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Old 04-08-2016, 05:15 PM
 
Location: Log "cabin" west of Bangor
7,048 posts, read 9,009,525 times
Reputation: 15598

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Quote:
Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot View Post
I hear allot of people claiming they have high IQ and that they have been tested. What does that mean? \
You say you are smarter than the Average person. You are not very good at math or science? What are you good at? If you have high IQ shouldn't math and science be easy for you to learn?
No, not necessarily. I have a fairly high IQ (I *could* get into MENSA, but I'd be one of the dumbest of the group and that doesn't appeal to me), but I suck at math. I truly, truly suck at math. It takes me a tangible amount of time to add up the spots on dice roll...but I understand the odds and have never walked away from a craps table with less money than I started with. If you wanted me to sum the cards in a poker hand, I'd almost need a pencil and paper, and you could go get another beer while you wait for me to finish. Algebra, trig, calculus? Forget it, my brain just shorts out. Don't even give me one of those word problems with one train going East at 70mph and the other going West at 50 mph.

But, what *am* I good at? I do OK at science, I excelled at languages. I can play a variety of musical instruments and was 1st chair clarinet in another life. I can pick up on certain patterns easily. I am an excellent detective and repairing radar systems and computers is easy for me (actually, just another form of detective work). I do most of my own vehicle repairs and I have taught myself to do other (particularly technical) things without having had formal training. I can skim the 10Qs and 10K of a public company and arrive at a reasonably good estimate of the company's financial health...but don't ask me how or to balance the books. I can understand orbital mechanics, but don't ask me to do the math to explain them. The concept of an infinite universe is easy for me to comprehend but don't ask me to calculate the distance of a light-year without a calculator. I'll stop there...

The brain is a funny thing, just look at 'idiot-savants'. Some peoples' brains can be very good at some things and practically incompetent at others.
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Old 04-08-2016, 07:36 PM
 
Location: 53179
14,418 posts, read 22,363,178 times
Reputation: 14461
Quote:
Originally Posted by bg7 View Post
Well those smartypants people know that allot means to apportion, they know that alot isn't a word, like alittle isn't a word, and they know a lot of other stuff.
Oh..lol..English is my second language and I'm still learning. But I'm sure your Swedish is better than my English
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Old 04-08-2016, 07:39 PM
 
Location: 53179
14,418 posts, read 22,363,178 times
Reputation: 14461
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zymer View Post
No, not necessarily. I have a fairly high IQ (I *could* get into MENSA, but I'd be one of the dumbest of the group and that doesn't appeal to me), but I suck at math. I truly, truly suck at math. It takes me a tangible amount of time to add up the spots on dice roll...but I understand the odds and have never walked away from a craps table with less money than I started with. If you wanted me to sum the cards in a poker hand, I'd almost need a pencil and paper, and you could go get another beer while you wait for me to finish. Algebra, trig, calculus? Forget it, my brain just shorts out. Don't even give me one of those word problems with one train going East at 70mph and the other going West at 50 mph.

But, what *am* I good at? I do OK at science, I excelled at languages. I can play a variety of musical instruments and was 1st chair clarinet in another life. I can pick up on certain patterns easily. I am an excellent detective and repairing radar systems and computers is easy for me (actually, just another form of detective work). I do most of my own vehicle repairs and I have taught myself to do other (particularly technical) things without having had formal training. I can skim the 10Qs and 10K of a public company and arrive at a reasonably good estimate of the company's financial health...but don't ask me how or to balance the books. I can understand orbital mechanics, but don't ask me to do the math to explain them. The concept of an infinite universe is easy for me to comprehend but don't ask me to calculate the distance of a light-year without a calculator. I'll stop there...

The brain is a funny thing, just look at 'idiot-savants'. Some peoples' brains can be very good at some things and practically incompetent at others.
Ok. Haha..you convinced me
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Old 04-09-2016, 07:15 AM
 
4,346 posts, read 2,765,479 times
Reputation: 5814
There are no great economists. Only poor mathematicians.

Few can excel at math. I've yet to meet a stupid person who did. Scientists are all of the lot because so is science. There are a lot of things that call themselves science but aren't.

It might be possible through dint of effort for a low IQ person to master maths but it must be very rare. HS weeds them out pretty well: algebra, geometry, trigonometry. I don't remember a single low IQ person making it through trig.

What are left after trig are above average IQ people. What are left after calculus are even further above average IQ people. And so on.
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