alt Hacker NewsI've seen what happens in engineering with those with low SAT math scores. They need others to do the math for them, or they just wing it.
I remember one who was trying to reduce the noise in an electronic amplifier. He spent days trying random things. Another engineer asked what he was doing, did a quick calculation, and put in an RC circuit that solved the problem.
The problem here seems to be that the person was unwilling or unable to ask for help when they needed it, not that they don't know math per se.
I don't know how to do that either, but "winging it" is not something that would occur to me. First I'd Google it and try to figure it out. If it turns out to be nontrivial, I would just ask for help.
And I wouldn't feel the least bit bad about it. After all, those same highly educated folks need my help with e.g. git a lot more often than most software needs serious math :)