An amazing 10-year-old that brought me to tears

halfcentman · April 20, 2011 8:47AM

I am a coin dealer who does a lot of business in my town. I have a wife who teaches in our high school, three kids (13, 12, and 6) who attend public schools and are involved in the community. I give talks on various subjects besides coins to schools, libraries, etc.

While I am running errands, a young man comes up to me and asks me if I am Mr. Heim, I say "yes."

He tells ME that his grandfather had an 1911 Indian $2.50 gold piece AND asks me if that's a quarter eagle. He also mentions that it did not a "D" on it and said "darn."

Then, he asks me if a $2.50 has 0.1203975 ounces of pure gold. Since many of you know that I have Asperger's and I am savant-like with numbers, I knew he was correct.

Amazed, I asked him how he figured that out. He says "oh, it was real easy. I knew that a $20.00 gold piece has 0.9675 ounces of pure gold, so I just divided by 2 a total of three times since 2.5 is 1/8 of 20."

"Did you use a calculator?"

"Why would you need a calculator to do that?"

It was then I started to get a bit emotional. The rest is between me, the youngster, and his parents.

REFRESHING.

Greg

AnkurJ · April 20, 2011 8:49AM

Wow! that is a truly rare thing in this day and age of computer everything!

DoubleEagle59 · April 20, 2011 8:52AM

Nice story and an even nicer connection between the two of you.

ANACONDA · April 20, 2011 8:55AM

Awesome...thanks for sharing.

TwoSides2aCoin · April 20, 2011 8:55AM

Not to be a smart alec, but did you take the time to play "guess the grade" ?

AUandAG · April 20, 2011 9:06AM

Way to go!

bob

66Tbird · April 20, 2011 9:06AM

Cool,

I too find mathematics easy. My father was a mathematical engineer and my grandfather could add 3 digit number continuously as fast as one could spit them out. I know the frustration in dealing with kids that should be ahead of where they are and the admiration of working with ones that actually have their peanut in motion. About ten years ago the local book store went out of business and I snagged a case of 'Dictionary of Scientific Literacy' and 'Rapid Math Tricks and Tips' books. Been giving them away to people that show the tinniest spark of problem solving skills. Most really enjoy each and ask for more and end up as one of my RC students.

pakasmom · April 20, 2011 9:20AM

He was probably as thrilled to "connect' with you, as you were with him. Nice story. Thanks for posting it!

EagleEye · April 20, 2011 9:29AM

Neat story. Did you tell him that unlike common $20's, $10's and $5's they are still trading for more than melt in circ grades.

Turn that around and you could say they have preformed the worst in the recent run-up.

mrearlygold · April 20, 2011 9:38AM

LeeBone · April 20, 2011 9:48AM

Thanks for sharing

SeattleSlammer · April 20, 2011 11:47AM

Most kids and adults wouldn't even be able to tell you that 2.5 is 1/8 of 20 ........ an exceptional brain on that kid for sure!

MidLifeCrisis · April 20, 2011 12:12PM

That was worth the read!

pheh · April 20, 2011 12:19PM

I'll take any little nugget of hope I can get out of today's youth. Thanks for sharing this.

Tiggs2012 · April 20, 2011 12:23PM

Am I the only one who divided it in my head by 8 and realize your number was wrong? 8 goes into 75 9 times, not 3 so looks you reversed the 9 and 3, should be 0.1209375

RYK · April 20, 2011 12:23PM

<< That was worth the read!

>>

keyman64 · April 20, 2011 12:25PM

7of9 · April 20, 2011 12:43PM

Thanks for sharing

WTCG · April 20, 2011 1:46PM

I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Asian kids in that town...

scottgardener · April 20, 2011 2:28PM

That's great! It reminds me of the math competitions I did back in eighth grade, where they taught us techniques to calculate in our heads. However, if you have Asperger's, you're probably using a different part of your brain to get the answer. And, the kids who hosed the rest of us in those contests probably had Asperger's, too. But, Aspberger's or not, it's great that there are kids these days who aren't "kids these days."

RickMilauskas · April 20, 2011 2:40PM

That's a cool story. You gotta love a kid like that. You gotta love someone like you...especially since my son has Asbergers and has the same love for numbers. He thinks the same way. So do I for that matter.

That being said, a $2.50 gold piece would have 0.1209375 ounces of gold...not 0.1203975 ounces (I'm sure that was just a typo)

stealer · April 20, 2011 3:01PM

<< I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Asian kids in that town... >>

ProofArtworkonCircs · April 20, 2011 3:08PM

I was on a factory tour when somebody asked the guide what a certain centigrade temperature was in Farenheit. He was an engineering type and reached for his calculator. Before he finished I gave him the correct number to the tenth of a degree after calculating it in my head.
Boy was he dumbfunded. For you math types the shortcut is:
1 Double the centigrade number
2 Subtract 10% (shift decimal point of step 1 by 1 to the left to get the number to subtract)
3 Add 32

edit: I can calculate but can't spell

joebb21 · April 20, 2011 4:07PM

the human calculator

halfcentman · April 20, 2011 9:06PM

Yes, that's a typo: 0.1209375.

SNMAN · April 20, 2011 9:17PM

<< I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Asian kids in that town... >>

LeeBone · April 20, 2011 11:32PM

<< the human calculator >>

Wow! That was a cool video

pmac · April 20, 2011 11:41PM

<< Yes, that's a typo: 0.1209375. >>

A bit of dyslexia too?

BTW, we've all heard of the organization "Mothers Against Dyslexia - DAM".
I was touched by the connection also.
Also, I think every generation has been criticized much like that found in this thread.

ricko · April 20, 2011 11:47PM

Great story, although not all with asperger syndrome are numerically inclined... Cheers, RickO

Dave99B · April 21, 2011 12:33AM

That is a beautiful story. What a great read to start the new day.

Thanks for sharing it, Halfcentman.

Dave

An amazing 10-year-old that brought me to tears

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