Long chemical formulas

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I'm taking a chemistry series in college right now. I can generally do fine when I'm dealing with compounds that include a few different elements that are only listed once in the formula. For example, NH4ClO4 I have no problem with. I run into trouble when the formula lists the same element in different places, like CH2(COOH)2. I seem to have a lot of trouble parsing the formula in the latter case. I'm expecting that this will give me a ton of grief when it comes to organic chemistry. It's almost like my visual system can't process this type of chemical formula. Does anyone else have this sort of problem? It seems like anything beyond a certain length just blurs together in my mind.

If it helps you can simply rewrite the formula. For example the CH2(COOH)2 is equivalent to C3H4O4, it's just typically written in the first form to show the functional groups of the compound, it tells you slightly more about the overall structure rather than simply the elements contained in it. If it helps you to visualize it, here is a link that shows the structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malonic_acid. For organic you do need to be relatively comfortable using chemical formulas, but mostly just in terms of drawing out a chemical structure from a given formula or writing a formula for a given structure.