However there were some problems which were very unusual which I would look at, think for just a few seconds, and have a delightful path to the solution -- and often times, many. My friend, otoh, would usually look into the question, think for quite some time, and move on to the more straightforward ones, although with adequate time he would definitively solve it, and with adequate study, he would get consistent, as he did. But at once I discovered his whole process was fundamentally different. He found the solutions thinking algebraically, not geometrically. This algebraic skills allowed him to plow through most problems with speed, but when he needed to think creatively, to have a geometric intuition on something, he was slowed down.
He is a wonderful programmer however, and I'm sure he is "algotihmically creative".
For me this indicates that a lot of science lends itself a lot to have a spatial intuition to be effectively creative. Einstein famously came up with relativity through thought experiments, not algebraic reasoning of the laws of nature. Planck however, with equal notoriety introduced the quanta as an algebraic "trick", and Maxwell formulated an electromagnetic theory of light by manipulating differential equations. Computer science and a fraction of math, lend themselves to algebraic reasoning and I believe what drives those is an algebraic type of creativity, in contrast to say physics, architecture and mechanical engineering -- although I believe we need both types of thinkers everywhere.
It's a funny Yin and Yang aspect of our minds!