yup this is why math was such a struggle i cant remember stuff unless i have the bigger picture its like needing the full context its like those zoomed in image quizzes it looks like nothing until you zoom out   i think it also has something to do with how our brains work i get it a lot with cooking for example i was making cinnamon rolls from a kit and it asked to roll it up lengthwise and i had a time suddenly struggling to figure out which way they considered lengthwise once i thought ahead about what shape it would come out if i did it one way vs the other i was able to figure it out for myself this is a fairly obvious thing in hindsight but my brain zooms in on the immediate task and i forget where it might be leading also i struggle making myself read recipes before starting if i do it has no meaning to me yet so i dont absorb it