the human calculator

[low_delta]

Today's Google Doodle was in honor of Shakuntala Devi.

In 1977 at the Southern Methodist University she was asked to give the 23rd root of a 201-digit number; she answered in 50 seconds. Her answer, 546,372,891, was confirmed by calculations done at the U.S. Bureau of Standards by the UNIVAC 1101 computer, for which a special program had to be written to perform such a large calculation.

Comments

[mellary4.livejournal.com]

That is really impressive! I told a friend once that when I worked in a factory, to keep myself entertained, I'd add up large numbers in my head. He was impressed until I told him that I had no idea if I was right LOL!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

:-D