The world champion of mental calculation, Alberto Coto García from Asturias, delighted the students present on Tuesday the 30th in the auditorium of the CI Lope de Vega.
From "guessing" the date and day of the week of the students' birth based on a series of operations they had previously performed with their calculator, as well as adding 15 numerical figures in less than 3 seconds or calculating the cube root of 6-digit numbers before the student said the whole number, Alberto left the students who witnessed his talks astonished, test after test.
Throughout the four sessions organized for different stages of the school (3rd cycle of primary school, 1st and 2nd cycle of ESO and Baccalaureate) Alberto demonstrated his prodigious ability and explained his calculation techniques with great clarity, becoming from that moment on a pedagogical and, above all, motivating activity.
The youngsters learned about the requirements for sharpening the mind, the importance of handling numbers well for better decision-making, the significance of mathematics in everyday life in a practical sense, and he emphasized that you should always play with the odds in your favor when making decisions.
There were also moments of confessions.
-"Were you good at math when you were little?"a student asked.
“I remember that in a fraction calculation exam, we had one hour to solve it. I did it in 4 minutes… Due to my introverted nature at that time and the fear of being observed by my classmates, I waited until a classmate handed it in before handing in my exam,” he revealed.
And he continued with his confessions.
“When I go to the supermarket, I keep track of the total as I pick up the items. By the time I get to the checkout with my cart, I already know the exact amount, without even trying. If the cashier makes a mistake against me, I tell her, and if it’s in my favor… I tell her that too!” she revealed cheerfully.
He also had the opportunity to present his latest book, "Multiply Your Intelligences," which deals with concentration techniques, calculation, and the eight intelligences that human beings possess. He took this opportunity to talk to them about these intelligences, making them aware of the importance of developing them together.
Games and tricks aside, Alberto Coto, with his 14 Guinness World Records, 9 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals won at the Mental Sports Olympics, is considered one of the fastest people on the planet in mental calculations, and the students of CI Lope de Vega enjoyed a "numerical" day thanks to a lover of numbers who opened his mind to us for a few hours so that we could enjoy the beauty of numbers and mathematics in general.
SOME OF THEIR BEST BRANDS
ADD:
1) 100 digits in 17.04 seconds (GUINNESS RECORD)
2) 50 digits in 8.12 seconds (GUINNESS RECORD)
3) 15 digits in 1.6 seconds
4) 10 blocks of 100 digits each in 3 minutes and 42 seconds (GUINNESS RECORD)
MULTIPLY:
1) Two 5-digit numbers: 7.25 seconds
2) Two numbers of 8 digits each: 27. 8 seconds (GUINNESS RECORD)
3) Ten blocks of two 8-digit numbers each: 5 minutes and 44 seconds
4) Two 10-digit numbers: 44.83 seconds
SQUARE ROOTS:
1) 6-digit number extracting 5 decimal places: 18.6 seconds
2) Ten 6-digit numbers extracting 5 decimal places: 6 minutes 39 seconds (GUINNESS RECORD)
CALENDAR DATES:
1) 50 dates from the 20th century: 47 seconds
2) 50 dates of the Gregorian calendar: 66 seconds
3) 50 dates of a specific year of the Gregorian calendar: 39 seconds
TRANSFORMING MOMENTS OF THE DAY INTO SECONDS:
20 in 13 seconds (GUINNESS WORLD RECORD)
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SEVEN-TIME WORLD CHAMPION
1) Add: 2004; 2008; 2010
2) Multiply: 2004; 2006; 2008
3) Combined: 2008
4) Silver medals in: Square root (2010)
5) Bronze medals in: Combined (2004; 2010) – Multiplication (2010)
TWO-TIME OLYMPIC CHAMPION (Istanbul 2008)
1) Add: 2008
2) Square root: 2008
3) Silver medal in multiplication: 2008
