Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Alexis Lemaire calculates the 13th root of a random 200 digit number

This is amazing:

"Alexis Lemaire, a 27-year-old Frenchman, correctly calculated the 13th root of a random 200-digit number from a possible 393 trillion answers.
The so-called 'mathlete' produced the answer of 2,407,899,893,032,210 in 70.2 seconds, beating his previous record of 72.4 seconds, at London's Science Museum
."

I first thought Alexis Lemaire had a gift for calculating large numbers.

After I did some Googling on the internet I found a reference which explained a technique for calculating the 13th root of 100-digit numbers. It involves using logarithms and knowing the properties of 13th roots. I'm still impressed.

If you have a child interested in math, they might enjoy showing off as they caclulate the 13th root of large numbers.


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Technorati tags: Alexis Lemaire, , 13th root

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're still impressed? Ha! Alexis Lemaire is the only person in the entire world who can do this at the moment. Most of his rivals are only able to figure out the 13th root of a 100-digit number. There's a big difference between a 100-digit number and a 200-digit number. To look at a number that contains 200 digits and be able to find the 13th root in 70 seconds is more than just impressive... it's an anomaly. There are only a handful of people who can access and utilize their brains in such a manner. A few of which have been on the Oprah show and have written successful books. They've been featured on Discovery Channel. And yet, they can't do what Alexis can do. So yes, you should still be impressed!