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How do you solve geometry problems. For lots of them I visualize / rotate things im my head.

by case540 1mo ago

zwayhowder 1mo ago
Funny you should ask. In high school I was regarded as highly intelligent, I was near the top of all of my classes and widely read, with an excellent memory for facts and figures. (Though no visual memory whatsoever). Then one day we did a IQ test in science class. I scored near the bottom of the class. All of the geometry based "what comes next" puzzles left me flummoxed. Because I couldn't visualise, I couldn't rotate images in my head to identify patterns and so many of the questions were like that.
- loa_in_ 1mo ago
  In my experience with IQ tests involving complete the sequence many of the solutions when I looked up the intent behind them made very little sense to me.
metabagel 1mo ago
I was good at mechanical drawing in college, meaning I could visualize the view of something from different sides. But, generally there was a perspective to work off of. I don’t have aphantasia, but I believe I have reduced ability to visualize things with accuracy and in detail. My visualizations are very imperfect and more like glimpses than strong visualizations. In particular, I struggle to visualize faces.
Cerium 1mo ago
Visualizing for me has always been like touching something with my eyes closed. I can't "see" the object, but I have a feeling for all the shapes and contours. You can feel which way a key is in your hand and where each ridge is without having to see it. I solve geometry problems the same way. I can't see the whole thing at once, but I can move my sense of feeling across arbitrary scenes.
- BobbyTables2 1mo ago
  That’s exactly how it is for me. I can somewhat imagine a simple square or triangle but only more like feeling it in the dark without fully “seeing” it. Anything more complex, like a pretzel is out of the question, just disappears/instantly-forgotten. My dreams can be very vivid, except for some where an object disappears if I focus directly on it. Always wondered whether this is normal, aphantasia, or something else…
Suppafly 1mo ago
>How do you solve geometry problems. For lots of them I visualize / rotate things im my head. Not the other guy, but I can think about how they look without actually 'seeing' them in my mind.
nottorp 1mo ago
Hmm I'm pretty sure I have some degree of aphantasia, because I read a lot but I never visualize what's going on (or not consciously, at least). However, back in school when we did elementary geometry I had no problem solving everything, to the point I even qualified for the national math competitions once. Maybe though, it's because i was drawing helper figures on paper instead of imagining them. I have no problem with figure matching IQ style tests, as opposed to one of the sibling posters. Edit: oh interesting, lower in the article. I have absolutely no problem with spatial navigation, on the contrary, I'm better than many people. But for example if we're retracing our steps on a mountain path I can't tell you in advance what were the landmarks to look for. I will recognize them as soon as we see them or notice we're missing any landmarks though.
cyberax 1mo ago
I can "visualize" geometry and technical drawings by focusing on parts of them. It was enough for all my school work. But then I learned about analytic geometry in the 8-th grade. I annoyed every math teacher by just using it to solve all the school geometry problems. And quite a few geometry problems in math competitions.

How do you solve geometry problems. For lots of them I visualize / rotate things im my head.

by case540 1mo ago

How do you solve geometry problems. For lots of them I visualize / rotate things im my head.

Funny you should ask. In high school I was regarded as highly intelligent, I was near the top of all of my classes and widely read, with an excellent memory for facts and figures. (Though no visual memory whatsoever). Then one day we did a IQ test in science class. I scored near the bottom of the class. All of the geometry based "what comes next" puzzles left me flummoxed. Because I couldn't visualise, I couldn't rotate images in my head to identify patterns and so many of the questions were like that.

loa_in_ 1mo ago
In my experience with IQ tests involving complete the sequence many of the solutions when I looked up the intent behind them made very little sense to me.

metabagel 1mo ago

I was good at mechanical drawing in college, meaning I could visualize the view of something from different sides. But, generally there was a perspective to work off of. I don’t have aphantasia, but I believe I have reduced ability to visualize things with accuracy and in detail. My visualizations are very imperfect and more like glimpses than strong visualizations. In particular, I struggle to visualize faces.

Cerium 1mo ago

Visualizing for me has always been like touching something with my eyes closed. I can't "see" the object, but I have a feeling for all the shapes and contours. You can feel which way a key is in your hand and where each ridge is without having to see it. I solve geometry problems the same way. I can't see the whole thing at once, but I can move my sense of feeling across arbitrary scenes.

BobbyTables2 1mo ago
That’s exactly how it is for me. I can somewhat imagine a simple square or triangle but only more like feeling it in the dark without fully “seeing” it. Anything more complex, like a pretzel is out of the question, just disappears/instantly-forgotten. My dreams can be very vivid, except for some where an object disappears if I focus directly on it. Always wondered whether this is normal, aphantasia, or something else…

Suppafly 1mo ago

>How do you solve geometry problems. For lots of them I visualize / rotate things im my head. Not the other guy, but I can think about how they look without actually 'seeing' them in my mind.

nottorp 1mo ago

Hmm I'm pretty sure I have some degree of aphantasia, because I read a lot but I never visualize what's going on (or not consciously, at least). However, back in school when we did elementary geometry I had no problem solving everything, to the point I even qualified for the national math competitions once. Maybe though, it's because i was drawing helper figures on paper instead of imagining them. I have no problem with figure matching IQ style tests, as opposed to one of the sibling posters. Edit: oh interesting, lower in the article. I have absolutely no problem with spatial navigation, on the contrary, I'm better than many people. But for example if we're retracing our steps on a mountain path I can't tell you in advance what were the landmarks to look for. I will recognize them as soon as we see them or notice we're missing any landmarks though.

cyberax 1mo ago

I can "visualize" geometry and technical drawings by focusing on parts of them. It was enough for all my school work. But then I learned about analytic geometry in the 8-th grade. I annoyed every math teacher by just using it to solve all the school geometry problems. And quite a few geometry problems in math competitions.