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April 12, 2007 | Issue 4-20

CHICAGO--The 1998 World Math Champion Dirk Sklanski was spotted last Thursday using a calculator at a Chase bank on Halsted Street in Chicago. The numbers wizard appeared to be using the device to fill out his deposit slip, according to witnesses.

“Being a huge math fan, I couldn’t believe it was him,” said witness Bob Workman. “But he looked confused and reached over and starting using the calculator on the counter. I was shocked.”

“It’s not as if he had to find the focus of a parabola,” said Jim Levin, who was close enough to notice the math genius adding the two amounts with computing assistance. “I looked at the numbers and added them in my head. I just can’t believe he went for the calculator.”

The incident was not the first time a World Math Champion was seen under using an aid for basic arithmetic. In 1997, then reigning champion Sergei Grakov used a PDA to compute his tip at a Prague diner, stunning fans and wait staff.