4 ms·

I'm curious, if some people just think in words, how do they solve visual problems in their head? For example, can you solve this problem in your head just clo

I'm curious, if some people just think in words, how do they solve visual problems in their head? For example, can you solve this problem in your head just closing your eyes and thinking about it? (no using your hands either) * There is a 2D grid in front of you with coordinate system (x,y) * X increases to the right, Y increases going up * Point A is at coordinates (1, 1) * Point B is at coordinates (2, 0) Q: If we were to move from point B to A, what direction or combination of directions would you be moving? (possible directions are up, down, left, right) I can solve this in my head but I clearly visualize a grid and the positions of points while doing so and once I have it visualized I just see the answer. If someone solves this without visualizing it, what are they thinking or how do they do it?

more_corn 4y ago
I can visualize it too, but ironically I got lost in the words of the setup. I found it easier to just subtract one from x and add one to y. (Move left, move up)
tsuujin 4y ago
I talk it out to myself. “Ok, a is right one and up one, b is right two and up none. B to a would be up and left”. I tried really hard to do this by imagining a grid with points on it and I couldn’t, going back to the reference clears the image and I lose it.
- human_person 4y ago
  Same. But in real life I would just draw it out on a piece of paper.
- webmaven 4y ago
  > I tried really hard to do this by imagining a grid with points on it and I couldn’t, going back to the reference clears the image and I lose it. So, you can think visually, you just require an external prop to do it? Beyond problems of a certain complexity I experience something similar, and for both visual problem solving as well as the linguistic ones (sometimes I just need to talk a procedure through, and sometimes actually explaining it is necessary (eg. Rubber Duck debugging), other times writing it out is what works.

more_corn 4y ago

I can visualize it too, but ironically I got lost in the words of the setup. I found it easier to just subtract one from x and add one to y. (Move left, move up)

tsuujin 4y ago

I talk it out to myself. “Ok, a is right one and up one, b is right two and up none. B to a would be up and left”. I tried really hard to do this by imagining a grid with points on it and I couldn’t, going back to the reference clears the image and I lose it.

human_person 4y ago
Same. But in real life I would just draw it out on a piece of paper.
webmaven 4y ago
> I tried really hard to do this by imagining a grid with points on it and I couldn’t, going back to the reference clears the image and I lose it. So, you can think visually, you just require an external prop to do it? Beyond problems of a certain complexity I experience something similar, and for both visual problem solving as well as the linguistic ones (sometimes I just need to talk a procedure through, and sometimes actually explaining it is necessary (eg. Rubber Duck debugging), other times writing it out is what works.