Mathemagician Arthur Benjamin has created a new form of entertainment where he brings the charm and flair of magic shows to the science of mathematics–and makes you love it.
But he says he is nothing like Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Main. After watching the video below, however, I am quite skeptical.
TED, a website with the mission of bringing the worlds of “Technology, Entertainment and Design” together, posted a video of Benjamin performing his lightning calculations shtick for an audience. It sounds pretty Rain Man-esque to me.
Watch as Benjamin asks people around the audience for random two-, three- and four-digit numbers and squares them in seconds right before their eyes. Several audience members with calculators are brought on stage to check his calculations, but he never gets one wrong!
Another portion of the performance shows him asking audience members, again at random, for the date they were born. He then tells them what day it was in that year and a sidekick to the right with a book of calendars confirms everything. He evens guesses a day for June 6th, 1824!
Benjamin’s enthusiasm and love for math are infectious and entertaining. His ability to improvise jokes (I love the “recap” gag) throughout the show makes the entire experience more awesome and perhaps more baffling than just watching a man square a five-digit number (57,683) alone on the streets. This way, at least we know he’s right.
Watch the video and see these amazing feats of mathemagics for yourself:
Tags: Arthur Benjamin, mathemagics, mathemagician, TED, lightning calculations
