Anyone else here that can do calculus in their head but can't do simple arithmetic in their head even if their life depends on it? I have all A's in every single math course including all my calculus courses but I can't do simple math really fast so I end up using a calculator
i can't do long division for shit. i have to look it up every time i try.
It's probably quite common. An effect of doing calculus all the time but never practicing mental arithmetics.
You just described me perfectly. First year calc is peasant tier and I can do large geometrical calculations/ complex integrations in my head but I struggle with basic addition and subtraction that a middle schooler could do faster.
>how come I can do stuff that I'm being taught but can't do things that I haven't recently spent any time trying to do even though they should be easier since I was taught them a long time ago but have been using a calculator for the last 10 years so I don't have any practice doing it
WHATS UP WITH THAT? I MEAN COME ON!
>>7728325
>I can do large geometrical calculations/ complex integrations in my head
Please elaborately describe the process. I'm extremely interested in how the brain does this. Are you an autistic savant?
>>7728327
When you do something a lot, you get good at it.
Weird concept, right?
>>7728339
Could you provide us with an example
I can prove to you why each natural number is unique.
I can prove many things about fields.
I can do linear algebra and differential equations without thinking
But I can't multiply or add 2 digit numbers without paper and pen at the very least.
You guys would have a better grasp of simple arithmetic if you had been taught common core methods.
Hell it's not too late to teach yourself. I did, and now I do addition so good it makes all the bitches' pussies wet.
Thank you based common core.
>>7728308
Forgetting arithmetic only starts being cool when you git gud at advanced math, not fucking calculus.
>>7728308
>Anyone else here that can do calculus in their head but can't do simple arithmetic in their head even if their life depends on it
The profession of calculator is so dead that people will stare at you like you're crazy for even implying it existed.
>>7728640
Uh, excuse me. Calculus IS advanced math.
>>7728308
i thought i was the only one............and for this disconcerting fact alone, has haunted most of my dreams.... leaving me awake in a cold pool of sweat amongst the dark and quiet night, as i grapple with my existential crisis....
integrated amongst other absurdities within the universe.....i thought i was some sick and twisted anomaly concocted by God as the cosmic comedic relief,
>"I shouldnt need to practice arithmetic! its so goddamn simple! yet my cognition requires more than what is acceptable ......"
>>7728326
ITS 2015 PEOPLE
>>7728706
>the current year
People do arithmetic by hand in the CURRENT YEAR? I MEAN COME ON.
>>7728678
no
it's completely superseded by real analysis, which is introductory math
>>7728678
No, it just sounds intelligent
>>7728339
This
I amaze some of my fellow undergrads, because I can just write down the answer of an intergration by parts, but they have to do each individual step. In another math class our lecturer just made us do it to death, and the skill was still fresh.
Not claiming an integration by parts is difficult, just in case anyone was gonna jump in there.
>>7728308
for some reason i have this mental hangup where i have to count months on my hands
like if you asked me, what's the seventh month / which number corresponds with july? i would have to go through the whole thing to get the answer. it's not even OCD, my mind just blanks out
i swear i'm not retarded
>>7728805
Incredibly inefficient way to learn the numbers of the months #657:
Learn Chinese
>>7728805
use a pivot. I start in january=1 for low months, july=7 for mid ones and december=12 for high ones. easy.
>>7728327
I'm extremely visual. Geometry, shapes, and even integration are things that I can see 3 dimensionally in my mind. Geometrically, this is more advantageous for me in physics as I can calculate torques, motions, etc... without needing to write anything down. In terms of math and calculus, in intuitive problems or general plug and chug problems I am able to work quite quickly and I can usually see tricks and short cuts in complex integrals. To me, integrals are very intuitive and I can picture them as tangible problems in my head. But if you throw me a problem that has no shape or dimension, like revenue Max min problems for example, I find them much more difficult because I cannot come up with a visual picture in my mind. Likewise, basic addition and subtraction take me quite a while to process. This may all be in part due to my interest in more abstract problems as I never have nor will be interested in basic grade school algebra and arithmetic. Ironically, it is something I should force myself to improve upon as well as understanding words. My language skills are atrocious and I'm a terrible reader. Nonetheless, I think hard work, obsession, and discipline are only three attributes needed to do well in any math field. Also, I don't think I'm autistic but I might have slight OCD or I'm just a perfectionist/ competitive person.
>>7728825
I do the same but with August instead of July due to my birthday being in August.
>>7728900
>imagining 3D shapes inside your head
Sorry to spoil your self masturbatory fantasy but everyone can do that. Because i too can do that effortlessly as a matter of fact all humans can do this, And im no special snowflake, and neither are you spergmeister.
>>7728633
same
i've been using common core ever since i started converting 24 hour to 12 hour time
idk if i'd like to be taught it in school though
>>7728308
yeah, welcome to the higly select group of people with an iq over 100. it's relatively easy to do it by using logic.
>>7729043
I think he meant that he can do it more intensely than the average person. There's a thing that I would call geometric synaesthesia, it's common to autistic savants and people on psychedelics.
>>7729342
>not using based 24h clock since age eight
this is the real indicator of pleb status
if I see someone calling glorious 13h or 19h "1pm" and "7pm" they are automatically relegated to prole status
>>7728308
i can do this, but my excuse is that i was out of school for most of middle and highschool, so i missed out on all the years of having arithmetic drilled into my head through math and science classes
getting better, but still cringe whenever i miss points from an arithmetic mistake a 5th grader would make
>>7729043
By no means did I mean for my post to sound conceited. What I mean by visualizing 3d shapes is that apart from seeing them in my head, I can move them and transform them more quickly than my peers. This is something that relates to topics in topology as there is a strong emphasis on being able to stretch, twist, and deform objects. By no means am I special either. I know there are many people that can also do this; however, in relation to OP's original post, the point of my post was to say that I also found it easier to more advanced math than simple arithmetic.
I went from a 5-6 math student (on 4-10 scale) to a 9-10 student the moment solving equations became relevant, seemed completely pointless before that.
>>7728311
You can't do long division on paper?
mental arithmetic (computation)
vs
rote application of learned materials (calculus)
>>7728308
*cringe*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kRHGuOqK0s
>>7728633
>mfw common core is the way I do math mentally
>mfw /pol/ gets butthurt as fuck
I had a quantum mechanics exam this morning. One of the questions was to find an eigenvalue of a slater matrix, whose matrix elements were integrals.
I did all the algebra and integals correctly, I'm sure. However one of the steps near the end involved multiplying together a bunch of 3 digit numbers. I am sure I did that wrong.
>>7728678
Come back when you've begun functional analysis and analysis on manifolds. Then you might just be able to understand what a PDE is
>>7728900
So you're just A NORMAL PERSON?
>>7728678
I mean, this board is known for having mostly highschoolers and freshmen looking to go to math/physics, but how the fuck are there already three (3) people fallen for this atrocious bait?
Arithmetic is hard. Each digit is a symbol, and they don't have interesting spacial layouts or sensible logical organization.
It might not be logically complex, but it's quite difficult (taxing and error-prone) for the human mind to hang on to all the digits long enough to process them.
>>7728308
This is normal. There's no basis to the idea that arithmetic is the "basis" of maths. Actually, it's not like numbers are the most important subject in maths in the first place. Just the most practical subject for most people.
>>7730596
>but it's quite difficult (taxing and error-prone) for the human mind to hang on to all the digits
For the ordinary human mind with all its inhibitory functions in place, yes. The brain has no problem. Some autistic savants see the answer to complex arithmetical operations without really having to do much work - their brain automatically does it for them and all they need to do is to interpret it. Apparently it's often a mostly geometric synaesthesia for arithmetics. I think this should be studied a lot more to shed some light on how everyone's brain might be working in the background and even to get some new perspective on numbers and operations.
>organic computational mathematics
>>7728311
>i can't do long division for shit. i have to look it up every time i try.
Same(ish). I can only do polynomial long division.
>>7731765
You just called number theory pragmatic for most people
>>7731962
Sure, the algorithms that make up arithmetic are technically the implementation of constructive proofs of theorems of number theory. Although it's not like people need to know that.
>>7732001
Like I said, it is bad bait. And that is one of the reasons.
>>7728633
Math illiterate here. What is common core and how can I learn it? Is it a meme?
>>7729950
Can you post that problem or a problem sinilar to it? I'd like to try to solve it.
>>7731916
Do any of you (actual) autists here on /sci/ display signs of a synesthesia of this sort?
No. I can do basic arithmetic in my head just fine and sometimes I forego using my calculator for multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division by doing it manually with a paper and pencil. If it's a decimal I'll use my calculator though. Also, if I can, I try to use fractions to keep it simple. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and division with fraction is much easier than with decimals.
Believe it or not, I got a 4 on my AP Calculus AB exam with a scientific calculator only.
>>7728311
That's very sad. Long division is very easy. How do you do polynomial division if you don't know how to do long division.
>>7728308
ITT: circlejerk
>>7728623
>without thinking
46 -> 40+6
38+ -> 30+8 -> 70+14 -> 84
-------
84
>>7728308
Look up the Trachtenberg system, and speed arithmetic.
