The 29-Year-Old ‘Human Calculator’ Who Rose To Fame At 14 Reveals Her Surprising Trick To Turn Your Kid Into A ‘Math Genius’ – And It Goes Against Everything You’ve Been Told
- Tatiana Devendranath is known as the human calculator
- She rose to fame as a 14-year-old ‘math genius’.
A former World Maths Day champion has revealed exactly what it takes to raise a child genius, and the advice goes against what many parents are told.
Tatiana Devendranath doesn’t come from a family of mathematicians, but she won the title year after year, until she was finally dubbed ‘the human calculator’.
The 29-year-old said giving kids more screen time can help them develop math and science skills.
She told FEMAIL that she used to play a lot of video games, up to eight hours on the weekends, with her family and alone.
“I was allowed to play video games whenever I wanted, since I was three years old,” he said.
‘The human calculator’ Tatiana Devendranath is the reigning World Maths Day champion, after answering a record 105 questions in 60 seconds when she was 14 years old.
In the Maths Genius Days photo, the young woman is now an ambassador for the online event.
Educational games were part of that, as were quest-style games that relied on reading dialogue and solving things.
“I learned to read by playing these games,” he said.
When she found Mathletics, she opened up to a world of numbers that she was free to explore at her own pace.
“Soon that was all I was playing for,” he said.
He admits that the score board feature appealed to his competitive side, and he also played the spelling game version.
Before she knew it, she was the reigning champion of the game.
“Being described as a calculating human was pretty embarrassing, but mom was proud, as you can imagine,” he said.
In fact, his record of answering 105 questions in 60 seconds is still a record, he smiled.
She says the key to raising a child genius is ‘more screen time’
She is pictured here collecting her academic award.
“Kids who want to get it right need to practice with the app; practice accuracy because at first that’s more important than speed,” he said.
The current format gives kids around the world the chance to watch their peers rise and fall on the scoreboard for 48 hours.
“I used to wait until the end, play it strategically, so I knew how many points I needed to win,” he said.
The Melbourne-based ‘nerd’ works in data and analytics, telling stories with numbers, which also feeds into her humanities-loving side.
She says she’s a big proponent of “age-appropriate screen time.”
“Even Minecraft can be educational,” he said.
Teachers and schools, register your school now for World Mathematics Day at worldmathsday.com
Before winning World Maths Day in 2008, she was a five-time Australian champion.