Savant syndrome and prime numbers

• Authors: Yamaguchi Makoto
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Oliver Sacks (1985) reported that a pair of autistic twins had extraordinary number abilities and that they spontaneously generated huge prime numbers. Such abilities could contradict our understanding of human abilities. Sacks' report attracted widespread attention, and several researchers speculated theoretically. Unfortunately, most of the explanations in the literature are wrong. Here a correct explanation on prime number identification is provided. Fermat's little theorem is implemented in spreadsheet. Also, twenty years after the report, questionable aspects were found in it. Extreme abilities became dubious. One possibility for the less extreme abilities is incomplete trial division.

Keywords

EN

AUTISM; EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES; SAVANT SYNDROME

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Committee for Psychological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Polish Psychological Bulletin
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 69-73
• Physical description: source-id: PPB_40_2\83386K08N2Q75G3U.xml
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Yamaguchi Makoto

• Makoto Yamaguchi, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Japan

References

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Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11PLAAAA091229

DOI

10.2478/s10059-009-0023-1