Some Number Tricks

The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov has recently returned to prominence through the film I Robot, which is based on his three Laws of Robotics—basic invioable commandments meant to govern the behavior of machines in order to ensure they did no harm. However in one of his lesser known short stories he contemplated the idea of an ‘advanced society’, totally dependent on machines, that had forgotten all it ever knew about arithmetic. One day an intrepid soul rediscovers the secrets of how to do sums all by himself and amazes everyone with his pow- ers that are beyond anything they thought possible. Arithmetic suddenly becomes fashionable and the good citizens indulge in feverish speculation as to how to exploit their newly found skill and independence.