Lol. Philips here.
So here in lies the problem. That’s why it depends where in the world you learned math.
It is a matter of which convention you use, not math itself.
So being a “math genius” is neither here nor there.
A close analogy:
What date is 5/6/2019?
It depends on where you learned dates.
The answer is May 6, 2019.
The answer is also June 5, 2019.
In my 12 years of primary schooling, the best grade I ever got in any math course was a “C”...once. I failed nearly every class and had to go to summer school for several years.
My schooling took place through the sixties and mid-seventies and in counting I went to 12 different schools.
Taught one way in Catholic schools. Differently in military schools on one base. Again differently on another base. Then differently again back in one school system. And differently in another school system in another state.
All this overlaid with a least three major changes in society attitudes of teaching math from traditional math, to New Math, back so some non-New Math method...
No damn wonder I struggled. I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to pass Physical Chemistry, but I did it on my own two feet.
Then I saw this absolutely totally insane Common Core approach to math, and thought “If this ever goes through, we are screwed as a country. We will never have competent engineers again.”
Bottom line for me-I think there are multiple ways math can be taught, but one method will work great for one person and not for another, and that is the way it is. Using one approach rigidly will always leave some people behind.
Well, the acronym I learned is used internationally. Maybe it’s just the US trying to be independent and different. There’s nothing wrong with that either heh. We’re all unique, just like everyone else haha.