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a prime number . Other numbers were indiscriminately proposed to him ; and he always succeeded in giving the correct factors , except in the case of prirne numbers , which he discovered almost as
soon as proposed . Orre of the -gentlemen asked him how many minutes there were in forty * eight years ; and before the question could be written down he replied -35 , 228 , 800 : and instantly added that the number of seconds in the
same penod was 1 , 513 , 7 ^ 8 , 000 * Various questions of the like kind ' Were put to him ; and to all of tfeem he answered with nearly « qu&l' facility send prdinptitude ; ^ so a s * tt >< astonSsh * every one present , * a nd to excite & ' desire that so
extraordinary a faculty should ( if possible ) be rendered mor £ extensive and useful . ] "~ It was the wish of the -genxfclemeti preserit-toooisin a knowledge of the' method by which the child w&s enabled to answer ,
-with so much facilityand correctness , the'questions thus put to Jaim 5 but ; to all their inquiries * ttpon fthis subject ( and he was tfclOsely examined upon this point )
• Wi Was unable togtveritbem any ^ intformatiolL ft He * positively de-< lar € d ( and every observation that was- made geeme ^ - to justify the * a&skrtion ) s that-Jte ^ did . ho t know
w ifee answers' cam ^ irtto - his ^ fnihd * ' In the act of multiplying two numbers-together ^ jand ^ iii the raiding of powers / it was ievidefft i tiot onJy from the 'inotioirof his Jips , but also from some singular tfacts wJiich will Ue hereafter
men-4 ibned )* that ettme opttatton vms agoing tforwardi in his mind ; yet * feat operation could not ( from the readiness with ' which the answers awere furnished ) be ftt all allied to r *
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the usual mode . of proceeding with such subjects ; and moreover ! he is ^ entirely ignorant of the com . mon rules of arithmetic , and
cannot perform , upon paper , a sim . pie sura in multiplication or divi . sionv But , in the extraction of roots ' and in mentioning the fac . tors of high numbers ' it does not appear that any operation can take place ; since he will give the answer immediately , or in a very few seconds , where it \ vottld
require , according to the ordinary method of solution , a very difficult arid laborious calculation : and moreover , the knowledge of a prime * number cannot be obtained by any known rule . It has been already observed , that it was evident , from some
singular facts , that the child ope * rated by certain rules known only to himself . This discovery was made in one or two instances , when he had been closely pressed upon that point . In one case he was' asked to tell the square of 43 P 5 ; 'h ^ at first hesitated , fearful that he should not be able to
answer it correctly ; but whert be applied hiniself to it he said it was 19 , 316 , 025 . On bting questioned as to the cause bt bis hesitation , he replied that W did not like to multiply four figures by four figures : but , saict he , 4 * I
fourjd out another way '; I multiplied %$ 3 by 293 , and then multiplied this product twice * b y the number 15 , which produced the same result . " On another occasion , his highness the Duke of
Gloucester asked him the product of 21 * 7 34 multiplied by 543 : he immediately replied 11 , ^ 01 f 562 : but , upon some remark being made on the subject /' the child saict that tie had ! in &iV 6 Wn mind ,
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552 Account of Zfrah Colburn *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1812, page 552, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1752/page/20/
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