Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1884-06-25
Mathematical prodigfc@

H I'd NJ EN NA-MAANH.rr $500
A mathematical wonder 1t FAll1
Village, Ct. is Robert Wilcox. Jr.,agcd
about 81. Wilcox Is q young man OF
ordinary intelligence. and has . COM
mon school education. hnt in mathe-
mates has developed remarkable abi1-
ity to add, subtract and divide mep-
tally. 1t is said that he = not able to
solve complex problems but in less
than o minute can give correct an
swers to such questions ~ the follow
ing: Given . locomotive driving wheel
5 feet 4 inches in diameter. how many
revolutions would the wheel make in
going six milesP Or how many seconds
has a man lived who has attained the
age Of 81 years 5 months and 8 days,
supposing each month TO contain thirty
dayse
Richmond, Ind, has an untutored
mind which is capable Of astonishing
results in q mathematical way. A boy
who will not be six years old until next
May, and neither knows his skies nor
his sevens nor his alphabst, outranks
in mental arithmetic scholars Of three
times his age and well up 10 the higher
branches. 1t is Master George Row
land Price, whose father. d. L. Price,a
carpenter. works for Oliver Yates, and,
like his wife and his other children, has
never manifested any rare mental at
tainments. One morning last fall the
boy came down stairs and asked, ''How
much are 2 twice and 1Po His father
replied that there was no such thing,
whereupon the lad rcjoincd: .Yes. there
sy,s q k,.,nn u~J vnnlyn r ~ Lx.nyn fhof
on to the holidays he was constantly
stumbling on TO something OF the kind.
which perplexed his parents. rs they
had taken M pains TO instruct him,
and they could not understand where
he got his ideas from. With the COM
ing Of the holidays. however, his mind
became engrossed with more childish
things, and he for q time abandoned
his mathematical problems, but. subse-
quently resuming them, he has lat
terly developed into a mental marvel.
Perhaps If you ask him how much forty
times eighty are, he will answer: 1.-Two
thousand and twenty sixties over" but
he generally gives the correct answer
in one total, and does it apparently
with as little thought and as promptly
dS no WOuiO tcAl yOu uLS Aoluc. <AuO
while he does not deal in fractions, he
computes odd numbers just ~ readily
u he does wen ones, whether the
example be in addition, subtraction or
multiplication. A fellow workman of
his father said: .'Rowley. l have Al
cents and your father gave 7 and then
l give you O.; how many have / lcftP''
''rhirty-nine." he replied as quick as .
flash. and the man said, II am A years
old; how many weeks is that?" He
just as promptly responded, "2, 288."
Instead Of having . massive head and
q dwarfed body as is usual in such
individuals, he is very evenly propor-
toned for = boy. weighing about forty
| five pounds, and his extra breadth Of
forehead would hardly be noticed vsre
one not appraised Of his characteristic.
In habits he is older than his years, 70
naming with his parents instead Of
taking to children's sportA and often
saying to ncighbor children when they
come to play with him: '.You had bet
ter go home; mother has enough kidd
Of her W to bother her, In fact, he
is p%recocious in every way. but only
phenomenal in M theMatics.