Daniel Tammet Is Autistic With Numbers

Written by Lynnette on January 15, 2007 | Comments (0)

Are you good with numbers?

I bet you're not as good with numbers as Daniel Tammet is!

Nor, do you see numbers in quite the same way as he sees numbers.

Who is Daniel Tammet, you ask?

Daniel Tammet is what they call an "autistic savant". He was featured on Good Morning America this morning.

What struck me as particularly unusual (and very interesting) was the fact that he sees numbers as colors and shapes, rather than as digits.

That, and the fact that he can figure out the answer to virtually any mathematical equation -- without the aid of a calculator, pen, paper, or any other tool. I think he said where most calculators can carry out the digits to about 15 places... he can go to 100 places!

People Who "See" Numbers Differently

This is especially fascinating to me, because we recently discovered that our little nephew has an uncanny ability with numbers.

He is in the first grade. At the age of 7, he is able to tell you exactly how many letters are in any word or phrase. Don't know where (or why) he ever picked up on that type of skill. His parents are as bewildered as the rest of us.

The strangest part, is the fact that he can even do this with words he's not familiar with and phrases he's never heard before! And there's really no limit the number of words in a phrase... he can still count out the total number of letters.

And he does this without looking at the word or phrase... it's all in his mind.

We're talking 7 here folks...

To top it off, his reading and comprehension level is off the charts! Wherever he is -- at home, church, in the car, at a restaurant -- he will almost always pick up the nearest book and just start reading it, cover to cover, silently (and rapidly) to himself.

Ask him what he read, and he can pretty much quote it line-for-line.

Anyways... back to Daniel Tammet.

Daniel Tammet's Fascinating Story

On GMA this morning, their lead-in was this:

"...a man with savant syndrome describes how his mind works."

It was a fascinating interview!!

Unlike most autistic individuals, Daniel is highly functioning, yet he continues to fine-tune his social skills every day.

They say that his skill with numbers started after his epileptic fit as a child. (Which is also interesting, because I believe our nephew experienced something similar.)

Ever since the age of three, when he suffered an epileptic fit, Tammet has been obsessed with counting. Now he is 26, and a mathematical genius who can figure out cube roots quicker than a calculator and recall pi to 22,514 decimal places. Source