Dyscalculia - Numberphile
video description
Like phone numbers or values with lots of decimal places to get as accurate as possible.
I mean like I read out '78532' then look down to write down and write '78352'. I suppose it's a short term memory problem.
I get the right digits but not necessarily in the right order!
I suppose it might also be a bit of dyslexia as it may happen with letters as well, if I'm spelling a word out that has an 'ie' in or an 'ei' and I forget which way round they are, whether the word follows the rule or is an exception!
I sometimes count birds in a flock up to about 10 or 12 and estimate if it's more than that - it's harder if they are moving in different directions instead of all flying in a constant formation!
We can all have problems judging how long something will take if there are lots of variables involved like lots of things to remember to take (or look for first, stopping to check things are turned off, taking longer than expected in the bathroom, variable traffic situations, red traffic lights, parking awkwardly, getting phone calls at awkward times. and a boss might not like you taking another 5 minutes to explain the 10 or 20 small factors involved in why you are 10 minutes late for work, when it was not just one big delay with one reason!
Date: 2022-04-08
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Comments and reviews: 9
Ozan
As a gifted musician-musicologist-theorist, I always had since my early years considerable trouble with formulating words and numbers. I still cannot for the life of me remember phone numbers other than 4 or 5. Math problems required and still require deep and slow pondering. Time limitations stress me to the point of bungling. I know realize my condition may be explained in this video. Sometimes I yet have trouble with financial transactions when going out to town. Only after 20 years of multi-disciplinary autodidactic pursuit was I able to mostly overcome my dislexic and discalculic shortcomings. Engaging microtonal music and physics problems worked wonders for me. I am 41 years now, and as a bilingual Turkish man who plays the piano, bowed tanbur, qanun, ney as well as having several exceptional compositions to my name, I say almost every condition can be alleviated with perseverence.
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As a gifted musician-musicologist-theorist, I always had since my early years considerable trouble with formulating words and numbers. I still cannot for the life of me remember phone numbers other than 4 or 5. Math problems required and still require deep and slow pondering. Time limitations stress me to the point of bungling. I know realize my condition may be explained in this video. Sometimes I yet have trouble with financial transactions when going out to town. Only after 20 years of multi-disciplinary autodidactic pursuit was I able to mostly overcome my dislexic and discalculic shortcomings. Engaging microtonal music and physics problems worked wonders for me. I am 41 years now, and as a bilingual Turkish man who plays the piano, bowed tanbur, qanun, ney as well as having several exceptional compositions to my name, I say almost every condition can be alleviated with perseverence.
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Sarah
(don't have money for a disabilities test and the college won't pay for it) I have dyscalculia. (I was tested as a child but the colleges want something more current now that I'm an adult) I can't do addition. Multiplication. I took a 098 math class that was variable credit so I could do two credits for two quarters and the last credit the last quarter. My disability effects studying and memory retention, as well as directional awareness, time awareness (homework takes forever) and overall testing ability. I have to take a 107 math class (math in society) this next quarter. I can't get my Transfer AA without it. Then I want to go to a four-year and get a Communications degree specializing in Publishing and Editing. I love Engilish and am an English tutor at my College, but if some mentions numbers of any kind my brain seems to flat-line.
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(don't have money for a disabilities test and the college won't pay for it) I have dyscalculia. (I was tested as a child but the colleges want something more current now that I'm an adult) I can't do addition. Multiplication. I took a 098 math class that was variable credit so I could do two credits for two quarters and the last credit the last quarter. My disability effects studying and memory retention, as well as directional awareness, time awareness (homework takes forever) and overall testing ability. I have to take a 107 math class (math in society) this next quarter. I can't get my Transfer AA without it. Then I want to go to a four-year and get a Communications degree specializing in Publishing and Editing. I love Engilish and am an English tutor at my College, but if some mentions numbers of any kind my brain seems to flat-line.
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Henlo
I have diagnosed dyscalculia and got no real help with it in school, just extra hours with a teacher that didn't teach any differently from how they did in regular class.
I feel ashamed of how bad I am with counting and have come up with various strategies to seem normal in front of people I don't know. I cried watching this video, just like I cry with all math related stuff. It just makes me feel so frustrated that I don't get it!
Now I have to take extra math classes if I want to get in to university to become a physiotherapist- which requires no math but they use high test scores in order to select who will get in. Idk what to do, is there any way for me to actually learn this stuff and not forget it the next day like I usually do?
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I have diagnosed dyscalculia and got no real help with it in school, just extra hours with a teacher that didn't teach any differently from how they did in regular class.
I feel ashamed of how bad I am with counting and have come up with various strategies to seem normal in front of people I don't know. I cried watching this video, just like I cry with all math related stuff. It just makes me feel so frustrated that I don't get it!
Now I have to take extra math classes if I want to get in to university to become a physiotherapist- which requires no math but they use high test scores in order to select who will get in. Idk what to do, is there any way for me to actually learn this stuff and not forget it the next day like I usually do?
reply
Audacity
I want to disagree with the notion people with dyscalculia wouldn't be able to do complex mathematics. My dyscalculia was inherited from my dad, he is a professor in computer vision, he programmed cars to stop at light when classically visual machine learning is done through shape recognition (i. E ultrasound.
Secondly Roger Penrose. listen to him talk about his education process. He struggled with maths in similar ways, although never diagnosed I do wonder if these struggles are down to dyscalculia.
In all honesty, i wonder if in both these cases, the fact they had to be creative while learning mathematics came into their favor when it comes to research.
Really appreciate the video though, and it has helped me: )
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I want to disagree with the notion people with dyscalculia wouldn't be able to do complex mathematics. My dyscalculia was inherited from my dad, he is a professor in computer vision, he programmed cars to stop at light when classically visual machine learning is done through shape recognition (i. E ultrasound.
Secondly Roger Penrose. listen to him talk about his education process. He struggled with maths in similar ways, although never diagnosed I do wonder if these struggles are down to dyscalculia.
In all honesty, i wonder if in both these cases, the fact they had to be creative while learning mathematics came into their favor when it comes to research.
Really appreciate the video though, and it has helped me: )
reply
Roach
OK, so, how does this affect higher, more abstracted math? Like algebra and trigonometry? I'm asking because I suffered through out elementary with math, but found myself at home once the focus shifted from raw numbers to variables, shapes in space, functions, graphs and coordinate systems. I went to college and got a Computer Science degree. I learned close to nothing during elementary but was able to work my way backwards on basic number theory concepts while learning higher level mathematics as such manifested naturally, like in set theory. Based on the symptoms list, I think I have dyscalculia.
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OK, so, how does this affect higher, more abstracted math? Like algebra and trigonometry? I'm asking because I suffered through out elementary with math, but found myself at home once the focus shifted from raw numbers to variables, shapes in space, functions, graphs and coordinate systems. I went to college and got a Computer Science degree. I learned close to nothing during elementary but was able to work my way backwards on basic number theory concepts while learning higher level mathematics as such manifested naturally, like in set theory. Based on the symptoms list, I think I have dyscalculia.
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Jordan
This type of experiment seems like it would lend itself well to a mobile (or web) app that could be produced to harness a very large sample size -for free-. I think a simple app could be used to collect data, times and provide researches feedback from a fun/viral game. If it also provided some instant feedback to users of the app, it would be a fun game for kids to test their abilities in counting. and maybe a by-product of identifying dyscalculats who might not otherwise be diagnosed for years. I can tell you my 6-year old would love to play a simple game of counting dots.
reply
This type of experiment seems like it would lend itself well to a mobile (or web) app that could be produced to harness a very large sample size -for free-. I think a simple app could be used to collect data, times and provide researches feedback from a fun/viral game. If it also provided some instant feedback to users of the app, it would be a fun game for kids to test their abilities in counting. and maybe a by-product of identifying dyscalculats who might not otherwise be diagnosed for years. I can tell you my 6-year old would love to play a simple game of counting dots.
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Darrell
i have had it for the past 50 plus years, always knew it, . just lived with it, .often got ripped off when buying stuff, .I never recall birthdays, I nealy failed my history in college, bcz the test was ALL dates! i can count, but I am slow, like a 7 ye old kid, but excell in nearly every other thing there is: drawing, reading, writing, philosophy, cooking ( intuitively, not measuringly) science concepts, .the embarassment is always there, . every day. I failed every math class I ever took EXCEPT algebra ( with A CALULATOR, i GOT AN ''A'' )
reply
i have had it for the past 50 plus years, always knew it, . just lived with it, .often got ripped off when buying stuff, .I never recall birthdays, I nealy failed my history in college, bcz the test was ALL dates! i can count, but I am slow, like a 7 ye old kid, but excell in nearly every other thing there is: drawing, reading, writing, philosophy, cooking ( intuitively, not measuringly) science concepts, .the embarassment is always there, . every day. I failed every math class I ever took EXCEPT algebra ( with A CALULATOR, i GOT AN ''A'' )
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Tristan
I counted the various groups of 7 that showed up on-screen with groups of 3 and 4 or 2 and 5. >: T The advantage is that - with odd numbers - you need fewer groups, and therefore can count faster. 3+4 or 2+5 is faster than 3+3+1 or 2+2+3 or 2+2+2+1 or 1+1+5. And it is simpler. In fact, with one of the groups, that had 10 dots, I counted it is 4+6 (with 6 being a soft 3+3. Rather than 5+5. How they're counted seems to have a lot to do with how they're arranged. A quincunx is easily 5, instead of 2+3.
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I counted the various groups of 7 that showed up on-screen with groups of 3 and 4 or 2 and 5. >: T The advantage is that - with odd numbers - you need fewer groups, and therefore can count faster. 3+4 or 2+5 is faster than 3+3+1 or 2+2+3 or 2+2+2+1 or 1+1+5. And it is simpler. In fact, with one of the groups, that had 10 dots, I counted it is 4+6 (with 6 being a soft 3+3. Rather than 5+5. How they're counted seems to have a lot to do with how they're arranged. A quincunx is easily 5, instead of 2+3.
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Normal
i was diagnosed with Dyscalculia and Dyslexia haha
I had some troubles in school but after some time i did manage to reduce my Dyslexia. I even managed to learn english by myself.
(Actually, I know more things in English than in do in Portuguese)
I can get lost sometimes tho.
However, My Dyscalculia never ease up on me, i tried really hard to learn but i did not manage to get over it.
That makes me really insecure and kinda lost.
I can't get a scholarship because of that.
reply
i was diagnosed with Dyscalculia and Dyslexia haha
I had some troubles in school but after some time i did manage to reduce my Dyslexia. I even managed to learn english by myself.
(Actually, I know more things in English than in do in Portuguese)
I can get lost sometimes tho.
However, My Dyscalculia never ease up on me, i tried really hard to learn but i did not manage to get over it.
That makes me really insecure and kinda lost.
I can't get a scholarship because of that.
reply
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