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The desktop computer you're using right now to read this message likely has sufficient power to perform calculations faster than all 6.7 billion human beings on earth combined. Computers are ruthlessly fast at number crunching.
Brains are great at storing information and recalling facts, making connections between distantly related things, and recognizing patterns. But for mathematical computation, brains are no match for transistors. The i/o interface is terrible. Most people require about a second to recognize and compute the product of two single digit numbers.
I'm using an old slow PC, and a BASIC compiler (QB45). The short piece of code I wrote to select two single digit numbers at random, compute their product, and index a counter required 32 seconds to complete a million iterations. Your average human being could do about 32 in the same amount of time. Had I written this program in assembly language, I could reduce the time by a factor of 10, even on this old slow machine. I need to run this from my home PC, just for kicks, to compare results.
Update: Since I last wrote this answer four years ago (Dec 2008) I tried it again using a newer PC. The new program uses a function to select and truncate two two digit integers and compute their product inside nested machine loops. Interactively the program executed a million times in just under two seconds. Compiled, it still took 1.6 seconds, shaving off 8/10ths of a second. Meanwhile, the human population surpassed the seven billion mark, and individual humans still cannot compute any faster than before.
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What side of the brain controls numbers?
The left side of the brain is primarily responsible for processing numbers and mathematical tasks. This area, known as the left hemisphere, is associated with logical reasoning, analytical thinking, and processing sequential information, making it important for numerical calculations.
How many words are there in the word brain?
Brain cells are classified as neurons or glial cells. There are 86 billion neurons and 10 to 50 times as many glial cells.
Which portion of the brain controls many of vegetative functions?
The brain stem controls many vegetative functions, such as heart rate, breathing, and swallowing. This region of the brain is responsible for regulating essential bodily processes that are necessary for survival.
How many bones in a humens brain?
There are no bones in the human brain. The human skull protects the brain, which is made up of soft tissue.
How many membranes does the brain have?
The brain has three layers of protective membranes called meninges: the dura mater, the arachnoid mater, and the pia mater. These membranes help protect the brain and provide structural support.
What is the speed between super computer and human brain?
Think of it this way, our brain can do like 1-3 calculations per second, a super computer can do trillions and billions of calculations per second.
What would be most useful for detecting the brain areas that are most active as a person performs mathematical calculations?
A PET scan would be most useful for detecting brain areas that are most active as a person performs mathematical calculations.
Are processor is the brain of computer?
yes the processor does all the calculations and the RAM helps to push it through
If a computer does five calculations in a nanosecond then how many calculations does it do in a second?
5 billion
What simple device did the Chinese use in the twelfth century to perform mathematic calculations?
A brain - and it is not a simple device. It was assisted by an abacus, but without a brain an abacus would not have been much use!
How many instructions per second are processed by a human brain?
The human brain is estimated to process about 20-30 billion instructions per second. This includes the complex computational processes involved in sensory perception, memory storage, decision-making, and other cognitive functions.
Why has the computer been important for science?
It is because, it is used for research for thousands of topics and is used for creating graphs and simulations which aid in the understanding of science. Edit by DaftVirgin: Not only that, the computer has superior speed. It can make thousands of calculations in a matter of seconds while the human brain can't even make two calculations at the same time. This gives a huge advantage because some calculations would have taken years or decades to calculate with the brain.
Do the right and the left half of the brain work together at all?
Of course. They work together all the time. It is not that left brain takes care of language and the right brain takes care of numerical calculations. Both hemispheres are bridged by something called as the corpus collosum.
Can database be used for calculations?
No, databases can only do a selective amount of calculations, but you can get the exact same responses but many more detailed calculations by using Spreadsheet software, I recommend using Microsoft Excel.
How can you improve your memory power?
don're rely too much on technology such as your cellphone to do simple calculations. try to use brain, not so much electronics
How many brain calls are there in the brain?
There are around 200,000,000 brain cells in the brain.
What would the calculations be to find out how many seconds are in a week?
10080
