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MoralAnimal
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29 Aug 2010, 7:56 pm

So, I'm going back to school after a few years and want to finish my degree. I want to major in biochemistry & molecular biology (most likely with a focus on genomics) but I kept failing my math and into chem classes because of the math, so now that I'm back in school I have a year+ of remedial math.

I enjoy math and I am really good at the abstract stuff, but its arithmetic that is my problem. I started class last week and so far haven't had too many problems (actually pretty much none at all) except for when I am doing my homework, I keep forgetting the negative symbols, and getting division and multiplication mixed up, and inequality signs keep flipping around on me, and I keep writing down numbers jumbled up or backwards. Its making doing homework really difficult! At first I thought I was just clumsy, but it is starting to be a regular problem. We are using an online computer program to do homework and so it checks each answer before I can go on to the next problem. I've never had "real time" feedback on my math before... so if it was a problem before, I didn't know until days (or weeks) later when I saw I got the problem wrong.... which I never understood why cuz I would look at it and say, "duh, I know that, of course!".

This is freaking me out and I don't know who to go to about this. Its a huge lecture class and my professor is not the one.


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29 Aug 2010, 8:12 pm

auntblabby
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29 Aug 2010, 11:42 pm

i don't know about any of these big words, but i long have had an inability to keep numbers straight in my head, and even written on paper i often get numbers mixed-up.



hayesatlbch
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30 Aug 2010, 3:23 pm

Confusing numbers and math signs is either a processing problem where you see the numbers fine but reverse or confuse them later as they are being processed or it may be visual dyslexia where visual noise removes part of the visual information which your brain then fills in wrong.

A partial indication would be if your problems are reduced when the font size is increased. Processing problems remain with increased font size while errors due to visual problems tend to be less with increased font size.

Some people with visual dyslexia just assume that their vision is normal and so jump to the conclusion it is a dyslexic processing problem.

If your problem is visual then sometimes just slowing down will also help. Visual problems also tend to become worse with stress so if you are worried about confusing and reversing numbers that increases the chance you will.

Google visual dyslexia to get more information to see if your problem is possibly visual dyslexia which can easily be corrected.



MoralAnimal
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30 Aug 2010, 7:21 pm

stress makes it worse. bigger font probably would make it better... as does slowing down. Double checking things does not help though, because often I see the same "mistake" several times over.

My biggest problem is flipping things horizontally, like positive and negative sings (negative signs often just disappear all together usually.... its like I'm always looking at absolute values) and inequalities, and the individual numbers in a long string jumble up too. The x-axis can get messed up occasionally, as do the decimals in numbers jumping around. Occasionally, things just disappear. But that seems to happen only when I can't correlate what the f**k i'm looking at. It is not consistent though with every problem. It pops here and there. I'm fine with vertical flipping.... like graphing on/over/along the y-axis or fractions!

thanks for the info! It gives me a place to start in trying to combat it!


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babybuggy32
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30 Aug 2010, 8:00 pm

ugh i always flunked math because i didn't have the patience or focus to complete problems... but that may be adhd


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hayesatlbch
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30 Aug 2010, 10:30 pm

Classic visual dyslexia symptoms that should be removed with See Right Dyslexia Glasses. If not ,they have a money back guarantee. Good luck.