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Math Whiz Breaks Calculation Record

Posted by samzenpus on from the show-off dept.

keyshawn632 writes "The Associated Press reports that Gert Mittring, 38, needed only 11.8 seconds to calculate the 13th root of a 100-digit number in his head at a math museum in Giessen, a small town, located in western Germany. It's worth noting though that his feat will not be recognized by The Guinness Book Of World Records because of the difficulty of standardizing such mathematical challenges."

10 of 391 comments (clear)

  1. What? by HardJeans · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't even read 100 digits in 30 seconds.

    --
    "I'm not talking to myself, I'm just the only one who's listening." - Jimmies Chicken Shack
    1. Re:What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      But he didn't have to memorize the 100-digit number, did he? It took him 4 seconds to memorize 22-digit number, but probably took him a second to read it through. So instead of wasting time memorizing it, he just produced the result. I can see how that could take him 11.8 seconds instead of >18 seconds

    2. Re:What? by RichardX · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Look up trachtenberg speed math - it's a system of (cheats/optimizations) depending on your point of view, for doing mental math.. either way it lets you get a correct answer very quickly, so it's useful.

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  2. Re:Hrmm by Travy.b · · Score: 2, Insightful

    11 odd seconds aint a great deal of time mate ;)

  3. Break RECORD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How could he break a record if there is no proper documentation on such feats?

  4. What he will be doing next week... by jmcmunn · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Probably breaking codes for some government or another. Someone with talent with numbers and such will catch the eye of someone out there. Could it be that this was just to show off his talent as a sort of "job interview"? Probably not, but I expect he will get some calls about it anyway.

  5. I know you were joking, but... by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The number of elementary particles in the universe is estimated to be around an 80-digit number. It would be impossible to even write every 100-digit number in existance--you'd run out of matter in the universe first. Even if that were possible, just imagine the time it would take to even look at each one...

    It's really interesting to think of all the hard limits in the universe caused by things like this.

    --
    I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
  6. Re:I so call bullshit by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There has to be a trick to it aside from "thinking really fast"

    Well of course, there is. Probably two or three tricks combined. . .plus thinking really fast, as well as having a good memory for numbers.

    Walking a tightrope is more than just having "good balance," and it's really just a trick, and not necessarily a very useful one, but. . .

    It is still pretty impressive and you can't do it.

    KFG

  7. AND ANOTHER THING by thetroll123 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How many attempts did he get? I could do this in under a second if you're prepared to overlook me getting it wrong maybe a few million times first...

  8. Re:Roomie in College by SamSim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Memorizing and regurgitating and manipulating numbers is a very different skill from mathematics. These are things which computers are very good at - things which we DESIGN computers to be good at so we waste minimal time on such trivialities and work on the stuff which a computer can't do, the stuff which maths is really about: logical reasoning with abstracts.

    My point is that just because he's good with numbers doesn't mean he'd enjoy (or be any good at) mathematics. Also, mathematicians can't count.

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    qntm.org