Posted on 11/17/2007 12:23:34 PM PST by SunkenCiv
French "mathlete" Alexis Lemaire showed off his rare mental agility Thursday, claiming a new world record after working out in his head the 13th root of a random 200-digit number in just 72.4 seconds... The number was so long it ran over 17 lines. Lemaire, who says he doesn't consider himself a nerd or a geek, then took just over a minute to identify two quadrillion, 397 trillion, 207 billion, 667 million, 966 thousand, 701 as the 13th root. In other words, the number multiplied by itself 13 times produces the 200 digit number originally generated by the computer... "I use an artificial intelligence system which I use on my own brain instead of on a computer," he explained, matter-of-factly. "Personally, I believe most people can do it but I have also a high-speed mind. My brain works sometimes very, very fast." ...His nearest rival, he said, is a German whom he declines to name. But he claims to have no fear that other competitive mathematicians will successfully challenge him. "It is too difficult for them," he said, explaining that most of his rivals are only able to work out the 13th root of a 100-digit number... "Many people at the banks think my gift can be very useful," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmosmagazine.com ...
Fast thinking: Alexis Lemaire's calculation is checked by observers Bernadette Corcoran (R) and Linda Faulcon, 15 November 2007, at the New York Hall of Science. Lemaire calculated the 13th root of a 200-digit number in 72.438 seconds which is a world record time. Image: AFP
Lucky guess!
He really is a smart guy. I used to tutor him and he caught on very well.
“I use an artificial intelligence system which I use on my own brain’
the very same thing i do....only i just don’t blab it around a lot because see i don’t like to brag at all...
I thought the answer was 42?
The correct answer is 2,397,207,667,966,747
Just saying...
.
:’D I wonder if he can spot a bogus number right away? Y’know, multiply the stuff, get the product, add one, ask him to derive the root. Y’know... [five seconds into it] “this isn’t a valid multiple.”
unrelated sidebar:
Lazzarini eats humble pi (posthumously)
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf096/sf096m18.htm
“72.438 seconds”
Even that is a geek number. 72 1/2 was close enough.
.....Bob
Chances of him using this trick to get a woman? 1 over 2,397,207,667,966,701
Yeah, heh, noticed that too... it’s like ST:TOS’s early days of Mister Spock dialogue.
Maybe he’ll find someone in whatever bank pays him millions to work for them. ;’)
How did he know how much is in my bank account???
It’s the number of times your heart will beat in 60 million years. ;’)
Did he do weird stuff unintentionally? We had a genius over for for an evening, and while she was looking through my cassette tapes, she not only alphabetized them, but organized them so that the greatest number of titles was exposed. I just stack them up and then scatter them on the floor when I’m looking for a particularly obscure one.
Slackers.
This is nice, but since we have computers and don’t need people who can do this, it seems all he is qualified to do is work in McDonald’s.
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