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Oberoth
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Joined: 18 Oct 2010
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 890
Location: The part of Ireland with fields
04 Jun 2011, 9:14 am
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GoatOnFire
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Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts
05 Jun 2011, 4:51 pm
I've read a lot online where it sounds like everyone with Aspergers is a math genius. I know that's certainly not true for me.
I have so many problems with math it's not even funny. And I always have. I totally failed my first grade math class years and years ago. I remember the teacher trying to show me how to add and subtract with marbles and me still not understanding. I remember crying after math tests because I couldn't answer a single problem and feeling like a complete moron everytime I was asked to do a problem on the chalkboard in front of the class. I remember actually trying to cheat a few times because I was afraid of failing (and getting caught). I failed Honors Chemistry in high school because I couldn't do the math problems and remember all of the formulas involved. I've never made higher than a C on a math test or in a math class in my entire life. More recently I failed the easiest math class the university I go to offers. I'm going to end of having to drop out of college because I can't do the math general education requirements. And my complete lack of math abilites is holding me back in my major (Sociology) because I have to have certain math classes completed to take some of my major related courses. Actually with my math SAT scores I'm lucky I even got into a university at all.
The only reason I did get in I think is because my English scores were so high. I came pretty close to scoring perfect on the critical reading and writing parts of the SAT. There was a difference between my reading/writing and math scores of 220 points. I love to write so much. I love words and poetry and even the act itself of moving a pen across paper to create words. I've done excellently in three college English classes already. And failed the remedial math class.
I can't think in negative numbers. Doing math with negative numbers is impossible for me without a calculator. My sister can actually picture math problems in her head and do them without any help at all (and she's NT) but I can't do simple addition or subtraction in my mind. I hate geometry because I can't figure the shapes out in my head. Like when I have to figure out how many sides a 3-D shape would have or figure out how to make one out of paper, I can't do it. And I already mentioned that I can never remember the formulas for a problem. Graphs are extremely difficult for me too.
I have a math tutor and she is awesome. I've never met anybody better at math in my life. As much as she's helped me it's still not enough. I can't get my brain to wrap around this math stuff.
Is anyone else as bad at math as I am?
And what do you do about it? 
SAT scores: Critical reading: 620, Writing 600, Math 400
***Edited to add actual scores instead of just vague details.
Hey, why not?I was extremely good at math at an early age, if I didn't have deficits in other areas I would have gone to college at an early age (which probably would have been a bad thing, so I'm not complaining). The quality of the math department in my high school was so poor that I was almost convinced to avoid math altogether in college. Fortunately my first calc professor was a good one or I never would have gone any further with it. Good math profs are a rarity, and if you have any holes you normally have to fill them yourself, because they won't always be arsed to help you. I was good at SAT math, I received an 800 on the math section but it's worth noting that my SAT scores were voided because there was a massive screw up on the grading of the group that took the SAT the same time I did (this was the year they introduced the writing section).
Sources that can be extremely helpful for answering your math questions are cramster or wolfram alpha.
I have never had a trig class in my life despite going beyond calculus, thank you high school, and if an issue with it popped up having a source like that can be a lifesaver.
06 Jun 2011, 10:32 pm
07 Jun 2011, 2:55 am
09 Jun 2011, 7:44 am
10 Jun 2011, 3:06 pm
13 Jun 2011, 11:14 am
I voted for "average," but my math skills are complicated overall. I've made it through calculus II, which means that I'm better at math than most people, BUT I struggle with all math that isn't algebra. This means that, while I have taken more math courses than a lot of people, while taking the math course, I struggled more than most of the other students. I have NVLD, and my math struggles have always been a thorn in my side. I have always been above and beyond in English and reading, so my math skills SHOULD be above and beyond, too. But because of the NVLD, I consistently was at the 98th or 99th percentile on reading/English standardized tests and 60th to 70th percentile in math. The problem was that no teachers ever suggested I get help for math, because I DID meet the benchmark. But again, the large discrepancy between my reading and math abilities should have been a signal of a problem much earlier than it was. I didn't get diagnosed with NVLD until college, which was years too late.
As for the math that I'm absolutely abysmal at, that would be geometry and trigonometry. Those two types of math are all about visual-spatial abilities, which I severely lack. I find differential calculus much easier than geometry and trig! There's lots of algebra in differentiation. Integration is pretty difficult for me, because you have to manipulate the numbers and transform them, and I'm unable to do this fast like most students. I need to see things in math written out step by step. Skip a step, and I'm totally lost. But even integration is better for me than geometry and trig. And geometry has SOME algebra in it, like the Pythagorean theorem, which makes trig my worst. I do not understand trig at ALL. It's all about graphing and that unit circle nonsense and those inverse functions, and I just do not get it. The only thing from trig that I understand is how to calculate the basic sine, cosine, and tangent functions from a right triangle. And that's it! 
---
I'll do ChrissyRun's scale, too, because I like ranking scales. And trig and precalc ARE different. In my high school, for senior year, I took trig/college algebra. The first half of the year was just trig. The second half was college algebra/precalc. Precalc focuses on graphing transformations and continuity and domain/range and such, to get you ready to understand limits in calculus.
On a scale from 1-10...
1- Elementary math (I'd put myself at a "6" for this. I'm good at multiplication and division and such, but I'm HORRIBLE at percentages and word problems.)
2- Algebra 1 ("8.5")
3- Geometry ("3")
4- Algebra 2 ("9." The ONLY math I truly enjoy and am excellent at. I LOVE solving systems of equations, doing imaginary numbers, and factoring big polynomials. This is the only math class where I ever consistently got 100% test scores)
5- Trigonometry ("2." I literally got a "D" on my first trig test, and I had studied all week and gotten extra help many times.)
6- Precalculus ("3.5". The advanced algebra parts of precalc, like matrices, I'm a whiz at. But the graphing and domain/range stuff REALLY confuses me.)
7- Calculus ("3.5". I got a high "C" in calc I, since differentiation is lots of algebra. I barely made a "C" for integral calc II. That was difficult for me.)
And yes, anything beyond calc II is genius to me, too. I can't ever imagine doing calc III/multivariate calc!
13 Jun 2011, 11:35 am
13 Jun 2011, 1:12 pm
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