There are entire worlds of math locked away from you if you don't know your times table by heart. Algebra becomes particularly difficult if you do not know how to not only multiply, but factor, quickly.
So yeah, it's great that you know 9 * 6 is 9 added to itself 6 times, but you also have to learn the times table by rote if you want to get anywhere in math.
it's great that you know 96 is 9 added to itself 6 times
For a while I tried to figure out what the joke was here, and then I realised all that's going on is HN emphasis asterisks
Anyway, no, it's well known that mathematicians are often terrible at this sort of "basic arithmetic". There are a bunch of mathematical disciplines where arithmetic is utterly irrelevant, but even in the disciplines where it seems like it ought to be important if you're an actual mathematician you don't care anyway. That's just mechanical stuff, use a calculator, we're busy doing mathematics.
It's a nice party trick (but you'll need to go a lot higher than 9 x 6 to impress anybody), and there are mathematicians who are good at arithmetic, but I assure you that by the time I gave up mathematics (just below degree level) there was no use for times tables, which I had never memorised, what was an obstacle was all the bloody integration. Pure, Mechanics, even the Statistics had integration in it by the time I was eighteen.
Comments
There are entire worlds of math locked away from you if you don't know your times table by heart. Algebra becomes particularly difficult if you do not know how to not only multiply, but factor, quickly.
So yeah, it's great that you know 9 * 6 is 9 added to itself 6 times, but you also have to learn the times table by rote if you want to get anywhere in math.
For a while I tried to figure out what the joke was here, and then I realised all that's going on is HN emphasis asterisks
Anyway, no, it's well known that mathematicians are often terrible at this sort of "basic arithmetic". There are a bunch of mathematical disciplines where arithmetic is utterly irrelevant, but even in the disciplines where it seems like it ought to be important if you're an actual mathematician you don't care anyway. That's just mechanical stuff, use a calculator, we're busy doing mathematics.
It's a nice party trick (but you'll need to go a lot higher than 9 x 6 to impress anybody), and there are mathematicians who are good at arithmetic, but I assure you that by the time I gave up mathematics (just below degree level) there was no use for times tables, which I had never memorised, what was an obstacle was all the bloody integration. Pure, Mechanics, even the Statistics had integration in it by the time I was eighteen.