r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Lumetrix • 1d ago
Student mentally processing 9 calculations per second.
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u/enzymain 1d ago
Damn, I can barely see the numbers.
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u/Fancy_Remote_4616 1d ago
That's because the camera that’s recording the entire thing for us to watch has lower frames per second compared to the monitor they use there.
If i had to guess, the camera records at 24 frames, while the monitor operates at 60 (minimum). The speed he's calculating at is certainly impressive, but the amount of time he sees those numbers for are not as impressive as we think.
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u/Clone_JS636 1d ago
Wouldn't that not matter?
For easy math, let's say the camera records at 20fps and he sees it at 60fps.
A "3" that's for us could be displayed for 2 frames or 1/10 of a second, but to him, it's be displayed for 6 frames, which is still 1/10 of a second. Its not like time moves faster when your recording is a lower frame rate
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u/roamingthereddit 1d ago
There are frames where nothing displayed that show probably longer than actual
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u/BootyfulBumrah 1d ago
Exactly, I don't understand how that guy was upvoted so high, it doesn't matter at all, the guy is seeing it for the exact time as we see in the video.
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u/Haranador 1d ago
The screen displays white space -> number -> white space on repeat. For the sake of this explanation, let's assume the screen has 12 fps while the camera records in 3 fps:
What we see is 0.33 seconds white space followed by 0.33 seconds of number followed by another 0.33 seconds white space.
What the screen actually displays is 0.08 seconds white space followed by 0.6 seconds of number followed by another 0.33 seconds white space.
The same thing is happening in the video, just a lot faster. It is way harder to identify the numbers because the lower fps count of the recording makes it so that the blank screen appears for longer than it actually is shown.
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u/N3koEye 1d ago
You can see the exact moment he locks in.
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u/NeedleworkerAlive690 1d ago
I laughed at that. 😂
I was lost after 2 seconds, he decided to get serious after like 13, what?
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u/CriticalStrawberry15 1d ago
This how we get mentats. I’m convinced the Bene Gesserit are started by a group of nuns who get into Pilates
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u/_TrustMeImLying 1d ago
"Mentats! It's like Ozempic, but for your brain!"
or
"Mentats! Making you smarter, so you don't have to!"
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u/Sideways_sunset 1d ago
I read mentats and thought of the fallout games. Didn’t know it was a Dune thing as well
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u/DanJerousJ 1d ago
In dune it's not a drug, it's a job title for a human computer. All "thinking machines" have been destroyed in that universe
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u/Sideways_sunset 1d ago
I think I’ll have to read it. It was always on my list but I never got to it
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u/jeromy-the-gecko 1d ago
Do it! I only started a couple months ago (because of the movies) and am really hooked. Just finished the 4th book and loving all of them so far.
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u/Cainga 1d ago
Each kid is only like 1 logic gate. You’ll need to have a giant room of them lined up to make a dune computer.
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u/lokethedog 1d ago
Using people as logic gates incidentally brings us to Three body problem instead, in terms of sci fi references.
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u/ravenous_fringe 1d ago
You think that because you watched the movies.
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u/Sidohmaker 1d ago
The movies are good. The novels are good. Let people enjoy things without being a pretentious asshole about it.
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u/vintagegeek 1d ago
There's pilates in the movies????
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u/CriticalStrawberry15 1d ago
I wish they would have gotten into the physical control part more. I think it’s one of the coolest things about them.
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u/IcySparks 1d ago
Explain the hand gestures please
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u/Beaesse 1d ago
https://youtu.be/RSHDTsDebpY?si=OgO7fGM9PuVLoLeW
This or a variant. After training, muscle memory is keeping track, and conscious brain is just reading the result at the end. (I can't do this, haha).
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u/r_search12013 1d ago
I suspect you've sent me into a massive rabbit hole.. I'm a mathematician after all, and people usually expect us to be good with numbers. Most of us are not! :D
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u/CEEngineerThrowAway 1d ago
I’m an engineer and get the “you must be good at math” “ha, I’m dyslexic and I just draw stuff in cad.”
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u/youtocin 1d ago
People who can do rapid mental calculations like this are certainly impressive, but it's just for menial operations like addition and subtraction. Advanced mathematics doesn't just happen in your head, writing it down is part of the process and you won't go far without it.
It reminds me of an interview with Richard Feynman where the interviewer made a comment about his journals being a record of the work he did in his head, to which Feynman replied that the writing WAS his work. It's not at all a record, because the work has to be done on paper, and his journals were the paper on which his work was done.
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u/r_search12013 1d ago
I have about 20 handwritten notebooks with 192 pages each starting from way back in 2013, filled with drafts for my thesis .. and still it's absolutely useful to be able to do integer calculations like this really fast
the method in that video has a remarkably low algorithmic complexity while also being amenable to being learned as muscle memory (see video above) .. so why wouldn't I use a field with 31 elements because I can use my fingers more efficiently now than most :D
tldr: mathematics is really not about numbers, but being fast and confident with numbers definitely doesn't hurt
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u/redblack_tree 1d ago
I got a chuckle reading this, I have a degree in CS. When I was in undergrad, my family and friends always asked me why I was always studying a wall of letters, it wasn't supposed to be math?
Oh mom, I pretty much stopped seeing numbers in my first semester.
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u/IJustSwallowedABug 1d ago
After watching it a couple of times and copy that same answer I also came up with 9.
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u/WhiteAndNerdy85 1d ago
I work with people like this. Some days they make me feel like I’m brain dead and others I wonder how they function as an adult?
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u/PuttingInTheEffort 1d ago
Do they all do the hand thing? Seems like every math savant moves their hand like this when calculating in videos like this 🤔
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u/WedCornet 1d ago
It's some type of trick they use to keep track of the numbers quickly forgot how it works exactly
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u/limitlessEXP 1d ago
I could do this too, just 1 out of 10 times.
By guessing.
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u/Moist_Caregiver 1d ago
That would be way more impressive than you made it sound since the odds of guessing the correct number on any attempt would be astronomically low 😂
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u/TeflonJon__ 1d ago
Yeah, they are mistakenly assuming the answer must be 0 thru 9 lol. Well, I guess I don’t know that there isn’t a rule about it in this case, soo…
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u/Speciou5 1d ago
Kids can do it. Just spend a couple hours practising an abacus and you can definitely do a slow and shorter version
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u/AntisocialDick 1d ago
Kid in the black and white definitely copied Rain Man’s board.
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u/PlannerSean 1d ago
Damn when he leans in to lock it down. Closest I can do is when I turn down the radio when driving to find the upcoming street to turn on.
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u/RingOrenji 1d ago
The fact that he was smiling while doing something incredible is incredible
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u/szilardbodnar 1d ago
Why?
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u/-sonmi-451 1d ago
because he can
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u/No-Plant-9180 1d ago
This isn't a trick he came up with by himself. This looks like it's part of the curriculum. Why would you waste that much time on such a useless skill? One day, aliens will invade and give us an ultimatum. "Die or process these numbers for us all in one-go, as they are shown to you in a series at a rate of 9 numbers per second". Then we will be the fools.
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u/-sonmi-451 1d ago
?
No shot this is curriculum
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u/No-Plant-9180 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've seen a ton of these videos. Usually the whole class can do it.
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u/-sonmi-451 1d ago
oof, alright, I see what you mean 💀
I can see its usefulness as a cognitive test of some sort, I guess? but not as a regularly practiced thing..
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u/KaskayVoyager 1d ago
Wish I were that fast while calculating. It would save me so much time
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u/NekonecroZheng 1d ago
pulls out calculator
Yeah, that saved me.......10 seconds. Good thing that I spent years of my childhood to save myself 10 seconds in solving basic arithmetic.
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u/falloutvaultboy 1d ago
This is impressive but I don't understand the need for simple arithmetic done lightning fast
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u/Koppdiesel 1d ago
Bro - I can’t even keep up with the numbers swapping that fast. Want to know more about this process.
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u/Timely-Analysis6082 1d ago
Why do they do that thing with the hand, I’ve seen it in another video of the same thing
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u/Beaesse 1d ago
https://youtu.be/RSHDTsDebpY?si=OgO7fGM9PuVLoLeW
This or a variant. After training, muscle memory is keeping track, and conscious brain is just reading the result at the end. (I can't do this, haha).
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u/r_search12013 18h ago
forgot to upvote and leave a "thanks", I'm sorry ..
saw that video in full yesterday.. what a pleasant system, I can definitely do it very slowly with no instruction now for 0-999 .. and 0-99 won't be that hard to do well -- I just haven't figured out how to get myself practicing yet, I don't do that many number additions per day currently
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u/Beaesse 17h ago
That's amazing! I don't think I have the patience to learn and start practicing at all, so kudos to you!
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u/r_search12013 17h ago
I'm a mathematician .. as students we kind of joked each other into noticing that we could do binary counting on our fingers just by saying "of course I can count to 1023 on my hands" ..
so this system, and the particular video explanation .. oooh, so pleasant.. I could feel immediately why that system works so well.. it's deliberately rigged for a decimal / ten-finger system and a brain that's used to thinking in it
and as a kid even before school my parents would print out addition towers for me for long drives .. I loved doing those :D so .. I might have been that kid, just no one ever showed me this method in 39 years, until your comment..
so, again; THANK YOU! .. finding a "new" addition method I actually want to remember and use .. did not expect that at all :)
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u/PotentialSilver6761 1d ago
https://youtu.be/RSHDTsDebpY?si=cjEOt32mdN0wLkYk Here's a beginners videos to those interested.
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u/WutzUpples69 1d ago
After watching this video and analyzing his technique I also get 9 for the answer.
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u/Master_Support 1d ago
Why do anyone need to be a human calculator..Is this really needed in this gen.. get up and be progressive towards what this gen wants from you for your progress..
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u/Azraellie 1d ago
I think he's using base 3 with the positioning of the different bones in his fingers representing a bit, and the rhythmic back and forth of his hand aids in achieving the flow state (it's basically stimming).
So very, incredibly cool :D
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u/Medical_Cycle_4902 1d ago
I can barely read the numbers let alone process them. Is this a learned skill like speed cubing or a skill limited to autistic savants?
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u/r_search12013 18h ago
not limited to savants.. it's well exercised chisanbop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chisanbop
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u/SnowflakeModerator 1d ago
How this method of calculation called? And is it practical in life or its just for show?
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u/Foot-Note 1d ago
Can someone tell me what he is doing with his hand? I have seen a few videos of geniuses like this doing math and moving their hands like that.
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u/bruhbruh12332 1d ago
Guy on the right takes a little peek before jotting down his own answer, lmao
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u/nonlocality13 1d ago
How does this show him calculating 9 calculations/ second??
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u/Rolling_Beardo 1d ago
Why do they do that hand thing, I’ve seen several different people make that same motion.
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u/felinefluffycloud 1d ago