michael_nielsen

I like this q, in the vein of "objective measures of subjective reality" For me: Map colors first: pink-red 2 matches purple 4 (easy), blackish 7 repels eggplant 8 (ugh but ok) Stack em up, 8+7=15, anchor (green) 5, carry (yellow) 1, collapse remaining colors into 7, = 75https://twitter.com/Wparks91/status/1143666051793788928 …

I'm shocked to read responses like @michael_nielsen's who just "know" it's 75. This is why I'm terrible at doing math in my head! 7's in particular are troublesome bc it has the least distinct color

It's not quite "just knowing". More like several half-conscious explanations occur to me at the same time. If the answers conflict I need to think about it carefully, if they're all the same, I'll trust it & feel that I "know" it.

Looking at what I just wrote... I suspect that me saying more is not helping for demystifying this.

I wonder if a more complex example would help clarify what happens in your head. E.g. how do you approach 2484+5839? Or 349753+935731?

Very differently, though still with some overlap: multiple instinctive approximate models, but then detailed step-by-step models for exact computation. Though the exact model will tend to be somewhat made up on-the-fly.

The first one, I immediately think 8200 plus the sum of 84 & 39. I then work that out (123), and there we are 8323...