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Almost that of a computer? :-doh! Get someone to program a Cray to conduct brain surgery on one of your nominated patients, and we'll see if the results still stand, shall we? :-rofl2


Spineys links are interesting, or at least one of them; http://www.centreforthemind.com/publications/IntegerArithmetic.cfm


"For example, in a pioneering empirical study, a mathematics graduate                  trained in the appropriate algorithms took 11.46 seconds to generate                  all the primes between integers 301 and 393 whereas a non-verbal                  autistic young man who had not previously confronted such a task                  took only 1.16 seconds (Hermelin and O'Connor 1990). Not only                  was the savant ten times faster, but he also made far fewer errors.                  Importantly, no practically realizable algorithm has yet been                  invented for rapidly identifying primes in excess of 8 figures                  as apparently performed by the autistic savant twins (Sacks 1985)."


What I have always found fascinating is some of these people's ability to reproduce a graphic example of something they saw earlier; photographic memory. Many people can master mathematical 'tricks' to remember/work out dates and times, but to draw the London skyline from memory in the way I saw someone do it (on Blue Peter?) years ago was incredible. That 'trick' cannot be learned.


Question: These people that can calculate the day of the week in a given year in the past, are they aware in advance of the calendar adjustments that have taken place?


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