Can we stop making every little thing about ADHD? This is just a common way to do arithmetic
this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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Adding up to 10, like the other comment explains, is the common way. Using 14 as intermediate step suggests a different way of thinking. OP could be on to something if that's normal to you.
7 + 6 = 10 + 3 = 13
Some people have 7+6 = 13 memorized.
Some do 1+6+6 = 1+12 = 13.
Some use offsets from 5, like 5+1+5+2 = 2*5 + 3 = 13
Hell I'm sure somebody did it like 10 - 4 + 10 - 3 = 20 - 7 = 10 + 10 - 7 = 10 + 3 = 13
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Came to the comments for this, always done it this way!
Yeah, kinda annoying
Btw this might break rule 1, sincerely idk
I don't think OP has a relevant experience, and it shows with these dumb memes.
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/409c3405-6ceb-4c83-b4aa-fec8fe4bf3bf.jpeg
This is the exact opposite experience I've heard from 90% of my adhd peeps. Cosplay shit.
I don't think this has anything to do with ADHD, it's just a little shortcut you can use when doing math in your head. I was taught techniques like this in school when we learnt addition and subtraction etc.
It’s also a good way to double check your answers. If you can reach to the same conclusion through different processes, then it’s probably the right answer.
Uhm aren't all people counting like that?
Yeah
Well I suppose some might count by adding 1s or 2s but that looks more ADHD-like than the method we're talking about here.
This has nothing to do with ADHD.
Is this not just how people do simple math? Why the hell else did they make us just memorize multiplication tables?
three of the six falls into the gap between the 7 and 10, leaving 3 sticking out the top = 13.
I have no idea if this is normal or not
That's exactly how I do it!
I think I do something similar. Basically.10-7=3, 3+3=6 so 7+3+3=13 or simplified 7+6=13. Or like the above with 7+7=14 therefore 7+6=13
In elementary school my son would not memorize addition and multiplication and just use strategies like this.
That became a problem later on as we just can handle a finite number of intermediary results in our brain, so just memorizing the tables reduces a lot of mental load for calculation in your brain.
Another thing that helped him a lot was just writing down intermediaries on a piece of paper.
Btw it was a bit similar for me, I just got the table memorized perfectly and got faster doing simple calculations in my mind than using a calculator when I was training the multiplication and addition tables with my son.
It's just a thing people do, has nothing to do with adhd
Isn't this how they teach math now?
I’m 40 years old, and that’s how I was taught. We were quizzed up to 12x12, and that’s way too many products to handle with just rote memorization.
Which to me says that the key takeaway is we were always the smarter ones 🤷♂️
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This is just what's called the "common core method". It's now the preferred method of teaching math in many Western countries.
idiology! they're indoctrinating our children with this woke bullshit now. they're trying to make us see the "common core" in things. What's next, they're gonna tell us that mexicans are people too?
everything calculated in my head is just various examples of this daisy chained together
The way i calculate this, is knowing that 7 is 10-3, and 6 is 3+3.
So, 7 + 6 = 10 + 3 = 13
Kinda the same.
I need 3 to get to 10 from 7. After that just ad the rest (6-3). Resulting in 13.
The way I do it:
6+6 = 12 +1 = 13
Dunno how relevant calculating is to ADHD, but it is fun to see how people calculate things in their heads in different ways.
ADHD? I thought I was just as dumb as some mid-sized pebble.
I would actually step to 10 first by going (7+3)+(6-3)
Steal some from the 6 to make the 7 round up to 10, then ad the remainder to 10.
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7+6
=8+5
=9+4
=10+3
=13
Same kind of trick, but for additions involving 7, I subtract 3 from the other number.
Same. I optimize numbers to nicer rounder values and then add on those. 7+6=7+3 to make nice round 10 and then add whatever remains to that, so 10+3=13. I don't know why, it just makes sense.
Six is two threes and seven plus three is ten so then we have the leftover three and add that to get thirteen.
Also, not everything is ADHD.
i actually do do this. also sometimes 7 + 6 = 7 + (3 + 3) = (7 + 3) + 3 = 10 + 3 = 13!
btw: i studied math.
Not adhd and I do this. I think this is just an effective way to do mental math
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I'm pretty sure they just had us brute-force memorize all of the single digit additions and multiplications in grade school. Seemed to work out okay for me.
Stop giving away our secrets...smh
generation gap happening here. common core wasn't a thing for a lot of us, it's brand new.
i do math the "common core" way not because it was taught to me but because the old methods didn't work and i had to figure it out on my own.
it may not be strictly "an adhd thing" but society made it so for a time.
6+6 = 12
+1 = 13
Is this mostly a ADHD thing? They tried to make me learn times tables at school but that never stuck. Recently had to solve a problem with a CRC and part of that was manually calculating a long division in binary. At some point realised I didn't even know how to do that in decimal so wound the clock back 35 years and learnt it from scratch. Badda bing badda boom, working CRC 🤓
I would prioritise making a perfect 10 out of that 6, and then handling the remainder.
7 + 6
3 + 4 + 6
3 + 10
13
Also, how is this relevant to ADHD?
I usually do that approach with multiplication of big numbers and square root calculation. Usually make it at most 10% error, which I consider quite a win :)
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