City-based 20-year-old math prodigy Neelakantha Bhanu Prakash Jonnalagadda, holding the fastest human calculator in the world record, has done the nation proud, winning the gold medal at the Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in London.
Hailing from Hyderabad and a student of Mathematics (Hons.) at Delhi University’s St Stephen College, Neelakanta holds world records and 50 Limca records for being the fastest human calculator in the world.
Due to the worldwide pandemic situation, the Olympiad was held online on 15th August and 30 participants took part from 13 different countries like UK, UAE, and France. Bhanu took the lead by 65 points, ultimately winning Gold for India.
As the country celebrated its 74th Independence Day, Jonnalagadda, beat 29 competitors, up to 57 years of age, from 13 countries, to emerge the winner in the Mental Calculation World Championship20 at London on August 15.
Known as Bhanu, the maths prodigy said he holds four records for being the “fastest human calculator in the world”, having eclipsed records which were once held by highly acclaimed mathematicians.
“I hold 4 world records and 50 Limca records for being the fastest human calculator in the world. My brain calculates quicker than the speed of a calculator. Breaking these records, once held by Math maestros like Scott Flansburg and Shakuntala Devi, is a matter of national pride. I have done.
On his future plans, the youth, whose parents own a small scale food manufacturing enterprise, said he wanted to eradicate maths phobia prevalent among students, mainly in the rural and underprivileged communities.
He would like to create math labs, reach out to millions of children, under what he called VISION Math , to make them love math and arithmetic calculations.
Exploring Infinities, a start up run by him, is a math education partner of T-SAT the education channel of the Telangana government.
