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David_Gerard comments on Rationality Quotes April 2012 - Less Wrong
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I would imagine that he can be taught matrix calculus, given sufficient desire (on his and the teachers' parts), teaching skill, and time. I'm not sure if in practice it is possible to muster enough desire or time to do it, but I do think that understanding is something that can theoretically be taught to anyone who can perform the mechanical calculations.
I fear you're committing the typical mind fallacy. The dyscalculic could simulate a Turing machine, but all of mathematics, including basic arithmetic, is whaargarbl to them. They're often highly intelligent (though of course the diagnosis is "intelligent elsewhere, unintelligent at maths"), good at words and social things, but literally unable to calculate 17+17 more accurately than "somewhere in the twenties or thirties" or "I have no idea" without machine assistance. I didn't believe it either until I saw it.
Do you find this harder to believe than, say, aphasia? I've never seen it, but I have no difficulty believing it.
Well, I certainly don't disbelieve in it now. I first saw it at eighteen, in first-year psychology, in the bit where they tried to beat basic statistics into our heads.