Math Man

[BroSCFischer]

These are the adventures of Math Man, strange being from another planet (I've been told I live in a world of my own.) Faster than a speeding calculator, able to solve problems with a single sum (well, that's a slight exaggeration). It's Math Man!

Ok, so I have an innate affinity for mathematical calculation. Apparently this amazes the people around me. I have worked around money for so long that, coupled with my mad counting skills , I can count it faster than any person I work with. The fact that I can do simple multiplication and division, let alone addition and subtraction, in my head, is a feat beyond measure to many of those I work with.

For example, I typically help out the door people for the Lounge calculate how many people they have had come in (this determines how much the DJ gets). When yesterday, I said, after counting the take, that 141 was divisible by 3, the door person looked at me in wonder, asking if I did it in my head. I then tried to teach her the simple method to determine divisibility by 3 that I learned in 7th grade (adding the digits of a number, if that is divisible, then the original number is. I.e. 1+4+1=6/3=2 which means 141 is divisible by 3). She couldn't grasp it.

Anyone else have a "special power" to someone else, that is mundane to you?

SC

[dragon_wings]

Remembering the prices of certain brands of cigs, many of my regulars favorite cigs, and the store coupon numbers. Though I'm also really good with math and numbers too. (Don't you just love that divisible by 3/6/9 trick... It's so easy and dare I say fun. Add in my OCD that I like numbers divisible by 3, 6, and 9 and I use it a lot.)

[Food Lady]

I've been told more than once it's amazing I can take seemingly random ingredients from the cupboards and find a way to make a dish out of them.

[dalesys]

Anyone else have a "special power" to someone else, that is mundane to you?

Read without moving my lips.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I can still do multiplication and division via pencil and paper, while my co-workers are needing to run for the calculator.

This particularly comes in handy during inventory.

[Chromatix]

More than once I've answered a question which baffled others by referring to a Google search. And these were not your typical computer-illiterates, for whom Google-fu would not be an expected skill.

I can also build PCs from components, sometimes from *random* components. WHen I get to choose which components are used, the result can be better value than an off-the-shelf PC from a major name brand - ie. faster and longer-lasting in practice and for the same price. This is all from following some simple, common sense rules (and a checklist) for component selection, and then not screwing up stupidly when actually assembling it.

[gremcint]

here's a trick I discovered on my own though I doubt I'm the only one to see this.

Take a multiple of 11 and remove the two lowest digits, now add those two lowest digits to the remaining number and you'll get another multiple of 11.

11*11*11*11 =14641
146+41=187
1+87=88

[BlaqueKatt]

These are the adventures of Math Man, strange being from another planet (I've been told I live in a world of my own.) Faster than a speeding calculator, able to solve problems with a single sum (well, that's a slight exaggeration). It's Math Man!

sorry Mathman was a Michigan wolverine

[Antisocial_Worker]

Anyone else have a "special power" to someone else, that is mundane to you?

Because the roads in my part of the country are basically just paved cow paths, giving or understanding directions to anywhere can be confusing. When I worked at the hotel, I quickly gave up on giving directions anywhere and just started drawing out the routes on the maps we had for guests' convenience. People always seemed amazed that I could draw out the routes on maps that were placed rightside up for the guests to read, but which from my perspective would be upside down.

[Phantasmagoria]

Picking out foreign coins in handfuls of change. I can't even count the number of times someone has dropped a mass of pennies into my hands and attempted to walk off looking smug, only to be stopped within two paces by me calling out "I'm sorry sir, this isn't a 10p!"

Particularly satisfying to do to teenage boys who have been driving me up the wall by showing off to their mates and messing up my shop for the past twenty minutes.. with the added bonus that teenage boys are particularly prone to embarrassment in front of their mates!

[taurinejunkie]

I can usually improvise a second vocal part to a song after listening to it 2-3 times.

[ArcticChicken]

(adding the digits of a number, if that is divisible, then the original number is. I.e. 1+4+1=6/3=2 which means 141 is divisible by 3).

*blink* I hate my school I hate my school I hate my school.

[dalesys]

...the roads in my part of the country are basically just paved cow paths...

And the cows had been eating shrooms and fermented apples.

[Buglady]

the simple method to determine divisibility by 3 that I learned in 7th grade (adding the digits of a number, if that is divisible, then the original number is. I.e. 1+4+1=6/3=2 which means 141 is divisible by 3).

That's so cool! I had never heard of that! Thanks

My Stupid Human Trick is that I can read text that is upside down faster than most people can read it right side up. I can read out loud with zero hesitation, miscues or mispronunciations - that one shouldn't be rare but it is, unfortunately.

(Right side up and reading silently, I topped out the test the psychologists used; I read faster and with better comprehension than 99.9999% of the adult English-speaking population. I don't know why. My overall intelligence is above average, but not by three standard deviations like my verbal score).

I communicate better in written form than when I'm speaking, to be honest. Sigh.

[taurinejunkie]

Buglady, I'm jealous. I'm a fast reader both in English and my mother tongue French, but as I really love reading, I would love to be able to read even faster.