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Did you see today's google logo?
Topic Started: Nov 4 2013, 05:27 PM (258 Views)
jon-nyc
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Cheers
An homage to this woman:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakuntala_Devi

The "human calculator". I had never heard of her. I'm in awe.

Quote:
 
In 1977 at the Southern Methodist University she was asked to give the 23rd root of a 201-digit number; she answered in 50 seconds. Her answer—546,372,891—was confirmed by calculations done at the U.S. Bureau of Standards by the UNIVAC 1101 computer, for which a special program had to be written to perform such a large calculation.

On June 18, 1980, she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers — 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 — picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds. This event is mentioned in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Copper
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Shortstop

If she was answering the phone at the obamacare help desk everybody would be signed up by now.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Extreme ODS.

Can't we just admire this woman for a bit? Then later diss the 2-bit thug?
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Hadn't heard about her either but I did notice the doodle. Very cool person.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Copper
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Shortstop
jon-nyc
Nov 4 2013, 06:19 PM
Extreme ODS.

Can't we just admire this woman for a bit? Then later diss the 2-bit thug?

Extreme defensiveness, can't we just pile on without this denial.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Posted Image
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
jon-nyc
Nov 4 2013, 06:19 PM
Extreme ODS.

Can't we just admire this woman for a bit? Then later diss the 2-bit thug?
Seems to me Copper simply did it backwards - dissed Obama and then honored this woman with a very high compliment.

That is a pretty amazing mind she has (or had, not knowing if she is alive still).
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Had. Amazing, yes. Not very useful within the current technological context, but amazing.

My guess is the "abstraction" ability we were discussing in the other thread had little to do with what she was able to do. (I think the same of someone like Kim Peek, who Rainman (movie character, not TNCR poster) was based on.)
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Steve Miller
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Bull-Carp
Copper
Nov 4 2013, 05:38 PM
If she was answering the phone at the obamacare help desk everybody would be signed up by now.
Dude. You're obsessed.

Chill. :cool2:
Wag more
Bark less
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
jon-nyc
Nov 4 2013, 05:27 PM
An homage to this woman:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakuntala_Devi

The "human calculator". I had never heard of her. I'm in awe.

Quote:
 
In 1977 at the Southern Methodist University she was asked to give the 23rd root of a 201-digit number; she answered in 50 seconds. Her answer—546,372,891—was confirmed by calculations done at the U.S. Bureau of Standards by the UNIVAC 1101 computer, for which a special program had to be written to perform such a large calculation.

On June 18, 1980, she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers — 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779 — picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds. This event is mentioned in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records.
This is very impressive, and I could of course never do the same thing, but what one has to keep in mind is that there are very clever algorithms for multiplication and root computation.

Calculating the 23rd root of a number sounds so impressive because most people have no idea whatsoever how a 23rd root can be calculated at all. It looks a little different if you have learned and trained a quickly converging algorithm to do that.

As an example, if you give me a, say, 50 digit number, I'll be able to tell you within 20 seconds whether that number can be divided by 9. The reason why I can do that is not because I am superhuman, but because I know that a number can be divided by 9 if and only if its sum of digits can be divided by 9.

But this woman is of course still highly impressive.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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PhJ
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Senior Carp
Klaus
Nov 5 2013, 03:04 AM
Calculating the 23rd root of a number sounds so impressive because most people have no idea whatsoever how a 23rd root can be calculated at all. It looks a little different if you have learned and trained a quickly converging algorithm to do that.
Daniel Tammet (labeled as Asperger) tries to explain how it works for him in his very interesting book Born on a Blue day.

I read it along time ago, but from what I remember, he says he sees a shape, color, whatever, for the first number, then the shape and other attributes of the second number, then when he thinks of the manipulation he has to perform (multiplication, division, ...) they sort of merge together to produce a new shape, of which he can then gave the associated number.

He once recited the first 22 514 decimals of Pi, saying he sees and memorizes it as an evolving landscape, with its peaks, valleys and plateaux (on an unrelated note, he learned Icelandic in one week)

A quite fascinating read if you ask me.

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Riley
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HOLY CARP!!!
Klaus
Nov 5 2013, 03:04 AM
As an example, if you give me a, say, 50 digit number, I'll be able to tell you within 20 seconds whether that number can be divided by 9. The reason why I can do that is not because I am superhuman, but because I know that a number can be divided by 9 if and only if its sum of digits can be divided by 9.
Even given that information, it would take me a hell of a lot longer than 20 seconds to work that out.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
PhJ
Nov 5 2013, 04:49 AM
... he says he sees a shape, color, whatever, for the first number, then the shape and other attributes of the second number, then when he thinks of the manipulation he has to perform (multiplication, division, ...) they sort of merge together to produce a new shape, of which he can then gave the associated number. ...
Cool ... it's like a transform. :)
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