1780s, Germany. A schoolteacher, desperate for some peace, gives his 8-year-olds a tedious task: add up all the numbers from 1 to 100. That should keep them busy, right?
Enter young Carl Friedrich Gauss. While his classmates grind away, he takes a quick look, “folds” the numbers—1 pairs with 100, 2 with 99, and so on—realizing each pair sums to 101. With 50 such pairs, he multiplies: 50 × 101 = 5050.
Boom. Two minutes, problem solved. Teacher stunned. Classmates still counting. Gauss goes on to become one of history’s greatest mathematicians.
