gsarff@meph.UUCP (Gary Sarff) (12/07/88)
In <2456@cbnews.ATT.COM>, lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani) writes... > >On Dec. 6 a "human computer" will make an appearance here. Her name is Where is "here"? >Shakuntala Devi, or something close to that. She holds the Guiness world >record for multiplying two large numbers in her head. So, I was wondering >if anyone could think of some problems that would be particularly hard for >such a person. Any 100 digit numbers need factoring :-) I have a book by her detailing some of her methods for doing these things. Unfortunately she doesn't go into detail about how she can do some of the really big problems. On the back of the book is a photo of her concentrating on computing the 23rd root(!) of a 101 digit number. She did this in less time than a computer at the national bureau of standards in washington. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" He who steals my core-dump, steals trash