ARITHMETICAL PRODIGY

Evening Star, Issue 15076, 7 January 1913, Page 5

ARITHMETICAL PRODIGY

A remarkable demonstration of mental calculating has been given at a meeting of the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society at Colombo by Ammogam, a 16-year-old arithmetical prodigy. Arnmojjam is a Tamil boy belonging to a workingclass family. Ho is quite illiterate, and displays but little intelligence outside his faculty for calculating. He has six lingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Sir Hugh Clifford, Colonial Secretary for Ceylon, presided at the meeting, and a number of problems in arithmetic were put to the boy through an interpreter. In each case (says the ‘ Ceylon Morning Leader’) he gave an answer in « few seconds. Among the questions were the following :—Add together 8,596.713,826 and 96,258,593. Multiply 45,989 by 854,726. Find the fifth root of 69,343,957. | What weight of water is there in a room 'flooded 2ft deep, the room being 18ft 9in by 13ft 4in, and a cubic foot of water weighing member of the audience, was answered in under three seconds-; —-A Chetty gave as a. treat to 173 persons a bushel of rice each ; each bushel contained 5,431,272 grains, and the Chetty stipulated that 17 per cent, should be given to the temple. How many grains did the temple get?