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Can you do this?

post #1 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:14am
Thread Starter 
last night my family ate out and the kids were given a placemat that they could write and draw on. One of the puzzles was a decoder puzzle, you know 1=A, 2=B, etc. I have done them before with my children and always ended up writing the alphabet out and letting them count the letters.

As we were meeting for business, my attention was directed elsewhere and my DD did the word puzzle on her own. When she finished, she showed me how she had figured out the puzzle herself. I looked, it was correct, but I didn't see she had written the alphabet down anywhere else. I asked her she did it and she said she did it in her head.

She found letters that were in the 20's and she didn't use her fingers either. My brain doesn't work that way, though I could do the first 10, maybe 15, but totally would require my fingers. Lol. I asked my DH, his brain is wired more this way, but he wasn't sure he could either.

So can you figure out what number the alphabet correspondes with in your head? Without assistance of paper or fingers?
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post #2 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:17am

She's a smart girl!  I'd have to write it out or count it out.

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post #3 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:18am

Well, if I go by 5's:

 

5 = E

10 = J

15= O

20= T

25= Y

 

From there it's easy to add or subtract just a couple to find the number/letter you need.

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post #4 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by calimari View Post

Well, if I go by 5's:

5 = E
10 = J
15= O
20= T
25= Y

From there it's easy to add or subtract just a couple to find the number/letter you need.

That would lose me even more. Haha. Not to mention do you automatically know the letters by fives? Did you learn it or just know it? Must be more of a left brain thing.
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post #5 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:26am

Yeah, I can do that. Numbers are easy for me, as are codes and puzzles. I can do calculus in my head, but I'll go in the kitchen for something and then have no idea why I walked into it lol

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post #6 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:27am

Well, E is close enough to the front to know that it is #5. There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so Y is obviously # 25. From E, I just said the alphabet in my mind and wrote above what each of the letters were by 5.

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post #7 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by calimari View Post

Well, E is close enough to the front to know that it is #5. There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so Y is obviously # 25. From E, I just said the alphabet in my mind and wrote above what each of the letters were by 5.

For fear of sounding like a raging idiot on here, don't even ask me to go backwards when reciting the alphabet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen1985 View Post

Yeah, I can do that. Numbers are easy for me, as are codes and puzzles. I can do calculus in my head, but I'll go in the kitchen for something and then have no idea why I walked into it lol

DH is exceptional at math and does a lot in his head. In college, and he had issues with this until he found the right teacher, he would do no homework and, when he took a test, he would use no scratch paper but he still would ace the test. He finally found a professor who figured out that he wasn't cheating but this was how his brain worked and let him just take the tests. He also loves to figure out personalized license plates. Do you like those?
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post #8 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:42am

Nope.  I have to use my fingers!

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post #9 of 20
6/26/12 at 8:46am

No.  And if they ever do the sobriety test where I have to say the alphabet backwards, I'll fail sober.

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post #10 of 20
6/26/12 at 9:16am

I used to, when I was younger. I probably lost the skill when I was in my mid-20's and no longer working in an elementary school. When you're in elementary school you're working with the alphabet all the time. It is posted on the wall in almost every classroom. When I was bored I used to stare at the alphabet and try to make words out of letters that were only in order (clot, for instance). And my classmates and I would regularly recite the alphabet backwards.

 

However, recently I couldn't even remember my own AGE, much less the alphabet. It just isn't something that I use in my daily life. But ask an elementary aged child their age and they'll tell you down to the decimal point!

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