Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777 - 1855) is one of the world's most famous mathematicians.

This story has been flying around for years...  who knows if it's really true or not!?

Gauss was about 9 years old -- already a super genius (much like Wile E. Coyote.)  His teacher hated math and hated Gauss (because he was so smart).

As usual, the teacher walked into the class and gave them a horribly tedious arithmetic problem.  They were to work on it and not bother him.

Here was the day's problem:

Add the integers from 1 to 100.

They got out their slate boards and chalk and started hammering away!

The teacher quickly noticed that Gauss was not writing -- HA!  He had him now!

"CARL!  Why aren't you working?!"

"Because I already know the answer."

"Oh?  You're so smart -- why don't you share your answer with the class?"

"It's 5050."

"#*@#&*!"

It was true.  Gauss had figured it out...  In his head...  At 9 years old...  Do you hate him too?

Want to know how he did it?  It's a trick!