I am very bad at math, but I wonder if this bit from the article is why I never found even the slightest delight or ability in math, or even in programming?

I’ve always loved figuring things out. The first time I remember feeling the problem-solving glow was in junior high in Algebra I. That giddiness that floods your stomach when you’ve been throwing your brain at something for a while, and then it finally clicks.

I don’t experience any joy like that. At all. Just anger that I wasted so much time on something so inconsequential, on such an irrelevant problem. The same with brain teasers and logic puzzles. Even when I do manage to figure them out (almost never), I’m just annoyed that it had to be done.

There is no real way of discerning the truth of it, of course, but I bet people who get at least competent at math must have some of this feeling. All I experienced was deep and abiding hatred for something wasting my time for no reason at all. And hatred is not a good way to learn.