The Human Computer : Shakuntala Devi
Can you do the 23rd root of a 201 digit number within 50 Seconds?
= Shakuntala Devi did it in 1977
Can you multiply =
7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 in 28 seconds .
In 1980, Shakuntala Devi did it. The answer she gave is :
18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730
In 4 November 1929, Shakuntala Devi was born in Mysore, Karnataka. Her father who worked in a circus discovered her ability to memorise numbers when she was just 3 years old. Quitting circus, her father arranged road shows displaying her ability to calculate.
She travelled to many countries and demonstrated her exceptional ability. In 1982, The Guinness Book Of The World Record recorded her ability in their newest edition.
Except long multiplications, her abilities include:
Cube roots : She once mentally calculated the cube roots of :
95,443,993 (answer 457) in 2 seconds,
204,336,469 (answer 589) in 5 seconds, 2,373,927,704 (answer 1334) in 10 seconds.
Higher roots :
Another time, she calculated the 7th root of 455,762,531,836,562,695,930,666,032,734,375 (answer 46,295) in 40 seconds
Calendar Calculation:
If any date of the last century was given to her, she could instantly tell which day of the week that date fell on.
She authored many books that includes
1. More Puzzles To Puzzle You
2. The Book Of Numbers
3. Figuring: The Joy Numbers Record breaks...
4. Awaken The Genius In Your Child
5. Super Memory : It can be yours
She even wrote cook books and novel.
Her abilities were tested many times but it is still unclear how she could do such mental calculations.
Psychologist Jensen, in 1990 published his journal - Intelligence, where he wrote
“[None] 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”
Facts:
• She wrote a book about Homosexuality and was criticised for it.
• She once tried her luck in politics though she was unsuccessful.
• She was also an astrologer
• She married Paritosh Banerji in 1964 (divorced in 1979)
• She died in 21 April, 2013 (83 years)
• A film based on her life was recently released on Amazon Prime named “Shakuntala Devi”
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