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A DUTCH MATHEMATICIAN TRIES TO COME UP WITH THE 73RD ROOT OF A 499-DIGIT NUMBERALL IN HIS HEAD

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4 The human computer whirs

T h e c h a l l e n g e is to figure outtotally in his headthe 73rd root of a 499-digit number. Dutch mathematician Willem Klein has been wrong on two previous tries. As a computer gives him a third number, he clasps his hands in prayer (above), then scans the printout before him and undertakes the finger-gnawing, cigarette-smoking, head-holding process of cogitation. At bottom right he holds up his hand to signal that he thinks he has it.

P h o t o g r a p h s by Ralph C r a n e

Wait! He may have i t . . .


29

Eureka! Klein's answer is right


wwillem Klein is, of course, called "The Human Computer." Now 64, he discovered a passion for numbers as a child in Amsterdam. A Jewish doctor's son, he had to hide from the Nazis during the war. Afterward he made a living as "The Man with the 10,000-Pound Brain" in European music halls. In 1958 CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) near Geneva recognized his talents and hired him. At the time he was far more efficient than the center's computer. Still a showman, Klein had a rapt audience at the CERN auditorium when he set out to break his own record of 3 minutes 43 secondsand did so by a full minute. "He is an artist," observes a CERN physicist. Only one shadow dimmed the event: Modern computers have overtaken even Klein's wizardly speed. So this year the Human Computer will retire. He intends to move back to Amsterdam, visit the schools and "show children how to have fun with numbers."

The electronic computer confirms the human solution6,789,235. It took Klein 2 minutes 43 seconds, a new world record.

Klein considers the problem he has solved: What number multiplied by itself 73 times equals the sum shown?

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