Boy, 7, Is Human Adding Machine

Richmond 'Wonderkin' Is 'Regular Fellow' With Amazing Talent

By G. Watson James, Jr.

Richmond is now the home of a young mathematical genius whose mystifying acumen with figures was accidentally discovered by his parents about a year and a half ago when the boy was about 5 years old, and before he had entered school or had any visual knowledge of figures. The little wizard is Theodore Edward Greenberg, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Greenberg, who moved to this city from New York in 1931, and who now lives at 2304 Lakeview Avenue.

Rumors of this lad's ability have been widely heard, but it remained until last week for a group of friends of the family, an eminent authority on boys and boy life, and a civil engineer, to make a semi-official and hopeless fizzle of trying to keep up with the dark-eyed, keen, alert prototype of Jean Cardan.

Most of the grown-ups in the test committee had pencils and paper, yes--they had all the test equipment, but it wasn't of much use, when "Teddy," as he is known to his playmates, went into action, adding, subtracting and dividing with a speed that would make a certified public accountant pull in his shingle.

Now Teddy is a normal, healthy, everyday youngster who likes baseball, is treasurer of the neighborhood Scorpion's Club, revels in "Western thrillers," and all that sort of thing. Aside from his ability to juggle figures in nothing flat Teddy has one other outstanding facility--that of keeping clean, when all around him the boys, as boys will do, are collecting mud on shoes, rips in trousers, ink in shirts and occasionally paint on the most conspicuous portions of their anatomy.

Help to Brother Reveals Boy's Talent

Before relating the test given Teddy last week, it is interesting to know how his remarkable gift was first brought to light. It all happened this way. Teddy, who had not yet matriculated in the kindergarten of the public schools, was playing around one evening while big brother, David, was going through the pain-in-the neck process of studying his lessons. He had reached the arithmetic lesson. Something went wrong--something always went wrong when he reached this point in the evening study--and Mr. Greenberg started a little quiz with David as the victim. Like any fond father he was anxious to help, and David, like any fine little chap was glad that father would put aside his evening paper to come to his rescue. The quiz was on addition, and when after several of the totals didn't quite check, without any warning, Teddy snapped out the answers to the bewilderment of his parents and big brother.

From the time of Teddy's first gesture of assistance to David, nearly two years ago, Teddy has been amazing his parents, associates and friends, as he did the "test committee."

When the solemn-faced grown-ups arrived at his home last week, Teddy in spite of having gone through a birthday party for big sister, was waiting to be interviewed and showed no sign of nervousness, except that he hoped the crowd wouldn't think him a fake, which no one thought.

Try This Yourself at Top Speed

As the first test, Mr. Greenberg shot this example across with such speed that it taxed both the writer and another observer to record the figures. "Add," he said, "17, 18, 15, 14, 11, 24, 26, 25, 50. Take away (the terms plus and minus mean nothing to Teddy) 110; add 80, 20; take away 190; add 15. How many fives are in the answers?"

Before we had recorded the last figure, why Teddy snapped out, "Three." Fifteen was the result, and three 5's was correct.

As the test proceeded the little boy added examples running into thousands; doubled and trebled figures with ease, and tossed digits around with an abandon that made the listeners shake their heads.

Stop-watch tests were then taken and finally one of the most singular aspects of the child's mathematical precocity was noticed when he was turned over to Dr. Signey S. Negus, an official of the Richmond Council of the Boy Scouts, a deep student of boys, and professor of chemistry in the Medical College of Virginia. Dr. Negus tested little Teddy with a column of figures written down slowly, and carefully enunciated to the diminutive mathematician. Here it appeared that figures recorded and placed before him not only were confusing but he was unable to display his powers.

During the tests, Teddy watched the lips of his interrogator very intently, and upon two occasions as examples were given him, he detected slips by the examiner. Once while he was in the midst of a quiz two of the visitors began whispering, but were quickly silenced when the little lad asked, "What are they whispering for? Do they think it's a fake?"

Teddy May Be Future Einstein

Of course time will tell the story of what is in store for Teddy. Who knows, he may be another Einstein, Edison or Steinmetz. In the meantime his parents are loth to exhibit his powers, and are careful that his exhibitions be in the nature of a game, for Teddy loves to play. In fact he pulled a fast one not long ago in the realm of play that will make him the envy of every little boy who has been told that age-old gag that he is "too young to play in the gang."

Well, came an afternoon not so long ago! The neighborhood Scorpions Club membership had passed the "you-are-too-young" stuff on to Teddy. But Teddy hung around and soon to his ears came the laborious verbal efforts of the treasurer of said club to balance the budget necessary to pay the income tax, buy licorice candy for the gang or something "aruther."

The plot thickened as the comptroller of the currency couldn't add his figures. The money was there all right, but somehow nine and five was 16, and other calculations equally "haywire." Up steps Teddy, neat as a pin, and confident. He shoots over the answers, sans pencil, paper, argument and grunting. Sequel--Mr. Theodore Edward Greenberg is treasurer of the back lot social club, and is likely to succeed himself in office for some years to come.

In addition to this, Teddy has a most disconcerting way of figuring out the price of things for the family larder, that makes his mother and her friends rather meek at times, and who knows, very probably take a furtive glance at arithmetic when they return home after taking Teddy on a shopping trip. The other day Teddy, Mrs. Greenberg, and an accomplished Richmond artist made a trip to market. The grapefruit was beautiful. As usual the huckster wanted to sell them ensemble--far too many for the family's need, but at the lump sum price, several of the breakfast delicacies would be a good buy for any housewife. So while the ladies were figuring the price of say two or three, Teddy snapped out the answer without batting an eyelid. Teddy, we'll say, is a valuable companion to have along in these days of economic stress.

The test committee regretted that Teddy's teacher, Miss Dorothy Sutton, of the faculty of the Albert E. Hill School could not be present when her pupil was put through his paces. A teacher of the 2-L grade, Miss Sutton naturally has a splendid opportunity to study the precocity of children in the first stage of their education. According to Miss Sutton the little mathematician is a fine student, whose conduct in school is marked by consideration for others, unselfishness and marked politeness.

"IQ" Authorities Cite Varied Studies

This reaction of Teddy's teacher is interesting if one consults, as we did recently, the studies of Lewis M. Terman in his book "The Intelligence of School Children." This expert has conducted thousands of what is known as "I Q" tests, and gives an exhaustive record of tests made among 41 children of superior minds.

He prefaces the study with the following:

"Another thing that has blocked the educational path of the gifted child is the widespread belief that intellectual precocity is pathological, that exceptionally bright children are usually unhealthy and likely to become physical and mental wrecks if their intellectual interests are at all stimulated. Recently, however, the truth of the traditional belief has come more and more under suspicion. Such studies as have been made of gifted children have not disclosed the pathological symptoms popularly supposed to accompany exceptional intellectual ability. On the contrary, wherever the experiment has been tried of providing such children larger and richer opportunities the results have been surprisingly gratifying."

In the course of developing his treatise Mr. Terman reveals among other facts the case of mathematical precocity, such as Teddy's, observed in a boy between three and four years of age, who read fluently from a primer; was wonderfully adept at arranging and classifying facts and who played as other children.

He also discovered that the superior child usually was obedient, conscientious, dependable, unselfish, of even temper and possessing will power. In another section of the treatise we read that out of a group of 51 children given the "I Q," 38 were normal in their desire for play.

Fired by Teddy's precocity we consulted other works on child psychology including Professor Terman's two-volume work: "Genetic studies of Genius," in which are classified upon the same technical basis such men as Beethoven, Bach, Spinoza, Cardan, Jenner, Dryden, Bolivar, Liebig Darwin and more than three score geniuses.

In every case presented there was the phenomenon of the mental age versus the chronological age. For example 5 as time goes, but 14 as to mental development. One case we read was the story of boy who was tested before 100 students at Columbia University on a day when the official temperature was 100 degrees. The child had stood alone at 5 months; walked when 9 months old; talked when he was a year old. He slept 11 1-2 hours. At 3 he picked up a book designed for a child of 9 and read it through intelligently. In his early infant stage he dressed and undressed unaided, cleaned his teeth, and attended to all necessary bodily hygiene; was a wizard at constructing mechanical models which require deft fingers, and it addition was able to operate a typewriter. He read and memorized Shakespeare, and criticized Gibbons, the noted historian on the Roman Empire, because he "left out too much."

In view of this, we shall watch the career of Teddy with avid interest as will no doubt many other Richmonders. Teddy it appears measures up to the tests made by well-known experts.