‘Human calculator’, 29, who rose to fame at age 14, reveals her surprising tip for turning your child into a ‘math genius’ – and it goes against everything you’ve been told
- Tatiana Devendranath is known as the human calculator
- She became famous as a 14-year-old ‘math genius’
A former math day world champion has revealed exactly what it takes to raise a child genius — and the advice goes against what many parents are told.
Tatiana Devendranath does not come from a family of mathematicians, but she claimed the title year after year, until she was finally dubbed ‘the human calculator’.
The 29-year-old said giving kids more screen time could help them develop math and science skills.
She told FEMAIL that she played a lot of video games, up to eight hours on weekends, with her family and alone.
“From the age of three, I was allowed to play video games whenever I wanted,” she said.
‘The human calculator’ Tatiana Devendranath is the reigning champion of World Mathematics Day – after answering a record 105 questions in 60 seconds when she was 14
Pictured in Maths genius days – the young woman is now an ambassador for the online event
Educational games were part of that, as were quest style games that relied on dialogue reading and working things out.
“I learned to read by playing these games,” she said.
When she discovered Mathematics, a world of numbers opened up for her to explore at her own pace.
“Soon that was all I played,” she said.
She admits that the leaderboard feature appealed to her competitive side — and she also played the spelling side version of the game.
Before she knew it, she was the reigning champion of the game.
“Being described as a human calculator was pretty embarrassing, but Mom was proud, as you can imagine,” she said.
In fact, her record of answering 105 questions in 60 seconds is still the record, she smiled.
She says the key to raising a genius child is “more screen time.”
She is pictured here receiving her academic award
“Kids who want to get it right need to practice with the app — practice accuracy, because that’s more important than speed in the beginning,” she said.
The current format gives kids around the world the opportunity to watch their peers move up and down the leaderboard for 48 hours.
“I used to wait until the end, play it strategically, so I knew how many points I needed to win,” she said.
The Melbourne-based ‘geek’ works in data and analytics and tells stories with numbers – which also fuels her love of the humanities.
She says she’s a big proponent of “age-appropriate screen time.”
“Even Minecraft can be educational,” she said.
Teachers and schools, register your school now for World Mathematics Day at worldmathematicsday.com
Before winning World Mathematics Day in 2008, she was a five-time Australian champion.