[Fleury29]

I'm beginning to feel like there is some sort of what I like to call a block preventing me from doing math as well as I know I should, it doesn't seem like a phobia or anything like that (have plenty of those) but is there such a thing as I can't do xyz because of something other than a phobia, and it's not that I can't do it? I don't know a word for what I'm looking for, The idea is kind of like writers block, but I feel as though there is an issue that I just can't catch myself that is preventing me from seeing the obvious. Is this crazy talk or am I on to something?

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[Perna]

I had lower clerical aptitude, had a college degree with 2-3 college-level math courses but had trouble balancing my checkbook which I thought was "odd". Back in the 1970's when I had aptitude testing done professionally, it was suggested I use a calculator (they had just been invented and cost too much for me to afford), I had been adding/counting on my fingers still :-) Details, Details: Your Clerical Aptitude

Anyway, you could have something like that in your way, you learn one way and it's presented another and you aren't quite able to perceive things in a way to grasp them.

[eskielover]

I think there are lots of things that limit our abilities to do things......starting with my flute...I was a music major & got my AA in music but when I went on to get my BA.....I could practice 8 hours a day & never could get my performance ability to be enough to pass the juries that were held each year.....I could play well & enjoyed playing in chamber groups but never could perform to the level required for a degree in my flute.

So I changed over to Accounting Information Systems/Computer Science.....which required a year of calculus I could never grasp the concepts of what I was doing in that whole year.....I got an A in the first few tests & failed the last ones........so I managed to get by with a C overall that whole year of calculus....all I can tell you is that calculus is calculating the area under a curve. I got by in my engineering career doing military communication systems without needing the calculus until the very end when the only technical position required programming using calculus for the balistics programming.....so I picked a different direction which I hated & fell apart in that position....never to go back to work again after that.

LOL.....Perna......I still count on my fingers when doing my budgeting to this day & I'm 60. Back when I was in grade school we had our semesters divided into A & B. Being born in February.....& my mother didn't drive...she started my in school in September so I could ride with my neighbor.....but kindergarten put me into 1st grade that next February because I was more advanced then the others in my class.......from about 3rd grade, they kept trying to have me skip a grade......then when the school system decided to go into only the annual system....they finally put me ahead in 6th grade.....so I missed the fractions & percentages in the semester I skipped.......I still have problems with that.

I think there are some things that our brains just don't have the ability to learn in a way to make it a functional part of our life....not to just get through the class.....some things like my flute...there is a limitation with talent. I have found that some things I thought were impossible to think & understand in the past are now easier to......Chemistry was another one of those impossible to understand classes...I struggled with that in my last year of high school.....never before that had I ever encountered anything I couldn't understand.....I truly do believe that there are just some things our minds are not wired up to be able to learn & comprehend....the mind is just not wired to think in those ways.

I know when I'm tired & stressed about personal things, it makes it that much harder for me to think about or comprehend some things or even get the right word I try to find in a conversation.

There are lots of things that can go into our inability to think or comprehend certain things......& some things I know I never could do or learn.....& yet I graduated with a 3.25 GPA for my BS.....but my mind has limitations with it's thinking & doing certain things....something I just accept after 60 years of living.....& it's OK.

i am glad you posted this.

hate math- can't get a handle on it no matter what i try.. so its good to read their are others

[Webgoji]

Mental blocks are funny little things. When I was young and still competing in powerlifting, I had a mental block at benching 200 lbs, but the instant I got it up, I jumped to 230 lbs. Squat was the same way, couldn't for the life of me get 275 lbs, but the day after I got it and broke that mental block, I was able to do 330 lbs.

Mental blocks is what we called them, but it's really a lack of confidence. It's not fear, but a self-limiting mindset and we can have them on everything. Test anxiety is another example of that, some people simply cannot take tests.

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

I get something like that, ... it became apparent during or after primary school, when I previously was very good at math (top of the class or something) but mental health stuff started to get worse, ... as did my work, my ability to concentrate.. bullying got bad.. life went down the *******.. and here I ****ing am. Yeah, writer's black is about right.

[January]

There is a condition called discalcula which causes a person to invert numbers and it makes it very hard to do math. It's the numerical version of dyslexia. I have it and although I made it through calculus, I had to study three times harder than anyone else to do it. Maybe you can google it and see if you can find some helpful tips.

Jan

[Fleury29]

Are there any tests for dyscalcula?

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[eskielover]

I don't have discalcula.....I just couldn't comprehend the concepts of what I was trying to do....I have found that if I can't see the big picture with understanding then I can't just do the little stuff that seems to be meaningless to me......chemistry was the same thing for me....I was completely LOST in what the whole purpose was for the class so I couldn't seem to function through the different little parts of it.

I truly believe that there are some things where talent is a limitation also....where we are able to perform to a certain level, but it's not even just a block to get beyond....but it's a real limitation of some sort that truly keeps one from progressing even with a high amount of practice.....I just physically couldn't perform on my flute even with 8 hours a day practice beyond what I was doing.....if that was NOT the case then there would definitely be more professional flute players vying for positions in the symphony orchestras........just as there are limitations such that I would never become a surgeon or vet.

[Redheadsays]

When I was a kid in catholic school I had the same problem. No matter how much I tried I couldn't take math tests even if I studied. I think 'block' is a good discription. And anxiety made that block worse for me but at the time I didn't realize it. Anxiety shows its ugly head in all sorts of dif ways. Good luck!!

Originally Posted by Fleury29

I'm beginning to feel like there is some sort of what I like to call a block preventing me from doing math as well as I know I should, it doesn't seem like a phobia or anything like that (have plenty of those) but is there such a thing as I can't do xyz because of something other than a phobia, and it's not that I can't do it? I don't know a word for what I'm looking for, The idea is kind of like writers block, but I feel as though there is an issue that I just can't catch myself that is preventing me from seeing the obvious. Is this crazy talk or am I on to something?

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I think you might be on to something, I've got the same thing going on...I'm really bad at math too

[AngstyLady]

Hmm, perhaps. I had this book I bought A while back entitled, "Math made Easy.' It had every subject from basic (addition, subtraction, division, etc) to fractions and probability and integers. I used to be able to do that in high school so I thought I would brush up on it. It made sense in my head but when I would try to complete a problem I would do it wrong. I fee like my brain is more right brain focused now than it was than. I think that may be part of it, perhaps the same can be said for you.