Pumps' Perplexities

Years ago cash registers did not have the "addition function"...
The local grocer would add up your purchase by using a
pencil and the side of a paper bag...Once totaled the cash
register keys were pressed down with the "total amount"
and the cash draw would open...

The grocery purchase was transacted by mental addition...

I once new a gentleman who could watch the grocer "list"
the prices, of purchased items, on the paper bag...When
the grocer drew the "total line", at the bottom of the column
of numbers, this gentleman would announce the sum total,
having read the numbers upside down with the grocer on the
other side of the store counter...

This mathematical ability was a result of talent and training...
It is a shame that talent of this type goes to waste, now a
days, because the paper and pencil have been replaced with
an electronic device...The calculator....Pumps