Any mental mathletes here?

Post Reply New Topic

Anyone else here extraordinary at mental maths?

I am very good with algebra and geometry and I'm pretty sure that the speed at which I do mental calculations is above average but I am no savant, I just exploit my very good visualization skills. If you give me a problem that I don't know how to solve then I can often deduce how to do it, I have deduced many equations before and it's not uncommon for me to learn a week's worth of math lessons in a few minutes.

I'm good at math, but nothing too extraordinary.

Mathematics has always been my strength - especially geometry. Its a big part of why I became an electrical engineer.

Math has always come easy to me.

Sadly it's been a b'zillion years since I took geometry and algebra and would have to be refreshed on them but I remember them being easy once I understood them.

I am above average with numbers but I wouldn't say I was extraordinary though.

I have always been good at mental math. People are always amazed by how good I am at mental math.

I was sent to a satellite public high school half days, because it offered AP classes my rural high school did not... but
only served as an auxiliary school [you couldn't get a diploma there, your credits transferred to your "home" school].

I ended up getting kicked out of math [the whole subject, for the duration of school] for receiving a C- grade in Algebra II.

The satellite school had a probationary grade policy that treated C's as failing grades, and due to the "exclusive" acceptance criteria, they barred students whose grades were unsatisfactory.

Funny thing was, I got that grade because I couldn't figure out how to show "my" work in the way they wanted
A lot of people copied test answers off me, then tried to pass me corrections on my work.

I'd had that problem in every math class, but this was where my mental math really started deviating from "standard"...

School made me hate math.
After trying and failing to provide the "right" work (and arguing all the way to the principal that I was showing "my" work and the instructions were not to show someone else's work) I spent the last half of the semester writing down the answers with no work.
I was getting the same grade anyway.

Turned me completely off to something I loved.

Edit - meant to add:
The truly ironic thing turned up a few years ago (about 10 years out of high school for me) when I heard people complaining about "Common Core" math being taught in schools and how they were having trouble helping their kids with homework.
I looked it up, and realized - Common Core is at least part of what I was doing naturally. And failed out of math for.

Being able to do extreme mental maths is awesome

Anyone else?

I can't classify myself as "extraordinary" but I am able to identify patterns in numbers and this allows me to calculate certain sums faster than some. However, my mathematical abilities are rather average in most other areas.

[ I was first in my school in math.
I don't know bout state though I got three answers wrong. I'm okay I can do anything up to double digit divison or multiplication but not like that, though.

I have to close my eyes and shrug my shoulders, as if to plug my ears with them. I probably look like a childish savant. Then, blurt it out stupidly, as though it's a guess.

There is no technique, rhyme, or reason. My best explanation is that it's subconscious.

When I watch the Brainetics commercial, where the kids mind their posture and look on, attentively, I don't think I could do that.

Anyone else?

I don't like boasting, but I would say that I would qualify as somewhat of a fast calculator.

I can rapidly mentally divide extremely long numbers by some digit (like 3), up to many decimal points.
Also, I can mentally extract square roots of perfect squares that are up to 4 digit long. I think I did some square root extractions of 6 digit long numbers, but that was rather difficult.
This one isn't really fast mental math, but I can also rapidly memorize a very big amount of digits in a short period of time. My record was memorizing 100 digits in just 15 minutes. (I can memorize up to as many digits as I want provided that I have enough time - I haven't found a limit for that yet.)

Also, wanted to add that I don't exactly have a mild Autism Spectrum Disorder. In my case, it affects language and communication to some extent, and the last tests I had showed very huge discrepancies between different cognitive abilities - some were literally absent, some were very developed. For example, ironically, I was unable to solve any (not even one!) arithmetic problems that were presented verbally during the testing, despite boasting a rather good GPA in math and very good mental math skills - the verbal information during the test simply overwhelmed my sensory system.