Yusnier Viera, "the human calculator", pursues new world record

March 3, 2024

Cuban Yusnier Viera, recognized as "the human calculator", has set his sights on a new challenge: an attempt to establish a new world record in mental calculation.

Through his social media, Viera called on his followers to witness that moment. The event is scheduled for this Saturday, March 9, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, at Miami Dade College, Campus Hialeah, specifically in room 5101B.

Yusnier Viera throughout his life has developed the ability to calculate in fractions of a second what day a given date fell or will fall on, whether in the past or in the future.

A graduate in Computer Science from the University of La Habana (UH), during his student years and with his reputation for extended intelligence, some friends told him there were mental calculation olympiads.

"I started researching and discovered that one of the categories in which people competed was calendar dates. I was intrigued by the idea that you could calculate the date when something happened and I said to myself: well, I'm going to try it", explained the mathematician, originally from Bejucal, in the current province of Mayabeque, in an interview with BBC Mundo.

Driven by his passion for dates, Viera immersed himself in arduous study, dedicating eight hours daily to perfect his skill. To simplify things, he developed his own mathematical algorithm to calculate the days.

His mark can be found in the Guinness Book of Records on 21 occasions, all of them in the calendar calculation category.