I can relate to this. I was “bad” at math as a child, and was so bored by its basics or at least how they were taught. I never had a good foundation and so never got to takeTrig or Calculus in high school. Later, during my PHD studies, I discovered I was great at set theory, and went on to learn programming. I realized I was never “bad” at math. I was poorly taught. As a result, I had trouble holding numbers in my head to work with them.Now that I am “good” at math, I find this much easier.
I bore/regale/tell/tormwnt everyone I talk with about anything math related, that mathematics and calculation (with numbers) is entirely different abilities. I do this because I've heard so many stories similar to your about people thinking they are bad at math where the only issue turns out to be the digits, numbers, and holding them in you head. Which, quite frankly is not something very relevant to most of mathematics, and as you relate, when you get at ease with the actual math, dealing with numbers usually gets a bit easier.
If not, there exists specific training that helps a significant fraction of people to get better at handling the actual numbers, training which also is completely unrelated to maths.
