Number Patterns

In my profile (over on the sidebar) one of the things I say about myself is that I have a knack for number patterns.

I thought that today I'd explain what that meant exactly.

Well, besides the obvious.

Ralexwin once told me that he couldn't believe that I struggled with math since I remembered numbers so well. It was probably one of the most flattering things he's ever said to me. I mean, I grew up in  an generation where it was believed that women were good at English and men were good at Math... so as a girl, I was told repeatedly that I couldn't be good at math. Having my husband say otherwise was like saying that it's okay for women to like Math, or better yet, that a woman could be good with numbers and still be feminine.

It seems like a strange sentiment to be raised with, but that's how I grew up.

Anyway, back to my point, so Ralexwin noticed that I had an ability to remember numbers. Phone numbers, addresses, pin numbers, account numbers, locker combinations... any of it. I only have to see it a few times and I've got it in my head from then on.

The exception to this is my kids social security numbers. I can't remember them. I suppose I haven't tried very hard, but at least one of them has no pattern that I can find and that makes it difficult.

So what do  I mean by pattern?

Well, I'll give you an example... my ss # is

Haha! Did you actually think I was going to give you that? Nice try though.

I'll use an old phone number from my childhood. 233-3124. It's a super easy pattern, so kind of ridiculous that anyone would forget it. But this is how I see it:

Nothing exceeds 4.

The three is missing from the 12_4 because it's been moved over to help with the beginning.

3+1 equals four which is the last number. 3124
1+2 equals 3 which is the firs number in the second set. 3124

4-2 equals 2 which is the very first number. 233-3124

3+3 equals 6 which is the same as 4+2. which are both the last two digits of either set. 233-3124

I seriously could keep going.

When I see a set of numbers this is immediately what my brain starts doing. Searching out patterns.

Our old address in Arizona was 1321:

3-1=2

2+1=3

It also counts down 321.

Clear as mud?

But those are both easy patterns.

Our first phone number was 377-9238

I saw it as two separate groups of numbers, the lower ones (2, 3) and the higher ones (7,8,9). 

Each section of the phone number shared parts of both groups.

There were two-3's and two-7's. But the sevens were lonely because the 8 and 9 weren't in their group.

Likewise, the 3 was lonely because it wasn't with the others of it's group.

Somehow this all melds together in my brain and I remember the number... easily.

The irony is that I struggled so much with math as a teen.  I mean, I took basic Algebra for all four years of high school. I never took Geometry because I could never get passed Algebra. The interesting thing about that is that I PASSED Algebra with a B in 9th grade.

But then I froze, I think. I was given the opportunity to move forward and I chose to stay at such a basic level because I couldn't possibly have understood what I was doing. It surely must have been a fluke that I passed. So I promptly failed every following year.

After all, every man I knew had told me I couldn't understand it. My math teachers (except my 9th grade one), my dad, even my brothers who merely excelled in the subject seemed to be telling me that as a girl I was bound to fail at math.

Ralexwin shattered that fallacy with one passing comment and ever since then I've been curious to take Algebra over again. Try it again with a new perspective, just to see what I could accomplish.

I wonder.