WATCH: Queensburgh ‘human calculator’ adds it up

DANTÈ might seem like just any other nine-year-old at first glance. However, his ability to speedily calculate numbers using either an abacus or in his head puts him way ahead of his peers, making him a ‘human calculator’ in a child’s body.

While his age is still counted with a single digit, his ability to calculate sums of more than a million boggles the mind of anyone who sees him doing it.

At the end of September, Danté André Lazarus will be representing South Africa at the Gajsma World Numeracy Competition in Dubai.

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At the competition, he will compete against countries from all over the planet including Saudi Arabia, Japan and India, which all have reputations for producing fantastic maths minds at similar competitions previously.

“The competition requires solving equations at high speed with a 100% accuracy using the Japanese Soroban Technique,” explained Danté’s mum, Tracey-Lee Lazarus.

He acquired the skills to do some amazing feats of mental maths under the guidance of Shaila Christian of Smart Mental Arithmetic School. 
To date, Danté has mastered the technique of quick calculations using the abacus as well as doing large calculations in his head.
“His latest win has been with the first-ever KZN Department of Education Mental Maths Challenge,” said Lazarus. “Seventy two children participated representing 24 districts from all over KZN. This challenged the kids with mental calculations and Danté emerged victorious in his category,” she added.

Excitement

The success at the variety of competitions the past few years haven’t gone to Danté’s head or changed his character.
“He is still the same boy he has always been,” said his incredibly proud mum.
When the Queensburgh News visited Danté and his mother in their home in Hillary, he shared his excitement at heading off to Dubai at the end of September.

“I think it is going to be great to go and see so many cool things and compete in the competition.”

Tracey-Lee, who raises her son as a single mum, said she feels very blessed to have such a clever child but admits that she has no idea where he gets his skill with numbers from.
“It boggles my mind, I can’t even begin to understand the process he uses to do it. He has tried to show me a few times but I get lost after a few words,” she laughed as Danté tried, unsuccessfully, to teach the Queensburgh News reporter to use an abacus for complex calculations.

While the reporter was fumbling to find the calculator app on her phone, he had already completed 10 calculations in his head.

However, adding up the costs of the trip has proved daunting for his mother who said she is very hopeful her son will be able to find a sponsor to help with these costs a little.

“Since he is almost guaranteed to win based on his performance when the international competition last year took place in Johannesburg and he got 100 per cent, he is a good investment for any company wanting to align their brand with his achievement,” she said.

Any company or individual keen to sponsor him can contact his mother through the Highway Mail or Queensburgh News by emailing evem@dbn.caxton.co.za.

Hanging up his abacus

Tracey-Lee said while Danté really enjoyed the competitions and events to do with his maths’ abilities, he had decided that when he returned from Dubai in September he would be retiring from competitions.
“He needs to be able to do other things with his time, and be a child,” she explained. “This has been fantastic for him, but now he is getting older and schoolwork and other activities will need to take priority.”
Danté, who seemed unfazed by all the attention he has received, feels he has managed to inspire some of his friends to also pursue the acquisition of the skill of mental arithmetics.

“When I started this I was the only one who was doing it, but then lots of my friends saw how much fun I was having and now many of them are also doing it,” he said with a broad smile.

He admitted he will miss winning all the competitions, but also said the skills he has acquired will always stay with him. “I will always enjoy doing calculations, so even though I am not going to be competing, I am sure I will keep working on this,” he said.

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