Is Alan more intelligent than Jake?

Seriously.

I'll give a couple of examples from the show.

1) Alan had to keep looking back and forth.

The numpad has existed for decades, and the whole point of a keyboard's numeric pad is that you can quickly and easily type numbers and do calculators, because you can use it without looking - you know where every number is, and "5" has a tiny protrusion (bump) on it that you can feel with your finger.

This means, you can always know where every single number is, even if you don't look at all at any point, because you can feel the small bump with your finger. If you place your fingers correctly, you can do calculations and all kinds of number typing at a very fast speed / pace.

Alan is supposed to be intelligent, isn't he? He's shown to be a master of Scrabble, he does a LOT of 'financial calculations' due to alimony (Al-o-money?), and of course Charlie's carefree nature about finances. He ends up calculating a LOT of all kinds of financial things during the course of the show.

But when he's trying to calculate something in the show (I forgot what it was, but it might've been Charlie's monetary affairs just before 'Charlie Waffles' stuff), he's using a big calculator that has a very numpad-like setup, and he..

.. looks back and forth!

He has to MOVE HIS HEAD TO LOOK BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE CALCULATOR AND THE PAPERS!

Every time he types with the calculator numpad (and this design has existed for decades!) - a numpad that's DESIGNED to be able to be used without looking at it - he looks at the calculator.

Every..single..time.

What.. the.. ??!

HOW?

How stupid is he? How can he do THAT many calculations during the course of the show and _NOT_ either know or at least learn how to use numpad-type calculation systems without looking?? (Also, why doesn't he use Charlie's COMPUTER to do this stuff instead of some kitchen-calculator that doesn't even look like it can handle very complex functions at all)?

I am telling ya, this show makes no sense.

2) We see Charlie, begrudgingly, driving Alan to work one morning.

Here are the facts:

- Alan knows he has a pretty and petite, bubbly and fun receptionist
- Alan knows Charlie would jump on that blonde babe like a pitbull on a poodle
- Alan knows his life is ruined in many ways if this happens, at least financially

and yet

- Alan lets Charlie come INSIDE THE BUILDING (?! WHYY?? Would you???)
- Alan tries to TALK him out of using his toilet in his office - - why even tell him he HAS a toilet in the office?
- Alan has NOT prepared for this eventuality AT ALL. No backup-plan of any kind. Alan, who is SUPPOSED TO BE INTELLIGENT, can't prepare for this in ANY way? He just lets this come as a surprise to him?! What?

Off the top of my head, what he could've done:

- Arrange so the receptionist WON'T BE THERE (give her a day off or let her come in much later)
- Silently guide Charlie to ANY OTHER TOILET in the whole city, BEFORE revealing what the actual building is where Alan works (why would he need to tell charlie the correct building, the correct office, or tell him he has a toilet INSIDE the office, he could've told him there IS NO TOILET in the office, and the hallway toilet is the only option, etc. etc. etc.)

- Have Charlie drop him (Alan) off 5-minute walk away from the office, so Charlie can drive to some fast food join to use their toilet, while Alan can walk to his own office free of Charlie

- Ask Charlie to loan him his car OR enough money that he can take a cab or something
- Ask Herb, Judith or literally anyone else to drive him to work
- Have a couple of days off from work until he gets his car back (which would be more costly, this solution OR what actually happens in the show? HMMM??)
- Make Charlie go to the toilet BEFORE they leave for work, reminding him it's a long drive and then manipulate him psychologically by talking about waterfalls and whatnot. They do this in sitcoms all the time - I guess not when it would show intelligence that a character should have, though..

These are, I remind the dear reader, all off the top of my head, and by really delving into thinking about this, I am SURE I could come up with more, but I think this is sufficient, I made my point.

So, we're supposed to think a guy that does a LOT of accounting and calculations (probably also due to being an office worker, even if he does have a receptionist / secretary), has _NEVER_ learned the MOST BASIC thing about how to use a calculator / numpad without looking.

How can anyone be this stupid if they do this many calculations and use calculator/numpad that much? How does this happen?

We're also supposed to think a weasely manipulator that has 'Scrabble eyes' and is supposed to be somewhat intelligent, can't PREPARE for 'Charlie driving him to work', and thus prevent Charlie from ruining his receptionist...

Really? Is he more intelligent than Jake or not?