Willem Bouman (80): you're never too old to learn
On Monday, the numerical genius will make an attempt at TU/e to achieve his fifth world record.
On Monday 10 February we will host a very special world record attempt: 80-year old Willem Bouman from Alphen aan den Rijn will be the first person ever to write at least ten five-digit numbers as the sum of four squares. His motto? "You're never too old to learn!"
Willem Bouman may rightly be called the ambassador of arithmetic. At schools he regularly tells his story and gives guest lectures. Bouman attributes his genius for numbers to a combination of talent, training and intelligence. “Like a long-distance runner, I need training to stay in shape. I'm working on it every day, it doesn't bore me for a moment."
In recent years he has had many contacts with mathematicians at TU/e. During brainstorming sessions he always hears: 'You are an outspoken calculator. You approach a problem in a different way than a mathematician'. According to Bouman, it is a "dramatic misunderstanding" that you can trade one for the other.
King of Prime
He already has several world records to his name, among others: 'decompose into factors'; 'ascending divisions'; and 'calculate four consecutive prime numbers from a 16-digit number'. In 2014 he received the Prix d'Excellence in Dresden. He received this prize because he was the only one who was able to factorize the number 278,353,657 into three non-consecutive prime numbers. This earned him the title “the King of Prime". He is also the author of the book 'The Art of Arithmetic'.
Bouman finds a feeling for numbers important, he explains in an interview with De Telegraaf. "The current generation has been spoiled by the use of calculators. A girl in a flower shop didn't even know by heart how much a bunch of flowers of 12.95 had to cost now that it had a ten percent discount".
Computer
On behalf of TU/e, Associate Professor Benne de Weger is involved in the organization of the world record attempt. Together with colleague Michiel Hochstenbach, he will generate numbers between 10,000 and 99,999 via a computer, after which Bouman immediately has to write down the squares.
This has to go well in one go and he is not allowed to make any intermediate calculations. "It's mainly a matter of picking the largest square so that you are just below the number and then adding small squares to it", Bouman says. He knows all squares up to a thousand by heart, which helps.
The attempt to achieve a fifth world record should be the highlight of his career as a calculation genius. Or as Bouman himself says: "if I can't learn anything new anymore, there's only one place for me: the cemetery".
If the record attempt succeeds, it will be published on the official site recordholders.org.
More information about Bouman and his love of numbers can be found on his website.