I’ve always struggled with numbers. In fact I’m slightly ‘number blind’ – give me a page to read that contains text and numbers and I’ll be able to tell you what it’s about, but won’t have ‘seen’ any of the actual numbers. Statistical arguments are lost on me.
I once had an interview with IBM to be a trainee programmer. I practised hexadecimal numbers for days for the test, which I failed miserably. The guy told me I’d understood hex numbers perfectly, but it was just basic addition and multiplication that had let me down.
I’ve had some fun this morning with http://listverse.com/science/10-easy-arithmetic-tricks/ – the tip for multiplying by 9 is a hoot! And it does show you some of the beauty of numbers that some people go on about. Have a look.