Shakuntala DeviBorn 4 Nov 1929; died 21 Apr 2013 at age 83.Indian computer and astrologer who demonstrated her gift as an arithmetical prodigy in public performances (beginning at age 6 years old), rapidly computing answers to addition of several up to 13-digit numbers. Using her mental skills, she applied shortcuts using mathematical algorithms, though she could not explain that ability. Her calculations included using large numbers in multiplication and division of large numbers. She also quickly gave square and cube roots, and could name the day of the week for any date in the last century. Examples include taking the cube root of 188,132,517 or naming which days of the week the 14th of each month occurred in 1935. Her skill was one of computation, but she did not have a photographic memory for other facts, and could have memory lapses such as recognizing people met in years past.« |
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