Evening star., 1933-03-30
SCIENTIST ABLE TO CALCULATE
WITH SPEED OF 80 MACHINES
Polish Scholar Offers to Aid
U. S. Work Out Beer
Bill Revenue.
Dr.. SaIo FinkeIstein Makes
Tour of Universities, Dis
playing Genius.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
A man whose BRAIN as demonstrated
by scientific tests, is approximately the
equivalent of 80 calculating machines
with competent operators came to
Washington yesterday.
He is DR.. Salo Finke!stein, the worlds
greatest calculator" He adds, multi
plies and divides almost instantaneously
with casual glance at column of fig
ures. He can calculate about as fast as
he can see. DR.. Kinkelstein has been
making the rounds of American univer-
stiles and his strange genius has aroused
wide comment. Relationships between
figures are Immediately obvious to him.
If the Government has some eSpe-
cial difficult problem involving great
masses of statistical tables-such as fig
uring out the expected revenue from
the beer bill or the probable costs and
returns of the farm relief measures
DR.. Finkelstein said yesterday he would
be willing to solve them just to help
out in hard times. An office full OF
clerks with adding machines might do
the same thing in a few weeks, but, the
",
of time, with a guarantee ct absolute
accuracy Adding machine calculations
are bound to contain errors His calcu-
lati1-.s never are wrong. He pays S100
fcs any error which can be detected in
his figures.
Employed BY Poland.
Before coming to the United States
few months ago DR. FinkelStein was
employed in the statistical Office of the
Polish government at Warsaw, where he
made the use of adding machines un-
necessary and, he says, made possible
the publication of the only absolutely
perfect statistical reports yet issued by
any government.
Dr. Finkelstein has little in common
with the vaudeville act type OF lightning
calculator
He holds the degree of doctor of
philosophy in psychology from the Uni
versity of Warsaw. He analyses ex-
pertly his own strange mental processes.
His ability carries over into the fields
of languages, art and music. He keeps
abreast of world affairs.
His calculating ability. he says, is a
complex of number of abilities which
would enter into almost any mental &C
tivity. First is his quick perception.
He ''sees" much faster than the average
human being. He can see NUMBER
of six digits in thousandth OF Sec
ond as determined by accurate meas
urements He can see seven dlgltS IN
a six hundred and sixtieth of second.
And, with him, seeing is remembering.
This quick perception was what chiefly
interested Prof. Albert Einstein. For
you," Prof Einstein told him, "a sec
ond is a relatively long time Time,
after all, exists largely in the mind. An
interval of time that for most OF us
would be imperceptible is a really to
DR.. Finkelstein.
In addition, he has long memory
span. Most folks could repeat three
or four digits after merely glancing at
them. DR.. Finkelstein can remember
a number of more than 300 digits after
looking at it for a brief time. He has
the same long memory span with words
and music After lapses of years he
remembers so as to be able to repro
duce obscure passages of music or
poetry.
Closely associated with this memory
span is his rare ability to visualize.
Set down a succession of Is or 80 num-
bers in any geometric arrangement,
preferably a square. DIR. Finkelstein
will glance at it for a moment and
close his eyes Then he will tell you
the position of all, or of any one OF
the numbers in the geometric f1gure.
He forms an image of it in his mind.
It is as if he still were looking at 1t.
But, he insists, this is quite different
phenomenon from the eidet1c imagery
which has attracted a great deal OF at
tention of late among American pSy-
biologists. He sees the numbers, not
in the handwriting of the writer. but
transposed into his own handwriting.
Oblivious to Surroundings.
Next is his ability to concentrate
When he produces such mental image,
he says, nothing else on earth exists Tor
him. He is oblivious to his surround
ings, his own body, his memories. II ne
has a toothache he is not aware of 1t.
All his mental and physical energy Is
concentrated on that mental picture.
Yet it is not conscious concentration
He is not aware of any sepcial effort.
A fifth significant factor is his quick
ness of association. There Is an almost
immediate hook-up in his mind between
a number of any number OF otner things
that may be associated with that num-
ber. It is an important aid to memory
49,
four digits 1492-because We associate
them with significant date in history,
that of the discovery of America. DR.
Finkelstein would make similar asso-
ciation for almost any series of figures.
These associations give numbers an
emotional coloring He has sad num-
bers, glad numbers, beautiful numbers,
ugly numbers-all because of their asso-
citation. He is given at random the
number 1849. That is the year three
great men died-Chopin, Poe and u
Polish poet. 1t is sad number. Take
259-that is a beautiful number. First,
it represents the number of paragraphs
In Spinoza's Ethics" Then the varia-
tions, 259, 592 and 925 are all divisible
by 81; 1892 might be written as two
to the fifth power multiplied by the
square of 9, or 80 multiplied by 81. This
would give 1892 again. Add three ci-
pliers and the result is the number of
seconds in a month. To DR.. Kinkelstein
it Is like beautiful strain of music or a
masters painting.
As a child DR.. Finkelstein does nos