Bad at Mental arithmetic.

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xdr5tgb
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24 Jul 2010, 5:15 pm

LOL, LOL, LOL, ahhhh..

If it wasn't for Excel i would be a janitor. I almost failed 5th grade math (super crazy 7 column addition, subtraction, multiplication/division. Mr. Mecurio was his name o (you bastard, I never forgot how you kicked my desk). They still let me take alegbra in 6th grade and I aced it. College algebra was no problem either. See, there you get to work line by line writing your ever changing results and then following simple rules of logic.

How many world class cashiers know how to figure out vlookup() or the pmt() function in Excel, oh wait, they can't afford a mortgage.

Would I like to be able to do math in my head, you bet, but I'm ok not being able to do so.

astaut
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24 Jul 2010, 8:28 pm

I can hardly do math, spelling, any of that stuff in my head. I need to write it out on paper. Most math I need a calculator or I'll make mistakes. I worked at a register for a bit once and I gave people wrong change a few times. It was never terribly off, but people get really irked if you don't give them their six cents

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ReiYuriko
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25 Jul 2010, 4:07 am

I am horrible at arithmetic I don't have my addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division memorized and I can barely do small calculations in my head. I can however do complicated differentiation and integration problems in my head with great speed so who knows.

happymusic
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25 Jul 2010, 8:49 am

I love numbers, am good at things like discrete math, algebra, etc., but I really have to work at mental arithmetic. There's a great book that helps with it though called 'Secrets of Mental Math' by Arthur Benjamin. I also found working with an abacus helped me because it made me conceptualize the numbers differently.

capriwim
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25 Jul 2010, 9:09 am

Yeah, I find mental arithmetic hard because my working memory isn't so good. I'm good at maths in general though, and if I have a paper and pencil, I'm fine. Even just seeing a question written down makes it easier to do mentally than if the question is spoken.

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xdr5tgb
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25 Jul 2010, 12:04 pm

astaut wrote:

I worked at a register for a bit once and I gave people wrong change a few times. It was never terribly off, but people get really irked if you don't give them their six cents

While in highschool, for about a week, I worked as a cashier at a grocery chain. What irked me was when people would have a bill of say $19.05, give me $20.00. Wait for me to enter $20.00 into the register and then out of nowhere, sometimes even by the person next in line, come up with $0.05 and just hand it to me like they did me a favor. In my head I'm thinking "are you phkng with me?" That would stop me cold. You're getting $0.95 whether you like it or not.

I didn't figure out why people did that until I was like 30 and I saw some other chump get handed $0.05 at the register.

happymusic
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25 Jul 2010, 3:32 pm

xdr5tgb wrote:

astaut wrote:

I worked at a register for a bit once and I gave people wrong change a few times. It was never terribly off, but people get really irked if you don't give them their six cents

Lol - I am the same way - that's only recently gotten easier.

Janissy
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25 Jul 2010, 3:43 pm

Yes I am really horrible at mental arithmetic. I have perfected the art of counting using my fingers but hardly even moving them so it doesn't show (I just twitch them slightly). I can also use my toes moving them slightly inside my shoes. For numbers >20 I need pen and paper or preferably a calculator. I like to think that my finger (and toe) counting movements are so slight that people think I'm just standing there and thinking but who knows. I carry a calculator in my purse so I won't be caught short.

Back when I was a kid the teachers got really angry if they saw me counting on my fingers ( kids are supposed to grow out of it) which is when I perfected the art of the barely perceptible counting twitch.

Unlike the posters who can't do mental math but are able to do all sorts of advanced math if it is written down, I can't do that either.

Thank goodness for calculators.

Home improvements are a special challenge (one that I can't meet without a calculator). Home improvement books have formulas you are supposed to use to figure out how much paint to buy for a room of a given size. Although I have painted every room in my house, I don't think I have ever once calculated correctly. I always mess up the calculation in one direction or another and buy too much or too little. I don't even attempt carpentry. There is entirely too much measuring involved and frequently the requirement to add fractions.

Horus
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25 Jul 2010, 5:59 pm

Janissy wrote:

I can add (or subtract, multiply, divide) fractions if I do it on a regular basis.

My problem is that I always forget how to do it. If I don't use certain aspects of math on a regular basis....I constantly lose it no matter how many times I learn how to do it.

I have zero mechanical aptitude too.....carpentry would pretty much be out of the question for me
because of that in the first place.

xdr5tgb
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25 Jul 2010, 10:19 pm

leejosepho wrote:

I used to do well with mental arithmetic, but now there are times I cannot even recall multiplication tables. As to the matter of making change, however, this is the very simplest and most accurate way:

Aimless wrote:

I used to have to make change and I dealt with it by counting up to the nearest dollar. If someone gave me a $5.00 for a $ 3.73 bill I would count 2 pennies to 3.75 and then a quarter to make 4 and then a dollar to equal 5.

Most of us older folks had been taught that and had it down pat after "playing store" in about third grade!

I will try to remember that 'trick' as long as I can thanks!

AshtonWA
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25 Jul 2010, 11:59 pm

I have always suffered with math issues. I can barely use a calculator, and the funny thing is, I have always worked in the service industry (McDonald's and now as an Apartment Manager), where I have had to deal with money on a regular basis.

In order to figure out how to calculate the move in costs, I had to have my husband who works with me write out in long form how to do it on the calculator. I thought it was because I was just not a math person, I didn't realize it was related to the Aspergers. I just got a diagnosis recently and am learning a lot about what I do and why.

AshtonWA
Aspergers Mom of 2 Autistic Boys

manifoldrob
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26 Jul 2010, 10:17 am

I'm great at mental arithmetic, and most areas of math. It's the human talkey thing that gives me trouble.

My morning diet coke is $1.92 and sometimes I give the cashier $2.17. From the look on her face I night as well have handed her a dead mouse.

Below is the cartoon on my door:

wblastyn
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26 Jul 2010, 10:29 am

manifoldrob wrote:

I'm great at mental arithmetic, and most areas of math. It's the human talkey thing that gives me trouble.

My morning diet coke is $1.92 and sometimes I give
the cashier $2.17. From the look on her face I night as well have handed her a dead mouse.

Below is the cartoon on my door:

What's the trick to work that one out? :/

Edit: nm I think I got it! :p

manifoldrob
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26 Jul 2010, 10:39 am

wblastyn wrote:

manifoldrob wrote:

Actually on my door I changed the $7.14 to $2.14. $7.14 is just cruel and really, you just get the $5 back, unless it wasn't a $5.

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