Dubai: 14-year-old human calculator breaks 6 world records in one day
Numbers have always come naturally to Aaryan Shukla. The 14-year-old math genius, also called the 'human calculator,' lost no time in bagging six Guinness World Records recently in Dubai, where he effortlessly demonstrated his skills in rapid mental calculations.
Aaryan, a 9th grader at Delhi Public School in Nashik, India, has been honing his skills since he was six. Since then he practices two to three hours a day has been two-time champion of the Mental Calculation World Cup (MCWC), and six-time Guinness World Record holder.
Here are the records he broke in Dubai:
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The quickest elapsed time to sum purely mentally 100 4-digit numerals is 30.9 seconds
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Quickest Speed to Mentally Sum 200 Four-digit numbers — 1 min 09.68 sec
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Quickest mental calculation of 50 five-digit numbers — 18.71 secs
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Speedy Division in the Mind (20) – Fastest time to divide a 20-digit number by a 10-digit number (10) Set. – 5 mins 42 secs
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Mental multiplication of two 5-digit numbers (set of 10)— fastest time — 51.69 seconds
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Fastest Mental Multiplication of Two 8 Digit Numbers (Move of 10) – 2 min 35.41 sec
Passion for numbers
Aaryan has an early love for numbers that led him to international competitions. He was the one who won seven gold, one silver and two bronze medals in Turkey Championship and therefore, gained his first prestigious triumph in 2022. Since then he successfully bagged the Junior Mental Calculation Gold Medal in 2020 and then the World Mental Calculation Championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad 2021. He won the Mental Calculation World Cup — considered the "Mount Everest" of mental math — in 2022 and again in 2024 in London.
Aaryan has consistently outperformed everyone else, competing against participants of all ages. Included are capabilities for addition, multiplication, square roots, even for calculations of calendar dates.
If you are how I experience numbers, numbers come to my head in flashes. I envision them, keep them for an instant and go on to the next function. The speed of the process is difficult to explain," Aaryan said.
Aaryan has repeatedly shown that his talent is a result of hard work, concentration, and some of the most advanced techniques of calculation. Utilizing mental techniques such as the abacus method, fast visualization and pattern recognition, he calculates the answers in less than a few seconds.
Training and challenges
With yoga, meditation and cricket, rounds off time devoted to honing his skills — of which he does hours — with relaxation at home and reading.
“Consistency is key. Every moment of distraction can bring a change. He said: "I make sure to sleep well and do the kind of stuff that generally keeps my brain awake."
Aaryan takes roughly the same time in traditional math examinations as his peers, he said, even though he is fast in mental math. Mental calculation emphasizes speed. However, in exams when they know that each calculation step must be shown, it takes the same amount of time as the others.
Family support
Aaryan's parents, both entrepreneurs in India, have played a pivotal role in supporting him from the start. His parents, who noticed his talent on an earlier stage, helped him in every possible way. Aaryan's father said, "We are proud to see him succeeding at such a young age".
Aaryan focuses on the future and wants more and more kids all around the globe to practice mental calculation and encourage them to love Maths. He intends to enter the field of either mathematics or aerospace engineering.
I want people to see that numbers can be fun, he added. Said he, My hope is to inspire other to push himself or herself here.
Speaking about his time in Dubai, Aaryan said, “Dubai is an amazing city. Here are the pictures from Guinness World Record event and it was an amazing experience. And I even went to Burj Khalifa and ride a desert safari, that was fun.
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