The Great Mental Calculators: The Psychology, Methods, and Lives of Calculating Prodigies, Past and Present

by Steven B. Smith and Steven B. Smith

Book Overview

The Great Mental Calculators offers an insight into the amazing potential of the human mind-a potential that is by no means realizable by only these oddly gifted individuals but also in a variety of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231056400
• ISBN13: 9780231056403
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The more complete book on this subject!

In this book the subject of mental calculation is developed in all its aspects. The reader may be bored by some of the detailed description of the calculators' performances. But those description are necessary for a complete discussion. There is also a thorough discussion of the various psychological implications and technical aspects of mental calculation.

people impressed by genius are welcome!

The best book of mental calculation of the world.You will be impressed by Klein's method to extract the 13throot of a 100-digit number in 1mn28s, the very famous worldrecord of mental calculation. But do not forget that AlexisLEMAIRE extracted it in 13s: 44800613, also divisible by 13,in the year 2002=154x13! This is another story...

Well-written and extremely comprehensive

The book is divided into three sections, covering the psychological aspects of rapid mental calculation, the mathematical methods involved, and brief summaries of the lives of the great calculators (which include particular methods used by each person). There are extensive quotations from the calculators themselves, explaining their methods and how they learned. The book is so well-written it's hard to put down, yet it covers the topic in great depth. Smith surveys all the prior literature on the subject, and has also interviewed many of the living calculators. His knowledge of both math and psychology is impressive. This is a MUST for anyone interested in the subject, or just interested in improving their calculating abilities.

Fantastic books for poeple who want develop his memory

If you love maths and play with numbers it is a great book for you