Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Mathematician Shakuntala Devi Died


Shakuntala Devi, the Indian Mathematician also known as mental calculator and human computer died on 21 April 2013.She was of 80 years in age. Among her distinctions was her ability to, given a date in the last century, mentally ascertain the day. She was in a Hospital from 3 April 2013 over a period of two weeks, due to respiratory problems and later she developed kidney and heart complications. She died due to heart failure and renal problem.Her name was recorded in Guinness Book of World Records for her ability of making calculations as lightning-speed. One of her major distinction was that when given a date in the last century, she could have mentally ascertained the day for it. In the year 1977, she calculated the 23rd root of digit number 201 in just 50 seconds. In 1980, she successfully multiplied the two 13-digit numbers (7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779) given to her by the computer department of Imperial College London. She was successful in making this calculation with 28 seconds. Some of her books were Puzzles to Puzzle You, Mathablit, Astrology for You, Fun with Numbers and Awaken the Genius in Your Child.

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