The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-01-09
WNG ON FIGURES.
aHTNlNe CALCULATIONS BY a
GIFT OF NATURE.

Pc george Parker Bidder was born in
"a oVo at Morton Hampstead, in Devon
488shlfe, where his father carried on n
$sSmaii business as Il stonemasoh. AT the
R%sariy age OF A he showed a most en-
E 1taordinary ability for calculation, which.
skH,Wi'h slight assistance from an elder
{yssprother assumed quite phenomenal pro-
}5portions. His peculiar talents soon at
Bs.racted general attention, andthis father
MOUND 1t q much more profitable employ
sAineht to carry his son about the country
exhibit him as the "Calculating
SlFhenomenon" than following his trade.
&kElh THIS way young Bidder visited many
Eipafts of England, astonishing tho differ
2gehe people who came to question him
9N,Dy the wonderful rapidity with which
ne was able to answer, without external
X aid OF any description, the most difficult
3questions. Of these the following are a
X rev OF the most extraordinary examples:
III a flea spring 2 feet and 8 inches
Stih every hop, how many hops must it
Sltako to go around the world, the circum.
i terence being %, O2O miles, and how
4 long would it be performing the Journey
IN allowing it to take go hops every minute
without intermission? Answer, 81 ,71g.-
n ooO hops and l year, 914 days, 13 hours
and 20 minutes.
The following question was solved by
MIN Ill 40 seconds: Suppose the ball at
tho top of st. Paul's cathedral to be G
feet in diameter, what did tho gliding
'cost at 3%d. per square inch? Answer,
e237 los. Id.
Ihe following i'll l minute and 90
n seconds: Suppose u city to be illuminate
4, ed with $3.50 lamps, each lamp to con-
& sumo one pint of oil every four hours
4 III succession, how many gallons would
Arthey consume in 40 years? Answer,
. 0 $3.50 ,o50 gallons.
Another curious question was: Sup
y pose the earth to consist of 971, 600, 600
inhabitants and suppose they die in 80
years and 4 months, how many have re-
turned to dust since the time of Adam.
! computing it to be $3.50 years? Multi
2 ply the answer by 90.
X puring one of his exhibition tours.
ii fortunately for the lad, his performances
II attracted the attention of eminent schol-
! ars, who after making inquiries suisse
vi quently undertook his education. He
III was attached to the ordnance survey
3 Tor Il short time and afterward was as
q scclated with Stephenson, tho great en-
q gineer.
n Some years after, he entered parlia-
D ment, and numerous stories are oxtant
4 OF his wonderful skill III detecting a
MahaySln some elaborate sets Of calcutta
IkA tions, whereby he was often enabled to
fM upset an opponents case. Or, at other
M times, he would establish his own case
33}sa by arguments based upon mathematical
'sH data, possibly only at the moment
Al placed before him. 1t is said that on
~ one occasion an opposing counsel asked
b. that he might not DO allowed to remain
"a i'll the committee room on the ground
III that mature had endowed him with
ii qualities that did not place his oppo-
b nents OH q fair footing"
e) After taking II leading part in many
y important engineering works, ho died at
D Dartmouth, Sept. 20, 1878.
X Another of these extraordinary chill
y dren, between whom and Bidder honors
Il were almost equally divided, was
Il Zerah Colburn, born at Cabot, VT,
y Sept. ], 1904. Signs of his wonder
/ full power appeared ut n very tender
Il age. The discovery was accidentally
! made by his father, who was much sur
\ prised one day to hear him repeating
4 the product of several numbers, al
y though at the time he had received no
| other instruction than such rs could be
! obtained at a small country school
a whose curriculum did not include writ
M ing or ciphering. He thereupon proposed
Y q variety of a~rithmetical questions to
IL his son, all of which the child answered
n with remarkable facility and correct
!, ness. At the age Of 8 the boy was able
&to solve most difficult questions by the
{H1neTo operation of his mind. Many per-
3aSAsons OF tho first eminence for their
4 knowledge i'll mathematics made a point
i bf seeing and conversing with him, and
I fhey proposed to him q great variety of
I questions to test his marvellous powers
1 Among them were tho following:
81 Gave the square root of 900, 999. Aft
I Rer hesitating IL little no replied 900, 999,-
{ROO, OO1 and observed that he produced
!.Nthis result by multiplying the square of
u}7,O37 by the square of 27. He was
(Wlhen asked to multiply the answer twice
My 49 and once by 20, q task which he
accomplished successfully, though tho
ESS,nswer consists Of II figures.
M Name the cube root of Alb, 900, 34S,-
sN577. To this he gave the correct answer
ASbbin five seconds. How many times would
Ia coach wheel IL feet in circumference
Murn round III 25G miles, and how mauy
Aminutes i'll As years. To the first he re-
E(plied i'll two seconds 112, GAO, and to the
BISecond, before the question could be
Elwritten down, 25,23S, 800, and added
that the number Of seconds in the Same