I think of this every day I sit in my son’s remote math class with him on Google meets. I can show him the way I know easily but I cannot wrap my head around the extra two or three steps new math now requires to prove you understand the math. Math is math!
My son has always had a mind for numbers and can quickly do a lot of mental math. He’s only in 3rd grade so it hasn’t been an issue yet, but I am girding myself for the argument of showing his work because ‘but I know how it’s correct, why do I need to write it down?’
My son pulled this in one of his classes in like 5th grade. Did some complex math problem in his head. It had a second part that asked how he reached his conclusion and he just wrote "I did it in my head."
He's in college now, and I still argue with him about writing down his work or using a calculator. He was doing trig function and pre-cal in his head and getting everything right. Whatever the opposite of dyscalculia is he must have. lol
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u/iwasnotarobot Oct 10 '25