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Do you find it harder to do math in your head after spending decades of using check cards for everything?

I use to be able to do math in my head rather quickly. (I also use to be a math tutor, from college algebra to calculus to diffie q).

If you use check cards frequently, more then 5 years of using credit cards from petty to big ticket purchases, do you find yourself slipping when doing math in your head?

It would make sense that someone who is a cashier could do math in their heads all the time b/c their job is revolved around counting. However, as a person who's job isn't applying any basic math at all, is it strange that even some basic things are forgotten or at least, slowed down?

I don't know. I use cash. I pay for my Benz in a briefcase full of hundreds and fiftys and I carry a cash roll of 5k in my pocket at all times, big bills on the outside.

If you don't use it, you loose it.

All cognitive skills are improved through practice and use, and begin to degrade over time if not used.

games like sudokus or other simple math or number problems will keep your math skills sharp if you are looking for a boost.

I would say it is very likely to happen.

I use my check card and credit quite all the time. If it wasn't for the billing statement each month I would lose track easily. So, yeah, math skills get lazy after awhile.

Originally posted by Cheesebits
Do you find it harder to do math in your head after spending decades of using check cards for everything?

I use to be able to do math in my head rather quickly. (I also use to be a math tutor, from college algebra to calculus to diffie q).

If you use check cards frequently, more then 5 years of using credit cards from petty to big ticket purchases, do you find yourself slipping when doing math in your head?

It would make sense that someone who is a cashier could do math in their heads all the time b/c their job is revolved around counting. However, as a person who's job isn't applying any basic math at all, is it strange that even some basic things are forgotten or at least, slowed down?

I never carry cash. Since I got my first check card, I have always used my check card for all purchases. I also have insurance from the credit card companies...if my card is stolen, I can get refunded. (I am not sure if there is a deductible for it...but I thought it was $50.)

I can still do math in my head very fast, however, every now and the, very simple things just will not compute in my head. Last week, at the gym, I could subtract 25 from 108 in my head. For some reason, it just would not compute in my mind. I figured it out and now that I look back, I can't understand why I couldn't do it.

If we didn't use check cards, speed dialing, etc, we wouldn't need those new-fangled gadgets for "exercising" our brains.

God Bless Capitalism. It's pure genius, right up there with bottled water.

i really doubt that using a check card alone saps you of your math skills. Maybe if you always used devices or means similar to a check card in the sense that it removes the necessity of math, then yeah but you can't generalize it to check cards alone.

I personally love them and have seen zero fall in my math skills... but that may also be because i'm a senior in high school in AP math classes

Originally posted by Cheesebits
Do you find it harder to do math in your head after spending decades of using check cards for everything?



Just like anything else. You must exercise your brain to keep it sharp. Aside from basic addition and mulitplication. The common person doesnt practice math. I'm not sure how using a check card would weaken my mathematical abilities. Multiplication and addition is not a teaching that people generally forget how to exercise. Regardless of how much you use a check card, you still need to use math to balance your check book, purchasing items and many other every day activities

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
Just like anything else. You must exercise your brain to keep it sharp. Aside from basic addition and mulitplication. The common person doesnt practice math. I'm not sure how using a check card would weaken my mathematical abilities. Multiplication and addition is not a teaching that people generally forget how to exercise. Regardless of how much you use a check card, you still need to use math to balance your check book, purchasing items and many other every day activities

A person can forget, it doesn't mean they never knew. Does it mean that they forgot the entire multiplication tables? NO. If you're in school practicing it, of course you aren't forgetting it b/c you're using it.

Originally posted by Cheesebits
A person can forget, it doesn't mean they never knew. Does it mean that they forgot the entire multiplication tables? NO. If you're in school practicing it, of course you aren't forgetting it b/c you're using it.

huh?

I didnt say people completly forget how to use something they once learned. Multiplication and addition are rarely ever forgotten because they are learned at such a young age and become an important factor in every day life. Recalling multiplication though, is more memory than anything though. Most schools teach multiplication to be remembered rather than learned. If i asked you what 5x5 is. You reply automatically because it is remembered. You do not begin to break down the mathematical process. You dont see fives fives in your mind and then begin to add them together. More advanced mathematics requires constant exercise because they call for in depth steps that can rarely be remembered. As they are forgotten, it takes a refresher in the subject to remember how to use them.

I'm good at math, but I hate the damn subject. I dropped it last year, I was so sick of it...

My only question is: WTF is a 'Check Card'?

Originally posted by ((The_Anomaly))
My only question is: WTF is a 'Check Card'?

A credit card that works with your checking account. Instead of adding to your negative balance that you pay interest on, it subtracts from your positive balance on your checking account. Since it shows up almost immediately when you use it, it is a much faster way of registering transactions as well. (Sometimes, checks can be postponed many days before they clear...throwing your actual balance off the calculated balance.)

Also known as a debit card.

I don't understand how it would make you forget math. You still need to keep track of what you're spending and add it up, which unless you check the ATM/online banking/whatever constantly, you'll still be doing yourself.

Personally I just mentally track what I spend and then actually check my balance about once a week. I'm rarely off by more than a dollar or two (and usually when I am, I have more than I thought because I round everything I buy up).

I don't understand how using a check card is going to effect your mental math abilities. I can understand how using a calculator would effect it, but a check card?