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It's not worth feeling shocked over. When you are approaching fundamentals, it doesn't matter what method you use. The education system failed you. From my experience teaching kids with math anxiety, I learned it's impossible for people to accurately judge where their weakness at the core. But a pattern I found was that they were scared of doing basic things the "wrong" way. Short-sighted teachers worry about the "wrong" way because they feel like it will slow kids. The proper approach is to let kids use whatever way is fastest for them, and they'll learn other methods on their own as they continue practicing problems. Teachers who force a specific method for arithmetic make the problem worse because the kids end up more worried about doing it the right way rather than worrying about getting the answer right. We live in an age with calculators, no one cares if you use your fingers to count. I have ADHD and feel limited by my working memory often, using fingers or repeating a number I want to remember over and over feels like having extra RAM. Even the way kids are taught to count is different depending on where you live. Studies show that kids who use fingers are stronger in quantitative reasoning. But growing up, I knew teachers who made fun of students for using fingers to count. Imagining numbers as dots and counting or breaking a number into smaller numbers to add is not a "trick" it's an algorithm that is as valid as any other. It's counterproductive to associate the word "trick" with "wrong". For a while I wrote my own system of dots to correspond with numbers, 1, 2, 3 I focus on the end points, 4 (I wrote it open) makes a square with four corners if you ignore the extensions, 5 I count when I change directions and the end points, 6 I imagine dots of a domino tile, 7 is basically two layers a four and then the end points of the character, 8 is similar to six but I count the two circle, and 9 is similar to six but I count circle and then both sides of the bottom curve (a 3x3) grid. Even if my brain gets tired or distracted, I know I can still add by dots because it's so procedural and I don't need to "think", I just remember the starting digit and then count up as I follow the dots. I use saying the word out like as a form of RAM to this day. Repeating a word, to me, uses a completely different part of my mind, so I free up 100% of working memory and cognition. I have "forgotten" numbers while doing mental math and have reminded myself from hearing myself say it. Describing these techniques, I recognize I sound like a literal computer and almost not human, but it's struggle I learned to work past. It works, I can do relatively more advanced mental arithmetic compared to peer even. For multiplication, I would recommend Anki. This kind of memorizing is what that entire system excels in. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/jun/26/count-f... |