Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-02-13
A RAPID CALCULATOR.
Young Man From the West Sur
prised Yale Savants.
WORKS WONDERS WITH FIGURES.

| Four Seconds and Square Root In
Two seconds-Hns n Large stock of
| Rules.
| Ten scientific societies were recently
| in session at New Haven, and all had
new and wonderful discoveries to re-
| late. But not one of them showed
| the wonder that the American Psy-
Geological society did-Arthur +. Crit
| fifth, mathematical prodigy. The
other day the two Yale savants of
mathematics, Professors Andrew Phil
| lips and W. II. Beebc. put the boy
| through his PAGES before crowd of
eager scientists. Never once did he
| fail.
Il am the oldest of five children,
said the youngster who is 10 and n
native of Milford. Ind. My father is
q stone mason and a poor man.
learned 10 count when l was = years
old. and when | was > could count
up to 10000. | know the multiplied
ton table up 10 100. the cubes of all
numbers up to 100 and the fourth pow
, ers up TO 90. l also know most of the
multiplication table up to 1000, but not
all of il.
There is nothing mysterious about
the way l work. First, my knowledge
of these tables helps me; second. l can
see all the figures that are given to me
mentally. just as il they were on n
blackboard three feet away.
Il have worked out lot of rules for
myself that make arithmetical opera
lions very simple. l can give you the
cube root of any number in FOUR sec
onds and the square root in two sec
onds. l can multiply Is numbers by
any other 10 and carry them in my
head"
What is the cube root of 1867, 631 2"
asked reporter of the New York
World suddenly.
1.-THE cube root of 1867 ,G31?' retorted
young Griffith. why, that's Ill"
He was right. 1t had taken him just
three seconds to so through the COM
plicated operation. Asked what 35S4
times 4.79S was, he gave the answer
in twinkling.
The two Yale professors tried him in
addition. subtraction. multiplication
and division. fractions, factoring and
decimals. He could do all their prob
lens in second without pencil or pa
per. He multiplied six numbers by
five numbers and gave the answer cor
rectly in n jifTy. Professors Phillips
and Bcebe marVeled. He could add
three columns of any length at the
same time and subtract long numbers
with consummate ease. The mathe-
maticians and psychologists present
pronounced the youth the greatest
arithmetical wonder of the century.
Professors w. l.. Bryan and +. H.
Lindley of the University of Indiana
have brought young Griffith east.
He is a wonder" said DIR. Bryan the
other night. 1--WE discovered him last
September when he came TO the uni
versity. His people are very poor. and
he is only fairly bright save in aritb-
metic. He has no disease. His Won
derful ability lies in his prodigious
memory and the tremendous stock of
rules he has made for himself for
shortening ordinary arithmetical OPP
erations.
He has large number of short
methods that he has worked out for
himself. We find that he has worked
out the complicated binomial theorem
for himself-that great problem that
Sir Isaac Newton gave IL the world.
Yet he has not done it by algebra. but
by arithmetic He has also worked out
a number of the rules for rapid cal
culation that can be found in the high
or textbooks. though he has never had
access to them. Other rules are of his
own discovery.
For instance, he knows the last two
diGits of all squares and cubes by
heart The rest he gets in his mind
l.. Cd
with the most delicate instruments To
determine his speed. For small opera
tions he is 10 quicker than you or ].
but large ones he can do in his head
while we are putting the numbers
down on paper. For instance. to null
tiply 0.945 to the fifth power he does
it in exactly Is operations, while the
ordinary method requires $50 different
ones.
"Other arithmetical wonders have !
declined TO tell the source Of their pow |
ers or have been very hazy about them. !
But Griffith is free TO tell all about 1t. !
He has a great many facts of arithme-
tic in his head and many short ways Of
working. He expects to get out book |
on il shortly.
HE is not in college-in fact, he
could not pass the entrance examina- |
tons. Neither does he know anything
of higher Acknowledgement the
calculus. geometry. algebra and the
like. 1t is only numbers he knows"
Young Griffith looks like the country
boy that he is. with an ungainly body
and big feet and hands. But he has
fine head and face and keen eyes. He |
hopes TO turn his mathematical ability /,
TO account