brain crunching

[Danijela.Krajisnik]

If someone says "How is the number crunching?" and gets the answer "Brain crunching, more like.", does brain crunching mean to put a great strain on your brain while working on something intellectually challenging? Could the expression have other meanings in this context as well?

Thank you.

[BobK]

It might mean 'requiring a lot of mental effort' - I don't know, as I've never met the expression brain-crunching. But 'number crunching' is usually reserved for 'doing a lot of repetitive basic maths by mechanical or electronic means' - so the reply "brain crunching, more like" could just be a way of emphasizing the lack of computing power.

My maths master used to use the expression 'steam multiplication' (on the analogy of 'steam power') to mean 'doing it the old, labour-intensive way'.

b

[MikeNewYork]

If someone says "How is the number crunching?" and gets the answer "Brain crunching, more like.", does brain crunching mean to put a great strain on your brain while working on something intellectually challenging? Could the expression have other meanings in this context as well?

Thank you.

The person's use of "brain crunching" was a play on words. It was intended to be humorous.