It's a really interesting notion to refer to people as "human calculators." My family members have always compared their education system back in China where you had to do mental math all the time compared to the "American" lifestyle were people use their phone calculators to see how much they should tip wait staff at restaurants.
Another human calculator that I found in addition to the two geniuses mentioned in Ms. Mariner's blog would be Scott Flansburg, a bestselling author that has been teaching math for more than 20
years and holds the Guinness World Record for adding the same number
to itself more times in 15 seconds than a person can do using a
calculator. I think it's hilarious how he earned the branded title of
the “Fastest Human Calculator®.” However, it is somewhat nice that "more important than showing others the skills that he has acquired, he
wants to show others that they already have the ability to perform
seemingly difficult math problems without a calculator."
Also, on Wikipedia, his occupation is "mental calculator." Wikipedia also talks a bit about his childhood relating to math: "Scott has stated that he was nine years old when he first discovered his mental calculator abilities, after he was able to solve his teacher's math question
without needing to write down the calculations. Afterwards he would keep
a running tally of his family's groceries at the store, so his father
could give the cashier an exact check before the bill had been rung up.
In his youth he also began noticing that the shape and number of angles
in numbers are clues to their value, and began counting from 0 to 9 on
his fingers instead of 1 to 10."
On a slightly less math-related note:
I wonder how mathematical skill relates to arrogance and humility. On his website, it states "he would be even faster, but he can’t speak the answers as fast as he can calculate them in his head!" I understand that this man is very intelligent, but I am not amused by his efforts to advertise his "genius." I feel like Mr. Flansburg's attitude is very elitest and slightly offensive. His website states that he "believes everyone has the ability to be good at math and
enjoy it, but that most people have not learned to do math in a way that
works for them. The Human Calculator® is dedicated to helping students and adults to overcome their math-related fears." I understand that math is not the easiest subject for every single person, but to state dedication to help people overcome their fears assumes the mindset that he can go in and fix everyone's problems with his own "nontraditional" methods. He also assumes that everyone can enjoy math, but this is completely false because everyone has their own interests and should not be subject to the same forms of joy. Most math teachers that I know are dedicated to encourage learning and understanding of the subject of math, but they don't try to assert or impose their own views as the correct answer to mathematical situations. Maybe this is just the debater in me, but I felt very uneasy reading about Mr. Flansburg on his website, which is why I refuse to blatantly praise any stories that might exist of him.
Many people can possess the skills that he has, but simply don't have the opportunity to show it off to the world. It would be nice if everyone could stop putting labels on talent because talent can be undiscovered or discovered, but what truly matters is whether it exists or not.
Sources:
http://scottflansburg.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Flansburg
