NÚRIA NAVARRO 26/9/2008
Mañana intentará un récord con varias operaciones en CosmoCaixa Barcelona, coincidiendo con el cuarto aniversario del museo de la ciencia.
–¿Qué es usted capaz de hacer?
–Puedo sumar 100 números en 19 segundos.
–Una calculadora humana.
–Prefiero que me definan como “campeón del mundo de cálculo” o “la mente más rápida del mundo”. Calculadora humana suena circense, como la mujer barbuda o el hombre elefante.
–Los récords Guinness a los que se presenta tienen algo de eso…
–La gente desea ver cómo calculas. Todo depende de cómo lo hagas. En Catalunya hay un calculista que se hace llamar JB Computer y hace mucho ruido mientras calcula. Vende una imagen circense.
–Usted no tuvo problemas en ir a Crónicas marcianas.
–Pero no me bajé los pantalones.
–¿Siempre disfrutó con las cifras?
–Aprendí a calcular a los 5 o 6 años. Después de una partida de cartas, me iba a la cama jugando con los números. Siete más cuatro, 11; más tres, 14; más seis, 20… Mi primera aparición en la tele fue en Qué apostamos de TVE, en 1998. Tenía 28 años. Agradezco a mis padres que no hubiera sido con 10 o 12.
–¿Un niño rarito?
–Un niño muy introvertido. Cuando tienes sobredotación no te adaptas demasiado bien.
–Imagino las notas.
–¿En matemáticas? A veces sacaba un 10 y otras, un 3. Tenía mi punto de rebeldía. Luego los números me han dado mucho, mucho.
–¿Cómo se entrena un campeón?
–Hay que cuidar las neuronas. Llevar una vida ordenada. Nada de alcohol, dormir bien y hacer deporte a diario. Soy corredor de maratón.
–Todo eso es muy físico.
–Muchos calculistas son autistas, idiots savants al estilo de Rain man. Todo su pensamiento está concentrado en los números. Yo no soy autista, pero a veces funciono como tal. Cuando voy por la calle, me fijo en las matrículas y hago juegos complejos con los números, o voy al súper y sumo los precios de los productos y saco porcentajes.
–¿Como el que cuenta calorías del anuncio?
–Me siento reflejado en ese anuncio, ja, ja. Yo sé desconectar.
–¿Le han visto los psicólogos?
–Sí. Me han dicho que soy un caso peculiar. Las conexiones neuronales en mi hemisferio izquierdo son muy fuertes. En mí funciona mucho el subconsciente. Hay cálculos que los hago sin pensar. Incluso puedo hablar a la vez que calculo.
–¿Alguna percepción sobrenatural?
–Rozo el mentalismo, pero es algo basado en la agilidad de cálculo.
–¿Qué se pierden los alérgicos a los números?
–Bertrand Russell decía que las matemáticas tienen una belleza fría y austera.
–Poco seductor, disculpe.
–Incluso el arte se puede ver con ojos matemáticos. En la fachada de la Passió de la Sagrada Família, por ejemplo, hay un cuadrado mágico con números. Los sumes como los sumes dan 33, la edad de Cristo al morir. La matemática está en todo: en la distancia, en el tiempo, en la medida. Si algún día nos comunicamos con los extraterrestres, lo haremos con un lenguaje matemático.
–Más vale que espabilemos.
–Dios –y que cada uno lo interprete como quiera– creó el mundo y nosotros lo vamos descifrando. Para ello, la herramienta imprescindible es la matemática.
–Las matemáticas son el hueso de todo escolar. ¿Algún consejo?
–Hay excelentes profesionales, pero yo haría que los niños jugaran un poco más con los números. Les ayudaría entender su lado práctico. Dominar los números te hace ser intuitivo. Yo animo a que los niños vengan mañana a CosmoCaixa.
–¿Por qué?
–Diré en un minuto el día de la semana de los nacidos en 50 fechas. Haré una raíz cuadrada de ocho dígitos, tres de parte entera y cinco, de decimal, en un minuto. Multiplicaré dos números de ocho dígitos cada uno en 56 segundos, y sumaré, como le he dicho al principio, 100 dígitos en 19 segundos.
–¿Los ve como en una pantallita?
–Sí. Soy un calculador de tipo visual. Hay una pantalla en mi mente.
–Oiga, ¿se puede vivir de esto?
–Siendo campeón del mundo, sí. Además hago cursos presenciales y on line, escribo, doy conferencias, hago demostraciones. Pero si no pudiera vivir de esto, me metería en el juego –he hecho algún algoritmo para el blackjack– o jugaría en bolsa. Soy independiente y muy competitivo.
–¿Qué siente cuando gana?
–En el campeonato del mundo, el pasado julio, en Leipzig, cuando iba sumando a razón de cinco números por segundo, tuve una sensación de despegue. Estaba como poseído.
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
2) What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
3) What do you think about numbers? how do you feel about them?
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
No, Alberto Coto isn’t a sportsman because he doesn’t move when do maths and mental maths isn’t a sport that do a lot of people.I think that maths are not always like this because all aren´t do numbers, too are formulas, definitions.
2) What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
He say that maths are in all the places, too that we used maths for a lot of things.
3) What do you think about numbers? how do you feel about them?
I think that numbers are the most important part of maths, but are more things in maths that are important. I don’t know how I feel with numbers I think that numbers aren’t a thing that you feel.
1) I think he is, and depending on the point of view we can say that he is a sportsman becuse he runs in a “marató”, and we could also say that he is a sportsman because he “trains” his brain counting the registration number of cars. I think sometimes it is necessary to do brainstorming, because mathematicians need more ideas to theorems, proofs, etc. But it’s not always necessary.
2) He says that math is everywhere: distance, time, etc. He also says that if someday we communicate with aliens, we’ll do it with mathematical language.
3) In my daily life, i feel that math is not my strong point, but I’m not angry with myself, try to improve. I think that maths is essential for living, and without numbers math would be pointless, and probably it wouldn’t exist. Life would be crazy without math. Math is difficult to describe, cuz we could say that it has a lot of components and it would be unbalanced if one of its terms is missing; we need all of them together to build our world.
1) Yes, he is. He is a marathon runner, and he say that you have to be healthy for do his work, so he can’t drink in the nights and he have to sleep good. Also he say that sometimes when he is walking on the street he plays with the numbers of the plates on cars or he sums the prices of the supermarke products and after he does the percentages (Im my opinion he is a little bit strange). He defind that all that is for be a good mathematician and for keep his neurons. So yes, he need to do brainstorming.
2) He thinks that maths are a cold baeuty and austere too. He also thinks that numbers give to him many important things in his life. Moreover he says that maths are in every where: time, distance, meters, etc. I thought that the comment: “if someday we have to communicate with aliens, we’ll do it with mathematical language”, It’s so interesting and I’m agree because maths are universal so any animal or “alien” will understand it, although if it is from another galaxy, It’s incredible.
3)I think that numbers are like letters, they are a lenguage with vocabulary, words, and standards, so we can use them for communicate ideas. Each symbol can mean a word, a formula or a way for solve a problem. I fell that Its are so near from me because I can see them everywhere and moreover almost always I’m doing operations with them, in math class, for homework, in … well, I think that is a lot and I don’t want that Its take me more time.
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
I think that Alberto Coto its an sportman because he is a marathon runner, and I think that while he is running at the same time he’s thinking about numbers. In math you always have to organise and interprete the ideas to find theorems and proof things that happened.
2) What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
He says that the world use maths in all the moments;in distance, time…One reason that he says is that in the fuure if we speak with any aliens we’ll use the mathematical language to talk to each other.
3) What do you think about numbers? how do you feel about them?
I think that withhout numbers we can’t know a lot of things about life(in the supermarket, the mortgage…), we use letters and numbers all our life. For example if we want to buy a house we have to know how much is the interests, or in a supermarket, the sign that says “20%”, and we wonder what is the “20%” of this?, and we have to calculate the percent of the total number and we use numbers. In my opinion the numbers will be always in our life.
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
Yes, he is. He is marathon runner and he has to be strong. He can’t drink or smoke and go to a disco every night because he has to sleep good. We can do that he is a sportsman because he work with his mind counting things like he work with his his legs when he run.
I think is good to do braingstorming because, like Cristina says, mathematicians need more ideas to theorems, proofs, etc. But it’s not always necessary.
2) What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
He says that we use it for all. He says that if in the future we talk with aliens we have to comunicate with them using maths. He says that “The God did the world” and we are decoding it every moment and the imprescindible thing is the mathematics. He says too that maths are in the distance, in the time and in the measures,… and he says that we can see art mathematically.
3) What do you think about numbers? How do you feel about them?
I think that numbers are a really interesting thing and the best thing that the man discover in the world because numbers are when we go shopping, when we do cakes for a birthday, when we grew up we count it with numbers, computers are made of numbers too, time if measure with numbers, all things we can see are made of numbers.
Some people thinks that numbers are boring but I feel numbers can be funny many times. There are a lot of games with numbers and I want that this people that think that maths are boring play this games because are really curious and interesting.
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
Yes. he is. He runs but I think that the sport also help his brain to be more concentrate or to be more precise. And I think that yes every body needs to do brainstorming because nowdays the kids learn mathematics before and if we don’t practise in the future we won’t discover new things and it’s a way to improve our level of maths and if anyone train the level of mathematcis wecan’t go beyond. So I think it’s necessary.
2) What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
He thinks that nathematic is in all the plaves what evr you go you can find mathematics, and the I was thinking about this and it’s real because for example you go to the savanah (and in the savana ther aren’t computers and many things like that) but as there isn’t new technologies you have to substitute the new technologies by your knowledge about math.
3) What do you think about numbers? how do you feel about them?
To survive we need numbers. I can’t imagine a world without numbers.
1) Is Alberto Coto a sportsman? Is math always like this, do they need to do brainstorming?
Yes,he is.Alberto Coto lives a very orderly, does not drink alcohol and sleep well apart from sports daily in order to have a healthy mind and no worries about anything.
2)What does Alberto Coto think about maths?
As he thinks about mathematics can be used for everything in this world … to measure, calculate time, distance, steps and says ..
that mathematics on an given him a lot.
3)What do you think about numbers? how do you feel about them?
I think the numbers are of little use because without them we could not
do not half the things we do … as it is told, namely that date, month, year we are .. the time, weather, measurements, well almost everything.
;;LauRaÀh..!
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