Asperger's and the math stereotype

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That's understandable. I forget things that I don't use on a daily basis. But the concepts in my mind, and the understanding, that never leaves me. Perhaps because I do use it?

It's simple:

Math has about a gazillion rules that govern how you're supposed to move a bunch of arbitrary symbols around a piece of paper. If you're unable to keep all of those rules straight in your head, you're up the creek without a paddle. Personally, I never found math to be the least bit "logical," it was just a bunch of made-up junk humans invented to describe natural processes. And it really didn't help that I'm eternally getting numbers backwards and twisted around (for me, there's really no difference between 654 and 465 and 564).

Besides, in the U.S., teachers never explain WHY math works the way it does. They give you steps to memorize, or formulas to copy, and you're expected to mindlessly calculate answers sans explanation. Additionally, there's very little support for math-challenged students; slow-readers get extra help and attention, but poor math students get screamed at and are derided for being "stupid."

Anyway, that's why some of us don't "get it."

My math skills are relatively bad, but my physics and astrophysics skills are superb

I have the ability to do very rapid mental arithmetic and I came 260th in the UK for secondary school kids when I was 17 in a national mathematical challenge.

However I cannot see images in my head, and I don't know how on earth I even calculate most of the mental arithmetic I do. I just output an answer. I often output the answer before I've even finished writing out the sum or equation.

I'm absolutely terrible at math. I don't even know how I have made this far.

I used to be really, really great at math but I got some problems in the past few years somehow that are really slowing me down. Im still great, but I used to be even better.

I'm so awful at math it's ridiculous, I'm taking elementary algebra at my university and the moment we hit formulas I just lost it. It makes me wonder how I got this far to be honest =D

I'm real good at math. In my mind math is easy and straight forward. Im in Pre-Calc in college so I am just as good as any other students in that class. It dose not mean that I am super good at it or enjoy it. But I do agree that aspies being real good at math is still a myth.

I was quite good compared to other children in totally average or even worse school. But after 8 years of not much need for math and now in technical university where there are people who mostly graduated recently schools which give excellent education in math - I felt like an idiot the whole first year : )
But I feel I am grasping science better than these younger people on average. And re-learning math. Although I don't think I would ever, even if would become good at it, develop that special love for math that I have for physics for example.

I think I am much better at these areas of math in which I see a practical point and which do not require remembering of many formulas.

I have no math skills whatsoever.

I was very good at maths at school. I suspect that this is largely because maths operates on systems of rules and logic and I like rules and logic. I also have (had?) a very high IQ. I particularly enjoyed algebra. I wouldn't be very good at it now though, apart from basic sums, because I have long since forgotten most of the rules. The evidence on here would seem to suggest that this has nothing to do with Aspergers however.

I am terrible at math. So terrible that I only know how to do addition and subtraction. I can do division and multiplication too, but only with a calculator. Someone once told me that I don't have Asperger's because I'm not good at math.

I'm diagnosed with Aspergers and I can handle some types of math. I like geometry because it's visual. To some extent (apparently better than many people)I can intuitively manipulate shapes in my imagination. Angles, degrees, etc. make a lot of sense to me, because you can physically see how they work. Abstract math and algebra are awful for me. I can get by, but it takes a great amount of effort for me to understand. It makes no sense to me because I can't "see" the math working, and shuffling arbitrary symbols doesn't mean much to me. All my English teachers, on the other hand, said that I was one of the best writers they had ever taught.

I'm almost the exact opposite.
Numbers and abstract logical constructions using them make perfect sense to me, I have an intuitive feel for numbers and the ways they interact.
On the other hand, I have an almost complete disconnect between numbers and anything concrete like pictures (graphs, etc.) or music.
I understand that there is a relationship and can trace it point by point if necessary, but I can't look at an equation and have any idea what the graph would look like, or vice-versa.
So while I just 'get' numbers and math, the application to real world things often eludes me if it deals with things like spatial reasoning or translating numbers into things like pictures and music, although my intuitive feel for odds and percentages has often proven useful in various situations.

Strangely enough, especially for an aspie apparently, my skills at math and logic are only really exceeded by my reading comprehension skills which are off the charts and always have been.
By 2nd grade I was reading and understanding at a 12th grade level.
I'm not a very good writer, though, for some reason.

I have genius IQ but am terrible at maths ... My skill is finding patterns in things verbally and visually, I always thought I was thick because I was so terrible at maths in school!

I am horrible at math, a 3rd grader who's behind on their math skills would probably be better at math than I am.