>From: [email protected]
>Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 22:01:14 EDT
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: Gauss web page
>
>
>I can't get into the Gauss biography pages on his early life. I am a 5th >grade teacher, and I want to get information on how he discovered the quick >way to add all the numbers from1-100 while still in grade school. I hope I >have that information correct. Let me know when I can download information to >share with my class.
>
>Thanks so much,
>
>Penny
Ms. Penny,
Thank you for visiting my site. As always, I happy to answer any questions regarding Gauss. Okay, this often happens when using an AOL browser. AOL, has a thing against Geocities, which I am not quite sure of. Perhaps the mistaken thought that there are many adult or "unsuitable" web pages. As far as I know, I have never seen any pornography on Geocities, although a few links to them.
Anyways, to help you out I am going to give you the equation first which is:
SUM = [n (n+1)]/2
I have attached the picture of this that I use on my web page for this so it's a bit easier to understand. If you need an explantion of this, just e-mail me again.
As for how he found the info, I will simply copy and paste it from my page. Here it is:
It is said, that without any help, Gauss was able to calculate before he could even talk. According to a well-authenticated story, Gauss corrected his father's error in calculating wages. He taught himself to read, and must have continued his arithmetical experimentation intensively, because in his first arithmetic class at the age of eight, he astonished his teacher by instantly solving a busy-work problem: to find the sum of the first hundred integers. (For the formula, click here.) Fortunately, his father did not see the possibility of commercially exploiting the calculating prodigy, and his teacher had the insight to supply the boy with books and to encourage his continued intellectual development.
If you want even more details, I can get them for you, but there are other sites on the web as well. They mostly have it on his this story of him and father and the busy-work problem as stated above. I try to be more abroad than that.
Again, thank you for visiting my page, and if it isn't out of your way, or if you are able to, please sign the guestbook. It made me feel great to read that I'm helping people with their research on Gauss. It has been a dream that I would be in a "Works Cited" list (and I'm only 18!) and I am sure that I have been. But a teacher was beyond anything that I thought for!
You've made my day, and hope yours is doing well too!
Sincerely,
Nelly "Nez" Cung
(NOTE: the attachment can be viewed here.)
FOLLOW-UP:
Nez, you are a great 18-year-old!! Maybe you are the next Gauss. You were a huge help.
Thank you so much,
Penny
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