Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a brilliant German mathematician from the first half of the 19th century.
At the age of seven he started elementary school and quickly amazed his teacher, Büttner, and his assistant, Martin Bartels, with his ability to sum the integers from 1 to 100 instantly. The story is as follows:
Büttner, in perhaps an attempt to simply give the pupils something to keep them occupied, requested that each pupil begin summing the integers from 1 to 100, that is 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 99 + 100. Each pupil should work on their own slate and place the slate on the Büttner's desk when they get the answer. Gauss quickly stood up, walked to the front of the class and placed his slate on the teacher's desk. Doubtful or frustrated, Büttner picked up the slate and was amazed to find only the correct answer written on it without any supporting calculation. He quickly asked the young Gauss how he so quickly arrived at the answer, and from that day Gauss received special attention from his teachers who recognized his brilliance. So the question is of course, how did Gauss do it?
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