How does the negative come in? And should it be “doesn’t look like it.”
ああ見えて、コウイチは計算がものすごく速いんです。
Koichi is very quick at calculations, though he doesn’t look it.
This is perfectly fine English if a bit colloquial.
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There’s a contrast between ああ見えて (he looks “like that”) and the way he actually is.
The English translation is just filling in the blanks a bit. If you wanted to stick more literally to what is written there it would be “Even though he looks like that, he’s actually very quick at calculations.” or something like that… but “though he doesn’t look it” still expresses the same idea.
“That” in my version is “not good at calculations.” So that’s where the negative comes from.
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Ok, so If Kouichi looked like good at calculations, it would be コウイチが right?
I’m not really sure how you jumped to that.
I thought of は as contrast marker and removed it (
. So how you say if he would look like fast at calculations?
I don’t think there’s any reason to assume Koichi is being contrasted with anyone else. So whether he’s quick or slow wouldn’t change that use of は.
If you wanted to say he’s quick at calculations and contrast it with something else, then you could say 計算は.
I think you’d use different grammar. Like 見た通り、計算が早いのです。(As you can see, he’s fast at calculations). ご覧の通り would be a little more formal.
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Part of the reason there’s a contrastive element is the ん In 速いんです.
That means the sentence is explanatory, specifically about the way he looks because the ああ見えて in the beginning.
A flat statement would be like @Leebo put it although I’d probably drop the の.
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