3 ms·

When my son was 5, he would ask me if we were going in the "455 car" or the "378 car". Both cars were the same model and color, but he had the plates memorized

When my son was 5, he would ask me if we were going in the "455 car" or the "378 car". Both cars were the same model and color, but he had the plates memorized. Now that he's 6, he has about 300 digits of pi memorized. He's also got the entire periodic table, and the song "Yakko's World" (all of the nations). Some people have an easy time with faces. Others have an easy time with data.

samfisher83 11y ago
Maybe Bill just memorized a few digits. So for joe it would be abc for sam it would be dab. Given he probably a had a few 100 employees 26^3 a hash collision would not be as likely.
petemc_ 11y ago
What inspired your 6 year old son to memorise 300 digits of pi?
- lotharbot 11y ago
  he watches lots of educational and semi-educational videos on youtube. I believe the one that inspired him was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skf8NTEnrO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skf8NTEnrO4 though he has half a dozen other pi songs he watches as well. He also regularly asks me questions he's learned the answer to from videos, like "why isn't the District of Columbia a square?", "which countries in South America don't have oceanic coastlines?", and "what would happen if you tried to make Graham's Number but you used 2's instead of 3's?"
  - 2bitencryption 11y ago
    also he can fly, tell the future, and count backwards from the last digits of pi. Sure.
    - lotharbot 11y ago
      I'm disappointed that I don't appear to have a "flag" button at the moment. There's really no need to be a dick about someone else's young child on Hacker News (or in any other circumstance), at all, ever. To bring this back to the topic, though: yes, my son is an absolute genius when it comes to data. I'm not making it up to score internet points. I actually have a six year old who has legitimately reached 4096 in the game 2048, and who has a basic understanding of what a "limit" is, and who in the last week has really taken to fractals. That doesn't mean he's good at everything -- we're still working on pooping in the toilet, not talking in the middle of someone else's sentence, and not having a gigantic meltdown if his milk is in a green cup instead of a yellow cup. Point being, it may initially seem weird that Bill Gates memorized license plates rather than car makes and models, but that may just be what his brain handles well.
      - 2bitencryption 11y ago
        > To bring this back to the topic, though: yes, my son is an absolute genius when it comes to data. I just highly doubt anyone who is so excited to return the conversation to their "genius" son. It's very https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ .
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        lotharbot 11y ago
        > "It's very https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/"* https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/"* This isn't Reddit. HN guidelines don't say "it's OK to be a jerk as long as you highly doubt someone". If you think I'm making stuff up about my son (who I'm very excited about because I'm a parent and that's how it works) to score internet points, the proper thing to do on HN is hold your tongue and not bother commenting, or use your downvotes once you've earned that right.
- DanBC 11y ago
  At 6 it's digits of pi, or dinosaur names, or football players. They don't need much encouraging. If you're like Feynman's dad you can ignore the names and talk about relationships - "Why has that one got sharp teeth?"; "Why has that tree got big leaves?".

samfisher83 11y ago

Maybe Bill just memorized a few digits. So for joe it would be abc for sam it would be dab. Given he probably a had a few 100 employees 26^3 a hash collision would not be as likely.

petemc_ 11y ago

What inspired your 6 year old son to memorise 300 digits of pi?

lotharbot 11y ago
he watches lots of educational and semi-educational videos on youtube. I believe the one that inspired him was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skf8NTEnrO4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skf8NTEnrO4 though he has half a dozen other pi songs he watches as well. He also regularly asks me questions he's learned the answer to from videos, like "why isn't the District of Columbia a square?", "which countries in South America don't have oceanic coastlines?", and "what would happen if you tried to make Graham's Number but you used 2's instead of 3's?"
- 2bitencryption 11y ago
  also he can fly, tell the future, and count backwards from the last digits of pi. Sure.
  - lotharbot 11y ago
    I'm disappointed that I don't appear to have a "flag" button at the moment. There's really no need to be a dick about someone else's young child on Hacker News (or in any other circumstance), at all, ever. To bring this back to the topic, though: yes, my son is an absolute genius when it comes to data. I'm not making it up to score internet points. I actually have a six year old who has legitimately reached 4096 in the game 2048, and who has a basic understanding of what a "limit" is, and who in the last week has really taken to fractals. That doesn't mean he's good at everything -- we're still working on pooping in the toilet, not talking in the middle of someone else's sentence, and not having a gigantic meltdown if his milk is in a green cup instead of a yellow cup. Point being, it may initially seem weird that Bill Gates memorized license plates rather than car makes and models, but that may just be what his brain handles well.
    - 2bitencryption 11y ago
      > To bring this back to the topic, though: yes, my son is an absolute genius when it comes to data. I just highly doubt anyone who is so excited to return the conversation to their "genius" son. It's very https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/ .
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      - lotharbot 11y ago
        > "It's very https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/"* https://www.reddit.com/r/iamverysmart/"* This isn't Reddit. HN guidelines don't say "it's OK to be a jerk as long as you highly doubt someone". If you think I'm making stuff up about my son (who I'm very excited about because I'm a parent and that's how it works) to score internet points, the proper thing to do on HN is hold your tongue and not bother commenting, or use your downvotes once you've earned that right.
DanBC 11y ago
At 6 it's digits of pi, or dinosaur names, or football players. They don't need much encouraging. If you're like Feynman's dad you can ignore the names and talk about relationships - "Why has that one got sharp teeth?"; "Why has that tree got big leaves?".