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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
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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