"Maybe he was American...." Or maybe he just didn't know what 15% of 100 was. I agree with the rest of this though.

Funny you should say everyone here are being judgmental, when your views are Bad at math= Dumb person. Being bad at math, or if the FML is actually real, being HORRIBLY bad at math, has nothing to say about the person. A lot of artistic people can barely do any basic math. That would be because their right hemisphere of the brain is more dominant, the "artistic" side, rather than the left "logical" side. My brother is completely mathematically-retarded, and I do mean very basic things such as in this story and worse. He is also VERY intelligent, and one of the best artists (he draws) you'll ever see. He's also horribly bad at it because he never liked it (to say the least), and so never bothered to listen in class or study for it. Last I checked, unless you're a genius, if you don't ever actually study math, you can't just know it beyond simple putting 2 and 2 together. My point being, you can't judge a person's intelligence based on things such as this.

You’re right, it’s not possible to gauge a person’s overall intelligence based on one area. I’m sorry if I caused offence. There are actually 7 types of intelligence: linguistic, logical/mathematical, bodily/kinaesthetic, spatial, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Clearly the guy in question isn’t strong on the logical/mathematical side. Sadly I suspect that most people who can’t calculate 15% of 100 don’t have the strengths your brother has, so I guess that’s where judgement has to come in when choosing a partner. I suspect that if the guy had shown evidence of other types of intelligence, OP might not have been so bothered about the maths – but I wasn’t there, so I don't know. My comment was aimed more at the people who seem to think that buying dinner for a woman should be enough to make it a successful date, even if there are fundamental things about the guy that put her off (be it lack of physical attraction, lack of shared interests, lack of intellectual compatibility etc.). Some guys seem to think that if they pay then you're somehow obliged to find them attractive.

I see. I don't agree with that either, but I suppose it's kind of the first reaction isn't it? When you are in a disagreement with someone, but he is extremely nice to you, it makes it harder to be really angry at him doesn't it? :) But of course, I agree it shouldn't matter as much as people make it on the comments.