Jan van Koningsveld
Jan van Koningsveld (* 1969 in Emden ) is a mental calculator, memory athlete, author and competition organizer. He is a four-time world champion, a two-time Olympic champion and a multiple world record holder in mental arithmetic. In the " Guinness Book of Records 2000" he is listed for reciting the number pi. Since 2002 he has been the world record holder in the discipline "The Ultimate Test of Pi". He has appeared in various television shows, including "Germany's super brain" and "The German Masters".
It was only at the age of 33 that he began seriously to train mental arithmetic , and at the first World Championships in 2004 he immediately won the title of vice world champion (overall ranking) and the world championship in drawing the square root. He confirmed this success at the second world championships in 2006 when he was again runner-up (overall) and runner-up (multiplication). At the third world championship in mental arithmetic in Leipzig in 2008, he again received the world title. Van Koningsveld became world champion in pulling square roots and calendar arithmetic. Also at this championship he received the title of vice world champion in the overall standings. After a third place in the calendar calculation and fifth place in the overall ranking in 2010, he became world champion for the fourth time at the 2012 World Cup, here in cube root extraction. He also achieved third place in the overall ranking. Van Koningsveld is thus the most successful participant in the first five world championships in terms of the overall standings. He was the only one who managed to always be in the top 5, with a record number of four top 3 placements. As of August 2016, he is also the participant with the most medals at world championships. He achieved gold four times, silver five times and bronze five times.
At the first MEMORIAD, the Olympics for mental arithmetic and memory sports, which took place on November 1st and 2nd, 2008 in Istanbul, Jan van Koningsveld won the gold medal in both the multiplication and calendar arithmetic disciplines. He also achieved the world record in calendar computing with 56 correctly assigned weekdays within one minute for the period 1600 to 2100. He was able to improve this world record several times in the following years, most recently on October 24, 2015 with 96 correctly assigned weekdays within one minute. Van Koningsveld was the first person to ever set a record in this category with an average calculation time of less than one second per date.
In 2003 he broke the world record for multiplying two eight-digit numbers (50.9 seconds) and got it back a year later with a time of 38.1 seconds after losing it a few weeks earlier.
In 2005 he set another world record, this time in multiplying two five-digit numbers. Ten tasks of this type had to be solved consecutively and without interruption. It took 3 minutes and 6 seconds to complete these tasks correctly.
His student Silke Betten, also born in Emden , also took part in the three world championships. In 2004 she was the only female participant to take 3rd place in the calendar calculation. At the 2006 World Championships, she was the best of five participants. The World Championships take place as an overall competition, so men and women are not classified separately.
Jan van Koningsveld has been organizing the Emden arithmetic championship he initiated every year since 2007. Children and adults can compete with other participants in different evaluation classes (mostly divided according to school year). The focus is on having fun with arithmetic, school grades play no role in participation. Every year between 200 and 300 arithmetic enthusiasts from Emden and the surrounding area take part. The arithmetic championship takes place at the Früchteburg School and Vocational School I in Emden.
Van Koningsveld is a founding member and board member of the Gesellschaft für Rechnen und Denksport Deutschland eV Since 2013 he has organized and leads the Junior Mental Calculation World Championship together with Caroline Merkel from Nuremberg .
On the international day of the number pi, March 14, 2015, Jan van Koningsveld organized and directed the first Emden pi competition, in which the participants had to say as many decimal places of the number pi as possible. Overall winner was Gerold Busboom with 1,202 flawless decimal places. The competition has been held annually since 2015 and brought a new German record in 2016 thanks to Dr. Klaus Schubert stands out with 10,904 decimal places that were recited without errors.
In 2001 van Koningsveld initiated the Pi World Ranking List and has been running it ever since. This is the world ranking list for people who have recited the decimal places of the number Pi by heart. By 2016, over 1,000 participants with personal or national and international records had registered. The participants come from almost 50 countries on all continents of the world.
Fonts
- Robert Fountain, Jan van Koningsveld: The Mental Calculator's Handbook. Self-published, 1st edition 2013, ISBN 978-1-300-84665-9 .
- Jan van Koningsveld: In 7 days to the human calendar. Self-published, 1st edition 2013, ISBN 978-1484113660 .
- Jan van Koningsveld: Become a Human Calendar in just 7 Days. Self-published, 1st edition 2014, ISBN 978-1484146262
Web links
- Website of the Emden arithmetic championship
- Jan van Koningsveld's website
- Website of the mental arithmetic world championship
- Pi world ranking
- Website of the Junior World Championships in mental arithmetic
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koningsveld, Jan van |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German memory athlete |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1969 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Emden |