aeh, that is fascinating-- DD has done that paraphrasing trick at full speed with music, mathematics, reading aloud, etc. from the time she was tiny.
DH is one that derives relationships rather than memorizing, too. DD is much like him that way. I'm less extreme, but I still tend to only remember what I actually use a lot, and even then I often rely upon relational constructs and a single memorized core (so I will recall a full equation/relationship, and then collapse it for use in simplified/ideal conditions, say).
It's FAR easier for me to remember single cross-over points in unit conversions, too, and to just do the extended back and forth conversions to get to the crossover point. I only realized that this was an oddball way of doing things once I was teaching Gen Chem students to do unit conversions using a unit/dimensional/factor method-- most of them found it APPALLING that I'd do a fifteen factor calculation just to avoid knowing the conversion between miles and kilometers (my only length unit conversion is cm = in).
