powers, these uniquely determine the last three
digits of the root, but in the case of even roots, like this one, this method yields four possibilities; in the
case of 144 they are 014, 264, 514, and 764. (The choices always differ by 250.) To select the correct
one Klein divides the original number by 13 and retains the remainder. In the case of 13th roots, the
root remainder and the power remainder must be the same. The power remainder is 7; only 764 as the
final three digits of the root will yield 7 as the remainder. Thus the 13th root is determined to be
42,500,764.
As an example of an odd root take:

75185285487713563581947553291145079861723813162341
53935861550997297991815299022662358976308065985831
The first five digits of the power are 75185, which is nearly 7519, and 7519 is 73 times 103. The
mantissa of the log of 73 is 0.86332 and that of 103 is 0.01284. Their sum is 0.87616. Dividing
8.87616 by 13 yields 0.68278. This falls between the mantissas of the logs of 48 and 49, but is much
closer to 48. Since 481 is 13 (mantissa 0.11394) times 37 (mantissa 0.56820), the mantissa of its log
will be 0.68214; dose, but still a bit low; 4,816 can be factored into 16 (mantissa 0.20412) times 7
(mantissa 0.84510) times 43 (mantissa 0.63347). This gives a mantissa of 0.68269. Then 4,818
factors into 66 (mantissa 0.81954) times 73 (mantissa 0.86332), which yields a mantissa of 0.68286.
Thus, in the interpolation we want 9/17 of 20 which is about 10 1/2. The first five digits of the root
should be 48170 (48160 + 10). This, in fact, is correct.
When Klein actually did the calculation he made a minor error (he was looking for the antilog of
0.68277 instead of 0.68278) and first took 48169 for the first five digits of the root. In this case,
however, since the root is odd, the last three digits are uniquely fixed-since the power ends in 831, the
root must end in 311. Upon dividing the power by 13 Klein got a remainder of 7. But dividing
48,169,311 by 13 gives a remainder of 8. To make these two remainders come into line he changed
his solution to 48,170,311, which is correct.

Noninteger Roots
If a root of an integer is not itself an integer, it will be irrational, so that only an approximation to some
number of decimal places is possible. For example, the cube root of 9 is not an integer; it is
approximately 2.0800838, but the calculation can be carried out forever without reaching a point at
which the digits repeat.
Calculators, in the past, were rarely called upon to extract roots which were not integers. One reason
is that most people do not know how to extract roots. (Today pocket calculators have made such
questions more popular.) Bidder remarked (1856:266): "the numbers submitted to me were almost
invariably perfect squares, or cubes, arising from the circumstance that, in order to save themselves
trouble, those who questioned me, squared, or cubed a number, as the readiest mode of testing the
accuracy of my reply, which being found correct, they were satisfied and so was I."
Extracting noninteger roots is naturally far more difficult than extracting roots of perfect powders.
Aitken said (1954:297): "The real test of ability to do square, cube or any other root is, in my view, to
have a number proposed that is not an exact power, and to be asked to give the answer to several
decimals; but this type of question you will hardly find in the published records." Bidder (1856:267)
indicates that he was occasionally confronted with such problems, but gives no specifics about how he
went about solving them: "if I suspected that the number was not a perfect square, or cube, I tested it
by 'casting out the nines' — a process familiar to arithmeticians; and in such cases, the results were
approximated to by a tentative process. . . ."
Aitken begins his discussion of extracting noninteger square roots with the remark (1954:298): "The
central idea here is Newton's; but, remarkable to state, the Babylonians have it in their cuneiform
inscriptions, and so did the wonderful Archimedes, the Syracusan Greek."
Aitken took as an example the square root of 51. The answer is, of course, somewhat more than 7, so
7 can be taken as a first approximation. On the other hand, it is somewhat less than 51/7, so that
taking the mean of the quotients (49 and 51) yields a much better approximation: 50/7=5.1428571. ...
To get even closer divide 51 by 50/7, which gives 7.14, so that the mean of the divisor and the quotient
is 7.1414285 . . . and the correct answer to eight decimal places is 7.1414284.
Algebraically the method is as follows: let x be the number whose square root is sought. Choose for
 the first approximation the integer (call this y) nearest the square root of x. Then x/y is another
approximation. Take the mean of the two:

x + y²
= z.
2y
Now z becomes the new approximation and is substituted for y in the formula to get a still better
approximation.
The better the value initially selected for y, the better the value for z will be, thus reducing the
calculations required to obtain a satisfactory approximation.
Aitken (1954:298-99) continues:

But the resources of mental division are not exhausted even here. An expert would know very well that 7.14141414... is 707/99,
and dividing 51 by this we have 5049/707, easily accomplished by dividing by 101 first, yielding 49.990099009900... and then by
7, so that we have 7.141442715700... , and the mean of this and 7.14141414141414... is 7.14142842857 to 12 digits, whereas
the true value of the square root of 51 is 7.14142842854 to that degree of accuracy.

In other words, in this case the initial value for y was taken as 707/99, and since this is a better
approximation of the square root of 51, we get a very good approximation in z.
Aitken pointed to other methods which might be employed by a skilled mental calculator (1954:299):

To revert to 51. How near is 50/7 to the square root? It was got from a divisor 7 and quotient 51/7. These are in ratio 49 : 51.
The halfway mark between them is 50; I will say therefore that both 7 and 51/7 "deviate" by 1 in 50. The square of this is 1 in
2500. I double and say, 1 in 5000. Now 50/7 reduced by 1 in 5000 is

4999/700 = 7.1414285....
remarkably near the true value 7.1414284..., and in fact identical with the second approximation given above. It is clear by this time that
we have several methods to choose from. There is yet another. Looking again at the first pair, 7 and 51/7, we note once more their ratio
49 : 51. Quarter the distance between 49 and 51, and take the first and third quarter, namely 49½, 50½, their ratio being 99 : 101. I say
then that

7 by 102/99 = 7.14141414...
is a good approximation to the square root of 51. Alternatively that

51/7 by 99/101 = 7.141442715700...

is equally good; but we have met both of these before, and have seen that their average is spectacularly good. There are even subtler
and more powerful approximations still. There is one known to me, quite simple, which I may illustrate by saying that in our example here
(rather hard worn by now) we could correct 50/7 by reducing it not by 1 in 5000, but by 1 in 4999½. The result is

7.141428428557..., as against 7.141428428543

and so committing an error of 1 in 500 000 000 000. This is an extreme approximation for square root; and I have never gone beyond it in
mental calculation.

Klein (Aarts 1974:10) gives an example of essentially the same method as the first one discussed
above for extracting a noninteger square root, but applied in a somewhat different manner. He
considers the square root of 38, which is somewhat more than 6. He first divides 38 by 6 and obtains
6.3333. . . . Midway between 6.3333 and 6 is 6.1666. This number squared is 38.02695556. He then
takes the excess and divides it by twice 6.1666; that is, 0.02695556/(2 × 6.1666), and takes the
answer as 0.0022 (it is 0.0021856. . .)[I suspect Klein does some rounding off before making the
calculation. For example, 0.027/(2 × 6.17) is 0.002188 . . . , which is sufficiently accurate for his
purposes.] He then subtracts 0.0022 from 6.1666 to obtain 6.1644. This squared is 37.99982736, or
0.00017264 too little. Dividing by 2 × 6.1644 yields 0.000014, which added to 6.1644 gives 6.164414.
This last squared is 37.99999996386, a very close approximation. Klein's iterative formula is

x + y²
+ y = z.
2y
where, as before, x is the number whose square root is sought, y is initially the nearest integer to the square
root (or some better approximation), and z is the approximation to the square root. In subsequent iterations z
is substituted for y.
Noninteger cube roots can also be approximated. Klein makes use of his knowledge of logarithms in
extracting noninteger roots. The following example is also from Teachware (Aarts 1974).
What is the cube root of 3,721? Klein knows the logs to five places of the integers up to 150, but since
3,721 considerably exceeds that, he must do some calculations to obtain a good value for the log. In
this case it is quite simple, as 3,721 is 61²; the log of 61 is 1.78533, and doubling this gives the log
required — 3.57066. The log of the cube root will be one-third of 3.57066, or 1.19022.
The cube root lies between 15 and 16, so Klein tries 15.5 (since 15.5 = 5 × 3.1, and he knows the logs
of 5 and 31, it is not difficult for him to calculate). This gives 1.19033, which is too much. He tries 15.48
 (4.3 × 3.6), obtaining 1.18977; then 15.488, the log of which is 1.18999.
Now 1.19022 is about two-thirds of the way between 1.18999 and 1.19033. The interval between
15.488 and 15.500 is 0.012, two-thirds of which is 0.008; by interpolation he gets 15.496 as the cube
root of 3,721.
Klein then checks by multiplication: 15.496² is a bit more than 240.126, and 240.126 × 15.496 =
3,720.992496. Thus 15.496 is a good approximation to the cube root of 3,721.
Aitken (1954:299) described his methods for extracting cube roots:

I will take for illustration the cube root of 128. You can see that it must be near 5, since the cube of 5 is 125. Trisect the interval
from 125 to 128. The "middle third" yields the ratio 126:127. I assert that

5 by 127/126 = 5.0396825...
is very close to the required cube root, which is in fact 5.0396842 eight significant digits. This method of "thirding" is here ever so slightly
in defect; it is the business of the algebraist to ascertain the formula for the small error committed. I will not go into these delicate
refinements. Here of course a proposed number may prove rather intractable, being remote from any suitable cube of an integer, or of a
fraction with small denominator. I may mention also a similar method which I call "sixthing." Here for example we have that 128 is 5 by 5
by 5.12. I divide that former interval, 125 to 128, into six parts, and taking the first and the fifth of these I form the ratio 251:255. We have
then

5.12 by 251/255 = 5.0396863,

an approximation almost as good as the other, this time slightly in excess. I am not aware that this approximation has ever received
notice.

1 Throughout this discussion, unless otherwise indicated, roots will be assumed to be integers.
2 That is, group the digits in threes starting from the right and consider the leftmost such group (which may contain less than three digits).
3 It is also used to find factors (see chapter 15).
4 A better-known method, "casting out nines," is of limited usefulness in fixing a missing digit of a cube root, since it gives three possible choices.

The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

March/April/May,1987, Volume 23, pp. 68-71

George Parker Bidder: The Calculating Prodigy

JOYCE LINFOOT, AFIMA

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

THE England into which George Bidder was born in 1806 was an England in which the industrial
revolution had already begun. In the early nineteenth century there was an unprecedented expansion
in the manufacture of goods of all kinds, which for some time even outran the effective demand from
both home and abroad. The history of this period is of course well known, but one of its aspects about
which little has been said is the great volume of arithmetical calculations to which this expansion gave
rise. This was reflected in the schools and in the textbooks: examples given to the children to work
required calculations so heavy that by present-day standards they would be quite unacceptable. The
publishing of arithmetical textbooks became a thriving trade. John Bonnycastle's book, published in
1795 (which GPB said was the only arithmetic book he had ever opened), was immensely successful
throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, and reached its eighteenth and last edition in 1851.
The book contained such topics as simple and compound interest, commission, brokerage, and
insurance, discount and present worth, and annuities. The teaching was mainly by the careful setting
out of examples in forms which had to be exactly followed. Boys so taught became the bookkeepers
and accountants demanded by the new industry. Another man who responded in his own way to the
growing need for efficient computation (only in his case it was the construction of mathematical tables
that he had in mind) was Charles Babbage, who in 1822 first wrote to the President of the Royal
Society to suggest the construction of a calculating machine. It is surely significant that Charles was at
this time a close friend of John Herschel, who had quite recently been concerned with GPB's early
education ... Calculation was "in the air," and when in 1815 GPB was giving his exhibitions of mental
arithmetic, the attraction was not only that a boy was performing amazing feats. The interest shown by
many eminent men attests that they were feats that had relevance to the needs of the times.
George Parker Bidder was born at Mortonhampstead in Devon in 1806, the son of a stonemason.
When he was 5 or 6 years old, an older brother taught him to count; he then taught himself to multiply
by arranging and counting lead pellets in rectangular arrays. Soon after this he began to earn
halfpennies from the villagers by doing simple calculations in his head. His father took him to the local
 fairs, where his earnings increased, and they then began to go further afield. With visits to Exeter,
Bristol, Oxford, Birmingham..., a lucrative business was developing, and by the age of 9, Bidder had a
national reputation. At Cambridge he came to the attention of John Herschel, who, with the help of
some of his friends succeeded in arranging that George should be sent to a school in London, to give
him a chance of becoming an educated man. Sir William Herschel also took so much interest in him
that he arranged for him to give a performance to the Queen at Windsor.
But the next year his father took him away from school, and the travelling exhibitions were resumed. A
likable personality, he attracted favourable attention everywhere. After a visit to Edinburgh, a
subscription was raised among members of the Royal Society and others for his further education.
This eventually resulted in his entering the University there. He studied mathematics and geology, and
left after 3 years, at the age of 19, for a post in the Ordnance Survey. After a year he left to become
the assistant of H. R. Palmer, the Engineer of the London Dock Company. Thenceforward he had a
very varied and successful career as a civil engineer; he was a friend from University days of Robert
Stephenson, and during the 1830s and 1840s he made great contributions to the planning and and
construction of the railways of this country. (He had a formidable reputation as an expert witness in
cases brought under the Railway Acts.) By many notable engineering undertakings, abroad as well as
in England, he gained both fame and fortune, and became, in 1859, the President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers.
There is good reason at the present time to remember George Bidder. In the middle, as we are, of a
revolution in computing methods (one might almost say a "computing mania" in some ways paralleling
the "railway mania" of the nineteenth century) there is some danger of forgetting how great the
calculating powers of the unassisted human brain can be. This is a capability which should not be lost
sight of. To understand it is to have a better understanding of our condition.
George Bidder is the ideal example for such an exposition, because there is so much incontrovertible
evidence about his accomplishments. In booklets published within a few years of his performances
there exist about two hundred questions, quoted word for word, which he answered during his
performances. In most cases we know the time taken by him to give the answer, we know the date
and place, the names of people present. The local newspapers carried detailed accounts of his visits
to their towns. There can be no doubt whatever about the authenticity of these records. The men who
vouched for him included Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge, Fellows of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, and others of similar standing.
Another factor which adds considerably to our information is the lecture which George Bidder himself
gave in 1856 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, under the Chairmanship of Robert Stephenson, who
was then the President. In this his mathematical development is outlined, from the straightforward
multiplication sums which he could perform mentally at the age of 7 or 8, to problems involving the
summation of arithmetical and other progressions (including the calculation of compound interest)
which he was doing, by methods he had himself devised, when he was 13 or 14. These methods were
a natural development of his earlier work. In the multiplication of numbers, for instance, he had always
dealt first with the left-hand digits, so that he at once obtained an idea of the size of the answer. This
became progressively more refined as he added in the partial products, each as soon as it was found,
so that at any stage all he had to hold in his memory was the result he had so far obtained, and the
stage of the calculation which he had reached. GPB learnt from his questioners: problems which he
was given at the age of 10 had introduced the idea of an arithmetical progression, and he had been
forced to invent a method of summation. What he did is worth examining in detail. At this time, GPB
knew no algebra: all he had was his great familiarity with numbers, and his interest in the patterns
which they form. He began with the basic series
1+2+3+4+...
and found successively the sums of the first, the first two, the first three, the first four... terms, thus
arriving at the sequence:
1, 3, 6, 10,...
each term of which was the sum of the corresponding number of terms of the first series. If, therefore,
he could find the law of formation of the terms of the sequence, he had his answer. He began by
comparing the corresponding terms of the series and the sequence thus:
1 3 6 10
, , , ,...
1 2 3 4
and he then saw that these ratios could be expressed as
2 3 4 5
, , , ,...
2 2 2 2
Here was the general law he needed, and he could immediately say that, for instance, the twelfth of these
ratios was 13/2, and that the sum of twelve terms of the first series was 12 times this, i.e.,
13 x 12/2.
Put into words, the argument seems long, but GPB had such a clear grasp of the process that to him it
 was obvious. Indeed, it is doubtful if he used words at all when he was thinking about it. The speed
and effortlessness with which he was able to sum these progressions was a necessary factor in
enabling him to answer correctly the formidable questions which were later put to him. The example
which follows comes from a pamphlet published in Exeter: GPB did this computation on October 17th,
1818, when he was 12 years 4 months old: the original wording has been copied: "A and B made the
following bet for one thousand guineas, to be decided on Ripley Green in the Whitsun-week. The
proposer has 10 choice cricketers in full exercise, who on this occasion are to be distinguished by the
first ten letters of the alphabet: these are to run, gather up, and carry singly, 1000 eggs laid in a right
line, each just a fathom behind the one before it: they are to work one at a time, in the following order:
A is to fetch up the first ten eggs, B the second ten, C the third ten, and so on, until K shall have
carried up the thousandth egg, at 100 eggs a man: the men are to have £100 for their three days'
work, if they do it, and it is to be distributed in proportion to the ground each man shall in his course
have gone over." (N.B. The old alphabet was being used, in which there was no J, and K was the tenth
letter. The starting point and the 1000 egg positions were all to be in a straight line: the distance
between consecutive points was 2 yards.) The question was to find each man's share, and also the
total distance he had travelled.
It is, of course, a highly artificial example, but certainly a very exacting test of calculating ability. Using
his knowledge of arithmetical progressions, it would be easy for GPB to say at once that in collecting
his first batch of eggs, A goes 4 x (1 + 2 + 3 + . . . + 10) yards, i.e., 220 yards. In his second batch,
since 100 eggs have already been collected, the first egg he must pick up is 200 yards further on than
the corresponding egg of the first batch, and similarly for each of the ten eggs of the second batch.
This adds an extra distance of 4000 yards to the 220 yards he travelled for his first batch.
The argument can be repeated for each of his remaining batches: this gives the total distance he
travels as the sum of an A.P. of which the first term is 220 the difference is 4000, and the number of
terms is 10, i.e., 182 200 yards.
Similarly, B goes 4000 yards further than A, C goes 4000 further than B, and so on. Again there is an
A.P. to be summed: the total distance run by all the men is found to be 2 002 000 yards.
After this point there is still a good deal of heavy calculation. The payment per yard is £300/2002000,
which means that A's payment is
£300 £300 x 911
X 182 200 = .
2 002 000 10010
Table I This answer GPB worked out in pounds,
shillings, pence and farthings, and "tracts,"
GPB's results as printed in
Computer results where a fract is defined as one thousandth
1820 part of a farthing. He then went on, still
£ s d fracts d farthings completely mentally, and without making
A 27 6 8 1/2 509 0 2.5894 any written record, to finish the calculation,
B 27 17 0 1/2 014 0 2.0140 stating the payment due to each man, and
the distance he had run. (For brevity, the
C 28 10 0 1/4 439 0 1.4386 distances are omitted.) These results which
D 29 2 0 464 0 0.8631 he gave for the payments, as printed in the
E 29 14 0 288 0 0.2877 pamphlet recording the feat, have now been
F 30 5 11 3/4 713 11 3.7123 checked by the use of an electronic
G 30 17 11 3/4 137 11 3.1396 computer. The results are shown in Table I.
In only five instances (indicated by
H 31 9 11 3/4 562 11 2.5614 underlining in the Table) is there a
I 32 1 11 3/4 987 11 1.9860 difference, in each case of a single figure. It
K 32 13 11 1/4 411 11 1.4106 seems most probable that these are
misprints.
GPB gave his answers after 32 minutes. The time taken by computer, including the time needed to
write and "de-bug" the programme, was about half-an-hour.
George Bidder's ability to calculate compound interest was astonishing: the method he devised was
based on his earlier work with progressions, though the age at which he first achieved it has been, and
still is, a matter for conjecture. Mitchell (1907) puts his age at 11, but the example which he quotes
"What is the interest on £4444 for 4444 days at 4½ per cent. per annum?" was, as the answer shows,
on simple interest.
In none of the pamphlets, which cover the period up to his exhibitions in August 1819 when he was 13,
is there a single example of compound interest. That autumn he went with his father to Edinburgh,
where he so impressed the "members of the University, and other literary and mercantile gentlemen of
Edinburgh" that arrangements were made to pay for his education at the University, and he gave no
more exhibitions. The account which was published in the Edinburgh Correspondent of his first arrival
in Scotland has unfortunately proved impossible to trace, but the circumstantial evidence strongly
 suggests that it was in the early autumn of that year that the method for the calculation of compound
interest was perfected.
It is to Robert Stephenson that we owe what account we have of the way GPB thought about this
problem. In 1856 he persuaded GPB, who had been a friend of his for more than thirty years, to give a
lecture on "Mental Arithmetic" to the Institution of Civil Engineers, of which Stephenson was then the
President. GPB had, on his own admission, great difficulty in putting his procedure into words, and in
spite of great efforts he was unable to produce the usual written communication. His first draft, which
exists in his own handwriting, is an amazing production, in which every number is written out in words,
but it is next to impossible to follow the argument.
In the end, the lecture was given extempore, with demonstrations. What he said was taken down and
published in the Proceedings of the Society. The section on compound interest has recently been
republished verbatim (Smith, 1983). Not unexpectedly, it is somewhat difficult to follow, and no attempt
has been made to explain or correct it. "Ideas," GPB himself said, "rise to my mind with the speed of
lightning". . . and such flashes were not easily captured. But familiarity with the methods of his earlier
work makes it easier to see what he is doing: the calculation of compound interest is approached as a
natural extension of his method for summing an arithmetical progression.
In his lecture he gives the example of the interest on £100 for 14 years at 5 per cent. The simple
interest is £5 coming in every year for the whole period, and amounting to £70.
Each £5 as it comes in begins to produce interest of 5s a year. (For convenience, the old style of
currency is kept.) The next stage is to find the total sum of all these 5s. During the whole period, the
first £5, which comes in at the end of the first year, produces 13 of them, the second £5 which comes
in at the end of the second year produces 12, the third 11, and so on. The 13th produces 5s at the end
of the 14-year period. So the total number of 5s which have come into the account is
13 + 12 + 11 + ... + 1
and this GPB arranged as
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 13 (First Series).
He found the sum of this A.P. by his usual method, as 14 x 13/2, giving the total contributions of the 5s
as 91 x5s = £22-15s, and the answer so far as £92-15s. But the 5s themselves are producing interest
at the rate of 3d a year, and the next step is to count these threepences. GPB took first that contingent
of (5s)s which arise from the first £5. The first comes in after 2 years and runs for 12 years, the second
comes in after 3 years and runs for 11 years and so on.
The total number of (3d)s in this contingent is therefore
(12 + 11 + 10 + ...) = 13. 12/2.
The second contingent, arising from the second £5, is similar, but everything is a year later, so that the
number of 3ds in this contingent is 12 x 11/2; from the third £5 there are 11 x 10/2, and so on. The last
3d comes from the 12th £5, which produces 5s in the 13th year, and this has 3d interest at the end of
the 14-year period.
The number of 3ds is, therefore,
13 x 12/2 + 12 x 11/2 + ... 4 x 3/2 + 3 x 2/2 + 1
which GPB as usual reversed, and gave in the form
1 + 3 + 6 + ... + 78 (Second Series).
To find this sum, GPB followed the method he had used for A.P.s and by summing successively 1, 2,
3... terms he obtained
1 + 4 + 10 + 20 + ... (Third Series),
and compared each term with the corresponding term of the second series. These ratios are
1 4 10 20
,
1 3 6 10
or
3 4 5 6
, , , .
3 3 3 3
Clearly the 12th ratio is 14/3, i.e., the required sum of twelve terms of the second series is 14/3 x the
12th term of the second series. But this term is 13 x 12/2 and the number of 3ds is, therefore,
14 13 x 12 14 x 13 x 12
X = .
3 2 3x2x1
and the contribution from all the 3ds is 364 x 3d = £4-lls.
This method could obviously be continued, but since
Table II the contributions of successive stages diminish so
rapidly, not many stages are needed.
Factor Contribution Total so far
(1) 14 x 1/20 £70 £70 What is so delightful to the mental calculator is
(2) 13/2 x 1/20 £22-15s £92-15s that at each stage the contribution can be very
(3) 12/3 x 1/20 £ 4-11s £97- 6s
(4) 11/4x1/20 12s-6d £97-18s-6d
(5) 10/5 x 1/20 1s-3d £97-19s-9d
(6) 9/6x1/20 1d £97-19s-10d
easily deduced from that at the one which precedes it, simply by multiplying by the appropriate
fractions, in this case by 1/20 for the rate of 5 per cent., and by, successively, one of the ratios 13/2,
12/3, 11/4,... and so on. In this particular example, the work goes as shown in Table II, and GPB could
complete such a calculation in about 1 minute. No wonder the "mercantile gentlemen" were
impressed, and we too may be disposed to marvel.
GPB had a poor opinion of the way in which, in his day, arithmetic was taught. Practical experience in
counting and reckoning, and practice in mental arithmetic, should come, he thought, before the boys
learned to write down numbers. "If a boy has been taught to know numbers only by the artificial signs
which represent them," he said, "I should much fear his ever being able afterwards to possess a clear
conception of the value of any number or quantity." A boy was in a hopeless position if he had been
taught dogmatically, and arrived mechanically at his results, without any appreciation of what the
figures represented. "With the usual forms of teaching arithmetic, not one boy in a hundred can give
any reason for what he does."
In the 1856 lecture, GPB added the method of calculating compound interest by the use of the
binomial theorem, but he made it quite clear that this was not what he had done when he was a boy. "I
have endeavoured to show," he said, "by what kind of process my mind at a very early age, and when
wholly unacquainted with symbolic representation, and algebraic expedients, analysed the law
connecting these series and rendered them available for computation."
My thanks are due to Mr. J. S. Linfoot, who suggested and carried out the computer check on the
"cricketers" problem.
Bibliography
Bidder, G. P., "On Mental Calculation," Min. Proc. ICE, 1856.
Bonnycastle, John, "A Scholar's Guide to Arithmetic," London, 1795.
Linfoot, Joyce, "The Calculating Phenomenon"; Part IV of Clark, E. F., "George Parker Bidder, The
Calculating Boy," KSL Publications, Bedford, 1983.
Mitchell, F. D., Am. Psych., 1907, XVIII, 61-143.
Smith, Steven B., "The Great Mental Calculators," Appendix, 1983.
Use has also been made of an anonymous compilation, "Some Extraordinary examples in Mental
Calculations by G. Bidder, a Devonshire Youth," M. Bryant and Co., Corn Street, Bristol. This is one of
a group of four pamphlets, dated about 1820, which contain questions answered by GPB during his
exhibitions. They are to be found in the Graves Collection in the Library of University College, London,
and my thanks are due to the Librarian for making them available to me.

INTELLIGENCE 14, 259-274 (1990)

Speed of Information Processing in a Calculating

Prodigy
Arthur R. Jensen
University of California, Berkeley.
Shakuntala Devi, one of the world's most prodigious mental calculators on record, past or present, is especially
remarkable for the incredible speed with which she performs mental calculations on very large numbers. This rare
phenomenon prompted the question of whether such exceptional performance depends on the speed of elementary
information processes. Devi's rather unexceptional reaction times on a battery of elementary cognitive tasks, which
were compared with the mean RTs of college students and older adults on the same tasks, contrasts so markedly with
her amazing speed of performing huge arithmetic calculations as to indicate that her skill with numbers must depend
largely on the automatic encoding and retrieval of a wealth of declarative and procedural information in long-term
memory rather than on any unusual basic capacities. Some kind of motivational factor that sustains enormous and
prolonged interest and practice in a particular skill probably plays a larger part in extremely exceptional performance
than does psychometric g or the speed of elementary information processes.

It seems hard to believe, but the following is reported in the Guinness Book of Records (1982),
which has a reputation for the authenticity of its claims: "Mrs. Shakuntala Devi of India
demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers of 7,686,369,774,870 ×
2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London
on 18 June 1980, in 28 s. Her correct answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730."

An article in the New York Times (November 10, 1976, cited in Smith, 1983, p. 306)
reported that Shakuntala Devi added the following four numbers and multiplied the result
by 9,878 to get the (correct) answer 5,559,369,456,432:
 25,842,278
111,201,721
370,247,830
55,511,315
She was reported to have done this calculation in "20 seconds or less."

At Southern Methodist University, in 1977, Devi extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit
number in 50 s. Her answer—546,372,891—was confirmed by calculations done at the
U.S. Bureau of Standards by the Univac 1101 computer, for which a special program had
to be written to perform such a large calculation (Smith, 1983).

I first learned of Shakuntala Devi many years ago in Time magazine (personal
communication, July 4, 1952). I was amazed, but also rather skeptical, that anyone could
extract cube roots of large numbers entirely in one's head in a matter of seconds. Many
years later I read biographical sketches of Devi in books on famous calculating prodigies,
by Barlow (1952) and Smith (1983).

Then, in 1988, Devi visited the San Francisco Bay Area, when I had the opportunity to
observe a demonstration she gave at Stanford University before an audience filled with
mathematicians, engineers, and computer experts, who had come with their electronic
calculators or printouts of large problems that had been submitted to the University's
main-frame computer.

I was curious, first of all, to see if Devi had the kind of autistic personality so commonly
associated with such unusual mental feats. Also, I wanted to measure her performance
times myself, to see if they substantiated the astounding claims I had read of her
calculating prowess. But mainly, if the claims proved authentic, I hoped I could persuade
her to come to Berkeley to be tested in my chronometric laboratory, so we could measure
her basic speed of information processing on a battery of elementary cognitive tasks
(ECTs) for which the results could be compared with the reaction time (RT) data we had
obtained on the same ECTs in large samples of students and older adults. Indeed, Devi
kindly consented to come to my laboratory and spent about 3 h taking various tests. In
addition, she spent some 2 h with me, discussing her life and work.

Speed of Performing Arithmetic Calculations

At her Stanford appearance, Shakuntala Devi, in a colorful silk sari, sat at a table in front of the
blackboard in a lecture hall. The demonstration lasted almost 90 min. (Engaging in such intense
mental activity beyond that length of time, Devi said, she begins to feel tired.) Problems
involving large numbers were written on the blackboard by volunteers from the audience, many
of whom knew of Devi's reputation and had brought along computer printouts with the problems
and answers. Devi would turn around to look at a problem on the blackboard, and always in less
than 1 min (but usually in just a few seconds) she would state the answer, or in the case of
solutions involving quite large numbers she would write the answer on the blackboard.

Seated in the first row nearest to Devi, I was equipped with a HP computer and a
notebook. Beside me, my wife held a stopwatch to measure Devi's solution times, while I
copied problems from the blackboard. (Devi solved most of the problems faster than I
was able to copy them in my notebook.) Solution times were measured as accurately as
possible with an ordinary stopwatch. When occasionally it was not exactly clear just when
Devi began to work on a problem, this was noted, and in those instances the time is not
reported here. The solution times in those cases, however, were not atypical of the times
that could be accurately measured. It should be noted that Devi's actual solution times
might have been either under- or overestimated in many instances, because we had no
control of the specific form of her responses, which varied from problem to problem. In
every case, timing began as soon as the whole problem had been presented, and ended
the moment Devi had given the complete answer. But she often preceded her answer
with a phrase such as "The answer is . . .", or "That could be . . .", or "That was a
(Friday)." Thus the problem may have been solved either entirely before these initial
utterances or in parallel with the brief statement preceding the answer. Also, when large
problem resulted in solutions that were quite large numbers, Devi would write out the
answer on the blackboard, always quickly, and there was no way of telling whether the
answer was complete in her mind before she began to write or the problem was being
solved sequentially while she wrote out the answer. Since timing stopped only on the
completion of the answer, the reported solution times, if anything, are probably slightly
overestimated. Yet these were only a matter of seconds, and never as long as 1 min in
the entire performance.

When I handed Devi two problems, each on a separate card, thinking she would solve
first one, then the other, my wife was taken by surprise, as there was hardly time to start
the stopwatch, so quick was Devi's response. Holding the two cards side-by-side, Devi
looked at them briefly and said, "The answer to the first is 395 and to the second is 15.
Right?" Right, of course! (Her answers were never wrong.) Handing the cards back to
me, she requested that I read the problems aloud to the audience. They were: (a) the
cube root of 61,629,875 (= 395), and (b) the 7th root of 170,859,375 (= 15). I was rather
disappointed that these problems seemed obviously too easy for Devi, as I had hoped
they would elicit some sign of mental strain on her part. After all, it had taken me much
longer to work them with a calculator.

But cube roots could almost be called Devi's specialty. To "warm up" she requested a
large number of cube root problems, that is, extracting the cube roots of large numbers,
mostly in the millions, hundreds of millions, and trillions. The average time Devi took for
extracting all of these cube roots was just 6 s, with a range of 2 to 10 s. Some examples:

3√95,443,993 Ans. 457 Time: 2 s

3√204,336,469 Ans. 589 Time: 5 s
3√2,373,927,704 Ans. 1,334 Time: 10 s
Then Devi took on more obviously difficult problems. For example:

8√20,047,612,231,936 Ans. 46 Time: 10 s

7√455,762,531,836,562,695,930,666,032,734,375

Ans. 46,295 Time: 40 s

In all of the above examples the numbers have here been marked off with commas, as is
customary, for ease of reading. But Devi refused to accept large numbers marked off with
commas, claiming that the commas break up a number artificially. For Devi, grouping the
numbers in triplets by commas hinders the solution process. Hence the large numbers
written on the blackboard for Devi were always strings of equally spaced digits,
ungrouped in any fashion. A given large number, as she takes it in, rather automatically
"falls apart" in its own way. and the correct answer simply "falls out." Apparently she does
not apply a standard algorithm uniformly to every problem of a certain type, such as
square roots, or cube roots, or powers. Each number uniquely dictates its own solution.
so to speak. Hence the presence of commas only interferes with the "natural" (and
virtually automatic) dissolution of the number in Devi's mind. I have since learned from an
Indian professor that commas are not used in India's number system, and it seems likely
that their interfering effect for Devi could stem in part from her intensive childhood
experience in working with large numbers lacking commas or any other form of triplet
grouping. Indians, my professor friend tells me, learn to group numbers mentally in terms
of logarithms to the base 10, that is, 10°, 10¹, 10², and so forth.

It will be noticed that all of the roots in the above problems are whole integers. But Devi
also does noninteger roots almost as fast as integer roots— averaging about 3 to 4 s
longer—provided the root is not an irrational number. For example, she could state the
cube root of 12,812.904 as 23.4 almost without hesitation. Irrational roots, however are
apparently more of a problem. She has reportedly done them, rounding off to two decimal
places. But when the following number was presented at her Stanford demonstration, she
took one look at it and dismissed it as a "wrong number." It was 9√743,895,212. The
answer (figured by computer) is an irrational number: 9.676616492+. I suspect that Devi
could have solved it to at least two decimals, but the time required would have been too
far out of line with her brief time on all the other problems to have made a good show. I
got the impression that Devi's professional showmanship doesn't allow her to fumble over
a problem or to spend much time on it if she sees that she can't solve it rather quickly. It is
 nevertheless interesting that she so quickly recognized that the 9th root of this nine-digit
figure is an irrational number.

Devi also possesses the calendar skill that is frequently demonstrated by other
calculating prodigies and by some so-called "idiot savants" or "autistic savants" (e.g.,
Hermelin & O'Connor, 1986). But I have not found any accounts in the literature of
persons who can perform this feat so fast over such a wide range of dates, past and
future. Given any specific date, Devi immediately states the day of the week it falls on. If
the date was stated in the usual way (i.e., month, day, year) her average response time
was about 1 s. But when the dates were stated to her in the order year, month, day, an
ordinary stopwatch proved useless for measuring Devi's response times, because her
answers came about as fast as one could start the stopwatch. To determine if anything
besides sheer calculation enters Devi's thought process while she is doing calendrical
calculations, I called out "January 30, 1948," to which she instantly answered, "That was
a Friday—and the day that our great leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated."
Obviously her calendrical calculating does not entirely usurp her other memory or thought
processes. Devi can also name, about as fast as anyone could articulate, all the dates on
which a given day, say Thursday, falls throughout a given year; or name all the days
falling on a given date each month throughout the year; and she did this in both the
forward and the reverse temporal directions with about equal speed. The total times for
these tasks ranged between 15 and 30 s.

Personal Characteristics. The first thing most observers would notice about Devi is that
her general appearance and demeanor are quite the opposite of the typical image of the
withdrawn, obsessive, autistic savant, so well portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the recent
motion picture, Rain Man. Devi comes across as alert, extraverted, affable, and articulate.
Her English is excellent, and she also speaks several other languages. She has the stage
presence of a seasoned performer, and maintains close rapport with her audience. At an
informal reception after her Stanford performance, I noticed that among strangers she
was entirely at ease, outgoing, socially adept, self-assured, and an engaging
conversationalist. To all appearances, the prodigious numerical talent resides in a
perfectly normal and charming lady. She is divorced and has a daughter attending college
in England, who, Devi remarks with mock dismay, uses a computer in her science and
math courses. In fact, Devi claims none of her relatives has ever shown any mathematical
talent.

Shakuntala Devi was born in Bangalore, India, in 1940, to a 15-year-old mother and 61-
year-old father, who was a circus acrobat and magician. Devi traveled with him since she
was 3, performing card tricks, from which she cultivated her facility with numbers. Her
talent in this sphere was manifested early; at age 5 she could already extract cube roots
quickly in her head, and she soon began supporting herself and the rest of her family as a
stage performer, traveling throughout India billed as a calculating prodigy. Even before
she was in her teens, she began traveling around the world, performing numerical feats,
usually before audiences in colleges and universities. She has written five books, three
published in the U.S. (Devi, 1977, 1978a, 1978b). More biographical information can be
found elsewhere (Barlow, 1952; Smith, 1983).

METHOD

Psychometric and Chronometric Tests

The various tests were administered by my research assistants (John Kranzler and Patty
Whang), who had previously given all of the same tests to a great many subjects.

Psychometric. The Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices was administered without

time limit, and the Digit Span subtests (forward and backward digit span) of the Wechsler
Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) were administered in accord with the standard procedure
described in the WAIS Manual.

Chronometric. As the main aim of the investigation was to assess Devi's speed of
information processing on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs), five different ECTs were
used, varying in complexity and type of information processing demands.
 Simple Reaction Time (RT1) was measured with an automatic computerized apparatus
in which the subject's response console consisted of a semicircular array (15 cm radius)
of eight green under-lighted pushbuttons and, at the center of the array, a "home" button.
A flat-black overlay on the console covered all but one of the pushbuttons, exposing only
the fifth button from the left as well as the home button. The trials were subject paced. A
trial begins when the subject holds down the home button with the index finger of the
preferred hand. After 1 s there is a preparatory stimulus ("beep") of ½ s duration followed
by a random interval of 1 to 4 s, after which the reaction stimulus occurs, that is, the
under-lighted button going "on." The subject is instructed to turn off the light as quickly as
possible by touching the button. RT is the interval between onset of the reaction stimulus
and the subject's lifting her finger from the home button. Movement time (MT) is the
interval between releasing the home button and touching the underlighted pushbutton
located 15 cm above it. Following the tester's instructions, eight practice trials were given,
then 20 test trials. RTs and MTs were automatically recorded in milliseconds by the
computer, which calculated and printed out the median RT and median MT (RT1 and
MT1) over the 20 test trials and also the standard deviation (SD) of RT and of MT
(SDRT1 and SDMT1) as measures of trial-to-trial intraindividual variability in RT and MT.
The computer also registered the number of erroneous responses.

Choice Reaction Time (RT8) was measured with the same apparatus, but with all eight
pushbuttons exposed. Otherwise the procedure was the same as for RT1. The one button
out of the eight alternatives that would light on each trial was selected at random, but
every button was used with equal frequency. After eight practice trials there were 30 test
trials.

The Odd-Man-Out (Oddman, for short), introduced by Frearson and Eysenck (1986),
used the same apparatus and general procedure. But in this task, a set of three of the
eight pushbuttons light up simultaneously, forming an oddity discrimination, always with
two of the lights closer together than the third light, the "odd-man-out." The location of the
odd light/button was randomized across trials. The subject's task was to touch the odd
light as quickly as possible without making errors. There were eight practice trials and 36
test trials, and the same measures were recorded as in previous tasks.

The Visual Search (VS) and Memory Search (MS) Tasks were administered with a
computerized binary response console. The stimuli (digits) were displayed on an IBM
monochrome monitor, at eye level, about 2 ft in front of the sitting subject. The response
console was a 20-cm square metal box with its top side pitched at a 15° angle for easy
access to three round pushbuttons of 1-inch diameter placed in the form of an equilateral
triangle, with 10 cm between the centers of the three pushbuttons. The button nearest the
subject is the "home" button. Closely above each of the two top buttons are large-print
labels: YES on the left and NO on the right. The task was subject paced, each trial
initiated by the subject's pressing the home button. The console was interfaced with an
IBM-PC and the entire sequence of trials was preprogrammed; median RT, median MT,
the standard deviations (over trials) of RT and MT, and the percentage of erroneous
responses were automatically computed and recorded. In the VS task, the sequence of
events was as follows:

1. To initiate a trial, subject presses down the home button and keeps it down.
2. 1-s delay.
3. A single target digit appears on monitor for 2 s.
4. Monitor goes blank for a random interval of 1 to 4 s.
5. A series of digits of a given set size (from 1 to 7) simultaneously appears horizontally on
the monitor. Set size is randomized across trials. Following 16 practice trials, there were
12 test trials for each of the 7 set sizes, making 84 test trials in all.
6. The series remains on the screen until subject presses either the YES or the NO
pushbutton. On half of the trials the correct answer is positive (YES) and on half of the
trials the correct answer is negative (NO).
7. Instantly following the subject's YES or NO response, the word "Correct" or "Incorrect"
appears on the screen for 2 s.

The MS task is exactly the same as the VS task except that the order of presentation of
the single target digit and the digit series is reversed. All performance parameters on MS
 are obtained in exactly the same way as on VS.

RESULTS

Psychometric Tests

Raven Matrices. The Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) is a highly g-loaded

nonverbal test of abstract reasoning based on 36 multiple-choice items consisting of
complex nonrepresentational figures. Its low to moderate correlation with complex
measures of RT has been established in numerous studies (Jensen, 1982, 1987a;
Vernon, 1987). It was administered to Devi with instructions to attempt every item and
without time limit. She completed the test in 58 min, which is fairly typical for most
subjects taking the APM under nonspeeded conditions. Her performance was
unexceptional, being well within the range of the hundreds of university students tested in
previous studies and on a par with older, college-educated adults. 1 Hence on this
measure of psychometric g, Devi is not exceptional, in marked contrast to her
phenomenal calculating ability.

Digit Span. The Digit Span subtest of the WAIS was of particular interest because it
involves the recall of a series of digits immediately following their auditory presentation at
the rate of 1 digit per second. Devi correctly recalled 9 digits forward and 4 digits
backward. (The test is discontinued after failure on both trials at a given series length.)
This performance also was not particularly exceptional, the combined score being at the
63rd percentile of the WAIS standardization sample in Devi's age bracket. The Digit Span
score, however, is questionable because of a ceiling effect on the Digits Forward. Devi
"topped out" on Digits Forward, in which the longest series is only 9 digits, and Devi
correctly recalled 9 digits. The WAIS norms unfortunately do not give percentile
equivalents for Forward and Backward Digits separately, but Devi's recall of 4 digits
backwards is reported to be in the normal range for adults (Matarazzo, 1972, pp. 204-
206).

Chronometric Tests
The results of Devi's performance on the various ECTs are shown in Table 1. As a basis for
comparison are also shown the results on the same tests taken by college students, ages 18
through 25, and by 76 older adults from 51 to 87 years (M = 67.84, SD = 8.65), the latter group
from a study done in Jensen's laboratory by Anada (1985). This group consisted mostly of
university graduates and had a mean of 15.3 (SD = 3.2) years of formal education. While there
are no sizable subject samples on these ECTs for persons in precisely Devi's age bracket, the
present data are adequate for determining whether or not Devi's response latencies on these
various ECTs fall within normal limits. Her feats of calculation, with their extraordinary speed of
processing numerical information, are of course so far beyond the normal distribution of
capability in mental arithmetic that she is considered in a class with only a handful of the world's
greatest mental calculations, past or present, on whose performance we have authentic records
(Smith, 1983).

TABLE 1
Shakuntala Devi Compared with Samples of College Students and Older Adults on Reaction Time (RT) and
Movement Time (MT),
in Milliseconds, on Various Elementary Cognitive Tasks
Shakuntala a) Students (N = 213) b) Older Adults (N = 76) Difference*
Devi Devi - a Devi - b
Chronometric Md. Md. Mean Mean Mean Mean
SD SD SD SD RT MT RT MT
Test RT MT RT MT RT MT
Simple (RT1) 272 277 270.60 29.23 140.78 69.98 337.53 48.64 321.38 88.6 0.05 1.95 –1.35 –0.50
Choice (RT8) 402 275 321.75 33.85 156.18 39.33 452.32 67.22 318.04 88.57 2.37 3.02 –0.75 –0.49
Oddman-Out 574 388 460.35 63.41 168.58 47.21 1.79 4.65
RT
 Mean
Mean Mean Mean
CDRT SDMT CDR SD SD SD SD
SDMT CDRT CDMT
T
Simple 38 86 33.38 23.66 65.46 61.63 40.72 19.42 62.06 31.03 0.19 0.33 –0.14 0.77
(SDRT1) 59 107 34.37 15.08 97.94 70.47 85.03 41.85 74.40 35.47 1.63 0.13 –0.62 0.92
Choice 201 185 78.45 35.48 139.93 60.58 3.45 0.74
(SDRT8)
Oddman-Out
SDRT
a) Students (N = 48)
Md. Md. Mean Mean Mean Mean
SD SD SD SD
Visual Search RT MT RT MT RT MT
Positive 904 270 536.57 110.00 211.43 66.00 3.34 0.89
Negalive 972 258 593.29 145.86 213.29 78.71 2.60 0.57
Both 939 266 564.93 129.18 212.36 72.76 743.22 157.91 363.34 138.53 2.89 0.74 1.24 –0.70

Memory
Search 936 247 511.14 116.00 210.43 77.00 3.66 0.47
Positive 1008 261 543.29 144.00 204.86 76.14 3.23 0.74
Negative 974 250 527.21 130.75 207.65 76.57 739.49 162.06 386.47 154.05 3.42 0.55 1.45 –0.89
Both
*Differences in standard deviation units.
Simple reaction time (RT1) essentially measures speed of stimulus apprehension as well
as sensory lag, afferent and efferent neural conduction velocity, and muscle response
execution time. On RT1 Devi's median RT is virtually the same as that of the students
and is considerably faster (by 1.35 SD units) than that of the older adults. (The last four
columns of Table 1 show the difference between Devi's RT (and MT) performance and the
means of groups A (students) and B (older adults), expressed in units of each group's
standard deviation.) On choice RT (RT8), which measures all the processes involved in
RT1 in addition to the uncertainty of which light would go on and its discrimination from
the other alternatives, Devi's RT (and MT) falls between that of the students and the older
adults. The Oddman task involves all the processes in RT1 and RT8 plus the
considerably more difficult spatiai discrimination of the distances between the three
lighted pushbuttons among the eight alternatives. Devi's Oddman RT and MT are both
slower than the students'. (Comparisons with the older adults cannot be made, because
the Oddman test did not exist at the time they were tested by Ananda, in 1985). The
within-subject standard deviations of RT and MT (SDRT and SDMT) reflect trial-to-trial
consistency of performance. SDRT has repeatedly been found to be moderately
correlated with psychometric g (Jensen, 1987b).

Devi's error rates on both RT8 and Oddman were absolute zero. Students' mean error
rates were RT8 = 0.52% (SD = 2.16%) and Oddman = 1.67% (SD = 2/68%).

The VS and MS tasks are of special interest, as they both involve numbers. VS measures
the time taken to scan a series of from 1 to 7 digits to determine the presence or absence
of a given target digit in the series. MS measures the time taken to scan a series of 1 to 7
digits held in short-term memory (STM) to determine the presence of absence of a single
target digit. RT on these tasks is correlated –.30 to –.40 with the APM, and MT is
correlated –.20 to –.30 with the APM, in the university student group with N = 48 (Jensen,
1987b). It may seem surprising that, although the VS and MS tasks both involve
numbers, Devi's RT and MT on these tasks are notably longer than the mean RT and MT
of the students, and Devi's RT (but not MT) is even longer than the mean RT in the group
of older adults.

Of greater interest than the overall average RT on VS or MS, however, is the regression
of RT on set size. It is now well established that RT increases as a linear function of set
 size for both VS and MS. The slope of the regression is considered a measure of the rate
of visual scanning, or, in the case of MS, the rate of scanning information in STM
(Sternberg, 1966). It is therefore of special interest to compare Devi with the other groups
on the regression of RT (in ms) on set size (one to seven digits) for both VS and MS. The
results are as follows:

Visual Search Memory Search

Intercept Slope Intercept Slope
Devi 888 13 976 2
Students 467 25 429 24
Older Adults 567 50 569 45
Devi's MS shows hardly any slope, differing from the mean slope of the student group by 1.1
SD. Ordinarily, a very small slope in the MS paradigm would indicate a quite fast speed of
memory search. But the very large intercept for Devi as well as her rather average RTs on all
the other processing tasks suggests that her exceptionally low slope on MS is not due to
unusually fast memory search but to some exceptional way of mentally representing the string
of digits, made possible by Devi's vast knowledge of numbers.

The overall percentage error rates for Devi and the comparison groups were as follows:

Task Devi Students Older Adults

VS 8.3 6.4 2
MS 2.4 6.3 4
Devi's very low error rate on MS also suggests that her encoding of the digit series in STM is
probably better than the average in the two comparison groups. This is consistent with her
superior performance on forward digit span, which also probably reflects her phenomenal
knowledge of numbers.

DISCUSSION

From the conversation with Devi after the test session, I was impressed that she is a remarkable
person, even aside from her phenomenal ability with numbers. Devi never attended school and
has had no formal education, having been a stage performer since the age at which most
children begin kindergarten. She has been self-supporting since childhood, has traveled all over
the world on her own beginning in early adolescence, has written several books in English
published by major firms, and is putting her daughter through college in England. And she has
done it all by her wits and character. Moreover, it was apparent in our conversation that she has
acquired a wealth of worldly knowledge and wisdom, and perhaps a certain shrewdness, that
are far from ordinary.

But none of these observations nor any of the objective test results begins to explain why
or how Devi is able to perform feats with numbers that are so far beyond what most of us
can do in this sphere as to seem incredible. Her peculiar ability is indeed rare, perhaps
one in hundreds of millions. Devi attributes her unusual career to "My love of numbers
and my love of people." But then she immediately corrected this apparent slip of the
tongue, "Oh, I should say it the other way around—my love of people and my love of
numbers."

The question everyone asks is, how does she do it? Devi's own answers to this question,
given at different times, seem rather inconsistent, but they may all be true. Variously, "a
gift from God,"; or "an inbom gift,"; or "I think anyone could do it if they loved numbers the
way I do,"; or "Perhaps anyone could do it if they had played with numbers for hours
every day since early childhood." Devi's father discovered her fascination with numbers
when she was 3 years old, and so he taught her arithmetic. Numbers and arithmetic were
her favorite "toys" and she would do various calculations with them by the hour, every
day, encouraged by her father, who soon made her a part of his professional act as a
stage magician, with Devi performing card tricks and calculations. She soon became the
whole show and her father then simply acted as her manager. All the while she was
improving her calculating skills to be able to perform ever more amazing feats.
Although Devi is not, strictly speaking, a mnemonist, one may infer from the speed of her
solutions that memory must play an important part in her skill. It is apparently not the
"working memory" that is most exceptional, but the long-term memory (LTM), which must
be extremely well stocked with highly over-learned and efficiently organized numerical
information and various calculating algorithms. In short, for Devi the basic information
processing limitations of normal working memory capacity have been largely overcome in
the numerical domain by unusually efficient encoding and retrieval of numerical
information in LTM. Devi's use of this vast accumulation of numerical information and
algorithms for solving problems clearly evinces all the signs of being an extreme example
of what Shiffrin and Schneider (1977) have described as "automatic processing," as
contrasted with "controlled processing" of information.

While controlled processing, which characterizes the operations of working memory, is

relatively slow and processes information sequentially, being able to process only quite
limited amounts of information at one time and being unable to execute different
operations simultaneously, automatic processing is fast, relatively effortless, and can
handle large amounts of information and perform different operations on it
simultaneously.

Most of the basic operations involved in Devi's performance probably became

automatized during her childhood. She claims she could not teach anyone how she raises
numbers to given powers or extracts various roots of given numbers, and the like,
because she obtains the solution through exercising different routines drawn from an
immense repertoire of numerical information and strategies, and the peculiarities of the
problem itself determine the elements that are drawn upon from this repertoire to achieve
the solution most efficiently. Any given number lends itself to the application of some
"trick" through which the required solution is quickly arrived at. Perhaps hundreds of
hours of specially devised experiments, using chronometric techniques, could possibly
decipher some of the specific processes of Devi's skill that have become so automatic
that she herself is unable to explain them in detail.

The memory load in Devi's large calculations must be enormous and obviously must be
handled in a very different way than it would be by a novice at mental calculation. Devi
"perceives" large numbers differently from the way most of us ordinarily do. When she
takes in a large number (and she must do this visually), it undergoes some
transformation, almost instantly—usually some kind of simplification of the number. But
this is not a simple "chunking" of the number into smaller sets. In fact, Devi complained
that dividing a long number up into smaller "chunks" only hinders her ability to do
calculations on it. (Hence she hates the commas in large numbers.) This is not to say that
Devi does not break up or analyze large numbers into some kind of numerical
components, but only that she does not use any uniform type of "chunking" on every
number. The unique properties of a given number mainly determine how it will "fall apart"
so as to yield the required solution most efficiently. Devi demonstrates her idiosyncratic
perceptions by spontaneously commenting on room numbers and automobile license
plates. A four digit room number may be seen as the sum of, say, the cubes of two
numbers, often in two or three different ways; or, if not the sum, a stringing together of the
integer roots of two numbers, or a running product of the digits will pop into her mind. At
times, when asked for the nth root of a given number, she would not only come up with
the required answer, but while getting to the answer had also noticed other interesting
features of the number (e.g., it is also the cube of one-half of the given number), which
she would immediately volunteer. At a glance she "read" the number 720 on a car's
license plate as 6 factorial (i.e., 6! = 6×5×4×3×2×1 = 720). And so it is for virtually every
number Devi confronts. Each one evokes many associations and transformations, some
more interesting to her than others. She especially likes the larger numbers, because
they break up in more different and interesting ways, which makes them rather easier to
work with. Extracting integer roots is easier than obtaining powers or doing multiplication,
she notes, because extracting roots is a process of reduction—one always ends up with a
smaller number.

Devi obviously does not go about her calculations in the same way that most of us would
do. A simple experiment may afford those with rather average arithmetic skills a slight
insight into how Devi operates so quickly with numbers. Most people have learned their
times tables up as far as the numbers 12 or 13. This is easily shown by measuring
response latencies; they are generally very short, but suddenly become much longer for
multiplication tables beyond 12 or 13. The latencies for the 4s table (given in a random
order) are rather uniformly short. But then we present 4×23 = ? And here we see a
relatively long response latency, because most people must perform the calculation 4×23
in their mind's eye, so to speak, in the same way as they would with a pencil and paper.
But then we continue, and present 4×25. Here the response latency is again very short,
like multiplying 4 by a single digit. Why? The subjects have never practiced memorizing
all the multiplication tables through 25. But in their past experience they have acquired a
number of automatic facilitating associations for this particular problem, 4×25, such as
"25 is one-fourth of 100," or "four quarters is a dollar." These associations are
automatically brought to bear faster than one is consciously aware, and the correct
answer is immediately obvious—it simply pops into one's mind without intentionally
performing a calculation.

Another example akin to calculation is the application of many complex grammatical rules
in the construction of long or involved sentences. Most people speak their native
language fluently and grammatically without being conscious of following grammatical
rules, or even without any formal knowledge of grammar. Yet it would take a large
computer with an extraordinarily complex program to perform this feat. For a calculating
prodigy such as Devi, the manipulation of numbers is apparently like a native language,
whereas for most of us arithmetic calculation is at best like the foreign language we
learned in school.

The final puzzle is what produces a Shakuntala Devi? We know that with great amounts
of practice high levels of expertise in various skills can be attained by quite ordinary
people who are sufficiently motivated to engage in prolonged practice on a narrow type of
skill. For example, Ericsson (1987, 1988) reports cases of quite average college students,
with a memory span of 7 digits (forward), who, after some 200 practice sessions
distributed over 2 years aimed at increasing their memory span, were finally able to recall
digit series of over 80 digits after a single presentation. Most professional stage
mnemonists, in fact, do not have that long a digit span.

Similar increases in skill with prolonged practice have also been demonstrated for mental
calculating ability in studies by Staszewski (1988). College students with SAT-V and SAT-
Q scores both near the 95th percentile were given systematic practice under laboratory
observation on mental multiplication for about 45 min a day, 3 to 5 days per week, over
periods of 2 to 3 years, totalling up to 300 h of practice. The students were guided to
practice computational strategies that previous studies had revealed as the methods used
by expert mental calculators (though not in Devi's league). The students practiced only
multiplication, the hardest problems being the multiplication of five-digit numbers by two-
digit numbers, with both oral and visual presentation. Average solution times on the
hardest problems (2×5 digits) decreased from about 130 s at the beginning of practice to
about 30 s at the end of practice. Even that is an unusual level of performance in mental
calculation by normal standards, although it seems unimpressive compared to Devi's
performance. But comparing Devi with persons who have had only 300 h of practice at
calculating would be like comparing Vladimir Horowitz with persons who have practiced
the piano only 300 h.

While extreme levels of expertise in any skill never seem to be found in the absence of
enormous amounts of practice, what we do not know is whether the most extreme levels
of expertise, such as Devi's, could ever be developed in almost any normal person picked
at random and given the same amount of practice. It seems quite unlikely. If the amount
of practice were the crucial variable, one must wonder why calculating prodigies of Devi's
level are so exceedingly rare. Anyone who has had experience with preschool children
knows how hard it is to get them to practice anything consistently, much less mental
calculation. Yet Devi had practiced it enough by 5 to become a stage performer,
astounding audiences by mentally multiplying large numbers, extracting their cube roots,
and the like, with remarkable speed. It seems necessary to posit some initial, probably
innate, advantage on which practice can merely capitalize. Rimland (1978), in theorizing
about the psychology of autistic savants, has hypothesized that this advantage exists in
the attentional system, as a trade-off in information processing between a narrow "band-
width" of extremely high fidelity representation of the information input with undistracted
processing of the information, on the one hand, and a wide band-width of relatively low
fidelity but much greater breadth of awareness and generality of abstraction, on the other.
By this notion, Devi as a child was able to operate in the high fidelity attentional mode
when it came to mental calculation. She was not permanently locked into this narrow
band-width, however, quite unlike the psychologically abnormal autistic savants, whose
range and level of performance, incidentally, never approaches that of the psychologically
sound persons, like Devi, who become great calculating prodigies.

But the nature of this hypothesized advantage is really still uncertain. It might well turn out
to be characterized more as a motivational variable than as primarily an attentional or
ability variable. Why did Devi as a girl practice numbers so assiduously? Or why did the
young Richard Wagner, to the consternation of his parents and teachers, repeatedly play
truant from school just to be able to spend whole days concentrating on the orchestral
scores of Beethoven's symphonies? Or Ted Williams, the famous baseball player, whose
mother worried about the normality of his running all the way home from school every day
to practice until nightfall relentlessly pitching baseballs through a hole in a backboard? It
is the same story repeatedly in the biographies of the world's truly exceptional performers
in every field. A good case could probably be made that the most exceptional performers
and creative geniuses are much further out from the average of the general population on
some kind of motivational factor than on any traits most psychometricians would consider
a basic ability or cognitive capacity.

REFERENCES

Ananda, S.M. (1985). Speed of information processing and psychometric abilities in later
adulthood. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

Barlow, F. (1952). Mental prodigies. New York: Philosophical Library.

Devi, S. (1977). The world of homosexuals. New York: Advent Books.

Devi, S. (1978a). Figuring: The joy of numbers. New York: Harper & Row.

Devi, S. (1978b). Mathematical merry-go-round. New York: Plenum.

Ericsson, K.A. (1987). Theoretical implications from protocol analysis on testing and
measurement. In R.R. Ronning, J.A. Glover, J.C. Conoley, & J.C. Witt (Eds.), The
influence of cognitive psychology on testing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Ericsson, K.A. (1988). Analysis of memory performance in terms of memory skills. In R.J.
Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 4). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.

Frearson, W.M., & Eysenck, H.J. (1986). Intelligence, reaction time (RT) and a new "odd-
man-out" RT paradigm. Personality and Individual Differences, 7, 807-817.

Hermelin, B., & O'Connor, N. (1986). Idiot savant calendrical calculators: Rules and
regularities. Psychological Medicine, 16, 885-893.

Jensen, A.R. (1982). Reaction time and psychometric g. In H.J. Eysenck (Ed.), A model
for intelligence. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Jensen, A.R. (1978a). Individual differences in the Hick paradigm. In P.A. Vernon (Ed.),
Speed of information processing and intelligence. Norwood. NJ: Ablex.

Jensen, A.R. (1987b). Process differences and individual differences in some cognitive
tasks. Intelligence, 11, 107-136.
 Matarazzo, J.D. (1972). Wechsler's measurement and appraisal of adult intelligence (5th
ed.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.

Rimland, B. (1978). Savant capabilities of autistic children and their cognitive implications.
In G. Serban (Ed.), Cognitive defects in the development of mental illness. New York:
Brunner/Mazel.

Shiffrin, R.M., & Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information
processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory.
Psychological Review, 84, 127-190.

Smith, S.B. (1983). The great mental calculators. New York: Columbia University Press.

Staszewski, J.J. (1988). Skilled memory and expert mental calculation. In M. Chi, R.
Glaser, & M.J. Farr (Eds.), The nature of expertise. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Sternberg, S. (1966). High speed scanning in human memory. Science, 153, 652-654.

Vernon, P. A. (Ed.). (1987). Speed of information processing and intelligence. Norwood,

NJ: Ablex.

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Arthur R. Jensen, School of Education, University of California,
Berkeley, CA 94720.

1The precise score is not given, as I had assured Mrs. Devi beforehand that I would not report the exact scores she made on
any of the published standardized tests used in this study.

http://www.moretonhampstead.org.uk/texts/people/bidderlife.htm
GEORGE PARKER BIDDER, 1806-1878
George Bidder was born in Moretonhampstead, became famous nationally as a boy prodigy at mental
arithmetic, was sent to study mathematics at Edinburgh University, and then entered the Civil Engineering
profession just at the time when his skills were valuable in the enormous development of the railway system
and the docks. He prospered (and helped his Devon relatives to prosper), bought property at Dartmouth, and
eventually retired there.
He is remembered in Devon chiefly as an infant prodigy, and his status as Civil Engineer and successful
business man is forgotten. The following brief account of his career, based on the biography "The
Calculating Boy" by his great-great-grandson, E.F. Clark, MIMechE, is intended to restore the balance.
CHILDHOOD
George Bidder was born in Moretonhampstead. He was the third son of William Bidder, a stonemason, and
Elizabeth Parker, whose family were also stonemasons. He had two elder brothers, William (later a
nonconformist minister) and John (a stonemason, like his father). John taught him the numbers from the face
of his watch and explained how to count up to one hundred, but that was all. However George loved
numbers, worked out the multiplication table for himself while playing with marbles, conkers or shot, and
delighted in doing sums in his head. His skill was first noticed when, after he was in bed, he heard his elders
trying to work out what they would get from the butcher for their pig, and impatiently shouted the correct
answer down the stairs.
He often sat in the blacksmith's shop across the road, and soon found that he was rewarded by the
bystanders for showing off his skill at simple sums. His ability to do elaborate multiplication sums grew with
practice. He found it easy to hold large numbers in his head, and visualised them although he had not been
taught to write them down.
When George was seven Jacob Isaac, the local Baptist minister, who also ran a school, examined him and
reported that, although he had difficulty in reading, and did not know the relationships between feet and
inches or days and years, he had no difficulty in doing sums involving these quantities once they were
explained to him.
ON HIS TRAVELS
Before long George's father found it profitable to exhibit him as "The Calculating Prodigy" at fairs and shows,
going further afield as his reputation grew. Advance notice would be given of his appearance in some inn or
hall, and a charge made for admission. In this way he visited, among others towns, Brighton, Cheltenham,
Tewkesbury, Dudley, Worcester, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and of course
London. In the course of this, in the winter of 1816-7, he was invited to answer questions by Queen
Charlotte, which were duly reported and added to his fame. The problems set were wrapped up verbally in
the way usually used in those days, but he had no difficulty in reducing them to arithmetic, and once a new
set of units had been explained to him he remembered the relationships between all the units.
The travel as a "prodigy" must itself must have been quite an education for a country boy, but in 1816 two
gentlemen from Cambridge who saw his performance persuaded his father to let him attend school in
Camberwell - his mother was enthusiastic, but his father less so. However George had a year of regular
schooling before going on tour again. George does not seem to have resented this life - he remained a
cheerful boy, quite willing to joke with questioners.
EDINBURGH
In 1819 George was exhibited in Edinburgh, and a new life started. He attracted the attention of a group led
by Sir Henry Jardine, who undertook his education in Edinburgh. He spent a year with a private tutor and
then attended classes in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the University. His "prodigy" days were
behind him, he became a normal student and made friendships which lasted throughout his life, notably with
Robert Stephenson, son of the railway engineer George Stephenson.
Later, when George became prosperous, he repaid his debt to Jardine and Edinburgh by establishing a
scholarship at Edinburgh University for a student of limited means, which he named the Jardine Bursary.
Sir Henry Jardine not only provided for George's education, he also remained his mentor in his professional
career until his death in 1851. He found George a post in the Ordnance Survey as a trainee after he had
finished at Edinburgh, and after five years in Scotland, George set off in 1824, at the age of 18, for Cardiff
and then London.
SURVEYS AND RAILWAYS
George spent a busy time, based on London but travelling to carry out specific surveys, learning professional
skills and making contacts which were vital to him in the next stage of his career. After a year with the
Ordnance Survey he moved into Civil Engineering as assistant to Henry Palmer, a former pupil and assistant
to Thomas Telford. With Palmer he worked on surveys for the London Docks and on several railway and
canal surveys. For a while in 1827 he also took part-time work as a clerk at the Royal Exchange Life
Assurance office, to make more money to help his younger brothers. His next work was as an assistant
engineer with Walker and Burges, laying the granite tramway in the Commercial Road, and on the Brunswick
wharf at Blackwall.
In 1834 he formally joined his friend Robert Stephenson on work for the London & Birmingham Railway for a
year, a time of intense activity.The partnership and friendship between George Bidder and Robert
Stephenson, later described by Stephenson as "the long and satisfactory private as well as professional
friendship", lasted until Stephenson's death in 1860.
This was the beginning of the railway era. In 1825 the Stockton & Darlington Railway had opened, with a
steam locomotive driven by George Stephenson, and in 1829 the Rocket was designed by Robert
Stephenson for the London & Manchester Railway. Plans for new railways were mushrooming, and these
needed accurate survey work and detailed costings to support the applications for Acts of Parliament to
approve them. Here was a new field for George's talents, appearing before Parliamentary Committees - his
surveying skills and prodigious ability at mental arithmetic made him highly effective in presenting his plans
and spotting the errors in the plans of others, and he enjoyed the cut and thrust of argument. In fact it is said
that on one occasion opposing Counsel objected to his presence "because nature had endowed him with
particular qualities that did not place his opponents on a fair footing".
Other railways he later worked on in association with Stephenson were the London & Blackwall Railway, the
London-Brighton line (a plan which was not accepted), the Blisworth-Peterborough branch of the London &
Birmingham, the Yarmouth & Norwich and Norwich & Brandon lines (designing the first swing bridge), the
North Staffordshire, and the London, Tilbury and Southend. In later years he made major contributions to the
rationalisation of the East Anglian railways and the formation of the Great Eastern Railway.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
The Electric Telegraph was a new invention, not yet commercially developed, when Bidder persuaded the
London & Blackwall Railway to install the system as part of its management. Later, on the Yarmouth and
Norwich line, his use of the telegraph made possible the economy of a single track line, with reliable and
immediate communication between stations. At first telegraph lines were used exclusively for railways, but
then the advantages of a public communication service were seen and the demand for telegraphs grew.
George Bidder was active in promoting the formation of the Electric Telegraph Company in 1846 to finance
this development, and he played a large part in the day-to-day running of the company, and in the eventual
development of transatlantic cables.
He is said to have been responsible for recommending the employment of women as telegraph operators,
the first "office" job for women. Eventually, in 1869, the Post Office took over the telegraph service and these
women became the first female Civil Servants! The Home Civil Service long led in providing equal
opportunities for both sexes, for which Bidder must take some of the credit.
FOREIGN VENTURES
Stephenson and Bidder were also active abroad, often represented by Bidder himself. From the 1840's they
made several journeys to Norway, where they constructed the first railway in Norway from Christiana (now
Oslo) to Eidsvold, which opened in 1854. Bidder was also active as engineer-in-chief of the Royal Danish
Railway, which opened in 1855, and at the same time he introduced gas lighting to Denmark, through an
English company set up by himself and two other Englishmen. He continued to have an interest in the
Danish Gas Company, and was in fact Chairman in 1870; the company continued to run until 1963.
In the 1850's Stephenson and Bidder also visited Switzerland, to devise plans for the Swiss Federal railway
system.
Bidder was also consultant engineer to various Indian railways from the 1860's. He never went there himself,
but one of his brother John's sons, Edwin, who became a Civil Engineer and died in Lahore in 1872, may
well have been directed there by his uncle.
A measure of his reputation abroad is that he met at least four foreign monarchs - the King of Norway on the
occasion of the opening of the Norwegian railway, King Leopold of the Belgians who was advised by him and
Stephenson on railway matters, the King of Denmark when he was visiting the Danish railway, and the
French Emperor who entertained him with a delegation from the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1869.
WORKING WITH WATER
Throughout his professional career Bidder was involved with work on docks, especially London Docks where
major new work was needed - and where he cut his teeth on actual work sites (as opposed to surveys and
planning). The Victoria Docks, built in the 1850's and largely due to his ideas, were a major contribution.
They included a graving dock which was the largest then in existence, with the largest lock gates (of original
design) and hydraulic lifts for the ships (another innovation). When planning the railways which became the
Great Eastern he was responsible for choosing Lowestoft as the terminus and designing its harbour.
He also made a major contribution to the plans for the long-awaited main drainage of London, not as
engineer but as consultant and adviser to the various political committees involved and then to the
Metropolitan Board of Works which eventually took action.
Water was something he felt strongly about. His Presidential Address to the Institution of Civil Engineers
deals with the importance of hydraulics, drainage and tidal effects to Civil Engineers and of maritime
engineering to the nation; his Presidential Address to the Devonshire Association, of which he was President
in 1869, is on the subject of Rivers.
BIDDER AS CIVIL ENGINEER
Bidder joined the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1825, at the very start of his career, and played an active
part in its meetings and debates. He served on its Council, became a vice-president, and succeeded Joseph
Locke as President in 1860-1. As we have seen, his range of interests was very wide, and he was always
ready to try out novel ideas and put them to practical use. Noteworthy examples are the application of the
electric telegraph, the use of steam power for fishing trawlers, the design of swing bridges, and the use of
hydraulic power to raise ships in the Victoria Docks.
He was a working engineer, but good at delegating once the original surveying, costing and planning had
been done. His appreciation of the practical side is shown in his publication of "Bidder's Tables", a calculating
device to enable those without his arithmetical skill to work out the volume of earth to be moved in a cutting
or embankment.
Bidder was a contemporary of I.K. Brunel. The two men respected each other but often found themselves on
opposite sides in disputes between railway companies. Their most important difference was over the
adoption of a standard gauge for all British railways. Brunel's broad gauge lines in the west were
incompatible with the narrower gauge used elsewhere, and Bidder, a stalwart defender of the principle of a
single gauge, won the day.
Brunel designed beautiful structures, but his projects were often delayed by overrunning budget, whereas
Bidder's projects, meticulously costed, were always completed on time and within budget. Brunel's Clifton
suspension bridge could not be completed in his lifetime because of lack of money, and was only finished
later by a group of men, including George Bidder, who raised money for the purpose after his death.
BIDDER AS ENTREPRENEUR
Bidder was a man in the right place at the right time - his calculating ability and memory for figures were very
useful in his chosen profession, and he was able to work very hard at a number of projects simultaneously.
His ability also attracted the attention of influential figures who were useful contacts - such as Isaac Solly,
Director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company, Chairman of the London Dock Company and of the
London & Birmingham Railway Company, who indirectly employed Bidder in all three.
When he started earning money, his first thought was to help his family with money or introductions to
careers, but when he was able to invest money he did so in a variety of projects. Investment for him meant
taking an active interest and a share in the management of a project. A good example of this is the Electric
Telegraph Company, but it is also typical that when he was spending more time in Dartmouth he became
involved with the Torbay and Dart Paint Company - which made anti fouling paint for iron from local
haematite - and the Buckland Slate quarry. He also had an active interest in coal mines, a Welsh slate
quarry, and Indian trading ventures.
He also invested in land, especially building land, not only in England but in Norway where he owned
property, and especially bought where he could see that the new railways he was building would bring a
need for housing.
FAMILY MATTERS
As George Bidder moved up in the world and began to have money to spend, he did not forget his relations
in Moretonhampstead. He enabled his parents to move into Exeter, while his brother John carried on as a
builder in Moreton. His support not only helped with the education of his younger brothers, but launched
them into careers. Bartholomew obtained a post at the Royal Exchange Assurance Company in London
(where George had worked briefly) and rose to be their Actuary. It is said that Bart too had a phenomenal
memory for numbers, and that when the company's records were destroyed by fire he was able to restore
them from memory. Samuel followed George into railway engineering, working on the London & Birmingham
Railway and others, finally becoming the General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada during its
construction.
Two of John's sons, George and Edwin, also became Civil Engineers and their death's are recorded in St
Andrews Church in Moretonhampstead. George's letters show that he continued to visit Moreton and Exeter,
and owned farm land in Moreton.
In 1835, George married Georgina Harbey, whom he had met in London. They lived for a time in Walworth,
but in 1846 they bought Mitcham Hall in Surrey where most of their children were born. They later bought the
nearby Ravensbury estate, and on it built Ravensbury Park House to which the family moved in 1864.
Meanwhile in 1860 they bought a house and land at Paradise Point, just north of Warfleet Creek in
Dartmouth. The name of this house was changed to Ravensbury, which Mrs Bidder preferred, and they
spent a gradually increasing amount of time there.
Throughout their married life, in spite of the enormous pressure of business, George Bidder was an
assiduous correspondent, writing regularly to his wife and children when he was away from home. These
letters are now an important source of information about his affairs.
George and Georgina had 8 surviving children and 28 grandchildren. Their eldest son, also George Parker
Bidder, read mathematics at Cambridge with distinction, then became a QC, specialising in Parliamentary
work. His son, the third George Parker Bidder, was a distinguished zoologist, becoming President (and a
notable benefactor) of the Marine Biological Association, and President of the Devonshire Association. The
whole family tree contains a galaxy of engineers and lawyers.
BIDDER AND DARTMOUTH
Bidder made trips, combining business and pleasure, in Robert Stephenson's yacht, and in 1853 he acquired
his own yacht the Mayfly (a yacht, for a wealthy Victorian, being the equivalent of today's executive jet!). It
may have been this which led him to buy property in Dartmouth.
As he began to spend more time in Dartmouth he took a larger part in local affairs. In 1868 he was invited to
stand for the Town Council in the hope that he would become Mayor (with the support of both parties), but he
declined this office because he was still spending too much time in London. However he topped the poll for
the Council on which he served in 1868-71, and contributed advice to the work then being planned to drain
the centre of the town, and to plans to improve the water supply. He also contributed, with his neighbours, to
the new road and bridge across Warfleet Creek.
One of his friends while he lived in Dartmouth was William Froude, who borrowed his steam-launch as a tow
for his early experiments in ship design, comparing two model hulls by towing them either side of the launch
from the ends of a boom to keep them clear of the wash. This work was probably carried out in the River
Dart. Bidder was also a founder member of the Dart Yacht Club and was instrumental in enabling it to
acquire the Royal warrant.
Another Dartmouth venture was his interest in the development of steam trawlers. He must often have
watched sailing vessels struggling with the entrance to the Dart, and had plenty of experience of commercial
steamships, so he felt the use of steam would benefit the local fishing industry. In partnership with a
Dartmouth trawler owner, Samuel Lake, he commissioned several steam trawlers for experiment, providing
steam power for hauling nets and raising anchors as well as for propulsion. He succeeded in showing that
the steam engine did not scare the fish away, but there were other problems and the venture was not
financially viable - it was an idea ahead of its time.
In 1877 Bidder transferred Ravensbury Park House in Surrey to his eldest son and bought Stoke House at
Stoke Fleming, which he planned to enlarge. Before this work was completed, in 1878, he died, but his
funeral cortege went through the grounds of Stoke House on its way to Stoke Fleming Churchyard, where he
was buried. He left the house to his widow and unmarried daughters, and his daughter Bertha lived there
until 1937.
BIDDER AS CALCULATOR
How did he do it? We have his own account, in a lecture given to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1856,
and reported comments to others. Having learnt to calculate before he learnt to write, he saw numbers as
shapes in his head, and he had a tremendous ability to remember them. To multiply two 3-digit numbers, he
started from the left, multiplying first the hundreds together, and adding each successive product to the total
so as to hold as few intermediate sums in his head during the calculation as possible. When multiplying very
large numbers, he felt that his capacity was limited by the number of intermediate totals that he could "store"
before completing the sum; the multiplications themselves were very fast. He also carried in his head the key
results of earlier calculations - such as the number of inches in a mile or seconds in a year - and the squares
and cubes of 2-digit numbers, and as his experience developed he devised many short cuts, and learnt to
use successive approximations to reach the answer.
With this technique, and the practice of deducing new rules as he went along, plus obvious intelligence in
reducing an elaborately worded problem to its numerical essentials, he was able to amaze his interrogators.
Looking at the questions he was asked, many of them are difficult only because of the size of the numbers
involved (astronomy was very popular!) but some involve logic rather than calculation, and he obviously took
these in his stride. He himself believed that it should be possible to teach children his methods to improve
their mental arithmetic, but without his capacity for remembering numbers it would not have helped. His
ability lasted into old age, and in his professional career there are many examples of his ability to remember
large volumes of data.
Further reading (copies of the articles are available in the library)
E.F. Clark, "George Parker Bidder, The Calculating Boy", KSL Publications, 1983, ISBN 0-9508543-0-1.
A Short Account of George Bidder, the celebrated Mental Calculator; with a variety of the most Difficult
Questions proposed to him ...., KSL Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-9508543-1-X
W. Pengelly, Trans. Devon. Assoc. 1886, 18, 309-315.
Obituary memoir, Min. Proc. ICE. 1879, 57, 294-309.
Presidential Address, G.P.Bidder, Min. Proc. ICE. 1860, 19, 214 et seq.
Presidential Address, G.P. Bidder, Trans. Devon. Assoc. 1869, 3, 17 et seq.
G.P. Bidder, On Mental Calculation, Min. Proc. ICE. 1856, 15, 251 et seq.
Devon Notes & Queries 1902, 2, 1-2.

Miracle of the XX century.

Gennady Trofimov. 1997
Famous illusionist A. A. Vadimov (Alli-Vad) looks first tours Volodya Zubritsky. "Nikishin's Circus on
Nizhnegorodsky market widelly advertized "miracle of the XX century" - seven years boy Volodya, -
recalls Vadimov. - On the playpen come a boy, clad in cloth with the sailor collar, with the man of
average years and, having present Volodya to spectators, offerred to give problems".
 Public call numbers. Volodya, only by little thinking multiplied for-digits number on four-digits,
exponentiated, extracted square and cube roots from big numbers. On the black board expressed a
square, divide into 25 checks. In each check wrote a number (from zero to nine), Volodya short time
looked to the table, told: "I am ready!" - and, without looking on the board, call written numbers in any
order, in any line or diagonals. Then, on requests of spectators, he call the dates of different history
events, demonstrating his really phenomenal memory.
In the september 1912 Volodya Zubritsky have brought on tours in Moscow, and at the end of october
- in St. Petersburg. He emerged here on the arena of famous Chinizelly's circus. "All strikes, - write a
Petersburg's journal, - as this seven-year boy calculate in the mind such difficult number problems,
what on the paper - possible calculate after five-six-minute work only".
At one of the days Volodya was invited to editorial office of famous that time in St. Petersburg "Blue
journal". He come together with his tutor. In whitness of employees of editorial office a boy give his
usual show. "When all applaud, - write a corresponder of journal, - on Volodya's face was the most
indifferent expression. "What wonder? - seemed, spoke him. - Such easy thing".
Someone ask him: "What weekday was August 29, 1873?" Volodya answered, Wednesday, attentively
looks at the man what ask question and add mistrustful: "But, do you know yourselves, what was that
day?"
In conclusion he was asked to leave an autograph: "Well, write, what do you like most of all". Boy-
prodigy, having frown forehead and a little having think, has write shaky, uneven handwriting: "I likes to
learn and run. Volodya Zubritsky". And on this short phrase is express the whole tragedy of little actor,
without childhood and compel daily to tense his young brain, by manipulating big numbers. Severe
and strict Volodya's father, mannered on cruel customs of circus, did not know pity and hurried to
make money on miraculous abilities of son as much as possible. He forced him emerge several times
at day, and not only in circus, but in schools, in institutes, on different party. Volodya could not learn at
school, was not time. But in the Kiev a father already built an ample stone house...
Through much years, already adult person, Vladimir Zubritsky recalled that in the childhood on nights
him tormented nightmares. He hated a circus. Several times together with the brother (who was one
year older) was torture to run away from the home. But every time their take back.
Famous Moscow nevropatolog G. I. Rossolimo carefully researched Volodya Zubritsky and, noting
amazing visual and auditory memory of boy, imperative advised stop his appearance. Someone spoke
that earl S. Y. Witte offerred to put Volodya in Real ckhool on full state provision. But father did not
want hear about this.
"Blue journal" wrote on one of number: "Volodya Zubritsky are really geniously boy. If he will lives and
develop normally, world society will be introduce with such miraculously, on which somehow even
horribly speak". Prediction this, however, can not realized. The First World War began. Zubritsky-father
mobilized to the war, and appearances of young circus mathematics have stop. In thirteen years he
goes by the volunteer in Red Army battalion. Then served a scout on armoured train. He was wound in
the head and shell-shocked. Cured, once again waged war. Before 1921 served on navy. From the
Civil War he bring back into the Kiev. Flashed thought once again to become a circus actor, but he
reject it, as far as already did not feel that abilities, which shone earlier. So has choose for himselves
work the most prosaic - has enter a sailor-rescue on the water station.
In Great Second War Vladimir Zubritsky once again waged war - on minesweepers and armoured
ship. At 1943 years was wound. Serviced till the rank of captain 3. Sometimes told storyes about his
unusual childhood, on appearances on the arena and big success. That disbelieve. And himselves the
most his past seemed some strange, amazing dream...
This is inconceivable and... only.
Trofim Belenko..

Abilities of this man struck and bewilderred all, who had posibility to see his art. "Genius of
calculations", "magician of reconings", "prodigy of nature" - so wrote about him, and in this was not
even slight exaggeration.
Surname Арраго become a pseudonym of Roman Semyonovich Levitin. He was born on 1883 in
Конотопе, Ukraine, in poor and multichildren jewish family. Арраго recalled: "Aalready from childhood
I showed a greater aptitude to all sorts of calculations, I like manipulate numbers and always tried to
calculate in the mind". Problems with numbers did not leave him even on walks. Moreover, on nights
he long time could not sleep, lead away by calculations in the mind, easy "carry" with enourmous
numbers.
In 17 began a profeccional life of boy - a controller in the office of option dealer of manufactures.
Counting in the ming goods on hand cost, this strange comptroller in the split second multiple big
numbers and striking by this collegues.
However work in the office not satisfy prodigy-calculator. Wanted to enter to the university, but in
Russia a road to the university for jews was locked, and young boy go to the border to Paris. At 1902
 he become a student of Sorbonian mathematical department.
Soon in the university became famoust about unusual talent of student from Russia. And not only
there. He demonstrated lighting calculations in popular salons, literary clubs - while for his own
pleasure. On questions, how he made so quick calculations, he shamed shrugged: he itself did not
know.
After third course, without possibility to pay for education, young man must to abandon an university.
To looks how he distress, one of the professors has advise: "Go on the stage - there you will get much
money, than by science. Believe, you will get a big success. Only take some sonorous pen name, for
instance Арраго". Former student agreed to the good advice, and began new, very hard life.
Firs show of Arrago was November 23 1908 in Brussels on the stage of fashionable theatre "Skala".
He terrible nerwous before the appearance, but emotion is render vain. Each number caused a storm
of applause and shouts "bravo". With a time Арраго is convince that emotion even assists to the
success, intensifying abilities to quick calculations.
Arrago wisited a lot of big city of England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austry, Holland. Even wisited Alzhir.
After that he get invitation on show to Argentine and Brasilia. Seven month long was that tourne on
New World. Arrago come back to Europe in halo of worldwide glory!

World Record

Am Samstag den 06.11.1999 um 11.00 Uhr versuchte Herr Dr.

Mittring aus Bonn zwei neue Weltrekorde im Kopfrechnen
aufzustellen. Die Weltrekordversuche fanden im "Haus Ungarn"
statt.
Es war so weit, der Raum, in dem die beiden Weltrekorde
aufgestellt werden sollten, füllte sich.
Damit die Zuschauer Herrn Dr. Mittrings Weltrekordversuche
mitverfolgen konnten, wurde das ganze auf eine Leinwand
projiziert.
Bei dem Binärziffernrekord handelte es sich um
binäre Zahlen, wie der Name des Weltrekordes schon
sagt. Genauer geht es um eine Gedächtnisübung, in
Gert Mittring nach der man sich so viele wie mögliche Binärziffern
erfolgreichem
Weltrekordversuch merken sollte und das in möglichst kurzer Zeit. Bei

diesem Test waren die Binärzahlen in Dreiergruppen angeordnet.

Herr Mittring schaffte es, nie einer zuvor merkte sich insgesamt
27 binäre Zahlen in genau 3 Sekunden. Dannach gab er die
Binärzahlen in den Computer wieder ein und das Programm des
Jugendclubs erkannte die Richtigkeit dieser Zahlen. Den ersten
Weltrekordversuch schaffte er "aus dem Stehgreif".
Danach konnte Herr Mittring mit seinem zweiten
Versuch - dem Ermitteln von Wochentagen -

World Record
beginnen, die Zuschauer im Saal fieberten mit ihm mit. Bei der
Wochentagsermittlung ging es darum; einem Datum aus dem
Bereich 01.01.1600 - 31.12.2100 den richtigen Wochentag
zuzuordnen. Bei dem Weltrekord schaffte Herr Mittring es nach 6
Versuchen - die an Spannung kaum zu überbieten waren - zu 20
zufällig generierten Tagen die Wochentage in 57,525 Sekunden im
Kopf zu berechnen.
Beide Weltrekorde wurden von einem Programm des Jugendclubs
überprüft.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=hari+prasad+guinness&hl=ru&lr=&ie=UTF-8&inlang=ru&selm=9294-
381707C5-1%40storefull-156.iap.bryant.webtv.net&rnum=1
1999.10.27

Deccan Chronicle
Anantapur boy on way to Guinness
Anantapur: M Hari Prasad, a prodigious wizard of numbers, will multiply two eight digit numbers in
eight seconds in an attempt to find a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. He will
demonstrate his wizardy at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on October 30. Son of an RTC
conductor M Mohana Krishna, the prodigy received guidelines for calendar and mathematics
calculation of the square root of a six-digit number from the Guinness correspondence editor Armanda
Brooks.
Talking to Deccan Chronicle, Hari stated that he would set a new record in mathematics by breaking
the record created by John Conway, who had multiplied two six digit numbers in 10 seconds. "I am
going to multiply two eight digit numbers in a record eight seconds," the prodigy said. Dr C R
Praneshachar, Department of Mathematics, IISc, Bangalore and C E Beni Madhavan, Head of the
Department, Computer Science and automation, IISc, Bangalore, would be the authenticators for
Hari's record-breaking demonstration in Bangalore.
The Guinness publications, in their letter to Hari, stated that the record for mathematics calculation of
the square root of a six digit number set by an individual was the square root of a six digit number to
eight significant numbers.
If done on paper, the calculation takes at least an hour. The publication company also stated that the
authentification should be done by two reputed members in the community. Hari Prasad had
demonstrated his talent at several shows, including at the National Science Fair in Pune.
He was hailed as another Srinivasa Ramanujam. The prodigy completed his intermediate from Sai
Baba National Junior College and is planning to join a B Tech course. Barring encouragement from his
near and dear, the State government is yet to recognise his talent.
"English is my main draw back. I stand first in all other subjects," the boy told this reporter. "I have no
special talents. It is because of the encouragement from my father that I am able to perform this.
There is an untapped talent in abundance in our schools and colleges," he said. Hailing from Kadiri,
Hari Prasad's father Mohan Krishna is the guiding spirit behind his extraordinary talent.
"Most of my income is spent on books for the boy. I had to abandon studies due to family problems.
He will definitely break the Guinness record," the father said confidently.

http://www.apolloquest.com/achievers/achiever9.asp
 30 October 1999

Apolloquest
HARIPRASAD
[M. Hari Prasad correctly calculated in one minute the days on which 12 random calendar
dates fell, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, on October 30, 1999.]
A 20-year-old M. Hari Prasad set three Guinness World Records on October 30, 1999, at
the Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The Indian Institute of
Science is a world-renowned organization; although their basic function is learning, they have
encouraged the mental calculation skills of Hari Prasad and acted as judges and co-coordinators on
the day.
The three records set by Prasad were calculating the square rot of a six-digit number to eight
significant places, multiplying two eight-digit numbers, and calculating calendar dates. Prasad was
given a 10 to 15 minute break between the three tasks. When calculating calendar dates, Prasad was
given 10 sets of 25 dates (between 1601 A.D. and 2100 A.D.) and asked to write down the
corresponding weekdays without the use of a calculator or computer.
Hari Prasad was born August 20, 1982, and is currently a B.Tech (Computer Science) student at
NARAYANA ENGINEERING COLLEGE, NELLORE, Andhra Pradesh, India. His hobbies include
reading mathematical books and searching numbers. Hari Prasad's ambition is to become a noted
scientist in numbers theory.
On behalf of M. Hari Prasad, Apollo Quest requests the philanthropic people in the Scientific World to
sponsor Hari Prasad's future.
Parents M. Mohan Krishna and M. Ramakrishnamma have only one thing to say, "We are proud of our
son".

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53918
30 October 1999

Guinness Book of Records

Fastest Six Digit Square Root Calculation
M Hari Prasad correctly calculated the square root of a six digit number in 1 minute 3.8
seconds at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, on October 30, 1999. Without
the use of a calculator or computer he worked out the square root of 732,915 as
856.1045496. He also made two other successful mathematical attempts - most calender dates
calculated in a minute and the fastest time to multiply two eight digit numbers.
Comment by Oleg Stepanov: On this place you can find video what show how Hari Prasad calculate
12 calendar dates on one minute, but voise told that we looks extracting root.

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/~mas009/mystory.html

...
3. This is to certify that Mr. Wim Klien from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, correctly extracted the
thirteenth root of a one hundred digit number:
88008443440489299575219015772236417859411720052615
65487280650870412023307854274990144578442271602817
 in a time of 1 minute and 28.8 seconds on Tuesday, 7th April 1981 at the National Laboratory for High
Energy Physics, Tsukuba, Japan. The correct answer is 48757377.
What did you guess? Here are the answers. Victor Bruce was 82, Len Cullabine was 77 and Wim
Klien was 69 when the above items were written.
The persons I have presented to you here are not imaginary characters taken from some work of
fiction. All three were personally known to me. I met them, I observed them, I enjoyed their friendship
and I questioned them extensively about their habits and life styles. With Wim Klien in particular, whom
I first met in the late 1960s at the European High Energy Physics Research Center (CERN) in Geneva,
I enjoyed a close friendship over many years. When he was 72 years old he came to stay with me and
gave a dazzling performance of mental agility at the University of Wales, Bangor on Wednesday 8th
May 1985. On that occasion he came within 2 seconds of breaking the world record for such mental
arithmetic set by him earlier in Japan which was mentioned above and which was recorded in the
Guinness Book of Records.

...
Every faculty can be maintained and improved through use. Waiters who take orders acquire
exceptional short term memories. People who taste wine develop highly sensitive palettes. My friend
Wim Klien whom I mentioned in section (ii) above, when aged 72, could multiply 100 digit numbers in
his head faster than a computer because, and only because, he constantly exercised his faculty to
perform mental arithmetic.

...
http://th.gio.gov.tw/show.cfm?news_id=1349
December 11, 2000

Taiwan He@dlines
Kaohsiung siblings break math world records
Published: December 11, 2000
Source: United Daily News

A brother and his two sisters from Kaohsiung City shattered four Guinness World Records for
arithmetic calculation Saturday, under the extemporaneous testing of Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh
and other officials.
Wang Chia-lu, a first-year student at Kaohsiung's Lingya Middle School and currently in level 15 of his
mental arithmetic studies, first challenged the record for multiplying two eight-digit figures, correctly
calculating the sum in 25.08 seconds, thereby breaking the world record.
The boy then attempted the world record for multiplying two 13-digit figures. The standing record of 28
seconds was set by Shakuntala David, an Indian woman, in 1980.
However, in his first attempt, Wang's answer was wrong in three places, despite the fact that he
calculated the sum in 27.08 seconds. The organizers gave him an additional chance, in accordance
with the rules, and Wang set a new record of 26.51 seconds.
Wang Chia-lu's two younger sisters performed just as sensationally.
Twelve-year-old Wang Yi-hui, currently in level ten of her mental arithmetic studies, added two 100
single-digit numbers in 18.98 seconds, beating the previous Guinness record of 19.23 seconds.
Finally, 8-year-old Wang Hui-yin, currently in level seven of her mental arithmetic studies, challenged
the record for calculating the square root of a six-digit number. She raced across the finish line in a
stunning 10.48 seconds, more than 50 seconds faster than the original record of one minute and 3.8
seconds.
The performance, billed as a Guinness World Record challenge to "usher in the 21st century," was
sponsored by World Mental Arithmetic Co., Kaohsiung City Government, and other organizations, and
took place Saturday at Kaohsiung City's Yencheng Elementary School.
Mayor Hsieh and reporters covering the event selected the figures for the tests extemporaneously.
Among those attending as witnesses were Steven Day, chairman of Guinness World of Records-Asia,
attorney Tang Ah-ken and computer calculation expert Chen Hung-cheng.
Every action by the three siblings gripped the several hundred observers. In particular, Wang Chia-lu's
failed attempt, followed by success, carried the audience to a high peak of drama.
During the siblings' world record challenges, organizers were simultaneously calculating the correct
answers by computer. The results of the challenge were announced at the time by Day, who also
signed the world record verification certificate.
Mental calculation in a prodigy is sustained by right prefrontal and
medial temporal areas
Mauro Pesenti1, Laure Zago2, Fabrice Crivello2, Emmanuel Mellet2, Dana Samson1, Bruno Duroux2, Xavier Seron1,
Bernard Mazoyer2 and Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer2

1Unite deNeuropsychologie Cognitive, UniversiteCatholiquedeLouvain, place Merder 10, 1348 Louvain-hi-Neuve, Belgium
2Group d'ImagerieNeurofonctionnelle, UMR 6095 CNRS, CEA, Universite de Caen & Universite Paris V, GIF Cyceron, BP 5229, Bid. H. Becquerel, 14074
Caen, France
Correspondence should be addressed to N.T.-M. (tzourio@cyceron.fr)

Calculating prodigies are individuals who are exceptional at quickly and accurately solving complex mental
calculations. With positron emission tomography (PET), we investigated the neural bases of the cognitive
abilitiesof an expert calculator and a group of non-experts, contrasting complex mental calculation to memory
retrieval of arithmetic facts. We demonstrated that calculation expertise was not due to increased activity of
processesthat exist in non-experts; rather, the expert and the non-experts used different brain areasfor
calculation. We found that the expert could switch between short-term effort-requiring storage strategies and
highly efficient episodic memory encoding and retrieval, a process that was sustained by right prefrontal and
medial tern poral areas.
Much psychological research has been devoted to studying the modifications of cognitive processes
resulting from domain-specific expertise1-2. To date, the investigation of extensive learning-related cerebral
changes has largely focused on motor3-4 or visuo-perceptive skill acquisition5, rather than higher-level
cognition. Mental calculation, which requires the coordination of various basic and complex cognitive
processes, is a good example of high-level cognitive skill for which some individuals, called calculating
prodigies6, reach a high level of expertise. Current models of arithmetical cognition assume that adults solve
simple arithmetic problems (such as 3 x 6) without actual computation, by retrieving the answer from a
network of stored declarative associations7-8. In contrast, more complex problems (such as 37 x 62) are not
stored in memory but require application of actual computational procedures. From a functional point of view,
solving computation-based problems is a complex cognitive skill requiring numbers to be held and
manipulated on a short-term representational medium while the dedicated resolution algorithm is applied.
Applying the algorithm involves sequential control of the various steps, decomposition of the stimuli
according to their semantic meaning (for example, whether digits correspond to units or tens), memory
retrieval of intermediate results, short-term storage of those results, and application of basic arithmetical
rules. Intermediate results must be kept in mind until used, but then must be forgotten to keep the memory
load at a minimum. The whole process thus involves various working memory mechanisms, such as
updating, in charge of the central executive, and the attentional control system, responsible for strategy
selection and for control and coordination of the mechanisms involved in short-term storage and processing
tasks9.
Because computation- Table 1. Examples of calculations done by R. Gamm.
based problems have Types of Correct
a high short-term Examles R. Gamm's answer
memory demand, problems answer
educated adults need Raising 995 9,509,900,499 (correct)
much time and effort numbers 539 3,299,763,591,802,133 (correct)
to solve them. In
contrast, calculating to powers
prodigies solve Roots 2V(973487) 984 986.65*
complex mental 5V(854799037) 96 96.61*
calculations quickly
and accurately. It has Sines sin 287 -0.956304756 (correct)
been proposed that
expert calculators, Division of 31/61 (answer with 60 (all correct)
through practice, have prime numbers decimals)
acquired knowledge
*answers rounded off
structures and
procedures for
efficiently encoding and retrieving specific information in long-term memory. This would enable them to
 circumvent the limited capacity of short-term memory and the slowness of long-term encoding when
applying complex algorithms. Instead of keeping intermediate results in short-term memory, these
results would be rapidly encoded in long-term working memory with cues facilitating efficient retrieval,
hence improving performances by decreasing short-term demand1. Using efficient episodic encoding-
retrieval cues would decrease the storage retrieval times in long-term memory, and would prevent
proactive interference caused by previous storage of similar information; moreover, in contrast to
general long-term memory processes, such skilled memory mechanisms would apply specifically to
each domain of expertise. However, the nature of the representational medium underlying calculation
expertise is not yet known. Here we contrasted computation with retrieval-based problems to isolate
the calculation processes, while equalizing, in an expert calculator, the complexity of the visual
processing of the stimuli, the verbal production of the answer, and the fact retrieval component. Such a
comparison is indeed hard to realize in non-expert subjects alone because strict equalization of
problem complexity is intrinsically impossible. The expert calculator was R. Gamm, a young healthy
man who exhibits exceptional calculation abilities and has trained his memory for arithmetic facts and
calculation algorithms several hours each day for years (Table 1). Our recent experimental
investigation10 showed how, at a behavioral level, his highly efficient long-term memory storage and
retrieval processes, his knowledge of calculation algorithms, and his good short-term memory capacity
all contribute to his calculation expertise. Episodic memory critically contributes to R. Gamm's
expertise, as demonstrated by his ease in storing novel numerical information. For instance, he was
able to correctly recognize multi-digit numbers corresponding to products that he had computed
several hours before, in tests involving long series of problems.

RESULTS
Our protocol capitalized on the Fig. 1. Example of the two kinds of mental calculation
possibility of unambiguously tasks done during PET, and the type of resolution used
separating two types of problems that
R. Gamm could solve either by
by R. Gamm. Bottom, dedicated algorithm used by
computation (multiplication of two 2- R. Gamm to solve complex mental calculation problems.
digit numbers; for example, 76 x 82)
or by direct memory retrieval
(knowing the square of a 2-digit Answer
number; for example, 76 x 76; Fig. 1 Problem Type of resolution
73 x 73 =
and Methods). Using the squaring
task as the memory-based condition Direct memory retrieval
for R. Gamm not only allowed us to 68 x 76 =
"5329"
ensure that both types of problems
were kept equivalent, but also Computation
allowed us to disentangle general "5168"
effects of expertise (such as faster
response times and higher motivation
Algorithm:
for domain-specific problems) from
the specific effect of expertise on AB x CD = R
computation processes and their
neural substrates. The most critical AxC=E
question of this PET investigation AxD=F
was what, in the expert calculator's
E+F=G Intermediate
pattern of activations, would reflect
standard calculation processes BxC=H result
shared with non-expert calculators, G+H=I
and what would be specific to his BxD=J 4200
exceptional abilities. Control subjects I+J=R 360
matched with R. Gamm for age and
educational level, but who had no 4560
exceptional calculation abilities, were Steps 560
thus asked to solve computation- and 4120
memory-based problems (see 48
6 x 7 (& 00) =
Methods).
6 x 6 (& 0) = 5168
Similarities in expert and non- sum
expert calculators' pattern of
activations were assessed by a
8 x 7 (& 0) =
conjunction analysis of sum
computation-versus retrieval- 8x6 =
sum
 based calculation in R. Gamm and the control subjects. This analysis showed that in both R. Gamm
and control subjects, calculation processes activated the brain bilaterally, but with a clear left-sided
predominance (the supramarginal gyrus, the intra-parietal sulcus, and the ventral visual route
composed of the inferior occipital and middle occipital gyri, as well as the occipito-temporal junction in
the left hemisphere only; Table 2; Fig. 2). We found other activation foci at the junction between the
left precentral and inferior frontal sulci, in the inferior frontal sulcus bilaterally and in the left middle
frontal gyrus.
Table 2. Brain areas activated during calculation (as compared to memory retrieval) either
in both the calculating prodigy and non-expert calculators, or only in the calculating
prodigy.

Anatomical localization of maximum Coordinates(m m) Z-score

voxel x y z
Conjunction analysis
Left inferior/middle occipital gyrus -50 -60 -14 5.6
Left inferior occipito-temporal junction -52 -52 -24 5.2
Right inferior/middle occipital gyrus 54 -60 -10 4.7
Left supramarginal gyrus -52 -40 46 6.2
Left intraparietal sulcus -22 -68 48 5.9
Left intraparietal sulcus/intra-occipital sulcus -28 -84 22 4.2
Right supramarginal gyrus 42 -40 50 5.5
Right intraparietal sulcus 22 -70 54 4.6
Left precentral sulcus/inferior frontal sulcus -38 2 26 5.0
Right inferior frontal sulcus 42 36 26 4.1
Left middle frontal gyrus -32 8 54 3.9
Left inferior frontal sulcus -46 30 22 3.6
Calculating-prodigy-specific areas
Left paracentral lobule -12 -34 68 3.7
Right middle occipito-temporal junction 60 -52 -4 3.6
Right medial frontal gyrus 14 26 56 3.6
Right anterior cingulate gyrus 4 46 30 3.1
Right parahippocampal gyrus 18 8 -44 3.1

Top, conjunction analysis between calculating prodigy and the group of non-experts.
Bottom, calculating-prodigy-specific areas. Coordinates correspond to the location
oftheextremum of the cluster of activation within the stereotactic space. All activatio ns are
significant; p < 0.001 (not correeled for multiple comparisons).
 Besides these similarities, several areas were significantly more activated in R. Gamm than in non-
experts, when contrasting computation-based with retrieval-based calculation (Table 2; Fig. 2). These
activations were in five brain regions, the medial frontal and the parahippocampal gyri, the upper part
of the anterior cingulate gyrus, the occipito-temporal junction in the right hemisphere, and the left
paracentral lobule (p < 0.001, not corrected for multiple comparisons).
Fig. 2.
Brain areas
activated
during
complex
mental
calculation
either by
both R.
Gamm and
the group
of six
nonexpert
calculators
(green) or
specifically
by R.
Gamm
(red). Left,
top view of
the brain
template
with
stereotactic
frame of
reference
(ACV,
anterior
commissure verticalization). Right, selected coronal slices showing anterior cingulate, right medial
frontal, basal ganglia and right medial temporal specific activations during complex mental
calculation in R. Gamm. For each region, the histogram shows the average (across three trials)
normalized rCBF variations in each individual (red, R. Gamm; green, nonexpert calculator)
expressed as f-values. The dotted line indicates the f-value threshold for activation significance at
0.05 (corrected for multiple comparisons). From top to bottom, the areas are the right anterior
cingulate gyrus, the right medial frontal gyrus, the right parahippocampal gyrus, the left
paracentral lobule and the right occipito-temporal junction (Table 2).
To demonstrate that the activations in these five areas were because of R. Gamm's calculation
expertise, and not simply because of the greater number of calculations he did in comparison to non-
experts, we did two kinds of control experiments (see Methods). First, we compared the blood flow
variation maps from the computation and retrieval-based calculation conditions obtained in each
subject. We found that, for all the non-expert calculators, no t-values in the five activated regions were
significant (Fig. 2, histograms). Second, we contrasted the complex calculation task with a lower-order
cognitive baseline task in non-expert calculators (reading numerals, see Methods), and found that
these five regions were actually deactivated in non-experts during the computation-based condition (Z-
scores for this contrast in the five regions ranged from -1.69 to -4.01). This finding demonstrates that
there was no activity we could have missed in these five regions during complex calculation, due to
the lower number of calculations actually done by the non-expert calculators. Indeed, it demonstrates
that these five regions have no role in complex calculation in non-expert calculators.

DISCUSSION
The massive involvement of the visuospatial working memory and visual imagery networks 11-13 strongly
suggests that, during complex calculation, numbers are held and manipulated onto a visual type of short-
term representational medium. Although fewer stimuli were seen in the computation-based condition, the
occipital areas were more activated, suggesting that visual imagery strategies were applied to visually
perceived stimuli. This held for both the expert and the non-expert calculators. Hence, these areas likely
participate in mental calculation networks shared by most educated adults when problems are presented
visually. The left intraparietal sulcus and precentral gyrus were found, in previous studies, to be jointly
activated when Arabic digits were compared (leading to the processing of their magnitude meaning),
multiplied or added14-15. The present results support the critical involvement of this left parietal area in
number processing and calculation, most likely in the semantic aspects of magnitude processing16. The
results again suggest a contribution of the precentral gyrus, possibly when some form of computation is
required. The exact involvement of this network is currently under debate. We propose that the joint
activation of the parietal and precentral areas may reflect the involvement of a finger movement
representation network. Such a network would underlie finger counting and numerosity quantification during
childhood17-18, and, by extension, would become the substrate of some numerical knowledge and
processes15 in adults. Developmental19-20, cross-cultural21, neuropsychological22 and neuroimaging23
findings support this interpretation.
Most of the areas activated only in the expert are associated with episodic memory processes, and
may correspond to episodic encoding and retrieval of intermediate results. This is consistent with our
finding that R. Gamm's long-term episodic memory storage and retrieval processes are exceptionally
efficient, which allows him to easily store and retrieve arithmetical information from memory during
calculation. During episodic retrieval using an event-related fMRI design, a network composed of the
right medial frontal gyrus, right anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral parietal visual association cortices
has been observed24, confirming and extending other findings25-26. The anterior cingulate cortex
(ACC) is implicated in episodic memory retrieval processes such as the selection of items or
responses from episodic memory24-27. Most importantly, the ACC participates in executive
processes, which include evaluating cognitive states for detecting response competition conflicts and
representing the knowledge that strategic processes need to be engaged28, monitoring performance
for detecting errors29, and interacting with the lateral prefrontal cortex before compensatory
mechanisms are implemented30. This role of cognitive processing regulation in the upper part of the
ACC31 again reflects expertise in adapting behavior to complex situations and errors, and is
consistent with the expert's consciousness of his actual level of performance and with his ability to
detect and immediately self-correct his occasional calculation errors. Medial temporal structures (the
hip-pocampal, parahippocampal and nearby regions) are involved in episodic and visuospatial
memory. Their activations are increasingly often observed during episodic encoding and retrieval
(sometimes bilaterally), regardless of the verbal or nonverbal nature of the materials tested. More
specifically, the parahippocampal region in the right hemisphere controls the storing and maintenance
of stimuli representations across long delays32, and seems predominantly dedicated to the
visuospatial aspects of these processes. This finding is consistent both with the visuospatial nature of
the working-memory processes observed in the present study, and R. Gamm's previous introspective
reports describing long-term memory encoding and retrieval of numerical information via visual
images10.
Taken together, these results fit the assumed functional components of computation-based calculation
and show the neural network for complex calculation out of problem encoding, fact retrieval and
response production processes in an expert calculator. Most importantly, the results neuroanatomically
support the idea that acceleration of existing processes and local modulation of activations do not
account for high-level cognitive expertise. Rather, such expertise involves new processes relying on
different brain areas. In the case of calculation expertise, these new processes include the following:
switching from strictly short-term, effort-requiring storage strategies to highly efficient episodic memory
encoding and retrieval strategies, application of automated resolution algorithms, and careful
monitoring and control of such algorithmic resolution. Along with our behavioral investigation of R
Gamm's performance, the present neuroanatomical results thus strongly support the theoretical
framework of the long-term working memory1. We show that high-level expertise - here, calculation
expertise - results in processes and brain activations not present in non-expert calculators. In addition,
the use of long-term episodic mechanisms to expand the limitation of the short-term working memory
partly accounts for high-level expertise.

METHODS
Subjects. The expert calculator was R. Gamm, a 26-year-old healthy German right-handed calculating
prodigy, who presents exceptional abilities in raising two-digit numbers to powers, extracting roots,
calculating sines, dividing two prime numbers, and multiplying multi-digit numbers (example problems
in Table 1). To raise two-digit numbers to the second up to the fifth power, R. Gamm retrieves the
answers directly from memory (response latencies ranging respectively from 710 to 1120 ms). R.
Gamm can, among distractor numbers, recognize and identify multi-digit numbers that correspond to
powers of two- and three-digit numbers. He also correctly recognizes multi-digit numbers
corresponding to products that he computed several hours before, demonstrating the importance of
episodic memory processes in his exceptional abilities. He is an expert in calendar calculation; using a
dedicated algorithm, for any date, he can give the day of the week on which it falls. (For example,
"Which day of the week was 6 May 1951?' "A Sunday") He has extensive knowledge about
mathematical properties of numbers. For example, he knows many periodic prime numbers, that is,
prime numbers whose inverses have as many recurrent decimal positions as the prime number itself
minus 1, and he knows their corresponding period. (For example, dividing 1 by 113 results in a number
with 112 decimals, constituting a period that is repeated ad infinitum.) Since he began to develop his
calculation abilities at the age of 20, he has trained 1 to 4 hours every day. Further details on his
calculation abilities, as well as on his long- and short-term memory capacities have been presented
elsewhere10. The non-expert subjects were 6 right-handed healthy male French students (21 + 1
years old). All were free from nervous disease or injury and had no abnormality on their Tl-weighted
high-resolution magnetic resonance images. To ensure their comparability with R. Gamm, they were
selected as free from mathematical anxiety, on the basis of their good performance in simple and
complex multiplication tasks; their scores were within normal range in visual and auditory digit-span,
and in visuospatial span tasks. Details of nonexperts' selection procedure as well as PET activation
results for other experimental tasks not reported here are presented elsewhere33. The local ethics
committee (CCPPRB of Basse-Normandie) gave approval for this experiment; informed written
consent was obtained from each subject.
Tasks. Two calculation tasks were contrasted, each involving either computation- or retrieval-based
problems. Our behavioral investigation showed that R. Gamm can directly retrieve the squares of two-
digit numbers from memory, whereas he computes the products of two two-digit numbers using a
dedicated algorithm (Fig. 1). His response latencies (averaging 709 ms and 4 s, respectively) reflect
these two types of resolution. The numerical magnitude as well as the visual and verbal complexity of
the operands and answers were equivalent in both types of problems. During PET imaging, problems
appeared on a computer screen and remained visible until the answer was given aloud. In both
conditions, the rate of stimulus presentation was determined by the response speed, to equalize
difficulty. This resulted in an averaged presentation rate of one item every 6 s for computation-based
problems, and every 2.5 s for retrieval-based problems. Because complex problems also involved
retrieving from memory the arithmetic facts composing intermediate results, memory retrieval
processes were similarly involved in both conditions.
For non-expert subjects, retrieval-based problems comprised the simplest multiplication facts (answers
ranging from 4 to 45) for which the probability of direct retrieval was highest34; computation-based
problems comprised multiplications of two 2-digit numbers with answers less than 1000. Hence, the
two types of problems differed in the following respects: their numerical magnitude and complexity,
their solving time (about 1 s and about 20 s, respectively), their error rate, and the level of math
anxiety they caused35. Problems were displayed on a computer screen and remained present until
the answer was given aloud. The average rate of presentation was one item every 20 s for
computation-based problems and every 2.5 s for retrieval-based problems. Again, memory-retrieval
processes of arithmetic facts were similarly involved in both conditions.
Data acquisition and analysis. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured 12 times in R.
Gamm and 6 times in non-experts, while they replicated the two tasks in a fixed, random order. For
each rCBF measurement, sixty-three 2.425-mm-thick contiguous brain slices were acquired
simultaneously on the ECAT HR+ PET camera in 3-dimensional mode (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany).
A single 90-s scan was acquired and reconstructed, including a correction for head attenuation using a
measured transmission scan, with a Hanning filter of 0.5/mm cut off frequency and a pixel size of 2 x 2
mm2. Tasks started 30 s before the intravenous bolus injection of 8 mCi of 15O-labeled water.
Automatic realignment of PET images was realized with automated image registration36. The images
were smoothed using a Gaussian filter of 12 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM), leading to a final
smoothness of 15 mm FWHM. Condition comparisons were done with SPM99 (Wellcome Department
of Cognitive Neurology, London, UK, http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/spm99.html) with statistical
threshold at 0.001 not corrected for multiple comparisons. The conjunction analysis37 used
orthogonalized conditions (computation-based versus memory-based calculation in R. Gamm and the
control subjects) with a statistical threshold set at 0.001 not corrected for multiple comparisons. The
specific activations of R. Gamm during computation were revealed by contrasting computation- versus
retrieval-based conditions in R Gamm with computation- versus retrieval-based conditions in controls.
The conditions were masked by R Gamm's computation- versus retrieval-based conditions with a
threshold at 0.05, to cancel out deactiva-tions during the retrieval condition.
Specificity of R. Gamm's activations were checked in two ways. First, to show that R. Gamm's
 individual activations were unique to him and not present in any of the non-expert subjects, we
conducted an individual analysis, computing normalized rCBF variations in the computation- versus
retrieval-based condition in each of the five specific regions (those that reached the 3.09 Z threshold;
Table 2) for R. Gamm and each nonexpert calculator. We then computed /-values (using 3 trials for R.
Gamm to balance his and the non-expert calculators' number of measurements) and tested them to 0
(paired /-test) at a 0.01 significance level (Bonfer-roni correction for 5 regions). Second, to verify that
the absence of activation in these regions in the non-expert calculators was not related to the
presence of similar activations during both computation and retrieval-based conditions (baseline
effect), we obtained PET data (three trials) from the non-expert calculators during a baseline condition
consisting of number reading. We generated a map of the contrast between the computation-based
conditions and this baseline condition, and verified in this contrast that no activation focus specific to
R. Gamm was activated in the non-expert calculators group.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank Rudiger Gamm for his participation in this study. This work has been- supported in
part by a grant, 'GISScien.ee dehi Cogn.ition,' and the PAI/1(JAP Programfrom theBelgian
Government. M.P. is a Research Associate of the National Fund for Scientific Research (Belgium).
Received 19 September; Accepted 2 November 2000
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Maurice Dagbert:
le cerveau ordinateur

Moris SALTANO
Nous avons bien connu Maurice Dagbert, partageant
avec lui l'affiche du Festival de la Magie. Il fut un
phénomène contemporain du calcul, refusant
d'effectuer la moindre opération arithmétique en
dehors de la stupéfiante démonstration qu'il présentait
au public, une à deux fois par jour. Nous étions obligés
d'effectuer nous mêmes la division, stylo en main,
lorsque nous calculions notre quote-part de la note de
restaurant où les artistes mangeaient en commun
avant le spectacle. Il nous conta que, à 11 ans,
écoeuré par ses mauvaises notes en calcul, il
abandonna l'école pour entrer dans la vie active. Son
instituteur avait pour habitude de lui administrer des
zéros et des punitions. Dagbert donnant les solutions
à l'énoncé même des problèmes, sans effectuer de
calcul, il semblait évident qu'il trichait et s'était procuré
par avance la solution. En réalité il était déjà capable,
à cette époque, d'extraire de tête la racine cubique
d'un nombre de neuf chiffres. Une académie
scientifique du nord, où il résidait, proposa de
l'examiner. Le professeur Esclangon, célèbre
astronome, lui demanda à quelle date tomberait
Pâques en l'an 5.702.285. Le 22 Mars, répondit Dagbert. On fit le calcul et sa réponse s'avéra exacte.
Le jeune garçon, qui travaillait dans une sucrerie, prit des leçons de violon et se familiarisa rapidement avec
cet instrument au point d'entrer dans l'orchestre des Arts de Calais où, durant les week-ends, il
accompagnait les spectacles qui se produisaient dans cette ville.
C'est ainsi qu'un jour de 1930, depuis la fosse d'orchestre, il assista à la représentation du fameux
calculateur INAUDI, d'origine italienne, qui avait alors 63 ans (co-vedette durant de nombreuses années des
tournées du célèbre magicien Bénévol). Maurice Dagbert se précipita dans les coulisses et frappa à la porte
de la loge du célèbre mathématicien. Avec l'impétuosité de ses 17 ans, il se présenta comme un confrère et
lui avoua sans complexe qu'il avait fait de tête les mêmes calculs que lui durant son numéro, aussi vite sinon
plus rapidement. Inaudi, septique, lui posa quelques problèmes dont il donna instantanément la réponse.
Comme un champion qui rencontre un adversaire à sa taille, Inaudi tenta l'estocade : «En supposant que les
heures ne contiennent que 37 minutes 1/2 et que chaque minutes comprenne 96 secondes, combien y a-t-il
de secondes dans 24 ans, compte tenu des années bissextiles ? ».

La réponse tomba, exacte, comme un couperet : «Il y en aurait 757.382.400».

Entraînant Dagbert par le bras Inaudi partit pour une longue promenade dans les rues désertes de Calais
où, jusqu'à l'aube, ils jonglèrent avec les binômes, racines et décimales. Deux cerveaux extraordinaires
s'étaient rencontrés et avaient mutuellement trouvé l'interlocuteur qui, jusqu'alors, leur avait fait défaut.
Maurice Dagbert fit une très belle carrière, présentant au music-hall un numéro ébouriffant de calcul, dont il
avait su faire quelque chose de spectaculaire pour le public, et qu'il terminait en récitant de mémoire, du
premier au dernier et dans l'ordre, tous les chiffres (donnés par les spectateurs et résultats des opérations)
qu'il avait inscrits sur son tableau durant sa prestation. En faisant ses calculs il jouait divers morceaux de
musique classique au violon. Lorsque nous l'avons connu, il avait supprimé cette performance musicale car,
nous a-t-il dit, cela paraissait impossible et le public pensait à tort qu'il y avait un trucage. En supprimant le
violon, son numéro eut davantage de succès !
La démonstration de Dagbert trouvait très bien sa place dans
les programmes du "Festival de la Magie". Mais le voyant ainsi
encadré par des illusionnistes, certains spectateurs avaient
quelquefois tendance à croire qu'il utilisait une machine à
calculer en coulisses (les résultats auraient ainsi pu lui être
communiqués par un micro et une oreillette, ou visuellement
par un écran caché du public, dans la rampe d'éclairage).
Lorsque quelqu'un évoquait cette possibilité cela le mettait
dans une froide colère. Dans le cabaret d'un casino, en
Suisse, un spectateur éméché se leva à la fin de son numéro
le mettant au défi de renouveler la lecture finale de tous les
chiffres figurant sur le tableau, ceci en venant s'installer à sa
table. Dagbert accepta le challenge sous réserve que, en cas
de réussite, le perturbateur offre le champagne à l'ensemble
des spectateurs. Pari accepté ! Dagbert, assis dans la salle
face à son antagoniste, dos au tableau qui restait sur scène,
récita sans erreur une nouvelle fois la multitude de chiffres qui
faisait l'objet du litige. Beau joueur, son adversaire commanda
le champagne pour tous les spectateurs, sans oublier Dagbert.
Ce dernier termina le combat en beauté en redonnant tous les
chiffres du tableau, de mémoire, mais en commençant par la
fin. Ce fut une soirée mémorable...
Le 25 Août 1961, Jean Nohain présenta à la télévision dans son émission "Rue de la Gaîté" un industriel de
la Meuse, Ernest MOINGEON, illusionniste amateur et calculateur prodige. Son succès fut extraordinaire et,
dopé par les applaudissements, Monsieur Moingeon commit l'imprudence d'annoncer qu'il lançait un défi et
offrait un millions de francs (de l'époque) à toute personne susceptible de réaliser les mêmes exploits
cérébraux.

Piqué au vif par ses supporters du Pas de Calais, Maurice Dagbert releva le défi. Le soir de la rencontre,
Ernest Moingeon avait rédigé un chèque à l'avance, conscient de la témérité de son pari. Il le remit à
Dagbert après qu'il eut réalisé en quelques secondes l'extraction de racines cinquièmes. Celui-ci, en grand
seigneur, annonça qu'il faisait don de la somme à des oeuvres de bienfaisance. Ce combat entre les deux
gladiateurs du calcul avait fait s'enthousiasmer toute la France.
Dagbert se connaissait des cousinages plus ou moins
éloignés, dans toutes les régions de France. Bien
organisé, il prévenait ses parents de son passage
prochain par un courrier approprié, ce qui lui valait de
fréquentes invitations à déjeuner au cours des
tournées du "Festival". Il s'excusait auprès des
artistes de la troupe : «Je ne serai pas des vôtres
demain à midi, je suis invité chez des cousins...»
Nous étions sur une fin de semaine au théâtre du
Gymnase à Marseille. Dagbert avait déclenché la
traditionnelle invitation pour le dimanche à midi.
Lorsqu'il arriva en coulisse pour la matinée il était
congestionné. Ses joues étaient écarlates et on
comprit rapidement qu'il n'avait pas bu de l'eau
minérale. «Mes amis, je me suis tapé une de ces
choucroutes garnies...», disait-il en se frappant
l'estomac avec le plat de la main. En scène, il
commença à se tromper, tenta de corriger ses erreurs
puis, en pleine transpiration, se mit à commettre des
fautes grotesques dans les opérations les plus simplistes. Les rires commencèrent à fuser dans la salle.
Même les enfants s'esclaffaient. Brusquement il se ressaisit et, avec le torchon prévu à cet effet, effaça tous
les chiffres qu'il avait jusqu'alors écrits sur son tableau. Il s'excusa auprès des spectateurs et reprit son
numéro depuis le début avec d'autres nombres.
Tout se déroula jusqu'à la fin sans la moindre erreur et il eut beaucoup d'applaudissements. Sortant de
scène, devant nos sourires, il s'appuya d'une main au coin d'un décor et fit mine de s'éponger le front avec
l'autre main en s'exclamant : «Mes enfants, j'ai eu chaud !».
www.chez.com/rfernand/vi/vi23.pdf
VILLERS infos. mai 2002

RECORD BATTU!
Le 10 mai de cette annee, notre village fut le siege d'un record monde! En effet, un
remois de 22 ans, etudiant en mathematiques a la faculte de Reims est venu chez nous
pour extraire la racine treizieme d'un nombre de 100 chiffres, choisi au hasard.
Prenez un nombre de huit chiffres, multiplez-le treiz fois par lui-meme, vous obtiendrez un nombre de
100 chiffres. M. Alexis LEMAIRE, a ete capabe, de tete, de retrouver le nombre d'origine et ce en... 13
secondes 55 !!! Le precedent record mondial datait de 1981 et etait d'un peu plus d'une minute et
trente secondes.
Il va sans dire que le nouveau record pulverise l'ancien, et c'est a Villers-Marmery que cela s'est
passe, sous l'oeil vagalant de MM. Laurent Longis, Richard Fernandez et Olivier Marchand.
Un document officiel, signe par le Maire et le 1er adjoint, devrait permettre a M. Lemaire de figurer
dans le prochain livre Giuiness des records.
Vous voulez battre ce nouveau record ???
Alors, pour vous entrainer, donnez-nous donc la racine treizieme de
29288115834875201060553567352783652122196502020937
13928425510086152669633464222587770308279739304053
Vous abandonnez? Comme on vous comprend!
En attendant, nous saluons la performnce de notre hote d'un jour:
Chapeau bas, M. LEMAIRE!!
http://www.kppublish.ru/2002/09/18/piterskysch.html
Komsomol Truth. PETERSBURGR, September, 18, 2002

PITER'S CALCULATOR broke Guinnes record

Nadezhda Kositskaya

I always envy peoples, which can fast calculate on mind, - they, as usual, have
not problems at shop. But, one add real and, sorry, not always big number of
rubles, and absolutely another - on little seconds powered two-three digit
numbers. Here not to dispense experience an keep house women, needed to
possess skills of person-counter.
Stepanov
calculate
Oleg Stepanov from Petersburg suppose himself such man, most of all - he founder on everything,
Internet International Association of Human-Calculators. "Really nothing difficult - except money
methods of calculations same, like if you multiple, to say, 12 on 4. First we multiple 10 on four, then
two on four, adding and get 48. When multiple big digits, you should do same, only keep on memory
need much more", - tells Oleg. To say truth there are enough peoples-calculators in the World. And
develop such possibility can, principally, anyone, need only practice.
Not long ago Oleg decide solve task - broke World record on extracting 13-th root from 100-digits
number. Many peoples made it before. And last official registered record belong American
mathematician Wim Kleen. He made it on 88 seconds. "The problem of extract roots much easy than
powering or multiplying. You need keep on memory much less information".
Stepanov ask give him 100-digit number, from what he try extract 13-th root. And less than 30 seconds
he call almost full necessary number, except only one digit: "Last one I do not know, and lets it will be
zero", - tells Oleg. One minute after we check calculations. And is render that unknown digit actually is
zero. So, Oleg, just here on editorial office broke record, written on Guinness Book of Records.
The truth, when we ask Oleg, why he need all of this, he answered, that calculating just only
interesting. He have not any merchant targets, and do not want made shows before peoples.

Photo Stas LEVSHIN

Secrets of human-prodigy
Oleg agreed open some of his secrets to our readers. Not need to be human-computer for fast
extracting 13-th root from 100-digits number. Need to know only some of tricks. First, last digit on
answer always be same like on task.
Number of tens not difficult to know too. Suppose, number of task ends on ...4387. Calculator-Oleg
say, that necessary digit we get, if find first number, what ending on 8 (tens of task) and factorized on
three. This is 18, what give after dividing 6. This is what we need. But, next digit calculate much
difficult, and difficulties increased with every step.
OUR REFERENCE

Human-calculator calls peoples, which fast and only mentally perform difficult operations with
numbers.
On our country most famous calculators were Eugeny Golshtein and Roman Arrago. On 1929 on
Moscow between them perform historically match on mental calculations. That time Golshtein beat
Arrago. By the way, there are a lot of legends about last one. He easily multiple on mind as three-digit
than six-digit numbers, and time to time perform on stage on tours.
Can you?!

Calendar and card tricks

Human-calculators, usually, not only fast multiplying and rooting but show "calendar" tricks: peoples
call day, month and year, but they must say what was week day. "But for real calculator this is a baby
game, - tells Oleg and open secret: - Necessary only know what day of week corresponds 1 January
every year. For example, first January of 2002 - is Thursday. To get first day of previous month need
adding two days - so, first December of 2001 - is Thursday. To get day of 15-th by same month need
add one day. It means 15 December - Friday. And so on..."
Also human-calculators entertained peoples by card tricks. Not tricks where need deft hands, but
where necessary memory. Man get shuffled pack of cards, he fast looks on each cards and... some
time after must call all cards on the perfect order. American calculator Andi Bell hold record - he
memorize full pack on 34 seconds.

Comments from Oleg Stepanov.

I always suppose on name Guinness there are two "s", like here.
Before me extracted 13-th root from 100-digits number only three man. Also I know more four what
simulate this process.
Wim Kleen - Dutch Wim Klein. Not mathematician. I gave to author articles about him.
I ask 4-digits number and get - 4387, for what I calculate another 4-digits number - 1667 (paper with
notes on editorial office), what was answer, if I get 100-digits number ended by four suggested digits. I
ask this number to prove that my possibilities not belong to cheating with program. After I show how
program give 100-digits number and calculate only 7 digits, note that now I can not calculate 4-th digit.
It took 44,7 seconds - there are stopwatch on program.
I do not think extracting 13-th root from 100-digits number easy. I sad "extract 13-th root easy if
number not big". But extract root from 100-digits - very difficult. To elaborate essence of problem I give
author chapter from Smith about Wim Klein, where he explained - important not power, but number of
digits on answer.
Eugeny Golshtein - David Goldshtein. Article about him on my web page. About Arrago's "time to time
perform on stage" - it was his profession. It is same like say, "turner time to time goes on plant".
I do not respect calendar calculating, but I was limited only first sentence. I do not know where taken
next. Also, I suppose 15 and 1 day of all month are same day of week, and December 1, 2001 -
Saturday.
Andi Bell not calculator. He is Englishmen and mnemonist. I gave to author article about World
Memory Championship, where all was written.

"THIS IS A BOOK TO IGNATE MATHEMATICAL

CONFIDENCE AND CURIOSITY."
. . . . LIBRARY JOURNAL

MATHEMAGICS
HOW TO
LOOK LIKE
A GENIUS
W I THOUT
REALLY
TRYING
SECOND EDITION
ARTHUR BENJAMIN, PH.D., AND
MICHAEL BRANT SHERMER, PH.D.

FOREWORD BY
JAMES "THE AMAZING" RANDI

FOREWORD BY JAMES RANDI

PREFACE BY MICHAEL SHERMER
Contents
ix
xi
INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR BENJAMIN xvii
CHAPTER 1 A LITTLE GIVE AND TAKE:
MENTAL ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION 1
CHAPTER 2 PRODUCTS OF A MISSPENT YOUTH:
BASIC MULTIPLICATION 15
CHAPTER 3 NEW AND IMPROVED PRODUCTS:
INTERMEDIATE MULTIPLICATION 33
CHAPTER 4 DIVIDE AND CONQUER: MENTAL DIVISION 53
CHA THE ART OF
7
PTER "GUESSTIMATIO
5
N"
CHA
MATH FOR THE
PTER
BOARD:
PENCIL-AND-
8
PAPER
9
MATHEMATICS
CHA 1
A MEMORABLE
PTER 0
CHAPTER
5
CHA THE TOUCH
PTER STUFF MADE
EASY:
ADVANCED 1
MULTIPLICATIO 1
N 5
CHA 1
MATHEMATICAL
PTER 4
MAGIC
5
1
ANSWERS 6
1
2
BIBLIOGRAPHY 0
3
2
INDEX 0
5

-1-

A Little Give and Take:

Mental Addition and 1
Subtraction
I remember the day in third grade when I discovered that it was easier to add and
subtract from left to right than from right to left, which was the way we had all been
taught. Suddenly I was able to blurt out the answers to math problems in class well
before my classmates put down their pencils. And I didn't even need a pencil! The
method was so simple that I performed most calculations in my head Looking hack. I
 admit I did so as much to show off as for any muthematical reason. Most kids
outgrow such behavior. Those who don't probably become either teachers or
magicians.
In this chapter you will learn the left-to-righl method of doing mental addition and
subtraction for numbers that range in size from two to four digits. These mental skills
are not only important for doing the tricks in this hook but are also indispensable in
school or at work, or any time you use numbers. Soon you will he able lo retire your
calculator and use the full capacity of your mind as you add, subtract, multiply, and
divide 2-digit, 3-digit, and even 4-digit numbers.

LEFT-TO-RIGHT ADDITION

There are many good reasons why adding left to right is a superior method for mental
calculation. For one thing, you do not have to reverse the numbers (as you do when
adding right to left). And if you want to estimate your answer, then adding only the
leading digits will get you pretty close. If you are used to working from right to left
on paper, it may seem unnatural to add and multiply from left to right.

-2-

But with practice you will find that it is the must natural and efficient way to do
mental calculations.
With the first set of problems - 2-digit addition - the left-to-right method may not
seem so advantageous. But be patient. If you stick with me, you will see that the only
easy way to solve 3-digit and larger addition problems, all subtraction problems, and
most definitely all multiplication and division problems, is from left to right. The
sooner you get accustomed to computing this way, the better.

2-DIGIT ADDITION

Our assumption in this chapter is that you know how to add and subtract 1-digit
numbers. We will begin with 2-digit addition, something I suspect you can already do
fairly well in your head. The following exercises are good practice, however, because
you will use the 2-digit addition skills you polish here for larger addition problems, as
well as in virtually all multiplication problems in later chapters. It also illustrates a
fundamental principle of mental arithmetic - namely, to simplify your problem by
breaking it into smaller, more manageable components. This is the key to virtually
every method you will learn in this book. To paraphrase an old adage, there are just
three components to success - simplify, simplify, simplify.
The easiest 2-digit addition problems, of course, are those that do not require you to
carry any numbers. For example:
47
+ 32 (30 + 2)
To add 32 to 47, you can simplify by treating 32 as 30 + 2, add 30 to 47 and then add
2. In this way the problem becomes 77 + 2, which equals 79:
47 + 30> 77 + 2> = 79
+ 32 + 2
Keep in mind that the above diagram is simply a way of representing the mental
processes involved in arriving at an answer using one method. While you need to be
able to read and understand such diagrams as you work your way through this book,
our method does not require you to write down anything yourself.

-3-

Now let's try a calculation that requires you to carry a number:

67
+ 28 (20 + 8)
Adding from left to right, you can simplify the problem by adding 67 + 20 = 87; then
87 + 8 = 95.
67 + 20> 87 + 8> = 95
+ 28 + 8
Now try one on your own. mentally calculating from left to right. and then check
below to see how we did it:
84
+ 57 (50 + 7)
No problem, right? You added 84 + 50 = 134 and added 134 + 7 = 141.
84 + 50> 154 + 7> = 141
+ 57 + 7
If carrying numbers trips you up a bit. don't worry about it. This is probably the first
time you have ever made a systematic attempt at mental calculation, and if you're like
most people, it will take you time to get used to it. With practice, however, you will
begin to see and hear these numbers in your mind, and carrying numbers when you
add will come automatically. Try another problem for practice, again computing it in
your mind first, and then chocking how wo did it:
68
+ 45 (40 + 5)
You should have added 68 + 40 = 108. and them 108 + 5 = 113, the final answer. No
sweat, right? If you would like to try your hand at more 2-digit addition problems,
check out the set of exercises below. (The answers and computations are at the end of
the book.)

Exercises: 2-Digit Addition

(1)
23
+ 16 (3) (4) (5)
95 34 89
(2) + 32 + 26 + 78
64
+ 43

-4-
 (6)
73
+ 58 (8) (9) (10)
19 55 39
(7) + 17 + 49 + 38
47
+ 36

3-DIGIT ADDITION

The strategy for adding 3-digit numbers is the same as for adding 2-digit numbers:
you add loft to right. After each step, you arrive at a new (and smaller) addition
problem. Let's try the following:
538
+ 327 (300 + 20 + 7)
After adding the hundreds digit of the second number to the first number (538 + 300
= 838). the problem becomes 838 + 27. Next add the tens digit (838 + 20 = 858).
simplifying the problem to 858 + 7 = 865. This thought process can be diagrammed
as follows:
538 + 300> 838 + 20> 858 + 7> = 865
+ 327 + 27 + 7
All mental addition problems can be worked using this method. The goal is to keep
simplifying the problem until you are left adding a 1-digit number. It is important to
reduce the number of digits you are manipulating because human short-term memory
is limited to about 7 digits. Notice that 538 + 327 requires you to hold on to 6 digits in
your head, whereas 838 + 27 and 858 + 7 require only 5 and 4 digits, respectively. As
you simplify the problems, the problems get easier!
Try the following addition problem in your mind before looking to see how we did it:
623
+ 159 (100 + 50 + 9)
Did you reduce and simplify the problem by adding left to right? After adding the
hundreds digit (623 + 100 = 723), you were left with 723 + 59. Next you should have
added the tens digit (723 + 50 = 773), simplifying the problem to 773 + 9, which you

-5-

easily summed to 782. Diagrammed, the problem looks like this:

623 + 100> 723 + 50> 773 + 9> = 782
+ 159 + 59 + 9
When I do these problems mentally, I do not try to see the numbers in my mind - I try
to hear them. I hear the problem 623 + 159 as six hundred twenty-three plus one
hundred fifty-nine; by emphasizing the word "hundred" to myself. I know where to
begin adding. Six plus one equals seven, so my next problem is seven hundred and
twenty-three plus fifty-nine, and so on. When first doing these problems, practice them
out loud. Reinforcing yourself verbally will help you learn the mental method much
more quickly.
Addition problems really do not get much harder than the following:
858
+ 634
Now look to see how we did it. below:
858 + 600> 1458 + 30> 1488 + 4> = 1492
+ 634 + 34 + 4
At each step I hear (not see) a "new" addition problem. In my mind the problem
sounds like this:

858 plus 634 is 1458 plus 34 is 1488 plus 4 is 1492

Your mind-talk may not sound exactly like mine, but whatever it is you say to
yourself, the point is to reinforce the numbers along the way so that you don't forget
where you are and have to start the addition problem over again.
Let's try another one for practice:
759
+ 496 (400 + 90 + 6)
Do it in your mind first, then check our computation, below:
759 + 400> 1159 + 90> 1249 + 6> = 1255
+ 496 + 96 + 6

-6-

This addition problem is a little more difficult than the last one since it requires you to
carry numbers in all three stops. However, with this particular problem you have the
option of using an alternative method. I am sure you will agree that it is a lot easier to
add 500 to 759 than it is to add 496, so try adding 500 und then subtracting the
difference:
759
+ 496 (500 - 4)
759 + 500> 1259 - 4> = 1255
+ 496 - 4
So far, you have consistently broken up tho second number in any problem to add to
the first. It really does not matter which number you choose to break up as long as
you are consistent. That way, your mind will never have to waste time deciding which
way to go. If the second number happens to be a lot simpler than the first. I switch
them around, as in the following example:
207 528 + 200> 728 + 7> = 735
=
+ 528 + 207 + 7
Let's finish up by adding 3-digit to 4-digit numbers. Again, since most human
memory can only hold about 7 digits at a time, this is about as large a problem as you
can handle without resorting to artificial memory devices (described in Chapter 7).
Often (especially within multiplication problems) one or both of the numbers will end
in 0, so we shall emphasize those types of problems. We begin with an easy one:
2700
+ 567
Since 27 hundred - 5 hundred is 32 hundred, we simply attach the 67 to get 32
hundred and 67, or 3267. The process is the same for the following problems:
3240 3240
+ 18 + 72
Because 40 + 18 = 58, the first answer is 3258. For the second problem, since 40 + 72
exceeds 100, you know the answer will be