I think a lot of this is practice. Especially the numbers in the head part. I used to be total crap at it until I started practicing everyday on the way to work and figured out tricks to make it easier. If you only ever do it on paper, you’ll always need the crutch.
And while I don’t doubt that some people truly have a problem with numbers, I suspect many people get freaked out by the whole concept in school and see numbers and math as some sort of mystical other concept. It’s really not. I always thought I was horrible at math in school (I excelled at English tho’). But then I went back to school and decided to really, really do it right this time: go to every single class, take notes, do all the homework and extra if I was lost, go talk to the teacher if I was having problems.
I started by repeating Algebra and Trig that I had theoretically passed in high school because I didn’t feel comfortable with my competence. I wound up actually dropping calculus halfway through the first time I took it which was a blessing in disguise because I was able to get started again with some familiarity of the subject instead of getting all these new concepts thrown at me at once.
Anyway, by approaching the subject slowly and repeatedly, I learned it very thoroughly and have absolutely no doubt as to my competence with math. I think most math classes do not make sure the student truly understands the concepts before moving forward. The mathematically gifted have no problem with the pace, the rest of us need a little more time and work to get there.
IANA Heinlein scholar, but he often seemed obsessed with calling out certain segments of humanity as Untermenschen. I wouldn’t take it as any kind of cogent commentary on society.
I absolutely suck at math and always have. I can do the simple arithmetic, but anything beyond that scares the crap out of me.
I was good in every other subject, pulling almost straight As, and was an honor student throughout my school career. I never made it beyond algebra and geometry though. I just sort of gave up.
While I managed to do arlight in my daily work, I just froze when it came to tests. It’s like everything I learned for the test just flew out of my brain. The final nail in the coffin for me was one particularly bad teacher. He became frustrated with me and told me that I “should” understand the concepts without any additional help from him. He further told me that I had “no excuse” considering I was in all honors classes and was purposely playing dumb. Yeah, right asshole.
Anyway, since then, I just get all flustered by any concepts beyond basic arithmetic. The only way it’s hampered me is when my kids needed help with their homework. Thank God for computers is all I can say. My kids, by the way, do just fine, although my daughter struggles just a bit. She is taking calculus, though, so she’s nowhere nearly as bad off as I was.
I used to be awful at math. I still think I’m a bit dyscalculic, or whatever the word is. That said, in my 30’s, I managed to teach myself intermediate algebra, trig, and even a little calculus, although I’m not naturally good at them, and I don’t enjoy them as much as I enjoy stuff like reading and history. What’s more, I don’t think I will ever be able to grasp even the simpler concepts of physics. So yeah, I’m a member of this club.
I’d be willing to bet that much if not most problems with math stem from environmental factors. Bad teaching, curricula that focus on passing the SAT rather than learning the actual concepts, and, well, let’s just say that I’ve never seen learning calculus in junior high lead to less wedgies in gym class. What’s more, while you’ll never be able to get away with being illiterate in any worthwhile career, you very well might be able to make a good living for yourself in a good job knowing little or no algebra, let alone calculus.
As an aside, I think that most people who fail calc do so because they haven’t mastered algebra sufficiently. Calculus is more complicated than algebra, but not that much more so, and its concepts are merely a logical extension of algebra. That said, if you want to get good at calc, you have to have algebra down.
I did fine in math at school, even getting through Calculus II in college, but I can’t do anything in my head, even simple addition if I have to carry something over. It took me until I was in my teens to memorize the multiplication tables. I need to see things on paper or I just can’t do it. Except for long division, which I never really got the hang of. Oddly enough, it’s the same story for spelling a word. I’d suck at a spelling bee, because I need to see the letters in front of me before I can tell if it’s right.
I find maths fascinating, though I’m not that good at it in practice – nothing unusual, probably laziness and lack of concentration
But the actual numbers, for some reason, are not my friends. It took me a long time to realise that I was crap at numbers.
A bizarre example – sometimes I look up something in a book’s index, I make a mental note of the page number I want and turn to the right page, only then do I realise that the number I’ve mentally “heard” myself say in my head as I’ve read it is wrong!
From the wiki article on dyscalculia: That is (some researchers argue), an individual might suffer arithmetic difficulties (or dyscalculia), with no impairment of, or even giftedness in, abstract mathematical reasoning abilities.
which is what I said.
Further, under the list of symptoms: An inability to read a sequence of numbers, or rotating them when repeated such turning 56 into 65.
I’m not bad at math. I did math through Calculus in high school, and found Algebra particularly easy and intuitive. However, I am EXTREMELY prone to arithmatical errors, notably those of transposition, can barely tell left from right, and have a particular way of using a map, all of which are common within dyscalculia. I have a mild case, requiring no intervention, I just find it interesting.
Sorry, I should have written more. You obviously understand the conditions. My concern is others. Most people I run into who mention the topic tend to equate dyslexia or dyscalculia with reversing letters or numbers. While these can be symptoms, switching letters is not called dyslexia, and if you “also flip numbers around like people with dyslexia flip letters”, it is not necessarily true that “[t]his is called dyscalculia”. You do clarify that this can be a symptom. I just want to be sure that people understand that the whole switching thing is not the main feature of a rather complicated neurological problem.
A random anecdote. My mother, an educational diagnostician, almost always sees positive results working with kids diagnosed with dyslexia or dyscalculia. (Sometimes she gets parents who don’t give a fuck and are all like, “here’s money, fix my kid.” They tend not to be so cooperative.) It takes a lot of work and frustration, but the kids usual are able to get up to grade-level functionality (or better!). The younger the kid the easier it is to help him or her out. I have no idea how well any training would work with adults, because she rarely works with them. The kids she works with are usually ones the schools have pretty much given up on ("sorry, little Christopher won’t ever be able to learn how to read.) :mad:
Recently, I’ve undergone some psychiatric testing, the results of which show that I’m actually smarter than the average bear (A big surprise to me!) but you wouldn’t know it by my math skills.
Now now. Keep in mind that the quote is attributed to Lazarus Long. A fictional character.
Also, there’s a whole other forum where you can try to fight against RAH. Good luck though.
Back on Topic: I am terrible at math. Really really bad. That being said, I often try to figure it out as best I can, and I’m getting better the older I get.
This brings to mind a really embarassing memory. It’s a mistake I have not made since, because I’m determined not to look like a bonafide idiot, but it’s typical for me, as I have never made friends with numbers or math.
I was playing blackjack in a casino with my husband. I was dealt a nine and a four. I doubled down.
He looked at me and said, what the hell are you doing?
I had added up nine and four as eleven. :smack: I wasn’t even drunk or anything.
I understand concepts in physics, but don’t ask me to use an equation to figure anything out. I spent three years in a training program for electricians through the union apprenticeship committee. Two days a week for three years. It was largely algebra. I got straight A’s. As soon as I lef the field, my brain discarded all of the relevant information in favor of something else, and it’s been that way my whole damn life. I can remember things I’ve read in a book years after the print graced my eyeballs, but for the life of me, simple arithmetic baffles me.
Thanks to this thread, last night I dreamed I had to take one more math class to graduate. I was not understanding anything the professor was saying even though he was writing on the board in colored chalk. Scary.
Ooh, me too, me too! I used to take advanced calculus in college, but it’s been a running joke at my office that I can’t add numbers that “go over 10” because then I get addled. It’s really annoying because if I do budget calculations, I don’t really notice absurd adding errors, and have to check 5 times with a calculator to make sure if I did everything correctly.
On a less serious note, I can’t really do Sudokus, because I’ll write a number into the small square 4 times and not notice anything amiss until I do the last square.
Plus, when I was little, I routinely ran into problems when telling people my birthday, because I could never remember if it was supposed to be 9/5 or 5/9. I then usually blurted out a teary “but it’s in May” if the other party got too exasperated.
Related problem: I have trouble remembering my exact age (hm, that might be because it’s getting to be advanced ) At least this did once lead to some monetary savings as I was put on the spot by a train company employee, and mistakenly told them I was 25, which turned out to be the right age to get a cheaper youth ticket.
Another bonus: I’m really handy for getting money for you from an ATM because I’ll instantly forget your PIN after 30 seconds. Well, if I don’t forget it on my way there.
I don’t know if I suffer from this condition, but math in a formal setting (test) makes me break out in a sweat and I can’t think - even the really siple equations elude me.
It’s very frustrating, when I just think on the fly I am usually right, but anytime I really try and concentrate I can’t do it.
It’s the main reason I did not go into Medicine, despite being told many times I have a natural ability for most of the aspects of the job.
