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7[[quoteright:350:[[VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/analysis.png]]]]
8[[caption-width-right:350:Baseball: [[GameOfNerds A thinking man's game]].]]
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10->''"Snipers aren't deadly because they carry the biggest guns; they're deadly because they've learned how to weaponize math. ''[...]'' It's factoring in an astronomical number of variables and arriving at a mathematically sound solution, and then using that math to explode somebody ''else's'' head."''
11-->-- '''Website/{{Cracked}}''', [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20052_5-weapon-myths-you-probably-believe-thanks-to-movies.html "5 Weapon Myths You Probably Believe (Thanks to Movies)"]]
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13Some people learn by [[BadassBookworm flipping pages]]. Some people must gain knowledge [[TaughtByExperience through pain]]. Some people study by [[TaughtByTelevision television]]. And then there are those who [[SuperIntelligence just observe]]... See, when you are GoodWithNumbers you can substitute careful examination in place of careful practice, with the same results: success.
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15Need to make a million-to-one shot to stop the Doomsday Device from exploding the world, but have never even fired a gun? Just run off some mental calculations about your gun's firing speed, friction, gravity, and the slightly-off-kilter scope (how exactly the analyzer knows all those variables is {{handwave}}d), and it's a done deal. Need to defeat a karate master? Logically anticipate where his next strike will come from and remain one step ahead. Need to deduce the SecretIdentity without peeking behind the mask? Simply go through all the people with the correct body type, who live in the right area, and who might have the right means and motive to do what they do, and hey presto, it might as well have been an OpenSecret all along.
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17If he has time to explain himself, it always sounds something like "IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect". Explaining it [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee gives it a chance to fail]]. Relatedly, two awesomeness analysts don't really need to explain anything to each other, they can do it by TalkingThroughTechnique.
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19The most common cause of BadassBookworm, and often results from TheProfessor having [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist a doctorate in general knowledge rather than any one field]]. The ClockKing can do this thanks to precise attention to detail and patterns. Characters who get to skip the analysis altogether due to some form of copycat power are PowerCopying. ExactlyWhatIAimedAt usually comes from this trope. They are most likely screwed if the opponent knows ConfusionFu or is at least enough of a MagnificentBastard to use the BatmanGambit on a regular basis successfully. TheProfiler does this with people. An author may use SuperDetailedFightNarration to demonstrate that a character possesses this ability.
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21Compare SherlockScan. Commonly represented via VisualCalculus. Contrast with FailedASpotCheck. Not to be confused with this site's very {{Analysis}} page.
22----
23!!Examples:
24[[index]]
25* AwesomenessByAnalysis/AnimeAndManga
26* AwesomenessByAnalysis/ComicBooks
27* AwesomenessByAnalysis/FanWorks
28* AwesomenessByAnalysis/{{Literature}}
29* AwesomenessByAnalysis/LiveActionTV
30* AwesomenessByAnalysis/VideoGames
31* AwesomenessByAnalysis/WesternAnimation
32[[/index]]
33
34[[foldercontrol]]
35
36[[folder:Asian Animation]]
37* ''Animation/{{Mechamato}}'': Mara deduces that [[WickedCultured Paintasso]]'s hideout is an abandoned warehouse in a grafitti-ridden alley since he'd like to store his stolen artwork at such a place. Amato and Pian are further impressed when she turns out to be correct.
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
41* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': Miguel was able to make himself a decent guitar and learn to play it simply by watching old videos of Ernesto's guitar playing.
42* Basil has a very pronounced moment of awesomeness near the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''. He prattles on about some sort of forces and equilibrium and defeats Ratigan's fiendish Rube Goldberg death machine by setting it off at precisely the right instant, setting off a seemingly unpredictable chain reaction that frees him, his partner, and the little girl. And then, just to rub it in Ratigan's face, he grabs Dawson and Olivia, cheerfully cries, "Smile everyone!" and poses with the two of them with a massive shit-eating grin on his face, in front of the camera that would have photographed the moment of the final blow. Dawson deserves some of the credit; Basil's wrapped up in self-pity before Dawson finally snaps him out of it by frustratedly yelling that if all Basil's going to do is lie in the trap feeling sorry for himself, they might as well set it off now.
43--->'''Basil:''' ''[bitter]'' Heh, set it off now... ''[realizing]'' [[EurekaMoment Set it... off... now]]?
44* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2010'':
45** Hiccup is able to observe how dragons behave close up and with that in-depth observation, he is able to do things with dragons that his village thought were impossible.
46** Fishlegs also demonstrates this trait, having read all available dragon-fighting manuals and making detailed observations about newly discovered dragon species. In the final battle with the Green Death, Hiccup tells Fishlegs, "Break it down," and Fishlegs immediately spells out the giant dragon's strengths and possible weaknesses.
47* This is how Mikey catches the scare pig in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'': calculating the right moment to throw a football to knock over a row of bikes to catapult a garbage bin into the path of the pig.
48* The Omnidroid in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' is the embodiment of this trope. In addition to being horribly strong and tough, it analyzes its surroundings and enemy moves to become a ruthlessly efficient CombatPragmatist. When Syndrome attacks the final version as part of his EngineeredHeroics scheme, we see that it quickly analyzes Syndrome's attack and realizes that Syndrome's remote control was giving him the advantage. The robot quickly negates the problem by blasting the remote off of Syndrome's arm.
49* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', Po is able to learn advanced martial-arts techniques like the Wuxi Finger Hold by seeing them performed and just a small amount of practice.
50* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'':
51** Po only sees Shifu demonstrate the technique of "inner peace" to him once. Even though Shifu said it took him years to master, within weeks, Po is able to utilize the technique to deflect cannonballs fired at him.
52** In the DVD short ''Secrets Of The Masters'', Master Storming Ox is revealed to defeat his opponents by spotting their weak spots.
53* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'': Part of Master Builders' skill set. They instinctively know the names and catalog numbers of all LEGO pieces, and how to fit them together to achieve their goals.
54* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'':
55** The Huns prove their tracking prowess when [[BigBad Shan Yu]] tosses them a doll his falcon retrieved and asked them "what do you see?" Black pine from the high mountains, a white horse hair from an Imperial stallion, and the scent of sulfur from cannons mean the doll came from a village in the Tung Shao Pass, where an imperial army is waiting to ambush them. Thus it is established at least Shan Yu's elites are not DumbMuscle, but thoroughly professional and highly dangerous soldiers.
56** Mulan also shows herself as a tactical genius, by figuring out the means to reach the arrow, as well as defeating the majority of the Hun army with just one rocket, by using it to cause an avalanche.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
60* Juror #9 in ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'', once convinced to examine the testimony and evidence more clearly, uses clues from the witnesses' appearances in court to poke holes in their testimony. The biggest example is [[spoiler:realizing an eyewitness was glasses-dependent solely by the indents on her nose, and couldn't have seen the crime well enough to identify the murderer]].
61* In ''Film/TheThirteenthWarrior'', Ibn Fahdlan learns Norse simply by [[TimeCompressionMontage listening to the Vikings' campfire talk]]. (In [[Literature/EatersOfTheDead the book]], he spends most of the story speaking Latin to the one Viking who knows it, and his comprehension of Norse slowly grows over time.)
62* Sutwell from ''Film/BeachParty'' does calculations in the sand involving things like water pressure before his first attempt at surfing. The first time, he forgets to [[CarryTheOne carry the two]], resulting in a FailureMontage of him falling off his board before he realizes his mistake. Once it's corrected, he's able to surf successfully.
63* ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': Riri Williams is able to calculate how to shoot down a spy drone in such a way that it will land on a police blockade that is in Shuri and Okoye's path -- and that's ''before'' the police have even properly set it up.
64* ''Film/TheBourneSeries'': Jason Bourne is a master at this, calmly assessing a situation before springing into action, such as in ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'' when he stops to study the train schedule in Berlin while being chased by cops.
65* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'':
66** Steve's ''extremely'' rapid realization of what is about to go down during the elevator fight scene in . All it takes is one glance at an agent who's nervously gripping his taser for Steve to know he's about to be attacked. Look at his facial expression right after this, when the elevator doors open to let other rogue agents on. They've completely lost the element of surprise and don't even know it.
67--->'''Cap:''' Before we get started... does anybody wanna get out?
68** This trait of Steve's is implied in one of his most common basic actions: throwing his shield. He would have to be doing advanced math in his head -- possibly reflexively and unconsciously, but nevertheless -- to achieve some of the fancy attacks he has shown, and still catch it.
69* This is the whole premise of ''Film/{{Chocolate}}'', in which an autistic girl is able to become a face-kicking machine by memorizing techniques she sees when watching Creator/BruceLee movies and observing lessons at a nearby Muay Thai school. Her greatest challenge is against a man with what is implied to be Tourette's syndrome -- his tics completely throw off her ability to read him.
70* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'': Richard B. Riddick's badassitude stems not only from his fighting skill but also from his deductive reasoning. In ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick2004'', it is hinted that the entire series of events that transpired at the Crematoria prison was a GambitRoulette masterminded by Riddick. The Crematoria prison escape begins with Riddick giving a detailed description of what the guys currently escaping the prison are doing and concludes by saying it's a good plan. When a mercenary who didn't get out asks him how he knows their plan, he replies, "It was mine."
71* In ''Film/ClassAct'', uber-nerd Duncan becomes a star football player by using geometry and physics to kick perfect field goals.
72* In ''Film/CubeZero'', Wynn has the ability to visualize and rapidly analyze complex systems in his mind. He uses this both to easily win a chess game by calculating all the moves and to figure out a safe route through the Cube when he's inside by mapping all the rooms.
73* The badass "Tetragrammaton Clerics" of ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'' are masters of the GunKata: through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, they know where bullets are most likely to be at any given time, and they simply aren't in those places. Likewise, they also don't aim so much as they shoot at all the places where people are probably standing. This is [[InformedAbility how it's described]], anyway. The way they do it in practice is to stand mostly-still in the middle of the room and shoot in rigid lines; so unless their targets are always aiming at the Clerics' arms, it's difficult to imagine it working as advertised. The movie does, however, open with a silhouette of a man practicing a much more fluid, much less static form of GunKata; it was originally how the Clerics were supposed to fight, but was later [[ExecutiveMeddling ordered to be changed]].
74* ''Film/HappyGilmore'': The winning shot Happy uses to defeat Shooter [=McGavin=] is definitely Awesome by Analysis.
75* Holmes attempts this at several points throughout ''Film/HolmesAndWatson'' and fails every time. The scene in the ring is a parody of the boxing scene in ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', which fails because Brawn completely ignores the initial distraction. The others fail due to a miscalculation (the beehive), being drunk (pissing in the alley) or a distraction (the bomb on the ''Titanic'').
76* ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober'' has Seaman Jones, whose sensitive ears can tell if people are singing on a distant submarine, can pick up [[SovietSuperscience unique submarine sounds]] that the computer thinks is a result of geology, and can tell if a torpedo is Russian just by listening to the pitch it makes as it passes over -- although the last one is also a GeniusBonus, as Soviet-design torpedoes did use smaller props operating at higher RPM, thus producing a distinctively higher pitch.
77* In ''Film/IcePrincess'', math and physics nerd Casey applies her skills to becoming a figure skater, utilizing it to figure out how fast an ideal spin is and how much power she needs to apply to do it, and so on. She goes from 0 to competing for a U.S. Nationals spot in a few weeks.
78* This is subverted in ''Film/ImJuli''. The main character, a physics teacher, must get a car across a river with a [[BenevolentArchitecture conveniently placed ramp]]. He does some calculations in the sand, drives the car off the ramp, and sails through the air... only to land in the middle of the river.
79* In ''Film/{{Ink}}'', the pathfinder is able to cause a car accident to happen despite barely being able to affect the physical world by being in sync with the flow of events. He creates a Rube Goldberg machine made out of people in order to shake up someone who sorely needs it.
80* Anybody who takes the FantasticDrug in ''Film/{{Limitless}}'' temporarily gains this.
81* In ''Film/LittleBigLeague'', the 12-year-old ChildProdigy Billy convinces the Minnesota Twins' front office to allow him to field-manage the team by having Mac lay out a hypothetical game scenario for him to make a managerial decision on. Billy first asks for more details about the game situation, and when Mac proclaims Billy's answer to be subpar, Billy turns around and points out the flaws in Mac's answer.
82-->'''Mac:''' We're playing the Yankees. No one out. Scales is on first, great speed. Lou's up. 2-1 count. Abbott's on the mound, lefty. Lonnie's on deck, and remember he's a switch hitter. What do you do?\
83'''Billy:''' ''[thinking]'' What's the score?\
84'''Mac:''' Tie game.\
85'''Billy:''' What inning? Home or away?\
86'''Mac:''' 8th. Home.\
87'''Billy:''' Who's catching? Who's rested in the bullpen? Who's up in the 9th for the Yankees?\
88'''Mac:''' Stanley. Everyone. 7-8-9.\
89'''Billy:''' Okay. I let Lou hit away. With Mattingly holding Scales, he's got that big hole to hit through.\
90'''Mac:''' No. See, that's what I'm talking about. You got lefty against lefty. Lou's a good bunter. You only need one run, so you sacrifice the go-ahead run to 2nd with only one out.\
91'''Billy:''' No. You sacrifice him to second, they walk Lonnie and bring in Steve Farr to pitch to Spencer. So you've taken the bat out of two best hitters, our 3 and 4 men. And you've got Spencer, a righty with no speed against Farr and his palm ball. Which means...\
92'''Mac:''' [[OhCrap Double play]]. ''[pause]'' You could pitch hit for Spencer.\
93'''Billy:''' Now you've taken the bat out of our 3, 4, and 5 hitters. Not exactly a great trip through the heart of our order.\
94'''Arthur Goslin:''' Any questions, Mack?\
95'''Mac:''' Yeah. What's he need me for?
96* Downplayed in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' by most Kryptonians, but Zod is able to figure out the mechanics of flying and how to use heat vision, as well as using the heat vision's cool-down period against Superman.
97* In ''Film/{{Pixels}}'', Sam's mastery of computer games comes from him being able to spot, analyze and thus predict the patterns by which the enemies move. Subverted by the end of the film, as higher levels of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' are randomized, rendering his pattern-spotting useless.
98* ''Film/Prey2022'': Along with her [[OutsideTheBoxTactic out-of-the-box thinking]], this is Naru's greatest strength as a huntress. While she may be small and have nowhere near the strength as the male hunters of her tribe, she is incredibly observant. This is what gives her an edge over her counterparts when a super strong and technologically advanced alien hunter makes the entire strength and size difference moot, as she uses her observational skills to learn something new about it in every encounter, [[FinalExamBoss all of which are used by her in the final confrontation]].
99* ''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter'': After Alice is forced to put down her firearm by Dr. Isaacs, she does a ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' style analysis of how she could kill him with three different {{Improvised Weapon}}s on his table. Then Dr. Isaacs reveals he has been upgraded with predictive software, and runs the same simulations to counteract each possible move and kill Alice instead.
100* Played with in ''Film/RoadTrip''. Ruben calculates that the car will need to be going [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCustomaryMeasurements 50 miles/hour]] to jump the broken bridge. After El spits over the gap -- and causes the bridge to collapse further -- he revises it to 75. They make the jump fine... but the car's axles break and, after they all get clear, [[EveryCarIsAPinto it blows up]].
101* In ''Film/Rush2013'', while riding in future wife Marlene's car, Niki Lauda reels off an impressive laundry list of mechanical problems that he claims he sensed using his ass. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Niki Lauda performed a SherlockScan with his butt.
102* In ''Film/Seven1979'', the Professor takes out his target from eight miles away by sitting on the balcony of his hotel room and calculating timing, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and a host of other variables, and then clicking the trigger of his customized gas gun.
103* ''Film/SevenSamurai'' uses this during Kyuzo's introduction. As he and the arrogant young samurai who challenged him to a duel square off, Kambei, watching from the sidelines, mutters, "There's no contest". Indeed, Kyuzo takes out his opponent in a single move. This is our first sign that Kambei is significantly better-versed in the arts of combat than he first appears.
104* Holmes has always had shades of this, but ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' makes it explicit by showing his analysis, step by step, of how to beat the living shit out of an opponent. The 2011 sequel, ''[[Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows A Game of Shadows]]'' takes this even further with [[spoiler:Holmes and Moriarty deadlocked in an [[ScryVsScry Awesomeness by Analysis duel]] ''in their minds'' before a single punch is thrown]].
105* ''Film/SmokinAces2AssassinsBall'': Finbar immediately susses that Ariella is another assassin and that most of the people in the bar are feds.
106* For all that [[Franchise/StarTrek the franchise]] plays it straight with many characters, ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' averts it for Khan himself. Spock observes that "he is intelligent, but inexperienced" in space combat, and notes his "two-dimensional thinking". Kirk then proceeds to kick Khan's ass in space combat, defeating or bypassing every single one of Khan's ship's advantages and taking advantage of Khan's unfamiliarity with the equipment and how to use it to best advantage. In this case, raw intelligence simply cannot defeat experience, knowledge, and sheer treachery.
107-->''"I'll say this for him: he's consistent."''
108* In ''Film/TheWall2017'', this is how Ize manages to locate [[ColdSniper Juba]]'s hideout. He takes in consideration several factors like the delay between the bullet hitting the ground and the gunshot sound, the angle in which the bullet that hit him entered his leg and, most importantly, the background noise in Juba's radio call.
109* ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': Victor Creed, a clawed and beast-like creature with abilities similar to Wolverine, faces John Wraith, a man who can instantly teleport. Creed [[spoiler:uses his brain, not his mutant power, to predict the exact location of John Wraith's next teleport destination. Creed catches Wraith's spine mid-teleport, and comments on how Wraith's weakness was his predictability]].
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Roleplay]]
113* This is what Ranger is known as in ''Roleplay/ComicFuryWerewolf''. He analyzes everyone's actions down to the last detail, trying to figure out the culprit. In his first game, he even went so far back as to read the first five games in-depth to figure out everyone's play styles. He only stopped because it became incredibly time-consuming to do it, as the first time he accomplished the feat was an all-nighter effort on his part. With the addition of the later games to add into the mix...
114* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Benedict's hyper mind superpower allows him to glean huge amounts of information about an object merely by glancing at it. One look at Nadine told him her general attitude, how she spent the previous night, and her relationship with Hyeon.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
118* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: Wilhelm Steinitz turned the game on its ear in the late 19th century. He was already skilled in the flashy, "[[CombatAestheticist romantic]]" style used throughout the ages, where games ideally finished with spectacular piece sacrifices, declining a gambit was considered unsportsmanlike, and Grandmasters were considered to be somehow divinely blessed with the ability to play so well. A bookworm at heart, he started poring over the games of old Grandmasters, and soon realized that there were certain identifiable, repeatable aspects of these games -- that the flashes of brilliance were made possible in the first place by very mundane positioning of the pawns and pieces. He compiled his research into a new system, and quickly dominated the chess world, becoming the first world champion of the modern era in the process, and forever changing [[BoringButPractical how the game is played by serious players]].
119* The Smart Hero "Exploit weakness" talent from TabletopGame/D20Modern allows him to use his intelligence modifier instead of his dexterity or strength modifier, "as he finds a way to outthink his opponent and find weaknesses in his opponent's fighting style" (paraphrased).
120* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
121** Many divination spells temporarily grant the ability to simply pull more information out of simple observation than other people, e.g. ''discern lies'' allows you to automatically succeed at the Sense Motive skill to know when someone is lying, ''commune'' allows you to derive simple yes/no conclusions entirely from context for a minute or two, and ''read magic'' allows you to perform the otherwise-arduous task of unraveling a caster's personal codes and languages with Spellcraft instantly.
122** The Duelist PrestigeClass also shifts most of your combat modifiers (defenses, chance to hit, and damage) with certain weapons to Intelligence rather than physical stats, implied to be this.
123** The "Studied Target" class feat also allows a character to mark an opponent to gain various bonuses against them.
124** The "Knowledge Devotion" feat lets a character roll a Knowledge check to analyze creatures they face in combat and grants scaling bonuses to attack and damage rolls based on how successful the check is.
125** The "Insightful Reflexes" feat replaces the Dexterity bonus to Reflex saves with the Intelligence bonus, thus avoiding damage from widespread attacks such as {{Fireballs}} and {{Breath Weapon}}s not through agility but instant calculations.
126* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The Investigator and Slayer classes are largely built around this concept, focusing on a single enemy to gain bonuses against them by picking out their weaknesses.
127* ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'' has the Theory in Practice stunt for exactly this purpose. It has strict limitations compared to similar stunts, but allows characters to use their Science skill in place of ''any'' other skill provided they can come up with some plausible sounding {{Technobabble}} for how their analysis helps. The rule-book quote:
128-->''Shooting a gun should be easy -- it's just physics, right?''
129* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
130** Due to the [[FragileSpeedster various]] [[EliteArmy considerations]] that shape Dark Eldar combat philosophy, gathering and utilizing intelligence is a big part of their strategic doctrine. Because of their arcane technologies and standard Eldar {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry, they are very good at it. When the Dark Eldar attack, it is often by complete surprise, with overwhelming force, at a weak-point in the enemy's defenses. This doesn't always work, however; if a particularly GenreSavvy enemy can give them bad info through effective counter-intelligence, they will fail spectacularly. Their reliance on knowing the enemy better than they know themselves [[BreakTheHaughty leaves them highly vulnerable to traps that play on their typical Eldar hubris]].
131** In a meta sense, knowing the abilities of your enemy, knowing your strengths, their strengths, and possible unit compositions, is key for winning. Not an easy feat with 9+ armies, hundreds of units, and hundreds of unique rules to keep account of.
132[[/folder]]
133
134[[folder:Visual Novels]]
135* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
136** [[spoiler:Junko Enoshima and Izuru Kamukura]]. They both excel in analytics to the degree where they can predict and plan for nearly anything several steps in advance, but it has also caused them to be bored with the world. [[spoiler:Junko]] relishes in the emotion of despair because she finds it unpredictable and exciting; eventually convinces [[spoiler:Izuru]] to partake in it as well; and genuinely enjoys inflicting it upon herself, others, and eventually the entire world. [[spoiler:Izuru]] doesn't enjoy despair the way she does, but is instead more interested in watching despair fight hope (which he also finds unpredictable) to see which one is less boring.
137** The Ultimate Detective, [[spoiler:Kyoko Kirigiri]] is a milder version. She regularly performs {{Sherlock Scan}}s that lead her to correctly theorizing the identity of each killer, and manages to deduce the Mastermind's psychology, motives, intentions, and several exploitable weak points with no more information than the player is given. She also displays a SpiderSense for when her loved ones are in danger, [[spoiler: with it being explained in ''Danganronpa: Kirigiri'' that this ability stems from her deductive skills. When somebody is in grave danger, Kirigiri naturally turns her SherlockScan up a notch and jumps through most of the intermediary steps involved in a typical deduction to arrive at the conclusion almost instantaneously, with even her unsure how she got there. The details she has been passively collecting through her surroundings just raise a red flag and tell her to respond in a specific way.]]
138** There are some hints that [[spoiler:Kokichi Oma]] of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' shares this talent for analytics, being extremely intelligent to the point of ''writing a script that correctly predicts everyone's words and reactions'' for Kaito to follow in the fifth class trial. Either that, or he's CrazyPrepared and accounted for ''everything'' they could conceivably say during the trial (or close to it anyway, as Kaito mentioned needing to ad-lib in a few places). And just like Junko and Izuru, he hates being bored.
139* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'':
140** Somewhat surprisingly, Archer fits this trope. This is mostly surprising because he's [[spoiler:[[IdiotHero Shirou]]'s future self]]. While his physical strength and reflexes aren't much when compared to the other Servants, Archer is able to use his battle experience and cunning to come up strategies to counter and even overpower his more capable opponents and their strategies. The game calls this ability "Mind's Eye (True)":
141--->''"Capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. So long there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of winning."''
142** The alternate version of "Mind's Eye (True)" is "Mind's Eye (False)". While it confers similar abilities as the (True) version, [[SpiderSense it is purely instinctual and cannot be gained through experience]]: You either have it, or you don't. Two Servants, in particular, have this skill: Berserker (whose madness keeps him from remembering his experience in life) and Assassin ([[spoiler:who as a fictional hero, never had the chance to earn experience in life]]). In a fight, Assassin was able to tell how long Saber's invisible sword was after observing how she was holding it and feeling the wind from her sword swings.
143** In the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, [[spoiler:Shirou]] mimics this skill and uses it to defeat [[spoiler:Dark Berserker]] in three seconds.
144** Both [[spoiler: Archer and Shirou]] also apply this. They subconsciously scan any weapon when they see it and analyze it down to its creation, its history, its previous usage, and the wielder's skill. By compiling all that information and using it to create a copy, they not only produce a projection significantly superior to that of other magi but can also tap into the skills of past wielders to use the weapon more effectively.
145** Not exactly as Analyzing as the previous examples, but Shirou, in the beginning, managed to survive multiple deathblows by Lancer this way. One example being choosing to swing his weapon back just after jumping out of the window to block one, even though he's more-or-less guessing that Lancer would attack him right after, and a misjudgment in timing would result in death.
146** Also from the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' is [[VideoGame/MeltyBlood Sion Atlasia]], and the rest of the Atlas alchemists. Their particular brand of magic involves consciously partitioning their brains to increase "processing" ability, essentially turning each of them into human supercomputers. Sion usually fights by simulating her opponent's attack strategies and predicting every move they make before they make it.
147* ''VisualNovel/MajikoiLoveMeSeriously'' has the SiblingTeam Gale and Gates. However, while Gates is able to successfully predict Momoyo's first attack, it's so overwhelming that Gale is unable to defend against it.
148* ''Yume Miru Kusuri'': During the climax of Aeka's route, Kouhei finds himself [[spoiler:pinned down by two armed assailants, whilst Gaito [[AttemptedRape attempts to rape Aeka]]. In a matter of ''seconds'', Kouhei manages to analyze the situation, throw off his assailants and take a hostage to rescue Aeka]].
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:Webcomics]]
152* ''Webcomic/AnotherGamingComic'': Subverted when Joe tries to play Poker. He claims to have used his math skills to completely analyze the game minutes after first seeing the rules, but he still ends up firmly in last place.
153* ''Webcomic/TheCroaking'' features a minor example: in flight class on his first day at military academy, [[WingedHumanoid Ky]] notices that all of his classmates take the same path through a laser parcour, leading to the larger ones getting singed in the process. So he takes a different path while capitalizing on his greatest strengh, dives, and finishes as one of the fastest in class.
154* In ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', R2 [[https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1195.html reveals]] that he obtained the [[spoiler:Lost Orb of Phanastacoria]] by calculating its trajectory from the [[spoiler:explosion of the Peace Moon]] and tweaking Luke's ship's flight trajectory a week later to catch it unnoticed.
155* Sal's superpower in ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany''. As she explains ''[[http://dubiouscompany.com/comics/2008/04/20 here]]''. She later uses it to ''[[DamselInDistress get captured]]'' ''[[YouJustHadToSayIt by a dragon]]'' and prevent Mary and Sue's ZanyScheme.
156* Guthrie Carroll of ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'' once programmed a spaceship the size of a 2' cube to engage in evasive atmospheric entry, dodging all enemy fire on the way down, then taunted an otherwise invulnerable foe to walk directly under it just as it slammed into the earth (all while being just outside the blast radius).
157* In ''Webcomic/TheGamer'', the main character gains powers that turn his life into an RPGMechanicsVerse. He can see everyone's levels and basic status. While it at first seems to be a lame power, he and everyone around him quickly learn that he can potentially become ungodly powerful in a short amount of time by exploiting the mechanics. He quickly figures out how to exploit grinding, and can even master powerful magic abilities by "reading" books that describe them. We mean that in the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' sense, in that he need only select "read" from the menu that pops up. The book will then vanish and he'll suddenly be able to skillfully make use of the technique. One of the earliest techniques he unlocks is observation, which lets him see the strengths and weaknesses and the very detailed stats of his enemies in combat.
158* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
159** This is Klaus's specialty: he's not specifically capable of duplicating physical feats, but he's ''very very good'' at examining other [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder Sparks]]' inventions and improving them. This also apparently extends to neurology, as his current goal is to find out what causes MadScience behavior in Sparks to begin with. It's implied that while all Sparks have specialties, Klaus's specialty is ''the Spark itself''.
160** Tarvek Sturmvoraus is a more minor example. While he didn't necessarily improve on the design until he built the second head, the fact that he was able to reverse-engineer one of the Van Rijn muses without ''completely destroying'' the original is impressive, considering that Master Payne (who knows more about the Muses than most) made it clear that even master Sparks had tried and failed to discover any of the Muses' special capabilities, and most of the Muses had been lost in the process. Later on when he's accidentally captured by Klaus's forces and being led to the dungeons, he happens to ''briefly glance'' at an abstract operations table and informs his captors that a unit had been subverted and was about to cripple the entire army. They're so impressed they allow him to keep coordinating the army (under heavy surveillance).
161* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': [[FluffyTheTerrible Biscuit]], an orc who's over [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld six hundred winters old]], has quite the bonus to his Wisdom score (to the point of being a GeniusBruiser). He's been shown to apply it a few times, notably [[https://www.goblinscomic.com/comic/06152012 here]].
162* Diamonds Droog from the Intermission section of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''.
163-->[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003129 And judging by the forensics of the scene, the angle it hit the floor, the direction of the blood splatters and how dry the blood is, you think you know EXACTLY what he's about to pull.]]
164** And then he aims for the bullet holes in the walls that are already there due to time travel shenanigans.
165* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', Danielle Kindle saw George Fennec knocked high and far into the air. After a glance, she calculated his trajectory in her head and got into the exact catching position well ahead of time. Because she's GoodWithNumbers.
166* Leslie [[http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=176 does this]] in ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'', bouncing a bullet off one mook's gun into another's forehead. Her computation is aided by nanites in her brain.
167* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
168** Vaarsuvius, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0800.html here,]] demonstrating that even a rival [[CripplingOverspecialization who had specifically tailored his class build]] [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou to defeat]] Vaarsuvius could be successfully opposed with [[XanatosSpeedChess clever use of available resources]] and [[FlawExploitation exploitation of narrow flaws in the rival's defenses.]] Even V's ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech taunts and monologues]]'' have tactical uses, relying on what V has observed of the rival's psychology to [[IShallTauntYou disrupt and confuse him.]]
169** V does it again [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0935.html later]]. They figure out that the Psion they're fighting is low on energy thanks to "a combination of observations, calculations, and superior intelligence[[note]]that's ''tactical'' intelligence, i.e. being informed of her capabilities by a disgruntled former ally[[/note]]" and uses this information to intimidate her into [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaving the fight]].
170** V does it [[RuleOfThree yet again]] [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1277.html much later]]. The Order are questioning someone who knows how the tomb works, and where the Gate is hidden, but is refusing to divulge where the Gate is. The person they're questioning refuses to tell them even how long they have before Team Evil reaches the Gate, because then the Order would know where it is. This refusal, and the reason behind it, is enough info for V to figure out how the tomb works, and how to find the Gate.
171* Done by Blossom against Bell in ''Webcomic/PowerpuffGirlsDoujinshi'' [[http://ppg.snafu-comics.com/index.php?comic_id=282 here]]. Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009''.
172* ''Webcomic/WeakHero'':
173** In the battle against Jimmy, Gray is able to read his movements by watching the way his muscles contract. As Jimmy's style is based entirely on landing accurate hits, the sudden evasion knocks him off-kilter.
174** Thanks to his extensive knowledge of Yeongdeungpo's gangs, Eugene is able to accurately predict their future movements. He first shows off this ability after Ben's gang defeats Jimmy Bae, and he assumes correctly that Jimmy won't mount a counterattack.
175** Grape shows that his strongest asset in battle is his ability to read the opponent and suss out their weak points. He was the one to realise that Rowan was a one-trick pony without any fighting moves beyond his elbow strike.
176[[/folder]]
177
178[[folder:Web Animation]]
179* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue Recreation'' has Sarge deduce the problems back at base from a single phone call, beginning with [[ProfessionalButtKisser Simmons]] answering casually instead of following protocol, as shown in the video clip below.
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder:Web Original]]
183* ''WebVideo/DreamShorts'': In "LetsPlay/{{Dream}} In Minecraft Manhunt", Dream calculates the exact way he should move to dodge an arrow by 5 pixels while also perfectly retaining his forward momentum.
184* In ''Podcast/EdictZeroFis'', Nick Garrett has [[RenaissanceMan degrees in psychology, criminology, anthropology, and philosophy]], which results in his ability to read people through a psychological version of the SherlockScan.
185* Despite being considered BookDumb by This Very Wiki, when the WebVideo/GameGrumps play ''VideoGame/GoofTroop'', Arin's able to figure out most of the puzzles in seconds.
186* In ''Literature/LovelaceOneTwo'', Andi, the protagonist and recent recipient of some kind of SuperIntelligence power, does a number of these (e.g., [[spoiler:teaching herself the guitar by ear in minutes]]).
187* ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'':
188** This is humanity's [[PlanetOfHats Hat]].
189** In ''Left Beyond'', it's what CATS first and Omega later (in the timeline where CATS fails) use to mount up a credible fight against YHWH.
190* ''WebVideo/SandersSides'': This is Logan's specialty. Being the manifestation of Thomas' logic and rational thinking, he responds to any and every crisis by looking at it objectively, and only worrying himself with hard facts, often breaking out scientific studies and statistics to back his argument. While he doesn't always get his way, and Thomas can't be ruled ''solely'' by logic, Logan's ability to "out-logic" a problem is genuinely impressive whenever he gets a chance to show it off. Notably, he's the only character who's able to NoSell [[spoiler:the Duke, who's the manifestation of Thomas' intrusive thoughts, since Logan understands better than anyone that the thoughts the Duke represents are ''not real'', and certainly don't say anything about Thomas' character. By refusing to be disturbed or intimidated by the Duke, he robs him of all his power.]]
191* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has Icarus Hicks, the smartest man in the galaxy, who despite being a middle-aged medical researcher with little military training (and that as TheMedic), manages to hold his own against SpaceMarines in PoweredArmor by combining the fine dexterity he developed as a surgeon with analysis of the weaknesses of their PoweredArmor suits to think up a way to shut them down.
192* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' canon, Chaka has the ability to see how KiManipulation work simply by watching them and can immediately duplicate them on her own. Similarly, a character named Loophole can determine the trajectory of bullets, bodies, and the like...and "jump into" anything mechanical or electronic to commune with it, understanding how it works in a matter of moments. Contrast this with Caitlin Bardue, who can understand any magical object/device ''without'' knowing how it works.
193* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'':
194** Lisa/Tattletale has this as her superpower. When analyzing someone or something, she needs to have some information about the target to begin with, and her power fills in the gaps in her knowledge, allowing her to crack computer passwords, profile people around her, and make predictions about the most likely outcome of a given situation, among other things. She's very accurate, although not infallible. In the few instances where she makes mistakes, usually because she was lacking a vital piece of information or was working off of false information, she messes up pretty big. Also, she can become mentally overloaded if she tries to take in and analyze too much information all at once.
195** A few times, she goes up against someone with similar talents (or a power based on them). She has a truly [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]] [[spoiler:interrogation exchange with Cherish in which she responds to having chunks of her past outed by calmly reading her opponent for every single piece of information Cherish intended to use as leverage]].
196** The [[GoodWithNumbers Number Man]][[spoiler:/Harbinger]]'s power gives him the ability to mentally calculate anything in seconds, from stock market fluctuations to [[spoiler:the exact amount of movement necessary to dodge a strike and counterattack]].
197** Most Tinkers and Thinkers display this ability to some degree in their fields of expertise.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Real Life]]
201* Toddlers and young children are like this by default. This is what helps them learn how to learn. Disabilities like Down's Syndrome result in the child lacking this ability.
202* Humans in general. We have no particular advantages over creatures like [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy lions, or tigers,]] or [[BearsAreBadNews bears]] ([[Film/TheWizardOfOz oh my!]]), yet we are the ones who control the earth using only a combination of opposable thumbs and a larger-than-average brain. Everything mankind has built is a result of analyzing the environment and utilizing it to our advantage, from harnessing fire to nuclear power.
203* Visual learners, who learn things through watching techniques and looking at images, as opposed to kinesthetic learners and auditory learners.
204* From the reality show ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', contestant Yau-Man Chan, despite being a small man in his 50s, was able to excel in many of the physical reward challenges because he calculated things like arrow trajectories. Early in the game, he opened a supply crate that several younger men couldn't open--lift the crate over a rock, drop the crate corner first, and let gravity crack a weak spot.
205* According to [[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/04/22/best.game.ever0428/ this Sports Illustrated]] article, Raymond Berry pulled off some truly amazing stunts in American Football through sheer power of preparation and training. Unfortunately, he managed to not get his 1985 New England Patriots a Super Bowl ring in rather humiliating fashion...
206* When working on the swashbuckler parody ''Film/TheCourtJester'', Creator/DannyKaye was trained in fencing by co-star and skilled fencer Creator/BasilRathbone. Thanks to his coordination, which aided him in physical comedy, Kaye was able to become as competent at doing the fencing routine as Rathbone with about a month's practice.
207** In real life, fencing has been described as "high-speed chess", so fencing itself would fit this trope.
208* One of the contestants (Hironori Kuboki, Ninja Warrior 7) at ''Series/NinjaWarrior'' failed in his first run at the Warped Wall obstacle. Defeated but not conquered, he took measurements and ran the trigonometry of the wall through its mathematical paces. Next year, he beat the wall, ''[[ForScience with math!]]''
209** And the commentator ''[[HurricaneOfPuns would not shut up about it]]''.
210* Professional basketball:
211** Think those fancy dribbles are for show? Most elite dribblers actually have a plan when "sizing" up a defender, using a chain of moves in order to feint a defender in a particular way to get them off-balance or clear their path to the basket by watching their body language as they defend. Similarly, defenders and teams actually gameplan how to take away specific tendencies of a player even in motion; a favorite hand, a favorite spot on the floor, etc., tendencies born of both lots of studying tape and data, but also what ''their ''body language is showing during the flow of the game.
212** Creator/DennisRodman is considered the greatest pound-for-pound rebounder of all time. Despite a slight frame of 6'7", 210 and playing forward -- whereas most rebounding leaders play center, push several inches taller, and tens of pounds more -- Rodman led the league in rebounding for seven straight years. Rodman said he did this by studying the tendencies and angles of missed shots from many shooters and could read the spin of the ball as it was shot to determine mid-flight which way it would bounce, beating much bigger opponents to the right spot.
213* An AI programmer named Doug Lenat used his program, Eurisko, to [[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=6 win the Traveller Trillion Credit Squadron tournament two years in a row,]] despite not being a wargamer. He only stopped because the [[{{Scrub}} traditional wargamers]] there found his [[ZergRush strategies]] distasteful and threatened to stop having the tournament if he won again.
214** Further details on this feat can be found [[http://aliciapatterson.org/stories/eurisko-computer-mind-its-own here.]]
215* The astronomer UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson tells a story in his autobiography about how, one time, he was on a bus going along the single narrow road connecting two towns on the coast of Italy. The road was blocked by a carelessly parked car whose owner was nowhere around. The bus came to a stop and everyone got out and wondered how they were going to get to their destination. Tyson realized he could move the car: he knew that the rear end of a car is much lighter than the front, and from experience wrestling, knew how to lift things using your leg muscles. He lifted up the rear bumper, rotated the car around its front tires, and pivoted it off the road. It looked really impressive but the secret wasn't abnormal strength so much as figuring out the right way to go about it.
216* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Lindemann,_1st_Viscount_Cherwell Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell,]] was UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill's numbers man during World War II; as Churchill was as backward in math as he excelled at English, the Prof's charts and figures on every aspect of supplies, munitions and manpower cannot be underestimated. But the Prof's ''true'' SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome came when he studied aircraft tailspins. At a time when no one had survived one, Lindemann figured out a technique by doing the math, then took flying lessons for his solo license, took a plane up, then ''put it in a tailspin before recovering control with his technique,'' which is taught to this day.
217** Averted with members of Hitler's staff who filled the same role as Cherwell. Whenever Hitler met with his generals, he had extensive and detailed files prepared by his staff about the state of German industries, manpower, supply situation, etc. that no general could defeat his arguments. However, the actual situation on the fronts seldom resembled the official figures, as, even if the figures were correct, difficulties in transportation and deployments often meant that the actual troops had no access to the supplies in question. A case in point, in an argument with one of his generals in early 1942, Hitler showed that sufficient winter gear has been assembled and sent off to the front. Unfortunately for the actual German troops, the lack of rail transport (combined with the change in gauge at the Russian border) meant that most of the winter gear was piled up at train stations and warehouses in Poland.
218* Science. Through systematic investigation of the nature of the universe, this enterprise has made possible achievements which would be unimaginable in earlier ages, from the miracles of modern medicine to space exploration to Website/TVTropes.
219* Mostly averted in Real Life, because ''[[CentipedesDilemma if you think too much about something you become unable to do it properly]]''. Also, to use ''Physics'' (or at least Mechanics) to work out trajectories, and pointing things in exactly the right direction is damned hard, and all Physical equations are approximations anyway, or they would be far too complicated. To be fair, many of those approximations are very, ''very'' good. The point remains that measuring and calibrating everything involved by hand usually takes longer than you have.
220** If the other guy has rigged a computer to do his number crunching on the fly for him though, try not to get on his bad side.
221** It's also worth noting that if actually practiced, you're able to get over the Dilemma pretty quickly. Intentionally invoke it enough and you're able to use both parts of your brain.
222** There's also the whole issue with that mathematical calculation is only useful to the degree of precision of one's coordination, which is a large part of what practice develops in physical activities.
223** Another way to consider it is that this is what ''everyone'' who is any good at things does ''all the time''. Practice doesn't lead one to have better intuition, whatever that is: it burns the math into one's unconscious so that the result is "just obvious", in the same way, that nobody needs to do complex numeric calculations to coordinate the intricate computational nightmare that is their arms and legs. Having to do the math consciously is arguably being ''too slow''.
224** There is a phenomenon, much in the same style as the aforementioned Centipede's Dilemma, called ParalysisByAnalysis. People who train for extreme situations - Firefighters, Soldiers, Police, Doctors and other Medical staff, Bomb disposal technicians, almost anyone who has to make the right call very quickly under extreme stress - can, when faced with the thing they have specifically trained to be ready for, suddenly come to a complete mental and physical halt, because they're trying to figure out the best approach based on what they've learned, and end up doing nothing. This can, on occasion, have fatal consequences. The general consensus is that when faced with extreme circumstances, being trained is valuable, but not as valuable as being experienced.
225%%* Enrico Fermi deserves a special mention here - a method of analysis fermi method is named after him. During the first atomic bomb test, when the blast reached him he dropped some bits of paper and by measuring the distance they were blown to he calculated the energy yield of the bomb.
226%%* Engineers of all fields tend to work this way, including the military variety, whose cold calculations are often the basis of various sadistic devices such as shells that split apart into a myriad submunitions to make sure that it is difficult to %%miss, biological agents which decimate entire populations indiscriminately, and incendiaries that burn flesh off bone, [[HumansKillWantonly whether the target is dead or otherwise]]. Engineers tend to develop their new pieces of equipment over a period %%of years rather than on the spot calculations...
227* Similar to engineers, artillerymen, who use propellant and trigonometry to drop heavy explosive shells on targets miles away, often using information relayed to them by forward observers. It is worth noting that the word "Engineer" comes from the guys who operated siege engines such as Trebuchets and Catapults. It took the geeks of the day to figure out how to build a device to [[AbnormalAmmo lob a cow]] at an enemy city.
228* This is how military general staffs work, as they analyze the potential situations in detail and ensure that enough of the appropriate troops, equipment, and supplies are available for necessary missions (and determine the missions needed to accomplish military objectives.)
229* Sniping tends to work this way. It's often described as 90% mathematics and 10% actual shooting. The snipers' spotters also have to be equally proficient, and carry calculation sheets with them as part of the standard kit.
230** And one knows it is involved when one has to take the rotation of the earth into account along with one's own heartbeat.
231** And slight precession from the spinning of the bullet. Snipers also often shoot from elevated positions which means that bullet drop becomes a much more complex and counter-intuitive calculation.
232** Temperature, humidity, wind direction, lead time... it's not just the physicality that makes sniper training some of the toughest in the military. There's a very good reason why dropout rates for potential sniper students tend to be appallingly high; if you don't possess any of these required attributes then you might as well consider finding a more appropriate position for your field.
233* Similar to snipers, many aircrew positions, including pilots, gunners, and loadmasters, require substantial skill and practice in math. The pilot has to be able to calculate wind drift, fuel consumption, and myriad other factors to effectively fly his plane to the destination. The gunner has to be able to quickly do the mental math to have any hope to hit a fast-moving enemy fighter from a fast-moving gunnery platform (aerial gunners in WWII were trained in skeet shooting as a primer), and loadmasters have to figure out how much weight can be loaded in which part of the plane along with fuel and passengers. Even a relatively small amount of weight loaded too far off the center of lift can cause a plane to become unflyable.
234* In UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the US Army Air Forces established an Office of Statistical Control that studied the effect of aerial bombing missions and how to make them more efficient in weakening the adversary. Part of this effort included a study that indicated that using the B-29 strategic bomber in low-level incendiary attacks would prove much more effective than bombing from high altitude for which it had been designed. [[BadassGeneral General Curtis LeMay]] agreed and in the final 7 months of the war, the change in tactics devastated the better part of 67 Japanese cities, killing as many as 500,000 and rendering some 5 million more homeless.
235* Another example from WWII was the analysis the RAF performed on aircraft returning from combat. They studied the battle damage sustained by their aircraft, made a graph of the various parts of the aircraft, and resolved to reinforce the areas that seemed to be shot up the most. Then one bright fellow said they had it completely backward. Since those areas were found the most on returning aircraft, it was deduced that they were actually the least critical. Areas that needed reinforcement were actually the areas that were lowest on the graph, as the aircraft receiving damage there did not make it home. This was followed and survivability increased.
236** The Royal Navy did the same thing in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII with their Operations Research department that mathematically concluded that the best size for convoys is bigger than normal. They came to that conclusion after mathematically analyzing U-boat attacks and determined it was the number of naval escorts that meant the most in defense. By enlarging the convoys with that in mind, they could concentrate more escorts to better defend the cargo ships while the U-boats would not be able to sink more ships despite the larger concentration of targets because their offensive resources would still be the same, and now they would have to deal with tougher defenses too.
237* Averted by many would-be (and some professional) game designers. Though one can beat a game with math, making a game fun purely on the math is generally unsuccessful.
238* Michael Larson, an ice-cream truck driver who [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHa4f3ebf-M won $110,237]] on ''Series/PressYourLuck'', by analyzing and memorizing all the patterns and safe points, due to the computer not being truly random.
239** Similarly, an engineer named Joseph Jaggers in 1873 discovered a roulette wheel in Monte Carlo that was slightly unbalanced, causing some numbers to come up more often. It netted him a few hundred thousand dollars.
240* UsefulNotes/RichardFeynman told a story of his father reading a book on swimming, and then going into the water and swimming successfully for the first time in his life. This was intended to demonstrate the power of book learning for his children. It worked.
241* In 1994, Canadian computer programmer Daniel Corriveau analyzed the Keno drawn numbers of the Montreal Casino and found buried in the seemingly random results a pattern that allowed him to win $620,000 with a single bet. After a few weeks of inquiry, the casino admitted he had beaten the system fair and square. They gave him a cheque for his winnings and hired him to ''fix the problem'' so no one else could pull off what he had just done.
242* The crew of HMS ''Venturer'' during WWII -- ''Venturer'' is the only submarine ever to sink another submarine while both boats were submerged. Not so impressive in modern subs, which are designed to do this, and the only reason it hasn't happened again is that (thank God) a major war hasn't broken out yet. But in a WWII sub, having calculated (i.e, with paper and pencils) a firing solution in three dimensions, a feat previously thought so impossible that nobody bothered training for it? And doing this when your only way of detecting the zig-zagging enemy was by sonar pings and hydrophones? Awesome.
243* This seems to be a very common ability amongst professional gamers. They become so adept at analyzing all of the information that they see that they will predict exactly when and where an enemy will attack. Their sense of what the enemy is doing without any direct information can be pretty astonishing to casual players.
244** In something of a subversion, inexperienced players are [[ConfusionFu usually more random and thus harder to predict. Depending on the game, this can be something of a problem for more experienced gamers]].
245*** This weakness does take some of the shine off the genius of the pros, as it shows that their predictive abilities rely on both the inherent constraints of the game (there are so many options available) and the metagame (they mainly study the options that other pros find most advantageous).
246** In the field of poker, many of the top players can often tell what kind of hand an opponent has by analyzing their betting patterns. Thus, some can tell you what your hand is to the rank (sometimes even to the suit!) without you even giving them a classic tell.
247* According to most (including [[WordOfGod the man himself]]) this is what made [[UsefulNotes/IceHockey Wayne Gretzky]] so great, despite having admittedly subpar (for an elite level player) physical gifts: he could figure out where the puck was heading on the fly, allowing him to be in optimum position for shots on goal (and helping him avoid incoming defenders looking to clobber him).
248* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' explains, in their article on [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20052_5-weapon-myths-you-probably-believe-thanks-to-movies.html Myths About Weapons,]] that snipers essentially use math and physics for their sniping.
249** Cracked did [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19664_6-counterintuitive-tricks-to-beating-popular-game-shows.html an article]] on how to win game shows that boils down to ''exactly'' this trope. Turned out that even beating ''Jeopardy!'' -- allegedly a game completely based around knowing "obscure" trivia -- is not a matter of memorizing every trivial fact ever, but rather, to know which parts of ''general knowledge'' trivia you are weak in... and do a bit of really casual reading on ''just'' those areas. The man who figured this out, Roger Craig, did so by feeding hundreds of hours' worth of ''Jeopardy!'' questions into a computer to put together statistics on the kind of questions you're likely to get asked, and then had it spit it out as a graph. Then he proved his theory was right by using said graph to study and subsequently win the game. Twice. Including beating the one-day record and ''then'' winning a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome quarter million dollars in the Tournament of Champions]].
250* This is partly how the US beat the feared Japanese Zero fighter. This happened when the US military found a nearly intact abandoned Zero fighter in the Aleutians, which was called the Akutan Zero. The US military analyzed every detail about the fighter class to discover its weaknesses and develop better tactics and planes to take the best advantage of them.
251** In particular, it was discovered that the Zero's controls tended to lock up at high speeds and that even with more engine power the Zero was an inherently slow fighter. As a consequence, the majority of late-war US fighters could simply choose to outrun the Zero and attack at a more fortuitous moment. But what about sluggish early-war fighters, such as the P-40 Warhawk and F4 Wildcat? It turned out that US aircraft could sustain higher speeds than the Zero in a dive, and so amongst other tactics, pilots found that a "boom and zoom" technique -- attacking the Zero in pairs, while in a shallow dive, extending away each time -- could effectively counter the Zero's superior agility. US pilots only needed to score a few hits on the Zero's thin structure to take it out of the fight.
252* Professional baseball:
253** Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, according to the film and the book ''Film/{{Moneyball}}'', considered the usual methods of statistical analysis in baseball to be subjective, unreliable, and relics of a 19th century view, preferring to use on-base percentage[[note]]how often a player gets on base; to modern minds, it doesn't matter ''how'' they get on first -- a hit, a walk, etc. -- so long as they can[[/note]] and slugging percentage[[note]]a percentage that displays the average amount of total bases per at-bat in regards to batted balls; in layman's terms, how much damage a player is doing at the plate in regards to all extra base hits, whereas batting average treats all base hits equally[[/note]], which are cheaper on the open market than the traditional indicators. How successful was it? "Moneyball" is now a slang term in baseball, and Beane is depicted in the movie by Creator/BradPitt.
254** Hall of Fame baseball player Cal Ripken Jr. was able to be a very good defensive shortstop in his prime, despite his lack of physical speed, because he studied both opposing batters, and his team's own pitchers, to make sure he was always in the optimal position to make the needed play.
255** Fellow Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was an exceptional control pitcher who had once gone through as many as seventeen seasons with at least fifteen wins. He possessed an immensely good command of his pitches, sported excellent discipline, and knew where to find the strike zone consistently that he rarely gave up walks on opposing hitters.[[note]] Maddux is one of just ''four'' pitchers in MLB history to strike out more than 3,000 batters ''and'' have less than 1,000 walks in his career; the other three are Ferguson Jenkins, Pedro Martinez, and Curt Schilling.[[/note]] But what really puts him here was his uncanny ability to read players just by studying their body language and their mental capacities to figure out what they were about to do. There's a good reason why one of Maddux's nicknames is "The Professor".
256* Many teachers - even at university level - use the same exam questions for years, sometimes even use the exact same sheet multiple times, even in the same semester. If this exam goes [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes into circulation]], it allows students to pass difficult subjects with only a few hours of studying/memorizing answers.
257* Here's a rather unsavory example: [[https://soranews24.com/2019/10/12/idol-stalker-figures-out-where-his-target-lives-from-the-reflection-in-her-eyes-in-social-media-photo/ a stalker of a Japanese idol singer tracked down his victim's residence by observing reflections in her eyes, then used photographs showing the position of windows and the angle of incoming sunlight to determine which apartment was hers.]]
258* ADHD/ADD can cause one to develop this way of thinking -- it's sometimes seen as both its [[CursedWithAwesome best and worst]] symptom. On one hand, it compensates for the difficulty regulating one's attention span caused by the disorder, and thus lets those who zoned out during an important activity to catch up by analyzing the surroundings. Combined with a stronger knack for associative thinking, this can also facilitate connections that would otherwise be difficult (or even impossible) to reach with a more linear thinking pattern. On the other hand, since people with it are always subconsciously absorbing information, it makes it [[ParalysisByAnalysis even more difficult to focus on one thing]].
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