Google warmed the hearts of billions of Indians, computer geeks and mathematicians around the world, by featuring the late Shakuntala Devi, famously known as "The Human Computer", on her 84th birthday on Nov. 4; by featuring her on the Google Doodle, styled to look like a calculator display !!
Generations of Indians have known her since their schooldays. Her forte was to perform the most complex mathematical calculations mentally and within seconds. Some of her most remarkable achievements in beating the computer in speed has been in extracting cube root of large numbers and once she gave the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in 50 seconds flat !!
Another of her amazing feat was to multiply two randomly picked 13 digit numbers in just 28 seconds !! Just about the time one takes in writing out the result !!! This feat is recorded in the Guinnesse Book of World Records.
Born in a poor family of circus performers, Shakuntala Devi's genius became evident at the age of three, and she went on to display her mathematical skills to the world, despite lacking a formal education. She was 83 years old, when she passed away this year on April 21 in Bangalore.
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