I tried to explain ADHD math to someone and they didn't understand at all

Edit: it appears that this is not exclusive to ADHD.

Posting this meme stemmed from my own efforts to explain my thought process when doing math and how it is similar to other people with ADHD doing math, while being different from every neurotypical person I'd talked to on the same subject.

While I didn't make the meme itself, instead finding it in my saves and wanting to share, I did accidentally spread misinformation that I had only backed up with personal anecdotal evidence.

I'll leave this up just so people can see the explanation below but this appears to not be ADHD related and just due to different people doing math in their heads differently...

KillingTimeItself ,

i was gonna say, this is ADHD math? I just thought this was mental math in short lmao.

jinarched , (edited )
@jinarched@lemm.ee avatar

If you know those five intuitively, adding and subtracting become automatic even with adhd.

1 + 9 = 10

2 + 8 = 10

3 + 7 = 10

4 + 6 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

FiniteBanjo ,

I've got an idea for a meme for you:

ADHD be like:
Man puts on pants

Akasazh ,

The meme has nothing to to with ADHD, however your explication of how it happened does.

xilliah ,
@xilliah@beehaw.org avatar

You can solve this one with redneck math. You simply flip the numbers in 7+6 upside down, which looks like 4+9, which is clearly 13.

AgentGrimstone ,

How I calculate percentages and settle for close enough.

AncientFutureNow ,

get to 10, add what's left.

ealoe ,

This has absolutely nothing to do with ADHD

notanaltaccount ,

I have no attention span and this is not how I do math.

vxx ,

That's how our math teacher taught us to take shortcuts in elementary school.

ShortFuse ,

14 & 6 = 6

MonkderDritte ,

7 + how much is ten? 3
How much is left? 3
Ten plus however much is left = 13

Fredselfish ,
@Fredselfish@lemmy.world avatar

Wait I do that kind of math and I am not adhd?

MonkderDritte ,

I'm aspergers with adhd, so 🤷

WolfLink ,

This is a good approach, but for this example I break it up as:

7+6=7+3+3=10+3=13

i_love_FFT ,
@i_love_FFT@lemmy.ml avatar

For me it's:

6 is half a dozen, so 6+6=12, then 7 is 6+1, so 6+7 is 12+1=13

SendMePhotos ,

I did 5 (+2) + 5 (+1) = 10 (+3) = 13

Sparky ,
@Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Omg i think I have adhd

hornedfiend ,

I calculate percentage like this. If 100% is the value, then I know what 10% is, then1%, so I do increments of both until I get to the correct value.

It may sound stupid,but it does help me get a % fast enough.

MrShankles ,

Thank you! That's pretty neat. I tried 27% of 65

I added two 10% increments (6.5+6.5)... but instead of adding 0.65 (1%) seven more times, I added a 5% increment (6.5/2 = 3.25) and then 2 increments of 1%

So 6.5+6.5+3.25+0.65+0.65 = 17.55

I still had to use a calculator to add those weird numbers (and also check my work), but it does seem really practical for easier numbers. I usually need percentages for pricing (i.e. discounts/tipping), and the percentages are normally in increments of 5%, so that's pretty useful for figuring out a 15% or 75% of something real quick... or at least get me really close (when talking about something like $X.99)

Regardless, I appreciate the head trick!

Edit: I guess I could've done 30% and then subtracted 1% twice; but it's the same issue (of adding weird numbers) with the same outcome anyway. So thanks again!

griefreeze ,

Another neat trick: X% of Y is equal to Y% of X. That is, in your example, 27% of 65 == 65% of 27. So check and see which combination might provide fewer steps/messy numbers.

13.5 (50% of 27) + 2.7 (10% of 27) + 1.35 (5% of 27) = 17.55

MrShankles ,

Ahh, that's a really good point! I forget about the "X% of Y = Y% of X"

Honestly, I normally just use a calculator quick (move the decimal twice, multiply and all that jazz) for weird percentages or I want a precise answer.

But I like knowing different ways of thinking about it because it can become easier than using a calculator (with practice). And it's fun, cause I'm a bit of a math nerd

Feathercrown ,

Ooh good trick

Trashcan ,

I'm sorry, but this is a silly statement. This is by no means an ADHD thing. It's a pattern understanding or logic

I'm trying to teach my kid this. Not to use this specific method for addition, but recognize and understand patterns in math.

ThatWeirdGuy1001 , (edited )
@ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

What most people misunderstand about mental illness diagnoses is that most people have most of these symptoms. It's only when these symptoms overlap and disrupt your ability to *healthily function as an individual that they require a diagnosis and medication/therapy.

Edit: Added healthily as that's the real distinction.

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