I also just work it out in my head. There are certain “landmark” numbers and tricks that I use to save time. For example, 9 times any number is easy: multiply by 10 and subtract once. x11 is similar. Same with anything close to a perfect square. (7 x 8 = 7 x 7 + 7)
I think that memorization was important to achieve speed before phones/calculators. Nowadays, I would consider memorization an obstacle to understanding.
GenX here. I wanted to reassure you that it didn’t come naturally to me and i grew up when this was still taught in school. The real answer is practice. Read a clock several times a day for a few weeks. Take a moment to think about the mintue hand. Is it about 2/5 of the way to the next digit? 3/5? After a while, you won’t have to think. You will just recognize.
Every word is made up. The fact that, centuries ago, the word solipsism was brand new did not detract from its value.
Having personally felt the sensation that is now called sonder, i am happy that someone coined a word to describe it. Like solipsism, sonder relates to theory of mind, and now theorists in that field have a concise tool to refer to something that used to take a couple of sentences to describe.
Without neologisms, a language is dead.
If I am not in a position to give i look the person in the eye, smile apologetically and say, “no, sorry.” I try not to ignore them and i am never rude. No one has ever reacted badly.
Key facts, sure. If you don’t know geography, no amount of reflection can provide you with the location of Hong Kong.
However, i can figure out anything on the 12x12 timestable in a few seconds, no memorization needed. I don’t even need the landmark numbers that i mentioned because multiplication is just repeated addition. The only things i had to memorize were the numerals and the operators.