‘Human Calculator Kid’ shatters six world records with incredibly speedy mental maths
This ‘human calculator’ could probably do mental maths quicker than you could type it into your calculator.
Aaryan Shukla, a 14-year-old prodigy from Maharashtra, India, left a large audience speechless when he set the record for the fastest time to mentally add 50 five-digit numbers on the set of our Italian TV series Lo Show Dei Record.
He did that in a mere 25.19 seconds – so approximately one addition every 0.5 seconds!
That was about a year ago and, since then, Aaryan has been practising, competing and pushing his limits every day.
Recently, we invited him to Dubai to take on some of the toughest mental calculation world records ever attempted.
In just one day, he achieved an impressive total of six records:
- Fastest time to mentally add 100 four-digit numbers - 30.9 sec
- Fastest time to mentally add 200 four-digit numbers - 1 min 9.68 sec
- Fastest time to mentally add 50 five-digit numbers - 18.71 sec
- Fastest time to mentally divide a 20-digit number by a ten-digit number (set of ten) - 5 min 42 sec
- Fastest time to mentally multiply two five-digit numbers (set of ten) - 51.69 sec
- Fastest time to mentally multiply two eight-digit numbers (set of ten) - 2 min 35.41 sec
We also sat down for a chat with him and his proud parents.
Regarding his daily routine, Aaryan said: “Daily practice is one of the important aspects to prepare for competitions, […] so I practise for about five or six hours daily.”
As a mental calculator who performs ‘impossible’ sums at lightning speed, the teen often tries to explain what happens in his mind during those crucial moments.
A lot of things in mental calculations happen in a flash of a second, so I cannot say what happens inside my head, […] I just do it naturally. Basically, it’s so fast that you can’t think, you just need to do the calculations. - Aaryan Shukla
Even though daily practice, on top of his school responsibilities, keeps him quite busy, Aaryan believes that “[in order] to keep the balance, relaxing is important.
“Sahaja Yoga meditation helps me to keep calm and focused.”
And for fun, Aaryan enjoys reading books, particularly adventure and mystery genres, playing video games and cricket.
“I also love travelling and due to the mental maths […] I travel to many countries!”
His parents discovered his talent very early on.
Aaryan’s mum said: “Since childhood, he was very good […] with numbers. He enjoyed studying and playing with numbers.
“At the age of six he started the practice of mental calculation, and he was very good, so we started doing some research on this.
“ […] At the age of eight we went for an international competition and he won medals and trophies, which were great achievements.”
Since then, Aaryan has gone on to become a world champion, and is even one of the founding board members of the Global Mental Calculators Association (GMCA).
When asked if he had any concerns about his son’s unique abilities at such a young age, his dad responded: “Aaryan enjoys numbers and mental calculations. We as parents have a role to make sure that he doesn’t get overloaded or stressed when practising […].
“But [being a world champion and record holder] now he has to carry some responsibility also. So it is a balance between his age and his responsibilities.
When you become such a great achiever at a young age, then you have to carry that responsibility at various stages and represent yourself and your country. - Aaryan's dad
He added: “[…] In the last eight years of his journey he has achieved so much, […] so I think he’s not only hardworking and talented, but he’s also gifted by the destiny to learn so many things at such a young age.
“He’s enjoying his journey, that is for sure.”
Surprisingly, his exceptional calculating skills don’t run in the family.
His dad confirmed: “We are a normal family. Aaryan is a one in a billion kind of person, but I don’t think that we are a family of mental calculators.”
The boy wonder is just at the start of his journey, but he already has plenty to be proud of: “I feel great. I’m proud that I’m Officially Amazing. [This] is a dream for me!”