How a child math prodigy sees numbers as shapes

I used to. When I was 5 or 6, I thought (well, knew intuitively, because nobody would have taught me this) that numbers had genders and personalities. It was helpful, because when I would add two numbers, it was like there was a little drama going on (9 was male and overbearing, 6 was more compliant, 15 - actually, I think only the single digits had personalities now that I think of it).

I realized this was “weird” when I tried to explain it to someone, so I stopped talking about it, and eventually it went away. Might have been a form of synesthesia that I grew out of, as kids are said to do.

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