Delta chief., 1884-04-02
MATHEW ATICAL PRODIGIEs.
Remarkable Gifts OF AN Indiana Boy and
a Connecticut Young Man.


- Connecticut Young Man.
According to the Hartford Conn.,
Times a mathematical wonder al Falls
Village is Robert Wilcox Jr., aged
about twcntv-one. Wilcox is young
man of ordinary intelligence, and has
common school education. but in
mathematics has developed remarkable
ability to add, subtract, and divide
mentally. II is said that he is not able
10 solve complex problems. but in less
than u minute can give correct answers
10 such questions n the following:
Given locomotive driving wheel i've
feet four inches in diameter; how
many revolutions would the wheel make
in going six milesp Or. how many sec
onds has a man lived who has attained
the age of 81 wears 5 months and
days. supposing the months had each
thirty days?
The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette
is authority for the following: Rich
land, Ind. has an untutored mind
which is capable of astonishing results
in a mathematical way. boy who
will not be six years old until next
May outranks in mental arithmetic pu-
pills thrice his years and well up in the
htYnsr bTturnes. IL u sa>iet b'oiEt
Rowland Price, whose father, NJ. l..
Price. carpenter. works for Oliver
Yates, and. like his wifc..and his other
children. have never manifested any
rare mental requirements. although the
family arc people OF average attain
mcn,s. One morning las, fall the boy
came down stairs and asked, Glow
mucs are 2 twice and ?n His father
.sI st..s h.r M st,rh thing
whercupon the lad rejoined: Yes.
there is; 2 twice and make s." From
that on to the holidays he was constant
" stumbling ON to something of the
kind. which pcrplcxed his parents. as
they had taken no pains TO instruct
him, and they could not understand
where he 20, his ideas from. With the
coming of the holidays. however. his
mind became engrossed with more
childish things, and for r
time abandoned his mathematical
problems. but subsequently, rcsuming,
he has latterly developed into
n mental marvel. Perhaps II you ask
him how much forty times eighty are,
he will reply, Two Thousand and
twenty sixties over" but he generally
gives the correct answer in one toiaE
and does it apparently with rs little
thought and as promptly as he would
tell you his name. And while he does
not deal in fractions. he computes odd
sumbcrs Just as readily as he does even
ones. whether the example be in addi-
ton. subtraction or multiplication. A
fcllow-workman of his father said:
''Rowly. havc41 cents and your father
gives me z, then l give you 9; how
many have lcft?" ..Thirty-ninc,
he replied rs quick as fash. and the
man said; II am ~ years old; how
many weeks is that?" He just as
promptly responded. "2. 2ss.' Instead
of having massive head and n
dwarfed body. as is general in such in
dividuals. he is very evenly proportion
ed for boz. weighing about forty-tivc
pounds. and his extra breadth of for
head would hardly be noticeable were
one NOT appriscd Of his characteristic.
In habits he is older that his years. re-
naming with his parents instead Of
taking 20 childrcn's sports. and often
saying TO ncighbor children when they
come TO play with him, You had bet
ter go home; mother has enough kids
of her own to bother her" In fact,
he is prccocious in every way, but only
phenomenal IN mathematics.