Biography Scott Flansburg

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 career
1.3 educator
1.4 media appearances

biography
early life

scott flansburg born on december 28, 1963, in herkimer, new york. scott has stated 9 years old when first discovered mental calculator abilities. stated wasn t paying attention in math class , teacher picked him solve math equation on board. said instead of going right left in addition sum, went left right , able solve question. afterwards keep running tally of family s groceries @ store, father give cashier exact check before bill had been rung up. in youth began noticing shape , number of angles in numbers clues value, , began counting 0 9 on fingers instead of 1 10.

early career

flansburg can add, subtract, multiply, divide, , find square , cube roots in head instantly calculator accuracy. around 1990 began using ability in entertainment , educational context. dubbed human calculator regis philbin after appearing on live regis , kathy lee.

the guinness book of world records listed him fastest human calculator in 2001 , 2003, after broke record adding same number more times in 15 seconds calculator. in 1999 flansburg invented 13-month calendar uses 0 day, month, , year alternative gregorian calendar called human calculator calendar.

in 1998 published book math magic kids: hundreds of games , exercises human calculator make math fun , easy on harper paperbacks. revised edition of book math magic: how master everyday math problems published in 2004.

as educator

since 1990 flansburg has regularly given lectures , presentations @ schools. has appeared presenter @ institutions such nasa, ibm, smithsonian institution, national council of teachers of mathematics, , mental calculation world cup. latter has described flansburg more auditory visual [mental] calculator.

according flansburg, 1 of personal missions use education elevate mathematical confidence , self-esteem in adults , children, stating why has become socially acceptable bad @ math? if illiterate wouldn’t on tv, can bad @ math. have change attitude. proponent of students becoming comfortable calculation methods instead of relying on table memorization. flansburg annual host , ambassador world maths day. official promoter of american math challenge, competition students preparing world math day.

media appearances

flansburg has appeared on television shows such oprah winfrey show, ellen degeneres show, tonight show jay leno, larry king live. on april 26, 2009, while on japanese primetime show asahi s otona no sonata, broke own world record 37 answers in 15 seconds. featured human calculator in first episode of stan lee s superhumans, aired on history channel on august 5, 2010. part of episode analyzed brain activity. fmri scan while doing complex calculations revealed brain activity in brodmann area 44 region of frontal cortex absent. instead there activity higher area 44 , closer motor cortex.

in january 2016, tv show titled human calculator, hosted flansburg, premiered on h2.