‘Human calculator’ who rose to fame aged 14 reveals how to ‘make your child a maths genius’

A former World Maths Day champion has revealed exactly what it takes to raise a child genius – and the advice goes against what many parents are told to do.

Tatiana Devendranath doesn’t come from a family of mathematicians, but claimed the title year after year, until finally being dubbed ‘the human calculator’.

The 29-year-old said giving kids more screen time can help them build skills in math and science.

She told FEMAIL she used to play a lot of video games, up to eight hours on weekend days, with her family and on her own.

‘I was allowed to play video games whenever I wanted, from when I was a three-years-old,’ she said.

Pictured in Maths genius days – the young woman is now an ambassador for the online event 

Educational games formed part of that as did quest-style games which relied on reading dialogue and working things out.

‘I learned to read by playing these games,’ she said.

When she found Mathletics it opened her up the a world of numbers that she was free to explore at her own pace.

‘Soon that was all I was playing,’ she said.

She admits the score board feature appealed to her competitive side – and she also played the spelling bee version of the game too.

Before she knew it she was the game’s reigning champion.

‘Being described as a human calculator was pretty embarrassing but mum was proud, as you can imagine,’ she said. 

In fact her record of answering 105 questions in 60 seconds is still the record, she smiled.

She says the key to raising a child genius is ‘more screen time’

She is pitured here collecting her academic award

‘Kids who want to do well need to practice with the app – practice accuracy because at first that’s more important than speed,’ she said.

The current format gives kids around the world the opportunity to watch their peers move up and down the scoreboard over 48 hours.

‘I used to wait until the very end, play it strategically, so I knew how many points I needed to win,’ she said.

The Melbourne-based ‘nerd’ works in data and analytics, telling stories with numbers – which fuels her humanities loving side as well. 

She says she is a huge supporter in ‘age appropriate screen time’.

‘Even Minecraft can be educational,’ she said.

Teachers and schools, register your school now for World Maths Day at worldmathsday.com  

Before winning World Math Day in 2008 she was the five time Australian champion.