Asperger's and the math stereotype

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I am very much like this: I was good with rote memory and arithmetic up until about age 16. When I was about 10, that was when I taught myself limits and some differential calculus, but by about age 16, when I started studying number theory, after a short period of time when I developed the ability to instantly calculate logarithm problems, I began to lose the ability to solve arithmetic problems, but became more advanced in other math topics.

I've actually seen several other people describe a similiar thing: advanced grasp of analytical/theoretical math, but not with arithmetic.

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Ok, I tried to demonstrate my music-math but I jammed my own computer.
Didn't want it to happen to anyone else.

I have an A in A-level maths and am currently doing further maths

I was always a complete loser at math, all the way up through HS. I even took a remedial summer math course just so I wouldn't have to repeat the 4th grade.
Then, out of the blue (and for no discernable reason) I tested into Statistics 301 when I went to college. I guess it was an early sign that numbers in patterns or groups made more intuitive sense to me than the wrote equations of Algebra or Geometry.
I also did very well in Architectural courses through HS. As a visual thinker the spatial relationships in Architecture made sense to me. But I failed Algebra three times in HS.

I always do better with applied maths like mechanics and statistics rather than pure maths like differentiation and stuff.

AAAH i hated maths.. But i passed the Gcse
xxxxx

long division? LONG FREAKING DIVISION?

WHERE THE F*** HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO USE LONG DIVISION IN REAL LIFE???

they should change the curriculum XD

/rant

I am very good with equations and logical stuff but I suck at calculating, NT's do it without even thinking.

math almost led me to a hospice when I was a kid, it was my obsession. I had to overcome math freakness. But it's uncommon among aspergers and females ( although I looked like a boy and had short hair).

It's not an NT thing as much as an efficiency thing. Depending on the context of the mathematics answer provided, it's generally a waste of time and effort refining a number down to multiple decimal points if such precision is not needed.

I am good enough at math, but it's not very interesting to me. It was always my most difficult subject in school and college.

Although saying all aspies are math geniuses is a stereotype, there is some kernel of truth to it. Aspie are, in the aggregate, more likely to excel at mathematics than the general population. Aspies usually have the social isolation, focus of mind, and analytical or visuo-spatial ability to do this. It is well known that students of computer science, mathematics, the physical sciences, and engineering are significantly more like to have elevated autistic traits than people studying literature or the social sciences.

The only reason that I passed math in high school at all was because of tutoring. ; I CAN do it, it's just difficult. Especially word problems and anything else where the problem is not laid out clearly.

I'm much better at writing, analysis and (some) art-related stuff. History has always been my best subject, but I enjoy literature, psychology, philosophy, government, religion and a lot of other humanities/social sciences as well. The principle in most humanity courses I've taken, that you can be correct as long as you have something to back up your argument, has been of immense help to me. Perhaps that's why I'm so bad at math, that I can't write my way out of a wrong answer.

I am good at maths but I am not a genius. I remain in 2nd place in my year behind a real maths genius (by about 8%).

This stereotype in particular certainly has a basis in fact. Aren't all stereotypes based on fact anyway?

I feel like I'm an exception of the rule of Aspie math superiority. I feel stupid.

No, stereotypes are based on popular opinion- and usually ugly ones at that- not facts.
And I think this thread has, in a very small way, proven that stereotype wrong.

This is a good stereotype. It's a positive association.

Remind me again why there is a Math & Science forum on WP? I guess the math genuis types are a little shy .