# I'm pretty smart but... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440 "2004-06-09T13:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/41 "2004-06-10T11:16:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Not that i’m colorblind or anything, but sometimes when approaching a traffic light at a high speed with no other cars around I blank out for a moment and forget which color means go and which means stop. > To convince myself not to panic and slow down I have to repeat in my head “Green is go, green is go”. Yellow means GO FASTER NOW! Hope this helps. I use basic sign language to remember what I am looking for if I have to walk from one room to the next. I will make the letter P with my hand to remind me I need a pencil and the letter T with the other if I need a Tomahawk Cruise Missile. I do this because we all know that every doorway across the world has a Brain Clearing Sensor in it and this is the only known way to thwart the dreaded, " What did I come in here for?" ---
**Author:** ![bittersweet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@bittersweet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittersweet)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/42 "2004-06-10T13:39:34Z")
> [@AmericanMaid](#): > > Anyone have similar lapses of intelligence? Oh boy, do I ever. I too have trouble doing math in my head, perhaps because I’m a very visual person (and blonde to boot 😉 ). I can count on one hand the titles of classical music pieces that I actually remember when I hear them, even though I’ve heard them a million times. Also, when I need to figure out how many days in a month, I have to recite that “30 Days Hath September” rhyme if there’s no calendar nearby. As I’ve said before, I’m not often confused for a rocket scientist. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/43 "2004-06-10T14:07:45Z")
I can’t remember any of the month “methods” for the life of me. The closes I come is “Thirty days hath September, bla bla bla bla bla”. But over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at just remembering the number by closing my eyes and imagining the calendar in front of me. Is that wierd, or what? > [@AmericanMaid](#): > > > [@Trunk](#): > > > > What, pray tell, can you do? > > 1. I can … > Shall I go on? :rolleyes: I suspect **Trunk** was just being a smartass, implying what kind of _important_ things can you do? You know, like drinking, smoking, dancing, and swearing! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/44 "2004-06-10T17:17:40Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > Unless I am standing next to a landmark, I have to think really hard about where NSEW are. Tell me to “go west at that 3rd traffic light” and I get confused. That sounds kinda common, actually. I mean, if you just stick Random Person in the middle of an area, most people aren’t going to be able to point out where North is. Well, I wouldn’t, anyway. At the very least, I’m with you on this one. _bamf_ ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/45 "2004-06-10T17:26:34Z")
> [@Dusty](#): > > I don’t know the order of alphabet beyond G. This usually isn’t a problem–how often does is necessary in life to arrange the alphabet? Back a long time ago, before computers were used, I had a job which involved filing catalogue cards in a library catalogue. Later, I was promoted to checked filing that other people had done. You really did need to know your alphabet to do that. (And people shelving books in libraries still need to know the alphabet to get them in order, as well as the numbers from 0 to 9.) ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/46 "2004-06-10T18:16:48Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > 10[sup]5[/sup] IS ten thousand. 10[sup]6[/sup] = 100,000, or one hundred thousand. 😃 Are you trying to confuse people, or just lkive up to your name 😉 10[sup]6[/sup] is and always will be a million. Now 10[sup]12[/sup] gets complex as it is an old UK Billion, or an American Trillion (thousand billion) luckily the old UK system has died a death even in the UK. 123,456,789,123,456 would be called one hundred and twenty three billion four hundred and fifty six thousand seven hundred and eighty nine million one hundred and twenty three thousand four hundred and fifty six in the old UK system. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/47 "2004-06-10T18:37:51Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Are you trying to confuse people, or just lkive up to your name 😉 Yeah, I know, I screwed up. See the very next post after the one where I said that. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/48 "2004-06-10T18:53:30Z")
My biggest thing is getting numbers confused. Twos and fives, threes and sixes, and fours and sevens are often swapped. For instance, if you tell me I got a 97 on an exam, I’d go home and tell my mother I got a 94. A telephone number starting with 622 will be turned into 655. I-287 gets morphed into I-284. It’s both frustrating and funny. I have a hard time remembering how many millimeters go into a meter and centimeter. Quite idiotically, I once held up a ruler and counted the number of dashes separating the centimeters, just to be on the safe side when doing some calculations. I mentally transcribe bass into treble cleff when I have to identify notes. I imagine the notes all fell down a line, and I have to really think hard not to call the Bs Gs and the As Cs, etc. When I used to play viola in orchestra, I only learned the notes by their fingerings, not by their names (because I was used to violin fingerings and treble cleff). I always kept waiting for someone to discover that their section leader didn’t know how to read the music properly! ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/49 "2004-06-10T18:55:31Z")
I saw the reply, but wanted to use your post to link into the difficulty of understanding long numbers when spoken, especially in the old UK system. I always have to double take when someone says they have a six digit sallary, my first thought is ‘That must be over a million’ because a million has six zeros and the number six associates itself with a million for me. I also find spoken directions almost always impossible to understand or follow. I need a map, pictures, or at least the directions written down in a list. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/50 "2004-06-10T19:15:32Z")
> [@Kallessa](#): > > When dealing with percentages, I must relate everything to 10% in order to figure it out. If a 40 dollar shirt is on sale for 30% off, I say to myself, “10% would be 4 dollars, so 30% is 12 dollars.” Gods help me if something is a percentage not divisible by 5–frankly, I work it to the closest 5% and then just guess! But that’s the easiest way! It’s also how I calculate tips! And I also have some strange methods of doing math in my head. ---
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/51 "2004-06-10T19:17:30Z")
I can read maps just fine, but if I’m in my apartment and want to point to one of the directions, I practically have to look out the window to get my bearings. I’ve lived here 18 years–you’d think I’d know. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/52 "2004-06-10T19:27:34Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I believe this is why this smiley was invented: :smack: > > 10[sup]5[/sup] is one hundred thousand, and 10[sup]6[/sup] is a million. > > Sorry…sorry. Just forget I was here. Heh heh heh. Who’s the spacklehead now, buddy? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/53 "2004-06-10T20:05:13Z")
I have a terrible memory for dates, especially things like birthdays. Of the five other people in my family, I can consistently remember the birthdays of only three: April 1 (obvious), June 25 (I don’t know WHY I can remember this one), and October 23 (my older brother’s birthday, which I can only remember because it’s “Mole Day,” 10^23, and, additionally, because he’s majoring in pharmacy). ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/54 "2004-06-11T07:25:02Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > I have a terrible memory for dates, especially things like birthdays. Of the five other people in my family, I can consistently remember the birthdays of only three: April 1 (obvious), June 25 (I don’t know WHY I can remember this one), and October 23 (my older brother’s birthday, which I can only remember because it’s “Mole Day,” 10^23, and, additionally, because he’s majoring in pharmacy). Mole day, huh? I guess that’s kind of like how programmers get Halloween and Christmas mixed up because OCT 31 = DEC 25, right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/55 "2004-06-11T07:33:58Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Heh heh heh. Who’s the spacklehead now, buddy? 😉 I stand by my previous posts. Even the really stupid ones. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/56 "2004-06-11T15:47:31Z")
I don’t know why people are shamed by adding things up by splitting, say, 7 into 5+2, or working out 30% by multiplying 10% by 3. Isn’t this how everyone does it? Seems logical to me. Far better to knock off a zero to get 10% and go from there rather than wrestle with dividing by 3.3333… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/57 "2004-06-11T16:32:59Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > I use basic sign language to remember what I am looking for if I have to walk from one room to the next. I will make the letter P with my hand to remind me I need a pencil and the letter T with the other if I need a Tomahawk Cruise Missile. Oh. My. Gods. That’s _brilliant_. At least three times a day, I find myself standing in the mailroom at the office, or my kitchen, or wherever, wondering what the hell I got up for in the first place. I’m _so_ borrowing that method, thanks! I’m another of those who can’t do math. I do the “break everything down to 10%” thing; I take the “16 + 17, well, 10 + 10 = 20, and 6 + 7 = 13, so 20 + 13 = 33” route. Anything multiplied by 3 results in me singing “Three is the Magic Number” to get the right answer. And 7 x 8 leaves me scratching my head for a full five seconds every time. I’m a big advocate of air math, but oddly, I can add, subtract, multiply _and_ divide fractions in my head with little effort. You can also put me on the list of people who don’t know their right from their left. I blame my kindergarten teacher, who brilliantly told us “The hand you _write_ with is your _right_ hand!” I am, of course, left-handed, and I have never recovered. People have found that the best way to give me directions is with the “driver/passenger” system, or my own “blinker up/blinker down” method. ---
**Author:** ![praxim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@praxim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/praxim)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/58 "2004-06-11T17:11:33Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > I’m another of those who can’t do math. I do the “break everything down to 10%” thing; I take the “16 + 17, well, 10 + 10 = 20, and 6 + 7 = 13, so 20 + 13 = 33” route. Anything multiplied by 3 results in me singing “Three is the Magic Number” to get the right answer. And 7 x 8 leaves me scratching my head for a full five seconds every time. I’m a big advocate of air math, but oddly, I can add, subtract, multiply _and_ divide fractions in my head with little effort. I’ve never been good at arithmetic, but I got much better once I started taking all kinds of math, physics, and statistics courses. I discovered these things on my own and always thought they were clever ways to get things done, but everyone else seems to think they’re dumb, which is a bit jarring… ☹ I never subtract and I never divide. I always add and multiply to do both of those, which is good if I’m looking for modulus, too. I’d never been happier than the day I realized I could do most math involving large numbers by manipulating powers of whatever base happened to be convenient and multiples thereof. I may not see as many large numbers (and rarely any very small ones) as astronomers do, but I see enough that this is a big deal to me. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/59 "2004-06-11T18:43:15Z")
A peek into my mental workings for math: Using a system similar to Kalessa’s, if I’m in a store and there’s a, say, $57.00 item that is 28% off… 5.70 is 10%, so 20% is double that (at which point, I do (6+6)-.60) (Struggle to remember 11.40) so 5% is 2.85 (Struggle to remember 11.40+2.85=14.25) The other 3% is roughly half of the 5%, so, say 1.50. So, it’s roughly a $17 discount. 57-17 would be 40. Always add about 2 bucks for rounding and margin of error, you’ve got 42.00 Actual amount=$41.04, so a few seconds of calculating brings me within a buck of accuracy. Honestly it makes so much sense in my head. But generally, it’s very straightforward. What’s 73-28? 73-20 is 53-8 is 45. My head hurts. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440/60 "2004-06-11T18:58:52Z")
I am another of those people that canNOT get left and right. I’m convinced that this disability is brain based and no amount of education could fix it. But I have no problem with North, South, East and West. It is much easier for me to give directions by saying “Turn North on Johnson St.” than to figure out with much body-turning, hand-holding-up, and finger-pointing “Turn right on Johnson St” Except that most people can’t figure out which way is North. sigh [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pretty-smart-but/249440.md?page=4)