Author here - like one of the other commenters said, I don't think there's anything wrong with your approach, or any way of thinking for that matter. I don't think there's anything particularly "right" or advantageous about the way my brain works either. I don't have any reason to believe I'm better at math than the average engineer - definitely not a math prodigy or super genius or something like that.
With that being said, trying to think a different way for the challenge of it is definitely interesting. Reading through some of the other comments here and trying to taste words or replicate other people's minds is a weird, fun exercise :)
I think the really great thing you did here, was just lay it out. So little is said/shown on this topic that it's really valuable to just get people conscious of their own process, so that they can compare and contrast.
With that being said, trying to think a different way for the challenge of it is definitely interesting. Reading through some of the other comments here and trying to taste words or replicate other people's minds is a weird, fun exercise :)