Totally agree. I was so stupidly confident after school that I went for a maths major. Turns out I had no idea how to study. So. That was a bad experience, but this year I am coming back for the second attempt, prepared.
I use to hate math and thought I could not learn it. I was told by one of my teacher that that I was just not good. For years I believed this. Then I started using Khan academy from very basic math. I am no In my college algebra course and as of right now I have an 100 in the class. Though this is just based on a few activities and a one exam. I am determined to eventually learn calculus.
The only limit is our brain. I believe in that everyone has the potential. We don't use the 100% capacity of our brain. At least it makes me feel better when I have to study something hard lol
This makes me feel good, my math skills aren't great, but i still like doing it and trying to refine my skills. Some of my friends found this video boring, but personally i'm enticed. Great video with great advice.
I think the biggest turn off for people begin to study higher level math is when the textbook tell you to prove the theorem it is trying to teach, or the professor does the same thing way too soon into am introductory proof based class. The biggest issue that comes with that is people who have the mathematical background are immediately separated from the "normies" because they have the skill to prove parts of a theorem themselves, and that gives them a lot of confidence. What makes a bad experience for the majority of class is that class time are usually dominated by those people, and both the professor and those students see it as a chore to help the rest of us out.
He gives excellent advice. Do the work early. Problem sheet due in 1 week? Do it tonight, if you're free. It'll be easier, and you'll feel great all week. Didn't quite get everything in the lecture? Read the notes and try to figure it out. Ask a friend. Ask the lecturer. You'll thank yourself during the next lecture. You need to understand it before the exam comes around, so just do it now, and you save a ton of time long term. I broke these rules countless times during 4 years studying maths at university and I would have saved a lot of time and effort if I hadn't.
All of my life I thought I was meant to excel in liberal arts because it was quite easy for me to read, remember, comprehend and write an essay. I thought I was not a "math person". I cannot blame my teachers as I do recall one teacher in high school who was very enthusiastic about geometry. I wish people would stop blaming everyone but themselves. At any rate, I put off taking a required algebra course in college because I had not background in high school from missing too many classes and just sort of getting by without applying myself. Finally, after I failed algebra and withdrew several times, I could not avoid it any longer. They had online homework where each problem could be repeated until it was correct. So, I disciplined myself to re-do every homework until I achieved a minimum score. So, I had to keep doing every problem until I finally knew how to do it. Sometimes, it was not until I had done this that I had a moment where everything clicked and then I finally understood it. I was also going to vocational school at the time to become an electrician. I was 30 years old. The teacher kept writing on my paper that I was really good at the assignments involving trigonometry. The realization that I could actually do math literally changed my life. I enrolled in college full time to become an aerospace engineer. Of course, I had not high school courses in chemistry or physics, so I could not really keep up. But more and more people kept telling me I could do math well. Now, I am in the third semester of graduate school getting my masters in mathematics after completing a bachelor of science in mathematics. I still would not say I am good at math. In fact, I make many mistakes and get completely stuck on problems at times and just cannot solve it. But, I love to study mathematics because it is beautiful and mysterious and powerful. Now, I teach math and continue to study. I don't know where mathematics will take me next. It has already taken me half way around the world and to two different countries. I think one day I will be good at math, but I think it is not a requirement to study and understand it! If you love math keep going!
I like the conclusion, it helps you to go into other areas you may have never thought of in the past.The key to success is not missing classes,be up to date on topics and follow things sequentially.I am studying a math major at the undergraduate level.It's challenging at times but there is joy when you get answers to the math puzzles.
Math is absolutely necessary in life. Problem is, it is next to impossible to learn. Easy for the professor her, he likes it and is good at it. Well, God was good to him. I wish that the Almighty would share/give the ability to everyone.
I would never consider a career in math. It took me about 3 years to understand the basic elements of the geodesic equation and most courses cover that in just a few weeks. Still, I'm happy with what I've learned.
There are other places to get help outside a classroom and crappy teachers that don't have a clue. Kahn Academy here in youtube is good place to start. The library or book store can get you up to speed where you get lost. Also someone in class that can teach you, teach is the key word here not smarter. If you want to learn it, you will find ways. It my not be 4.0 but it beats do overs and lost time.
What they mean is that those classes are a lot of computations, whereas 'real math' such as analysis and so on are more about proving. Proofs is what math really is, not solving and spitting numbers and functions out. This is why we call the machines 'computers', they can do all the computing for us, no need for humans to do it.
I don't entirely agree with that. Classes with these subjects tend to be viewed that way because they make strong appearance in high school/engineering mathematics curriculums. These subjects can be taught with rigor that "purists" will find to be "true" to the subject. This treatment can be found in many books, some of them might be lagging behind in current times, but still out there. The topics that are taught in calculus are revisited in real analysis with much greater emphasis on comprehensiveness and proofs.
Well the if you only use formulas to calculate it at least isn't pure math. Mathematics is a science and using some of its fruits because they are useful and practical is great but not the science of mathematics. There is a lot of great things you can do with applied maths, but most of the really great stuff requires you to have insight into the science of mathematics that is pure math at the same time. See a plumber might know about some chemical facts, but does he know the science of chemistry? Most likely no. He knows that if he applies cidric acid to lime it goes away, but he doesn't knows why. He isn't really practicing applied chemistry. He doesn't needs to. Similar it is with mathematics. Make the distinction between applied math but calculation math. Applied chemistry would also require deep knowledge of the theory. Calculations, using formulas is something computers are for. You should be taught how to teach a computer to do such things as computers are much much better than any human could ever be at such tasks. No computations in math aren't real math. In fact you want to avoid them as much as you can. I would however exclude geometry here. The study of geometric relations even with only very elementary proofs or none at all is of course math. But calculating the angle within a tringle isn't. It's simply a mean to test if the student got the concept.
I remember I used to be super bad at math when I started college. I would say those classes with online homework really did help and khan academy. Now I just look up problems for fun off the internet.
+Psychokitten113 If you don't understand the maths then you stay working until you do. If you have very little maths or even if you have a very solid foundation in maths you are going to study something new that you wont understand. What separates the people who are strong at maths from the people who are uninformed is work ethic. They very simply stayed reading a little bit longer when you gave up.