Language Savant- Terrrible at math-Computer science prodigy?

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mr_bigmouth_502
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01 Feb 2014, 2:46 am

I have an almost-natural aptitude for working with computer hardware and software, yet I find that I struggle with understanding many mathematical concepts. For some reason people think this is strange. I think this is because a lot of people assume that fixing computers involves programming, when in reality, I've never been able to program anything beyond a simple batch file without assistance or online tutorials, and I've never needed to write a full-blown program to fix something on a computer.



ruveyn
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01 Feb 2014, 10:15 am

Mitrovah wrote:
So my brain is something of a paradox, I love learning languages, i got top grades in college in Latin and I taught myself the Russian and Greek Alphabet. I can understand complicated philosophy texts as well which involve really complicated circular statements. But i cannot for the life of me understand complicated algebra. People tell me mathematics is a just another language which I find to be a ludicrous analogy; numbers signify a reality that I cannot grasp as opposed to languages. I understand the rules of languages better because I understand English and therefore have some sense of reference.

I remember one time in algebra class a teacher asked me what is "A squared plus b squared," my reply was: "I don't know, I didn't know you could add letters, why don't they teach this in English class? " of course the whole class laughed at me. The only person who is good at math in my family is my mother, all males are terrible at math: my brother couldn't subtract when he was young, my dad can only do enough to balance his check book and he is a college professor.

What is the deal? if Im good at languages and philosophy but terrible at math could I do well in computer science? I tried reading logic statements in computer books and found them a little hard to follow because they are so rigid, but I wasn't really trying.


Mathematics is logic in disguise. Are you terrible at logic?

ruveyn