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<p>That’s a hallmark trait of a right-brained visual-spatial learner. Did you get in trouble in grade school for not showing all your work?</p>
<p>More on visual-spatial learners:
[Visual-Spatial</a> Learners](<a href=“http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm]Visual-Spatial”>http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm)</p>
<p>Woah, how would anyone ever get that?</p>
<p>NYandere, you can get a perfect score without ever using a calculator – the tests are designed that way. My son did so twice, once on the PSAT and once at the second sitting of the ACT (required by his high school).</p>
<p>Liv, by process of elimination. The obvious and less obvious stuff won’t work and after you’ve considered alternating ascending and descending prime numbers divided by pi and rounded off, what else is there?</p>
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<p>No, not really! I am a visual learner … I’m an INTJ in Myers-Briggs, a process improver, and generally quite organized. The stereotype of the right-brained visual-spatial learner who has piles all over the place isn’t me.</p>
<p>Calculators are for chumps.</p>
<p>I’m honestly in awe.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how large the incoming 2015 class is relative to what they’d anticipated? Is it large enough to cause any issues in getting housing?</p>
<p>Wow. Lorem, I PM’d you with some strange-ish explanation of how I see my math problems and it’s actually just as Pizzagirl explained it. I just “see” it as well. I’m also INTJ, and I’m also not a direct match for the list of characteristics presented on the Visual-Spatial Learners page.</p>
<p>From the auditory-sequential: think in words, auditory strengths, relates well to time, step by step learner, sound out spelling words, does well at arithmetic, good auditory short-term memory, academically talented (if I do say so myself heh), enjoys algebra/chemistry</p>
<p>From the visual-spatial: reads maps well, math reasoning, prefers keyboarding to writing, arrives at correct solutions intuitively, unique methods of organization, masters languages through immersion (love doing this), may miss details</p>
<p>I feel like we need a nice separate thread for this. What a class, right?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I love Myers-Briggs! Most psychological tests are bogus, but Meyers-Briggs is amazingly accurate.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl and Cubecul, there is a smooth continuum from extreme right-brained to extreme left-brained and most people fall somewhere in between. Let me tell you what the far extreme right is like.</p>
<p>My son is extremely right-brained, which sometimes is a problem and at other times is a remarkable gift. For example, he simply cannot take notes and listen to a lecture or video at the same time – the visual (looking down at the paper) interrupts his focus away from the oral narrative, which is a secondary input choice for him. </p>
<p>On the other hand, he doesn’t need to take notes (unless he is being graded on the process of doing so) because he never refers back to any notes, unless it’s random stuff like homework assignments. Logical, organized information gets stored in permanent memory on the first pass. It’s definitely not pure memorization, either – it’s like every fact is placed in its proper location and is linked to every other incoming or previous fact for quick recall, months later. No drill, no practice and very little review needed, even a year later. Math is even more interesting, because he doesn’t seem to memorize formulas; as best as I can figure it, he mentally dissects the formula into how it’s the same and yet different from other formulas. This leaves him with a deep understanding, and he has frequently raised his hand in class while a teacher is working out a new math or science problem to offer his own on-the-fly alternate method which cuts the time in half or more.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much of this is related just to IQ and how much to his extreme visual-spatial nature. I do know he has an incredibly-large working memory (which is associated with IQ), and which, I imagine, would come in handy if you’re receiving new learning input at high speed while “packing” the recent stuff into permanent memory. He likes to use this memory in ways it was never intended and that are not particularly efficient. He hates taking notes for a research paper, for example: how do you know you will use this piece of information until after you’ve read everything about your topic? Instead, he stores the approximate location of this fact in his head, researches for 10 or 15 hours without a note and, a week later, starts committing a 5-page paper that he has largely composed in his head to paper. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out how he can remember about the useful quote on page 317 of Crime and Punishment for a week while at the same time being unable to remember to turn in a minor homework assignment that he has already completed.</p>
<p>Lorem – after your last problem – here’s a sequence especially for you:</p>
<p>103, 96, 86, 77, 68, 59, 51, 42, 33, 28, 23, 14 … What’s next.</p>
<p>My HS Calc teacher gave us this one … we almost lynched him when he told us the answer. (You’re warned!!!)</p>
<p>Lorem, that is interesting. What I can’t do is recount a narrative (such as the plot of a movie or the twists and turns of a conversation) in accurate sequence. What does that mean? I learn by watching and by doing, I always need a task placed in a bigger context, and I learn least well by listening to an explanation.</p>
<p>Zephyr that’s just an unfair question…</p>
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<p>The number of bottles of beer remaining on the wall at a frat party in 10-minute increments?</p>
<p>It doesn’t look like a traditional numeric sequence nor an alphabetic sequence. I tried Roman numerals and it’s giving me nothing. I’ve tried squinting at it to gain “another perspective,” to no avail, so far. </p>
<p>The real problem is how easy it becomes to “discover” parts of patterns that aren’t really there. Which reminded me of a TED presentation I’m sure all of you will enjoy if you haven’t already seen it:
[Michael</a> Shermer on strange beliefs | Video on TED.com](<a href=“http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things.html]Michael”>http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things.html)</p>
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<p>Mom, these top schools have been dealing with such a possibility for decades and have contingency plans. They may, at worst, have to lease some nearby building or convert a lounge or other general-use area to dorm space temporarily.</p>
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<p>All classic visual-spatial traits: Constructing a flowing narrative or sequence is easy for the left-brain auditory-sequential learner, who assumes that one particular sequence is always superior. Visual-spatial learners (VSLs) can easily manipulate space (mentally rotate the block of cubes on an IQ test to count the hidden sides), but have trouble with standardized sequences because they store their knowledge in a random-access matrix, where sequence B-D-A-C can be argued as well as A-B-C-D.</p>
<p>VSLs are whole-part learners who need to understand the big picture before storing details associated with the idea. They also have trouble blindly copying someone else’s method and are better off being shown the problem, being told the desired solution, and deducing their own way of getting it done.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Linda Silverman’s book, which helped me better understand the way my kids think. I also discovered along the way that I, too, was a VSL who had simply learned to compensate.
[Amazon.com:</a> Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual Spatial Learner (9781932186000): Linda Kreger Silverman: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Brilliance-Visual-Spatial-Learner/dp/193218600X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307426089&sr=1-2]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Down-Brilliance-Visual-Spatial-Learner/dp/193218600X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307426089&sr=1-2)</p>
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<p>I understand that there’s a shortcut, but I don’t think it saves you much time … right? You could find the solution to the equations in about 10 seconds: you can substitute x = 9-y, factor y^2-9y+14 into (y-7)(y-2), and add 1/7+1/2 in your head :)</p>
<p>I’m sure the difference is bigger in questions that require more brute force, but in this case I think brute force is fast enough that noticing such a trick is not necessary (I like mental math 
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<p>@cubecul</p>
<p>I agree, it’s extremely unfair – I’ll post the answer later today. </p>
<p>My advice – don’t work too hard on it, you will probably either get the answer immediately or you may never solve it.</p>
<p>This thread has ventured very far from the original topic - perhaps those inclined toward math conversations can start a new thread?</p>
<p>MomCares - many schools wind up with too large a class in September - triples solve this problem and they often go back to doubles by the second term.</p>
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<p>YeloPen, I find it interesting how various people approach the same problem so differently. You may be using a conventional method, but I suspect you’re “seeing” the possible solutions and doing multiple steps in your head. If you’re a more typical student, you will solve the problem step-by-step, just like your classroom teacher expects. There’s a fair chance of making a sign-change error and there’s a confusing part right in the middle that you glossed over:</p>
<p>x + y = 9 –> substitute 9-y for x; xy = 14
y (9-y) = 14
9y - y^2 = 14
9y - y^2 - 14 = 0
y^2 - 9y + 14 = 0
(y - 7)(y - 2) = 0
y = (7, 2)
But what is x? And why do I have TWO different y answers?</p>
<p>Of course, when y = 7, x = 2 and when y = 2, x = 7, so your answer for (1/x + 1/y) has only one solution. But there are several places along the way where the average test-taker will pause and ponder and perhaps re-check his work. There’s the satisfaction of progress being made, yet the time ticks by faster than most expect. The test is cleverly designed to lure you into “production mode” and run out the clock before you can finish all the questions.</p>
<p>@LoremIpsum: ■■■■ and do this somewhere else.</p>