Scott Flansburg (born December 28, 1963) is an American who is often called a mental calculator. Dubbed “The Human Calculator”, he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for
As an educator
Since about 1990[3] Flansburg has regularly given lectures and presentations at schools.[7] He has been a presenter at organizations such as NASA, IBM, The Smithsonian Institution, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,[4] and the Mental Calculation World Cup. The latter described Flansburg as “more an auditory than a visual [mental] calculator”.[9]
One of Flansburg’s “personal missions” is to use education to elevate math confidence and self-esteem in adults and children. “Why has it become so socially acceptable to be bad at math?,” he stated. “If you were illiterate, you wouldn’t say that on TV, but you can say that you are bad at math. We have to change the attitude.” He believes students should become proficient with calculation methods rather than relying on table memorization.[3]
Flansburg is the annual host and ambassador for World Maths Day,[10] and an official promoter of the American Math Challenge, a competition for students preparing for World Math Day.[7]
Media appearances
Flansburg has appeared on television shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Larry King Live. On April 26, 2009, on the Japanese primetime show Asahi’s Otona no Sonata, he broke his own world record with 37 answers in 15 seconds.[10] He was featured as The Human Calculator in the first episode of Stan Lee’s Superhumans, which aired on The History Channel on August 5, 2010. Part of the episode analyzed his brain activity.[11] An fMRI scan while he was doing complex calculations revealed that activity in the Brodmann area 44 region of the frontal cortex was absent; instead, there was activity somewhat higher from area 44 and closer to the motor cortex.[12]
Reead more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Flansburg