LogFAQs > #929005292

IfGodCouldDie posted...

metroid composite posted...

I definitely remember doing stuff like that around age 6.

In fairness it's kind of a different approach to the problem; when you're six you don't rearrange the equation, you tend to just plug numbers into x until you find one that works.

He was actually figuring it out though. Which is what was so surprising to us. It's not like he was just taking guesses until it worked.

Well, yeah, the guesses are kind-of internal/intuitive, not said out loud.

You do stuff like try out a number, realize it needs to be higer by about 20, try an x that's 20 higher, it works, say that number out loud.

Or you just mentally get used to an addition on the same side of the equation as x is like a subtraction so your mind processes it like that and you come up with a number, try it out to be sure, and say that number.

When I actually got to algebra in school, I would drive my teachers mad at first because I never showed any steps, just wrote down the answer that came to me. (This eventually stops working around grade 11 or so).
---

Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision