Revision showed that his son was right.
At the age of seven, Gauss went to the Catherine Parish School at
Braunschweig, and remained at it for several years. The master's name
was Buttner, and from a raised seat in the middle of the room, he kept
order by means of a whip suspended at his side. A bigger boy, Bartels
by name, used to cut quill pens, and assist the smaller boys in their
lessons. He became a friend of Gauss, and would procure mathematical
books, which they read together. Bartels subsequently rose to be a
professor in the University of Dorpat, where he died. At the parish
school the boys of fourteen to fifteen years were being examined in
arithmetic one day, when Gauss stepped forward and, to the astonishment
of Buttner, requested to be examined at the same time. Buttner,
thinking to punish him for his audacity, put a 'poser' to him, and
awaited the result. Gauss solved the problem on his slate, and laid it
face downward on the table, crying 'Here it is,' according to the
custom. At the end of an hour, during which the master paced up and
down with an air of dignity, the slates were turned over, and the answer
of Gauss was found to be correct while many of the rest were erroneous.
Buttner praised him, and ordered a special book on arithmetic for him
all the way from Hamburg.
Pages:
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337