the "Virginia Calculator"
Thomas Fuller, an African born in 1710 and sold into slavery at the age of 14 in 1724, earned the nickname 'Virginia Calculator' for his extraordinary mental arithmetic skills. Despite the harsh conditions of slavery, Fuller displayed extraordinary mathematical talent, solving difficult calculations in his head with astonishing speed and accuracy. He famously demonstrated his mathematical prowess when asked how many seconds make up a year and a half. After about two minutes, Fuller answered correctly with 47,304,000 seconds. On another occasion, he was asked how many seconds a man would live if he lived 70 years, 17 days and 12 hours. Fuller stunned his questioners by answering 2,210,500,800 seconds correctly in just one and a half minutes.https://rb.gy/1idhd5
In both cases, Fuller's mental calculations were initially met with skepticism. One man, who was solving the problems on paper, claimed that Fuller's answers were wrong because they looked too big. However, Fuller quickly corrected him by pointing out the oversight: 'Up, Massa, you forget the De Leap year.' Once the leap years were calculated, Fuller's answers were indeed correct.
History has proven that high-spirited people have accomplished creative feats in difficult circumstances. Thomas Fuller is one of them, the title of 'Virginia Calculator' will echo in the atmosphere of human history for centuries.
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