The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1871-08-17
STORY OF A BOY MATHEMATICIAN.

| Inc name OF Henri MOndeux was well known I
in the scientific circles of Paris in 1S4l. Her
was born in Neuye le Roy, near Tours, in 1885,
His father was an industrious woodcutter;l his
mother, femme de peiHe in a farm. 1 When be !.
had attained the mature age Of seven his father
| informed him that it was his duty to work for
a living, and he was sent to keep sheep. In
his lonely hours in the meadows he amused
himself by incessantly counting over the little
heaps of pebbles, and arranging them in differ
ent ways. His talent for rapid calculation
was considered by the ignorant villagers as
proof positive of diabolical possession. In all
monetary difficulties of the little community, :.
he was the authorized referee as no one in the
village could calculate with such amazing ra-
pidity and infallible exactness. The admira1
tion excited by his powers was notunmingled
with awe, as the little rascal pretended he
could cast an evil eye on the cattle of those
who dlspleased him. His reputation spread
far and wide in the country, and it became
favOrite amusement to have him divert the
company on .tete days at neighborng farms.
One day he met two ladies, who, struck by
his appearance, entered into conversation with
him. In the course of conversation, Henri
offered to tell the youngest her age in seconds
if she would mention how old she was
Nineteen" said the young lady. 80
Instantly he replied, f" You have lived $780,
lS4 900 seconds. 9 .1etJ4.a .sruu a. ~
This little adventure being related to Mr..
Jacoby, a young and enthusiastic schoomaster
at Tours, he was struck with astonishnent,
and having verified the calculation, he de-
termned to make the acquaintance. of the
young shepherd. ...s- ......s..s.
Henri spoke first, asking the simple ques-
tion, "What o'clock is it?" 7 - =
1T is the half of the quarter of three-quart-.
ers of twelve" replied Mr. Jacoby. .sss.,
"Then | can tell you, sir. exactly what time
it is,'' replied Henri; lit is halfpast one"
The answer was given after the lapse of
minute. Other questions were given aud an
swered with the same facility, when Mr. Jacoby
discovered, TO his surprise, that Henri could
neither read write nor cipher, and had not the
slightest acquaintance with fractions or any.
Of the ordinary rules OF arithmetic. ! .Isft,+
1t was soon known in Touraine
that Mr.. Jacoby had adopted the strangely
gifted child, and visitors came in crowds to
verify the accounts they had heard of him. ze.
To satisfy public curiosity, Mr.. Jacoby fixed
day on which he would receive all the nota-
bilitles of the department. Henri was in a
state of calm delight .+-4
One of the first questions put to him was,a
What is the sum of the squares of the first
tblrty-two numbers Z"
AltcI pdueC, uc Ecpiltut
"l1440" .al ass : " I'll.
mot right, not right" s.5 .....a -
"Oh yes it isl replied Henri. "Stop,
will do it again" Alter minutes pause he
again asserted that he was right @ea3
"No. no." said the examiner, "you are
wrong, have calculated it also; one of us is
in the wrong" ..u aa.4.-..
Then it is you. sir" cried Henri with en-.
ergy; II will maintain it to my dying day.
The examiner, the well-known engineer,
Monsieur Bandemoulin, considered for mo-
ment and then burst out laughing, saying "the
little rogue is right after all' "@'~a-- ''i1'>
II He was asked many other questions, and acl
quilted himself to the surprise of all present.
To vary the monotony of his existence in his;
new school life, Mr.. Jacoby took Henri on
walking tours, to exhibit his calculating powers
at the neighboring colleges and schools. Ven.
dome, Blois Orleans, Angers, and many, other
towns were scenes of triumph for Henri,
whose acuteness and readiness surprised the
most practiced mathematicians of the day To
their amazement they discovered that. this un-
taught peasant boy was no mere calculating,
machine, but thorough mathematician in its
widest sense. From the depth of his own con-
sciousness he had evolved all the known for
muas, and many others entirely original. D v9r
He was asked the following question: t.1n
public square there is fountain containing
an unknown quantity of water; around it
stands group of people carrying pitchers, ca
pable of containing certain quantities of water.
They draw at the following rate: The first
takes 100 quarts and l 13 of theremainder; the
second 200 quarts and I.13 of the remainder;
the third 800 quarts and 1.I3: and so on until
the fountain was empt:ed. How many quarts
were there? ..le lp ~ ga ..ess snc
In few seconds he gave the answer, and
this is the simple process by which he obtained
his result: Take the denominator of the frac-
tion, subtract one; that gives the number of
persons Multiply that by the number of
quarts taken by the first person-that is, by
100-and you get the equal quantities taken by
each; square this number, and multiply by the
number of quarts, and you get the quantity in
the fountain. Thus:
13-l equals l2 number of persons.
l2xl00 equals 1900 number Of quarts taken
by each. aeaaEa lstole} indl s!aa 'D9alnt
144xloo equals 14.4oo, number. of quarts in
the fountain. - s...ggstg f.a'f..eer4s ..f, a.
Again, he was asked: az father leaves
among his children d sum to be divided as fol-
lows: The oldest to take 1000 ffrancs,r and
the ninth part, the second 1000 francs and the
ninth part-what is the number of children and
francs r. s.'''i' AA3 11sl3h eaissAsa 80
9--1 equals 8, number of children. 81 sis.ai
SKI 900 equals 1000. portion of EACH, sats aa.
64x1 900 equals 90, 900, sum to be divided.
Such were among the simplest questions
which he answered with rapidity and exacti.
k.I, -~.wn