I. Hate. Math.

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Seriously. I really really do.

I've read a lot online where it sounds like everyone with Aspergers is a math genius. I know that's certainly not true for me.

I have so many problems with math it's not even funny. And I always have. I totally failed my first grade math class years and years ago. I remember the teacher trying to show me how to add and subtract with marbles and me still not understanding. I remember crying after math tests because I couldn't answer a single problem and feeling like a complete moron everytime I was asked to do a problem on the chalkboard in front of the class. I remember actually trying to cheat a few times because I was afraid of failing (and getting caught). I failed Honors Chemistry in high school because I couldn't do the math problems and remember all of the formulas involved. I've never made higher than a C on a math test or in a math class in my entire life. More recently I failed the easiest math class the university I go to offers. I'm going to end of having to drop out of college because I can't do the math general education requirements. And my complete lack of math abilites is holding me back in my major (Sociology) because I have to have certain math classes completed to take some of my major related courses. Actually with my math SAT scores I'm lucky I even got into a university at all.

The only reason I did get in I think is because my English scores were so high. I came pretty close to scoring perfect on the critical reading and writing parts of the SAT. There was a difference between my reading/writing and math scores of 220 points. I love to write so much. I love words and poetry and even the act itself of moving a pen across paper to create words. I've done excellently in three college English classes already. And failed the remedial math class.

I can't think in negative numbers. Doing math with negative numbers is impossible for me without a calculator. My sister can actually picture math problems in her head and do them without any help at all (and she's NT) but I can't do simple addition or subtraction in my mind. I hate geometry because I can't figure the shapes out in my head. Like when I have to figure out how many sides a 3-D shape would have or figure out how to make one out of paper, I can't do it. And I already mentioned that I can never remember the formulas for a problem. Graphs are extremely difficult for me too.

I have a math tutor and she is awesome. I've never met anybody better at math in my life. As much as she's helped me it's still not enough. I can't get my brain to wrap around this math stuff.

Is anyone else as bad at math as I am? And what do you do about it?

SAT scores: Critical reading: 620, Writing 600, Math 400


***Edited to add actual scores instead of just vague details. Hey, why not?

I'm no math genius, but I am better than average at math. I'm not really good at arithmetic, but that's what calculators are for. All the geometric and algebraic stuff is easy to me because I think visually and conceptually. A lot of the time I find that I don't even need to memorize formulas, because I understand how they work and they make sense to me.

I got a 570 on reading, 640 on math, and 490 on writing for the SAT. Would have done a lot better if I could have had more time. 30 seconds is just barely enough to read each question, much less answer it.

Calculus? No problem. Character analysis? Meh, I'll be lucky if I get a passing grade.

My mouth actually dropped open at the idea of a 640 on the Math SAT. That is awesome!

I agree that they should give more time too. I remember wasting quite a bit of time on the math part between worrying that I wouldn't have enough time to answer the questions and staring stupidly at problems I didn't have the slightest clue how to answer.

Math has always been my weakest subject. Sometimes I might be okay at it, but most of the time I struggle just to make a passing grade. I can do basic math and basic algebra, but anything beyond that just overwhelms and fries my brain.

I am also biased towards the literary talents and prefer reading and learning languages to maths. However, I am male which may be an advantage when it comes to visual/spacial memory, etc. My mother kept telling me that being a writer was a very fickle career and, no matter how good I was, there would be no guarantee I would make a living at it no matter how hard I worked. I wanted to make a living so I forced myself to study maths which I was failing at.

I simply could not understand what the maths teacher said or pick up any mathematical concepts from him. This is a common problem with Asperger's people: we have difficulty understanding verbal instructions and, in some cases, even hearing what's being said in a noisy classroom environment. I had no choice but to teach myself maths from the text book which I was able to do eventually. By reading the text book and working from the examples and answers I was able to understand maths from my perspective which is essential because someone else's thought processes may be so far removed from yours that they'll never make sense.

Although I got a 'B' in my final school exams, I went on to pass all the maths classes in my university computer science course and my creativity makes me a better programmer than a lot of the analytical, mathematically biased Asperger's types I meet who always seem to write software that only they can understand and which is overly complex and inelegant.

In summary: save the money on the tutor, spend it on books and teach yourself.

I hate math too. I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide stuff(even bigger numbers) in my head, and do it like a champ. I've never gotten incorrect change, EVER.

...But when it comes to Algebra??? Ha. What a joke. I dropped out of my High School's Algebra 1 course to go into Remedial Math classes. Now I'm in college, and I JUST BARELY passed my Elementary Algebra class(MATH 0302) and am going into Pre-College Algebra(MATH 0303) and then in the Spring hopefully College Algebra, as well as taking Intro to C++ and Advanced C++(which I hear is REALLY advanced math, can someone confirm or deny??? I heard this on a general discussions forum of another site)

Another thing is, when I go for my Bachelor's degree and Master's degree(majoring computer sciences, minoring civil and mechanical engineering at the same time, for fun Looking to be a Programmer.....I like a challenge....DON'T judge me) I have to take a Calculus class(its a minimum requirement for the college I'll be transferring to.....the college I'm at is just a 2 year community college) plus who knows what else, JUST for my credits to qualify me to be transferred there with my Associates Degree intact....Great. Kinda hoping Calculus is one of those things I'm better at cuz certain weird ass stuff just comes more easily to me(like, I've been writing random flash game codes for years with no idea what the hell I'm doing, just using source codes and stuff like that I find on the web from other people's products(and of course asking to use it))

And I'm actually not good at anything besides computers and History. I did so well in History in High School that I was the only person in the entire district to get Commended on our finals and was congratulated by all the members of the school board. Don't remember taking the SATs, maybe because I did so horrible in Math???

Anyway, yeah I'm hoping C++ and Calculus are easier for me to understand(my College professor explaining it made it easier for me to nab the C I got) since when I was in High School, my buddy Turner said he was HORRIBLE(like the teacher passed him with a 3 in there, cuz he was a football player, and its a Texas town....so yeah.....) but he BLEW through Geometry and Calculus and stuff with like A+es, and this guy is pretty much the epitome of DUMB***.

My math skills are horrible......I can do basic math but I cannot do division by hand I have to use a calculater unless its a very simple division problem. Anything beyond that it seems like I have to be re-taught it every time I take a math class so then naturally I get behind because none of it ever seems to sink in. I litterally cannot understand math, I even failed to pass a remedial math class with tutoring my first year of college.....and have not taken math sense then.

As for everyone with AS being a math genius, that is indeed a misconception. From what I understand the Asperger's population seems to be polarized between exceptionally good mathematicians and exceptionally poor ones. I have a low average nonverbal IQ, with particular deficits in processing speed and working spatial memory, so aspects of math have always been difficult (In Grade six there was this daily quiz done to improve mental arithmetic skills, where one was given a minute to solve 100 arithmetic questions. When most people got to the 80th question by the end of the 60 seconds, I was stuck in the 14 - 17 range.). I haven't failed at any math I've done (yet) per se, and can do it relatively well, but I take a long time and it doesn't seem to be improving as much as it should with practice. I'm somewhat worried about this catching up with me as I plan on taking a pretty math intensive major (Economics).

In Canada, we don't need to do SATs to get into university, so I have no idea what my score would be.

http://www.ldonline.org/article/5896

I've also tried (as part of that link suggests for a certain type of math disabled individual) verbalizing the problems, but that really doesn't seem to have sped up the process that much.

I am not very good at math.

The only math I can reasonably do is basic math and geometry.

The last math class I did take was MTH 61 {Algebra-Part 1} and that was about one year ago.
Wow...what the hell was I thinking? I have not taken a math class since & I had to take MTH 61 twice.

Math 61, 62, and 63 are all remedial math classes at my school...a waste of money IMOO.

BTW, the organization that is handling my financial aid says I need to take math again.

Applied math major here. 800 SAT math (also 800 reading and 790 writing, if that means anything). I wouldn't consider myself to be very good at math, actually. There are other students here at my university who are so very far ahead of me in their mathematical abilities.

I'm better at English myself. I can't do math. My brain doesn't work in numbers, where it works more in emotion and words. But I also have mild synthesia, so I'm always kind of focused on the taste of numbers and words, the emotion, and the color. My brain is a little to cluttered to full focus on all the algrebric equations.

This needs a better scale
0- I will die before I like math
1- I do math when I am forced by violence and or yelling....F to D-
2- I do math when I am forced to by "the system" to graduate...D-
3- I do math when I have to for homework, and I can scrape by a C or D
4- I do math because I am told, pretty much average, really neutral...C
5- I can do math as much as anyone else, and get a B or C
6- I'm naturally ok at math...B
7- I slightly enjoy math, and I'm pretty good at it...B+ or A-
8- I like math, I'm not a genius, but I am good at it...A- or A
9- I really love math, and I can do it in my sleep, I haven't ever had a problem with math, and don't see how people
can...A+
10-I could spend my entire life doing math, and I would be in pure bliss, Oh, did I mention that I was related to
Einstein?
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Oh, and it also needs to be clarified the type of math:
1- Elementary math
2- Algebra 1
3- Geometry
4- Algebra 2
5- Trigonometry
6- Precalculus
7- Calculus
*Anything beyond calculus is genius in my books


1 I am 10
2 I am 9
3 I am 9
4 I am 9.5
5 I am 7 because I took the course online
6 I am 7.5 because the teacher taught differently

I'll see for 7 in a while!

When I was a kid, I took some kind of perverse pleasure in just blurting out the answer whenever my teacher wrote a math question on the board. I would time it right when she turned around.

That was a long time ago though.