A Wexford woman with a flair for mathematics demonstrates her mental ability to calculate numbers.
In a quickfire round of maths questions, Mrs Kinsella from Wexford proves that she knows her sums and is not phased by any of the calculations set for her.
Mrs Kinsella explains her technique for calculating sums in her head by breaking down the calculation into smaller parts.
If you ask me to multiply something by 25, I take that as a quarter of a hundred.
As a child she did a lot of mental arithmetic at home or walking along the road on her own. Mental arithmetic took her mind off the stories of "the man with a bag" which they were told when they were young.
This ability with numbers stood to her at school and in the family business.
Mrs Kinsella enjoys the challenge of working out a mathematical problem, something which reporter Frank Hall finds a bit shocking. She then turns the tables on him and tests his ability at mental arithmetic.
That's it. Quite simple.
This episode of 'Newsbeat’ was broadcast on 23 April 1971. The reporter is Frank Hall.
‘Newsbeat’ was a half hour feature programme which ran on television from Monday to Friday from September 1964 to June 1971. Reporting on stories from around the country, ‘Newsbeat’ covered affairs of the day with contributions from print journalists and RTÉ news staff.
