With a mind that can calculate numbers faster than a super computer Scott Flansburg is a man who not only amazes all that he meets - he is willing to share his special abilities with the world.
We can all learn from this super human.
Born
Scott Flansburg was born on December 28, 1963.
Early history
At the age of nine Scott began to discover that he had, what some describe as, mental calculator abilities.
He found that he could solve math questions that his teacher’s gave and didn’t need to even write down the calculations.
Additionally when visiting the grocery store with his family he would know the amount of the bill and would have told his father, who wrote out the check, before the bill had even been rung up.
Image: Wikipedia
Something amazing is that as a youth he started to notice that the number and shape of angles in numbers are related to their values - as a result of this he stopped counting 1 to 10 on his fingers and began to think in terms of 0 - 9.
Scott Flansburg’s Super Power
Human Calculator - Scott has one of the most amazing abilities that we at Sapien Plus have ever seen. He can add, subtract and divide big numbers with an amazing degree of accuracy in a manner that seems unfathomable to normal human beings.
What is Scott Flansburg currently doing?
Scott is on a mission to help kids learn to really do maths - the easy way. You can find out what he is currently up to via his website The Human Calculator.
What can we learn from Scott Flansburg?
Scott teaches us that we need to think beyond the normal boundaries of mankind. Watching him in action is absolutely unbelievable, and it’s real.
Tests via a MRI scan, whilst on Stan Lees Super Human Show revealed that when he is calculating numbers a different area of his brain is being used - the part that is normally associated with movement (close to the motor cortex).
It made us think that perhaps we have been learning maths the wrong way for years, by the way we are taught it a part of the brain is used that struggles to add numbers and perform calculations.
If only we could teach our young people to use a different part of the brain, that has the processing power of Scott’s.
Genetic or Learned Super Power?
Because of the young age that Scott displayed this great power we suspect this could be a genetic trait.
However we would not be surprised if specialized training could adapt others to also display these kind of powers. So in short we don’t know exactly whether this power is genetic, learned or a combination of both.
Learned … at an extremely young age.
Why do I think this? I taught my youngest brother at age 4 some math facts; specifically, that the letters in algebra represent an unknown number and the rudiments of algebra’s F.O.I.L. rule with some examples and when he was being taught large number addition (like 6754+8964=?) in elementary school, he could the math without thinking. Alas, I failed to teach him the necessity of math proofs and neither my parents nor the schools could provide him with a valid reason for WHY he had to show his work, so he lost his math ability as a result of that stress and now as adult hates math.
We humans don’t think about enough things to teach our children in that short span where their minds are like sponges so most children don’t learn enough in enough areas to advance human intelligence across the board. And what’s worse, we expect them to conform to our current misunderstandings instead of accepting the correction when they acquire knowledge of the next level. (And we can’t tell the difference between a new lie and a new truth so when they do come up with something new,, we cannot determine which direction that new understanding will lead us: advancement of or degradation of knowledge, which then leads many to either reject new truths or accept new lies.)
Anyways, knowledge can be turned into condensed versions of itself that when taught to a child that thinks about that condensed version turns into a more complex understanding. And like a seed that grows, … well, I said enough; the best I can offer is the suggestion that those that seek understanding ponder the question themselves. 🙂