How about if you were not allowed to use a calculator for an exam but you can perform any complex calculations mentally in little time?
But everyone is not blessed and our mental activities are limited to an extent too. However, there are some people who are bestowed with such great talents. One of these prodigies is Shakuntala Devi of India.
Shakuntala Devi was born in Banglore, on November 4, 1929. She was an Indian writer and the mental calculator popularly known as the ‘Human Computer’. She could do much bigger calculations in no more than 2-3 minutes.
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Life Of The Prodigy And Her Achievements:
- An adroit mathematician, Shakuntala has displayed her proficiency many times at various universities worldwide.
- She used to get the invitation for her speculative abilities of calculations. Multiplying much bigger numbers, cubing the huge numbers, computing any type of mathematical sum was a cakewalk for her.
- She once said, “Numbers have life; they are not just symbols on paper.”
- She performed her numerical talent at The University of Mysore, India at six. She even went on a tour through Europe and the U.S. in the 1950s upon invitation.
- She has even defeated the computers in competition.
- Once she appeared at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas where she was asked to extract the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in front of an audience. It took her 50 seconds to do so while the Univac computer; her competitor took 62 seconds for the same.
- Not one but many such incidents have proved her blatant skills of computation.
- She holds a Guinness World Record in 1982 for multiplying two 13-digit numbers in just 28 seconds.
- These all virtues fetched her the name ‘Human Calculator’.
- Apart from this, she was also a great writer. She has written so many novels and texts about mathematics, puzzles, and astrology.
- She wrote the book, “The World of Homosexuals” which is the first study of homosexuals in India.
Death And Recognitions
- She died of respiratory problems at the age of 83, on 21 April 2013.
- Her fame was so huge that even Google recognized and respected her talent. On 4th November 2013, her 84th birth anniversary, there was a Google Doodle in her honor and memory.
