Something you're just good at with minimal effort and/or you learned much more quickly than average.
For me, it's paper snowflakes. My brain just seems to effortlessly figure out what cuts to make to the paper wedge to make it turn out exactly how I want it. Largely useless, but good fun and was a much-needed ego boost when I was a kid :]
my two special snowflake things:
i can stop my own hiccups at will 100% of the time
i have always lucid dreamed since as far back as i can remember, i genuinely believed that everyone experienced sleep like that until i was in my mid-twenties
Same here on the lucid dreams, I didn't even know it had a name, and I was surprised when people said that they don't control their dreams.
But the hiccups... Mate, you're a wizard.
With math, is it arithmetic that gives you trouble or the actual symbolic manipulation of mathematics?
I am hot garbage at keeping track of numbers but turn those fuckers into letters and (at least for me) it's off to the races. Then I just convert everything back to numbers in the last step before jamming it all into a calculator. This method saved my ass in 400-level biochemistry courses. (Annoyed the shit out of the grad students grading my exams, I'm sure...)
You may be better at "math" than you think :]
Good on you for just casually getting a computational physics degree without inherent math talent... like holy shit that's impressive!
I have also cried over coursework on linear algebra as well as electricity and magnetism :') Brutal stuff.
Please could you explain a bit more about the process you describe, above? Maybe with some simple examples? I'm woeful at maths but really good with mechanical and physical problems. If there's a way I can improve upon the former, I'd love to try.
Thanks in advance!
C = BxA
Move A underneath C and swap the equality
B = C/A
A lot of algebra is spatial manipulation.
Mechanical adept here too. I am very good at holding and manipulating 3d objects in my brain, so I can kinda always just tell how something goes together to work.
I lived in Canada for 6 months surviving on nothing but being a medical Guinea pig (I had no working permit and due to anonymity, very little was asked of people participating in medical trials, plus they paid a decent amount especially if pain or discomfort was involved); as part of this I went through a raft of IQ tests (there was always some gambling addiction trial going at UofT for some reason) and found out that, like you, I have exceptional visual intelligence - rotating objects in my head, and figuring out if something would fit together was super skills of mine. In every other way I’m decidedly average.
Chess. I’ve been playing since I was a kid, and sometimes I’ll create new accounts on chess websites to see how quickly I’ll get them rated to 2000+. I’m living proof that chess players aren’t that smart though because I’m a dumbass when it comes to literally anything else.
I can move my eyes independently and it looks freaky as hell lmao
Writing sestinas. A lot of people tell me it's the hardest form of poetry, but for me it's always been the go-to.
I'll link to one I'll make in a bit, Lemmy's layout/format isn't great for something layout-specific.
I'm told I'm a talented public speaker and that I look calm on stage. Honestly I think I'm just better at hiding how nervous I am
I'm pretty good at sensing the emotions of people around me. It's not magic like some people think, but an obsessive awareness of small facial and body movements.
Oh, and writing dialogue is super easy for me, not sure why some people have a hard time with it.
These are possibly related. I am absolutely terrible at sensing people's emotions around me and understanding body language, and not so coincidentally, I am absolutely terrible at writing dialogue.
I have really good hand-eye coordination, move very quietly, have fast reflexes, and am good at solving riddles.
I think it sets me up to be talented at a profession which pays very well but is very illegal so it shall go nameless.
Im really good at throwing balled up napkins into the trashcan.
Understanding maths and remembering things in school, just don't ask me what you told me a second ago because it's already out my head.
I have unusual muscle control - I can make my eyebrows and knees dance, plus I am a regurgitator. Not as good as Stevie Starr but enough to have a disgusting party piece. I am disappointed that I never mastered the art of the flatulist.
Oh yeah, that too. I'll sometimes do it when standing wait for something, like a lift. Hopefully it isn't obvious from outside my trousers.