# Mankind Forgets Math (short story) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030 "2006-10-26T21:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zptfzm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ee7513/32.png) [@zptfzm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zptfzm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/1 "2006-10-26T21:40:46Z")
Hi, I was wondering if someone here knows the name/author of a short story I’m looking for. The premise is that mankind loses the ability to do math in their heads. It is then discovered that some lower level office type has retained the ability and he then has to find some way to teach it to everyone else. I could have sworn I read about it on this board a few years back. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/2 "2006-10-26T21:42:22Z")
Isaac Asimov’s “A Feeling of Power”? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/3 "2006-10-26T22:09:03Z")
Set in the midst of a stalemated inter-galactic war? And the computers running the war are at stand-still, and this little guy can do calculations (like multiplication) and get the same answer the computer does…only slower. And everyone is amazed. That the story? Must be written back in late 50s or early 60s, but I don’t know author. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/4 "2006-10-26T22:41:12Z")
Definitely Asimov’s “The Feeling of Power.” Which, incidentally, brought the phrase “pocket calculator” into the language. > [@](#): > > Nine times seven, thought Shuman with deep satisfaction, is sixty-three, and I don’t need a computer to tell me so. The computer is in my own head. > > And it was amazing the feeling of power that gave him. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/5 "2006-10-27T01:43:03Z")
Damnit, I had a second of feeling all smug from knowing the answer as soon as I saw the title. Then I look, and see I’ve been roundly trounced and outdistanced. Apparently other people read Asimov. [eric cartman]Screw you guys![/eric cartman] So Asimov really had something with the pocket calculators in that story. But he, like so many other writers, imagined computers going in a completely different direction than they did, with the bulk of the world’s computing power being contained in one enormous machine. (I do love the Multivac stories. Multivac is the kind of computer that, if I were a woman, I would be in love with Multivac.) Makes me want to talk about Leinster’s “A Logic Called Joe”. Man, I miss the future. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/6 "2006-10-27T03:31:19Z")
My favorite part of that story was the government official who asked “But is it always sixty-three?”. > [@](#): > > (I do love the Multivac stories. Multivac is the kind of computer that, if I were a woman, I would be in love with Multivac.) What makes you say Multivac isn’t female? And “A Logic Named Joe” is almost eerie in its prescience. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/7 "2006-10-29T15:11:18Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] My favorite part of that story was the government official who asked “But is it always sixty-three?”. [/QUOTE] [Pulls out pocket computer]“I’ve checked it any number of times, and it’s always the same.”[/repockets] 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/8 "2006-10-29T15:46:31Z")
I always liked that story. A nice coincidence is that when I opened the thread, the song I was listening to was “In the Year 2525.” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mankind-forgets-math-short-story/378030/9 "2006-10-29T15:57:15Z")
But do y’all remember the chilling part of the story? It was decided that, with this new technology, “graphitics”, they could put actual people in fighting positions, instead of relying on computer driven ships to do their fighting for them! > [@](#): > > The general was saying, "Our goal is a simple one, gentlemen - the replacement of the computer. A ship that can navigate space without a computer on board can be constructed in one fifth the time and at one tenth the expense of a computer-laden ship. We could build fleets five times, ten times, as great as Deneb could if we could but eliminate the computer. > > “And I see something even beyond this. It may be fantastic now, a mere dream, but in the future I see the manned missile!” In the end, Technician Aub kills himself, seeing that his invention is going to be used for war. Too late, of course, because others were already picking it up.