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65 Comments
- pangzter, on 11/10/2009, -0/+62But can he run Crysis?
- dha07030, on 11/10/2009, -0/+50He was my professor too! Well not really I just worked at the school as a janitor and would solve equations left on the board. Also Ben Affleck was my best friend.
- williemain, on 11/10/2009, -2/+52damn math, you scary!
seriously! I watched 2 minutes of it and I blacked out. I woke up a few hours later in a pool of blood! I hate math! - dmazzoni, on 11/10/2009, -1/+42Woo! He was one of my math professors at Harvey Mudd College. He's a great teacher and a really nice guy, too.
A few things that may not be totally obvious from the video:
* He's not a savant. He developed this skill just by practice.
* He also does "real" magic tricks, including some pretty good card tricks.
* His research area is discrete math. He's proved some interesting theorems and sometimes uses his skill to find patterns in numbers; this gives him an advantage over others who would have to use a calculator.
* He has a book on how to do fast mental math. I practiced for just a few weeks and now I can square a three-digit number in my head in about a minute. - braineater2448, on 11/10/2009, -0/+26Mirror: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/arthur_benjamin_ ...
- Mazrin, on 11/10/2009, -0/+23It seems to be serving him well. When's the last time you talked at a TED conference?
- omgukk, on 11/10/2009, -1/+22He runs it at Cookie x Fission resolution too.
- MCLennon93, on 11/10/2009, -0/+12He's a witch! Burn him!
- dmazzoni, on 11/10/2009, -0/+12Wow, at least three of his former students have responded already (including me)!
- CrispixKingdom, on 11/10/2009, -0/+11That was ridiculous. The man squared a five digit number in his head.
- dmazzoni, on 11/10/2009, -0/+10He's also a math professor. His skill sometimes helps him to see patterns that others miss.
- zspade, on 11/10/2009, -0/+9Hey aren't you that guy Sarah Silverman was *****?
- tarnalberry, on 11/10/2009, -0/+9it's never old to see one of your professors do amazing things on a real stage. he taught us the basics of that stuff in class one day - outside, in the library courtyard, on a really nice day. I could get the concept, but to apply it that quickly.... uh, no.
- aralls, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8That was awesome; this is pretty good too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3uMRMXlRNM - zspade, on 11/10/2009, -0/+8Funny, I feel like much less of a nerd after having watched this.
I believe I have nerd envy... - mbraynard, on 11/10/2009, -0/+7he can also crash a site faster than I can click the link.
- mbarty2010, on 11/10/2009, -0/+6In January 1977, at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Shakuntala Devi extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number, at the fifty-second mark, with the correct answer being '546372891'. She had beaten the then fastest computer, UNIVAC's time of 62 seconds, and 13,000 instructions.
On 18th June, 1980, Shakuntala Devi demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers: '7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779', picked randomly by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She produced the correct answer of '18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730', in just 28 seconds.
http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/miscellaneou ... - nikoitaliano, on 11/10/2009, -1/+6He taught me discrete math my sophmore year at HMC. Such a great sense of humor too. I felt like I woulda payed so much more for that class!
- Laminarcissus, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4That's a silly legend. If you know anything about card counting you know it doesn't take any math skills beyond addition and subtraction, and even then it's usually numbers less than three.
Plus, card counting does not work in modern casinos with six or eight-deck shoes, and that's been true for nearly twenty years with the possible exception of Binions.
That sounds more like one of those "I heard he fought a wolverine over a peanut" kind of myths. - Larsonal777, on 11/10/2009, -0/+4the world doesn't exist without math... you know how much math goes into just one of your farts?
- commenter01, on 11/10/2009, -2/+5einstein wasnt a virgin either...
as for you, however... - dude728, on 11/10/2009, -1/+4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgd9oI_9FU8
this is from a show on the national geographic channel called superhuman. - dmazzoni, on 11/10/2009, -1/+4he's happily married with kids last time I checked
- HoodsDream, on 11/10/2009, -1/+4I bet he can't tell you what day of the week was the last time he had sex.
- diemunkiesdie, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3He wasn't my prof but I did Google him! Apparently, he fought a wolverine over a peanut.
- deathstryk, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3win!
- Princeamor, on 11/10/2009, -0/+3Wow that guy is talented! I bet he gets a lot of pussy!
/s - AKG2000, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3He was my prof too! He gave a lecture at Linde dorm on how to count cards. Legend says he's banned at all Vegas casinos.
- Apex3, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2Guy's crazy
I feel like such a nerd for being so intrigued by this - dha07030, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2I feel stupid :(
- sharpdust, on 11/11/2009, -0/+2@4:02, he gets 722 ^ 2 wrong. He says it's 513,284 when it's actually 521,284
- n8o8, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2Damn, humans are amazing!
- MovieBlog, on 11/10/2009, -1/+3http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5185/front.gif
- LimeParrot, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2His big finale was amazing.
- BTom14, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2nope
- MrMax99, on 11/10/2009, -0/+2That is my math professor at HMC :)
- Kain4k, on 11/10/2009, -1/+2chiter ......
- naeim, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1Oh look, it's Jack McBrayer!
- Broschati, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1Good stuff, have to admit I love Harvey Mudd brunch...mmm omelets...
- naeim, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1Mmmm cookie fishing
- gwtgator, on 11/10/2009, -1/+2@ 3:42 he got the answer wrong. 457 squared is 208,849 (not his answer of 205,849)
- luggyman, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1i just pooed
- reno77, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1I prefer Manculator.
- dmazzoni, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1Actually no.
The world record for memorizing Pi is about 67 thousand digits. To memorize every possible 5-digit square would be over a million digits. No human alive has ever memorized that many digits. - LarkStew, on 11/10/2009, -0/+1I know he used (a+b)(a+b) to do the five digit squaring but there's probably some memory masters who could just memorise every answer.
- GroundShop, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1This is old as dirt guys
- GroundShop, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1http://www.ted.com
Catch up is muh point. - MonsoonCrank, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1He's making a living. That's practical.
- diceau, on 11/11/2009, -0/+1And your point?
It was awesome to watch, I hadn't heard of it.
Good submission. - tdogg241, on 11/10/2009, -1/+2Come down? What is this, Price is Right?
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