Science cop questions 'math genius'

Anti-fraud activist Fang Zhouzi on Tuesday questioned a TV show contestant's "super power" after a young man, who is believed to have a mental condition which makes verbal communication difficult, impressed people by quickly solving a complicated arithmetic problem on the show.

Zhou Wei, a contestant on "Super Brain," which screened on Jiangsu Satellite TV on Friday, shocked the audience by successfully solving a difficult math problem in his head, much faster than the professor and mathematician on the show.

Zhou's background and mental condition also attracted attention. Zhou, who comes from a small village in Shanxi province, was diagnosed as being moderately "mentally retarded." He made headlines and was a hot topic on news reports and social media after the show. Celebrities who were impressed and touched by Zhou's talent have dubbed him "China's Hawking" or "China's Rain Man."

"Not everyone can become a great genius; but a great genius can come from anywhere," Wei Kunlin, a professor with the Department of Psychology of Peking University and a guest on the program, commented on his Sina Weibo afterward.

But not all were impressed. "You cannot say a person has a 'super power' just by solving that math problem," Fang, a renowned blogger and science activist, told the Global Times on Tuesday, adding that Zhou probably just memorized all the possible results, rather than calculating them on his own.

Fang first raised the question on his Sohu Weibo on Monday, saying that the TV program gathered a group of frauds to fake a mathematical super power. Fang suggested on his Weibo a change to the questions to test Zhou's ability to calculate. "He should be given questions with more complicated results," Fang wrote.

A staff member with the TV show told the Nanjing-based Modern Express that the questions were raised by the audience and experts on the scene.

The intensive news coverage about Zhou revealed that this was not the first time Zhou's ability to do math has been questioned.

Zhou participated in a TV program called "Approaching Science" on China Central Television four years ago. A series of scientific experiments on Zhou's ability to do math led to the conclusion that he was mentally handicapped and not a genius at math.

The "Super Brain" program group said that they will bring Zhou to Beijing for an analysis of his condition and try to help him with his illness. The results will be shown live.