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Simply amazing. His love, passion and dedication to numbers is remarkable to say the least. His sence of humor is fantastic and he is charming. Keep up the great work Arthur. I now have chills thanks to you.

Okay, this guy is freaking amazing. I appreciate his talent so much. I love math!

However, I’m a bit curious as to why no one has caught his mistakes. He made to mistakes on squaring two numbers. When asked to square 457 he says, 205,849 but the answer is 208,849. When asked to square 722 he says 513,284 but the answer is 521,284.

None the less, the man is AWESOME!

Professor Benjamin has a DVD course on The Joy of Mathematics through The Teaching Company. Very stimulating.

hahaha shereese i agree, theres someone giving him the answers, prob through the headphones, and him asking someone he knows for the calender thing. its a crazy, fake world out there

That guy is amazing, I don’t care what you say!
As for the earpeice, he’s probably just hearing impaired.
-Boo

These tricks are older than any history……..i am feeling sleepy….yaa….

can I copy this video for my student and how??????

what a nerd, but i thought it was cool

Oh my… this is sexy! lol

He did make 2 mistakes and (not to be too skeptical) but check out exactly at 7:22, his right ear.

YOUR SHOW IS WONDERFUL.. I AM A RETIRED MATH SCIENCE TEACHER. ARE THERE ANY BOOKS TO TEACH HOW THESE CALCULATIONS CAN BE DONE WITH EASE?

Hey MacAuslan, as a poet and non-number person, I want you to know that “green fear” is indeed very good as a metaphor. I think that for this guy, numbers are his metaphors. Sorry all you math geniuses for inserting this humanities footnote, but I just love “green fear” and think there may be a poem brewing somewhere back there…so much more fun than square roots for me. I’m impressed as hell by the guy and just wish my mind could think that way. I can’t even SAY numbers that fast!

…wow, very fast with that day-of-week calculation!
takes me probably 20 times longer…!

As for that 8649n puzzle, where TED asked audience
members for arbitary 3-digit N’s followed by supply-
ing the ‘missing digit’ in the (7-digit) product, the
only hint I’ll give is: “Digital Root.” Ok, on your
own on that one. With just a little practice, you’ll
also master that neat ‘trick,’ another great one to
present to learners.

I have seen Art’s show twice, and I can assure you that he is not cheating in some way like using an ear piece or trained helpers. In one of these shows, which he gave to a room full of mathematicians, in the second half of the show, he explained his method for every trick. He uses a lot of basic algebra and some memory tricks for remembering long strings of numbers. Even knowing how each trick is done, most of us were still very impressed with his speed and accuracy.

It saddens me to hear posters suggest that he’s arrogant. I have met with him on several occasions, and I have found Art to be one of the most humble and at the same time, most intelligent people I’ve ever met. His mathematics research and publication records are astounding, and he’s just a really nice guy.

Can’t wait to show this to my grandson who is a math wiz. Eleanor

He is entertaining; you can tell he loves what he is doing; it would be a real honor to learn from him. He owns the audience as much as any comedian does. And he doesn’t have to be common or vulgar to do it. I’d love to meet him – not to have a private show but just to talk with him because he seems so approachable, so funny, so secure, has such a rapport you know you’re going to be in for a good time.

Do I think he cheats and has answers given to him? No way. Anyone can do some of the things he does on a lower level but with the same speed. There’s nothing really outrageously difficult to it and he tells you that flat out up front. The earpiece? Watch Ready, Steady, Cook – every chef has an earpiece. I don’t think they are getting recipes. I think there is some other reason they have to wear them.

Think on this – his delivery is superb. He makes the whole thing enjoyable. Anyone remember Tom Lehrer? Base 8 anyone?

And a nerd? Precisely NOT; he seems to have exactly what the nerd lacks – the ability to interact with people.

as the heir and C.O.O. of a 4th generation wholesale distributor, who could use an intense accounting overhaul…we sure could use this guy in some meetings…down to his knack for dates!

OMG! your amazing! My husband & I are in awe of Dr. Arthur. He is extremely talented!!!!!!!! VERY IMPRESSIVE!

I must also point out (as did ONE other person above)….
The “earpiece” is a microphone. How else would everyone in the entire room hear him?

I shared this clip with my 7th grade math students—-and even REGARDLESS that a few mistakes were made, my students had their mouths dropped for the duration of the 15 minutes. Amazing short clip to EXCITE young students and push them to have an importance of “mental math skills.”

Well, this guy is truly amazing.

Shandooga on 12.19.07 at 2:02 pm

what an arrogant little man. Interesting skill but how does it improve the world? Are we all better off? Are any of us better off?

What an arrogant poster. Did your comment improve the world? Are we all better off? Are any of us better off? Has our IQ been harmed by reading your comment?

..wow..

:-0 amazing

Shangooga got no class or had no proper up bringing

a “real” calculator, wow! the guy is hyperactive, a typical super-smart syndrome…

Hi,
It was really, really, really……..awesome…
i m a aerospace student and we have maximum number of courses here but i afraid that i m wasting my time here…..hey TED!! do u take interns????

I bought this book two weeks ago for my grandson http://www.vedic-maths-ebook.com/vedic

It appears Mr Art might have been using “Vedic Maths” to help perform some of his tricks. It’s some sort of ancient mathematics from India. My grandson loves it.

What can a 68 year old grandmother do with fast maths now? lol

Poppy

lol, he was my professor first semester. He’s a great teacher, very exciting

Steven, your first comment (#50 at 8:29 am) is somewhat incomplete: i’m as ticked as you are at his two slip-ups, but there’s also the final squaring, of the 5-digit number. When computing 57 * 683 * 2, he initially says 77,862, converts that into nouns, and then repeats it as 77,822… However, the end result is fine, so i can’t say if he’s only making temporary mistakes, or if he is cheating.