Editing Jacques Inaudi (section)

==Biography==
Giacomo Inaudi was perhaps the most famous [[mental calculator]] prodigy in history. Born very poor, as a child he was initiated into his father's trade, shepherding.<ref>{{cite news |title=Greatest Human Adding Machine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-standard-freeholder-jacques-inaudi/169460351/ |work=Daily Standard-Freeholder |date=7 February 1951 |location=Cornwall, ON |page=A27 |access-date=3 April 2025 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>  But he soon showed aptitude for [[mental calculation]] and was taken to [[Marseille]] where, at the age of 12, he met Bénédit Jules Dombey, a sales representative, who was to become his impresario and whose daughter he married. The latter would guide him around the world in a series of performances as well as meetings with the scientific community. He was, among other things, introduced to the [[Académie Française]], which commissioned [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] and [[Alfred Binet]] to thoroughly examine Inaudi's abilities. In particular, Binet delved into the matter, making it the subject of several publications. Other French scientists took an interest in his abilities: some, such as [[Camille Flammarion]], enthusiastically; others, especially mathematicians, emphasized the fact that Inaudi's methods were based mainly on his personal talents (such as prodigious memory) or "tricks," and therefore could not be proposed for widespread use. Among his abilities, he could add or subtract numbers of even 20 digits or more together, or extract square and cube roots, in a matter of minutes; and he could readily indicate the day of the week of any date from the [[17th century]] onward.<ref>''La Settimana Enigmistica'' n. 4419, 1 December 2016, p. 39</ref>