Twenty one-year-old Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash from Hyderabad has emerged as the fastest human calculator in the world by securing gold medal for India in the Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad held in London. He bagged the first position at the international level and made our country proud. But this is not the first time Neelakanta is being recognised for being quicker than a calculator.
He stated, “I hold four world records and 50 Limca records for being the fastest human calculator in the world. 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.”
The world championship was held virtually in August this year. The Olympiad saw 37 participants up to the age of 57 years participated from 13 countries across the globe. Neelakanta led the championship by 65 points, while a Lebanese competitor came second, and the participant at the third position hails from the UAE.
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The judges at the Olympiad were amazed by seeing Neelakanta’s speed and accuracy at the competition. He stated, “Beating 29 competitors up to 57 years of age from 13 countries, I won a gold medal with a clear margin of 65 points. The judges were so spellbound by my speed that they required me perform more calculations to check my accuracy.” Neelakanta is a graduate in mathematics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. When he was five years old, he enrolled himself for the SIP Abacus programme and completed nine levels of Abacus.
The fast human calculator has also won the International Abacus Championship in 2013 and the National Abacus Championship consecutively in 2011 and 2012. Neelakanta envisions to create ‘Vision Maths’ labs to reach out to children and make them start loving maths. Srinivas Jonnalgadda, Neelakanta’s father, affirmed that his son has made India proud. He mentioned his son’s vision to eradicate math phobia in children.