Malaysian student dubbed the ‘human calculator’ finished runner-up in Asia’s Got Talent 2019

via YouTube
via YouTube

Fifteen-year-old Yaashwin Sarawanan, still studying at Kuala Lumpur’s SMK Bandar Tun Hussein Onn 2, finished in second place in the finale of Asia’s Got Talent 2019 last night.

Dubbed the “human calculator” for his fast, and accurate, math skills, young Yaashwin told reporters that he was floored to have made it so far — “From 200 acts, it was narrowed down to nine, and today, I was left with Eric Chien.”

Chien, a Taiwanese magician, went on to win the competition, having also recently won the Close-up Magic category at the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques, what many consider to be the World Championships of Magic, and received a grand prize of US$100,000.

Having themed his final performance as “Back to Skool,” he asked for the three judges to join the act by “calculating” the exact day of an important event in their lives, down to the date, month and year.

And if that makes as much sense to you, as it does to us — then hey — maybe we all went to art school?

Here’s a clip of the man of the hour, in action.




Yaashwin has been involved in extra-curricular maths activities since he was a young boy, enrolling himself in an abacus and mental arithmetic class when he was only seven. In 2017, he was crowned champion at the International Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition.

Congrats, kiddo. Keep on calculating.



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