Everybody has a different idea of what fun is. Some people like to play sports. And others like to draw or read. For one six-year-old, solving complex math equations in his head is his idea of a great time. It’s all a matter of perspective, I guess.
Nathan Katcher has always been a fan of learning, his parents said. He has the flags of 65 different countries memorized. He taught himself how to play the piano with the help of an app. Now math is his new love. Nathan, or “Nathan the Number Kid” as he’s known on TikTok, is a “firecracker,” said his mom, Rachel Katcher.
“He has red hair and the personality that goes along with it.” A recent video showing him easily solving a math problem that included adding, subtracting, division, multiplication and a square root number went viral, earning 40,000 views in one night.
Nathan Katcher solves a math problem on Tiktok.
“The square root of 81, times 10, divided by 2, times 3, minus 20, plus 15, minus 30, times 10, divided by 2” was the problem his mom gave him. It took Nathan only 44 seconds to arrive at the answer. (If you want to try solving this yourself, go ahead – the answer will be at the end of the article!)
Rachel and Micah, Nathan’s dad, both love math, they said. They love coming up with challenging problems for Nathan to solve at a moment’s notice. Sometimes he will be in the middle of dinner when his parents throw a problem at him, never seeming to struggle. “You can see his eyes moving as he’s following along and visualizing the numbers,” Rachel said.
He ‘outmaths’ most grownups he talks to.”
Rachel was a fifth-grade teacher before becoming a mother. During the covid pandemic, she said that she “put that teacher hat back on when we were locked down during the pandemic.” Being stuck inside with Nathan, and his brother, Evan, 9, meant that learning became an at-home event. Rachel said she taught both boys the same grade level at the same time to make things less complicated.
Once schools began reopening, the family would take car drives as a way to get out of the house finally. Nathan, who was three at the time, would count the school buses as they passed, Rachel said. Each time they would get in the car for a drive, Nathan would continue counting from where he stopped the day before.
Nathan Katcher in his baseball uniform. Photo courtesy of the Katcher family
“It blew my mind” when he counted his way into the 300s, Rachel said. From there, Nathan’s love of math exploded. He began writing numbers down on a long scroll of paper. His mom said when he was in kindergarten, he wrote the numbers from 1 to 10,000, thrilling in his accomplishment.
He took it to school, showing his friends what he had done. “There is this Nathan Effect where the class saw him as the math leader,” Rachael said. All the students began bringing their own number scrolls into class. “The classroom would just be covered with paper, you know. Everyone had their scroll and they would roll out,” his mom said, laughing.
“The teacher sends us an email that says, ‘I love this but we’ve got to stop because I can’t even walk in the classroom,'” she said. The family helps Nathan practice his math each day. “It focuses him and it gives him an opportunity to have positive reinforcement,” his mom said.
It feels good. It’s something the whole family does together. We have fun with it.”
Now the first grader has new goals: calculus. His mom teases him, “Well that’s when you surpass us.” And while Nathan loves all things math, his parents say he still does what “a normal six-year-old boy that wants to do a different thing every day.”
As for Nathan’s future plans – the math wiz is still deciding whether he wants to play baseball or continue his work as a co-host on his older brother’s YouTube channel. Watch below for a look at Nathan and his amazing math trick!
*The answer: 500
@nathanthenumberkid My sweet little math genius six year old! #math #mathtrick ♬ original sound – Rachel Katcher
