Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-09-15
MINDS FOR FIGURES.
Preeoeious Youths Who Have Been
Mathematical Wizards.

MINDS FOR FIGURES.
.Preeoeious Youths Who Have Been
Mathematical Wizards.
George Parker Bidder was one Of the
most remarkable mathematical gen.
fuses and was about the only one
among this class Of infant prodigies
whose talents were really useful In
later life and followed up his preco-
cious youth with a successful man
hood.
Bidder was born In 1906 at Morton
Hampstead, in Devonshire, England.
where his father carried on a small
business as a stonemason. When only
four years old Bidder showed a most
extraordinary ability for calculation
His peculiar talents soon attracted
general attention, and his father found
1t more profitable to travel about the
country and exhibit his son as the
calculating phenomenon" than follow
his humble trade. The boy was taken
to London, and his peculiar talents
were investigated by the most learned
men of his time, whom he astonished
by the rapidity with which he an
swered the most difficult questions.
The following question was solved by
him In 40 seconds: Suppose the ball at
the top of ST. Peters cathedral to be
six feet in diameter, what did the gild-
ing cost at 81 pense per square inch?
The answer, 9237, los, Id, was given
before the examiner had time to put
the figures Of the example on paper.
The following question was answered
in sixty seconds: Suppose city to
be illuminated with 1893 lamps, each
lamp to consume one pint Of oil every
four hours in succession, how many
gallons would they consume In forty
years." The answer contains nine
figures, 169,4S9.O50 gallons. Another
curious question was, Suppose the
earth to consist of $1,000 900 inhabi-
tants and suppose they die In 30 years
4 months. how many have returned to
dust since the time Of Adam, comput-
ing 1t to be 1850 years?" This problem
offered no difficulties to the lad, who
nonchalantly ratified off the answer In
less than thirty seconds. Fortunately
for the boy, he attracted the attention
of some eminent scholars, who had
him educated at Camberwell and af-
terwards at Edinburgh, where he car
ried off all the prizes for the study OF
higher mathematics. After his gradu-
alton from college he pursued the
profession of engineer and became as
sociated with Robert Stephenson and
assisted in constructing the Birming-
ham railway. Later In life he entered
parliament and many stories are told
of Bidders wonderful skill in detect
ing flaw in some set Of elaborate cal
culations. He died at Dartmouth In
1878.
Another extraordinary child was Ze-
rah Colburn, who was born at Cabot,
VT, In 1904 His remarkable genius
was displayed at an early age. and
when eight years old he solved the
most difficult problems by the mere
eminent mathema tician to give the
square Of 999,999, he replied almost in
stantly, giving the figures 999,99S,OOO-
001, without any hesitation. He OBJ
served that he produced the result by
multiplying the square Of 37,037 by the
square of q. He was then asked to
multiply the answer twice by 49 and
once by 25. a task which he accom-
plished in less than two minutes, al
though the answer consists of seven
teen figures. In five seconds he gave
the cube root of 413.993. .34S,677, and to
AL questions of a similar nature he
succeeded In giving correct answers.
Professors and scientific men endeav-
ored to obtain a knowledge Of Col
burns methods, but the boy declared
that he was unable to explain how the
answers came into his mind. He was
ignorant Of the commonest rules OF
arithmetic and could not solve a prob
lem on paper, not even simple feat
in multiplication or division. Col
burns faculty of computation left him
when he reached manhood, and he died
at the early age Of thirty-six.
A singular instance of this curious
development of the calculating faculty
and differing in several respects from
Bidder and Colburn Is the case Of Je-
bediah Buxton, who. though he cannot
be called an infant prodigy. was one
of the most remarkable of the mental
calculators whose names are a part Of
the history of the curious. Buxton
was born in 1907 at Elmerton, In Der
byshire where his father was school,
master. Notwithstanding his fathers
profession, Jebediah's education was
neglected. He was not even taught to
write. 1t was not until he had arriv-
ed at mans estate that he showed any
aptitude for mental arithmetic. Once
interested in the subject however, his
mind developed with amazing rapidity.
He had a remarkable memory, and
while In the midst of a problem he
could desist and resume the operation
again where he had left off. even If 1t
were q year after. A remarkable thing
about the man was that he would al
low two persons to propose different
problems at the same time. and he
would answer each without the least
confusion. He could also talk freely
while working out his problems. Bux-
ton died in 1772.
Many other examples Of these freak
of nature" are known, and among them
may be mentioned a negro of Mary
land. who. with no education whatever
possessed a wonderful gift for solving
difficult mathematical problems. With
the exception of Bidder few OF these
genuses have amounted to anything,
and as time went on they either lost
their marvellous power or died before
they could make II serve some useful
purpose.-World's Events.