Meet The 20 Year Old DU Student Who Bagged ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ Title
Meet The 20 Year Old DU Student Who Bagged ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ Title:
Hyderabad: The 20 year old Hyderabad based Delhi University student, Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash emerged as the ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ after winning first ever Gold for India in Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO), which was held at London recently. MSO is the most prestigious international competition for games of mental skill and mind sports.
The Championship was held virtually to avoid the contact due to the existing Corona Virus pandemic crisis. Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash is a scholar of Mathematics (Hons.) at St. Stephen’s College which comes under Delhi University. He holds 4 World Records and 50 Limca Records for being the ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’.
“I hold 4 world records and 50 Limca records for being the World’s Fastest Human Calculator. My brain calculates quicker than the speed of a calculator. Breaking these records, once held by Math maestros like Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi, is a matter of national pride. I have done my bit to place India on the global level of mathematics,” Neelakant told ANI.
This is the first time that an Indian emerged as a Gold winner in the Championship. Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) was first held in 1998.
“I won a gold medal for India at the MSO, London 2020 held on August 15. This is the first time that India has won a gold medal. The MSO is the most prestigious international competition for games of mental skill and mind sports which is held in London every year. This is equivalent to any other Olympic event in the realm of physical sports,” he said.
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The Championship consisted of 30 participants up to 57 years of age from 13 countries. Bhanu Prakash was 65 points ahead of the runner up who was from Lebanese. The contender from U.A.E bagged the first runner up.
“Beating 29 competitors, up to 57 years of age, from 13 countries, I won the gold medal with a clear margin of 65 points. The judges were so spellbound by my speed, that they required me to perform more calculations to confirm my accuracy,” he added.
He also said that judges were spellbound by the speed at which he was solving the problems and they asked him to perform more calculations to confirm his accuracy.
As per the reports, the 20 year old’s brain is capable of calculating quicker than the speed of a calculator. These records were previously held by Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi.
Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash’s Vision:
In a recent Interview with BBC, he said that his vision is to eradicate ‘Maths Phobia’ from the young students. He also pointed out that 3 out of 4 students from India have concern in judging the subject, mathematics.
“My vision is to create math labs, reach out to millions of children, under what I call in order to make them start loving math and arithmetic calculations. Three out of every four students who study in the government schools of India have trouble in understanding basic Mathematics. The phobia caused by math and the demotivation is the number two cause for kids opting out of the rural schools in India,” he said.
Bhanu Prakash had suffered from a serious head injury from an accident when he was 5 years of age. He was bedridden for almost a year. It was during this time, the prodigy in Bhanu Prakash came out. He was engaged in mental math calculations to keep his brain ‘alive’.
“My parents were told I might be cognitively impaired. So I picked up mental maths calculations for survival, to keep my brain engaged,” he added.
Venkaiah Naidu Eulogize Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash:
Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu praised Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash for winning the ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ title.
“He has done India proud. My best wishes to him for all future endeavours,” Venkiah Naidu tweeted.
Compliments to Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash for winning the "world’s fastest human calculator" title & clinching the first-ever gold for India in the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad held in London recently. #HumanCalculator pic.twitter.com/pGPgpZlHS6
— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) August 26, 2020
Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash’s Tweet:
This is how Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash tweeted on his victory in MSO championship.
🥇 for India at Mental Calculation World Championship, MSO 🇬🇧
4 World Records – Fastest Human Calculator
These are just titles. My vision is to eradicate math phobia in 🇮🇳 and with @expinfi I reached to over a 2L students this lockdown though a project. There's a long way to go pic.twitter.com/DVJSrUFoIN— Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash J (@bhanuprakashjn) August 24, 2020
