MATHEMATICAL PRODIGIES.

Mataura Ensign, 27 September 1913, Page 8

MATHEMATICAL PRODIGIES.

in Mexico there i.s said, to >bo a jx>y aged. 11 years, Miguel Alberto Mantilla, the son of a bank manager, who knows the calendar, not for one year, but lor all time past. He oan answer correctly with scarcely a pause, any question relating to days of tho week, holidays, etc., in any year in. the Christian, era. I Asked on ono occasion by a visitor who had been testing him with the assistance of a perpetual calendar how he found tho answers to questions, be replied: "I see a black ball go round, and round in my head, and then I I'ead the liumbor and I-answer."

Ceylon has its mathematical prodigy in Arumogam, who i.s now only 17 years of age and first discovered his marvellous gift when lie was 11. He can answer by mental arithmetic, in. less than threo seconds, difficult problems, which ordinary mortals would take several minutes to work out on paper. There is no trace of talent in his ancestry, and his parents are poor, unlettered people. There is another Tamil boy calculator, also .17 years of age, who is prepared to work out any arithmetical problem mentally, and up to tho present no problem, however difficult, has taken him longer than fivo seconds to solve.

Romanoff, tho French lightning calculator, juggles in an extraordinary fashion with figures, and can also answer any questions relating to the calendar. American professom in 1910 tried in vain to corner "Marvellous Griffith.," who died less than, two years ago. England had the mathematical calculator, Wallis, who could extract roots to 40 decimal places solely by mental operation.