A professor of mathematics, who also happens to be a magician, presented the most entertaining mathematics display on record at SciFest Africa this week.
Dr Arthur Benjamin had the entire audience rolling around with laughter and sheer amazement as he performed a variety of magic tricks and incredible feats of calculation at the Guy Butler Theatre.
A professor of mathematics, who also happens to be a magician, presented the most entertaining mathematics display on record at SciFest Africa this week.
Dr Arthur Benjamin had the entire audience rolling around with laughter and sheer amazement as he performed a variety of magic tricks and incredible feats of calculation at the Guy Butler Theatre.
As he squared two and three digit numbers faster than audience volunteers could do on their calculators, he kept up a patter of rapid fire one-liners interspersed with verbalised calculations.
Benjamin’s mathematics show is peppered with phrases about his passion for the beauty of mathematics, and his enthusiasm sweeps over the audience who suddenly all want to become mathematicians.
He acknowledges that most people approach maths with feelings of angst, stress and confusion. He believes that most people struggle with maths because it is taught by teachers who don’t like the subject.
He says this is as absurd as having a music teacher who doesn’t care for music. Just as a passionate music teacher will teach his or her students to love and appreciate music, so a maths teacher should teach students how to love the beauty of mathematics.
Benjamin’s two daughters made impressive guest appearances on his show. Ariel (7) deftly used a calculator to check her father’s calculations and later Laurel (11) solved a Rubik’s cube in under two minutes while her father sang a song called Mathematical Pi to the tune of Don McLean’s American Pie.
The mathemagician makes extensive use of mnemonics to help memorise his calculations and he can easily recite the first one hundred numbers of Pi.
He showed the audience his particular system of mnemonics and says that with ten minutes practice you too will be able to perform such feats of memory. Not everyone was convinced about that prospect, but they still enjoyed the show.
