Name: Bobby Foley
Age: 9
School: Seagull Elementary
Pastime: Math, reading, theater
Future: Veterinarian, actor
But it was inspiration, not perspiration, that led him to a discovery that has wowed friends and teachers. He devised a formula for multiplying 9 by other single-digit figures: Add a zero to the second number, then subtract the second number. For example, for 9 times 8, add the zero to get 80, then subtract 8 to get 72.
Bobby devised variations for the 6, 7 and 8 multiplication tables.
Carlyn Tani said she was getting ready to tuck her son in one night when he casually mentioned he had "a way to do nines." "When he described it, I was shocked that it worked. I immediately got up and called his teacher."
Teacher Leslie Ledet had Bobby explain the method to his class the next day.
"He's obviously brilliant in understanding the logic and principles behind math -- so much so that he often leaps ahead of the process and is able to grasp the answers almost intuitively," Ledet said.
Thomas B. Hoover, chairman of the University of Hawaii-Manoa mathematics department, said such methods require understanding of numbers.
Bobby doesn't use his formulas. "I have it all memorized. But it's for, like, other people, like my friend. It takes him a long time because he counts on his fingers."