I suck at math

[miyuki]

i did used to wonder, "why anyone would like math?", but then i realized i did like it myself.

whenever i first started learning about equations and started using the graphing calculators in school, i did enjoy it actually. i would make up simple equations for stuff and was excited over all the cool functions on the graphing calculator on the calculator. i was more enthusiastic at first, since i thought i would learn so much. i remember some teacher would tell the student not to learn about it themselves, because it would screw up with their understanding of math.

but after 6th grade it sort of got ... i don't even know. but, it became more like a thing i would just deal with to get over with. i didn't get to *understand* math.

right now i don't really like math. it's now a thing i don't understand. i just follow the directions and inject the numbers into the formulas, the formulas which i don't understand. which is why i don't like it, probably. i don't suck at doing that of course. but probably, i suck at real math. lack of experience. i feel it's a shame.

 

[chaomon]

I actually like math, but math hated me! LOL *I suck at math too.. well I think that it's not that we really sucks, we just get lazying trying to solve it? I mean if we try harder for sure we could get it? I prefer word problems I'm good at that. It makes me think more. But I really suck when it comes to fraction I rather choose algebra than fraction. I'm freshman college and I still suck at fraction! every time I encounter fraction I'll just pick skip it or pick any letters if theirs a choices.

 

[Escrue]

My dearest INTP hates math. She loves logical structures, like those which can be found in language, linguistics and philosophy, but math is out of the question. I think it comes down to the fact that she has a very extensive imagination. Thus, she loves the humanities, but especially likes the structures and rules that govern those subjects.

 

[Latro]

My dearest INTP hates math. She loves logical structures, like those which can be found in language, linguistics and philosophy, but math is out of the question. I think it comes down to the fact that she has a very extensive imagination. Thus, she loves the humanities, but especially likes the structures and rules that govern those subjects.

Yet again sounds like a failure of teaching. Formal math, especially pure math, is structure, structure, structure. (Applied math tends to handwave a little and say "yeah we can definitely bring this FREAKING INFINITE SERIES outside the integral, because there's this theorem that this pure mathematician proved that said we can. Now, onto what we can do with this.")

 

[Escrue]

LOL! I didn't understand what you just said, Latro, but it sounds really smart ;D You know your stuff!

You have a point though. At our school, they taught us applied math 80% of the time. And the teachers really sucked too, they couldn't explain things to save their life. Again, this might be the reason why she only started disliking math at around 13-14.

 

[anemian]

It's like the world's best tutor for as long as you want, there is even intelligent arguing on the you tube comments(it's just that good it achieves the impossible). http://www.khanacademy.org/

 

[chaomon]

My dearest INTP hates math. She loves logical structures, like those which can be found in language, linguistics and philosophy, but math is out of the question. I think it comes down to the fact that she has a very extensive imagination. Thus, she loves the humanities, but especially likes the structures and rules that govern those subjects.

True! That is exactly what I feel, you explain it much much better than I do.

 

[Soledad]

My grades in mathematics which had always been excellent started to slip after 8th grade because all of my academic attention was paid to foreign languages. I suck at math now as I can't calculate in my head fast enough. I always rely on calculators. Anyways, isn't that what they're created for?

 

[dawd]

Yeah... Math....

I thought I was great at it in elementary school; I went to one of those "gifted schools", so I felt really conceited and had the drive to excel. They taught subjects in a very Ti friendly way.

I also attended a "gifted" middle school, where I failed algebra 1 and had to retake it in eighth grade (which was still ahead of the standard eighth grade curriculum.) I remember that I couldn't stand it. The teacher gave us so many repetitive practice problems, and expected us to understand concepts that she barely taught, because she had absolutely no understanding of the students' abilities.

I'm in high school now. In freshman year (9th grade), I maintained a B+ average in "accelerated geometry", because the homework wasn't as dull. The teacher actually taught during that class.

I'm currently a sophomore (10th grade) in "accelerated" Algebra 2.It is unbearably horrible. The teacher is a happy-go-lucky ESXJ who is relatively new to her career. Fifteen minutes of class is wasted as she asks EVERYONE how their day is going. The rest of class is usually spent on going over answers to the homework. Around two or three times a week, we take notes on new subject material, after dealing with the previously assigned homework. Much of the interpretation of these notes is left to the students, as only a short amount of time is spent on studying the material in class. Honestly, the only real problem solving that we do in this class comes about twice a month, when we are given the hour to work on some long story problems.

I agree with OP on this one, public schools (at least where I live) put absolutely no emphasis on using one's brain, and wastes the students' time on absorbing and regurgitating material that one may not even understand. But that's okay for them. They judge people's intelligence on their ability to be diligent and follow the set constraints of the bland and repetitive curriculum.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Supposedly using a calculator "inhibits one's ability to do math", but I know of some people that would recommend using one... No one really wants to spend too much time doing arithmetic, I think ('check my arithmetic'), but I wouldn't completely rely on one probably, for fear that my ability is being inhibited. I probably wouldn't use one for fun, but they seem pretty convenient, and it seems like it would depend on the level. For weirder more complex stuff one could come in handy but I can also see that depending on how expensive the calc is; a cheaper one probably wouldn't do. The iPhone/touch has a semi-decent calc if you turn it sideways.. And, correct me if I'm wrong, it seems as if sometimes there's nothing a calculator can do that will aid in solving the problem as much as one might hope, unless you get pretty creative with the methodology. I don't know, though.

 

[MetallicMoon]

I'm horrible at maths. Which is a shame, because I find it really interesting. But I'm always wary of asking for help, because my teacher always seems disgruntled whenever I put my hand up. It's like I can hear the "oh for fuck's sake" from her inner mind.

I remember one time she was running through an algebraic equation on the board and she asked me "what's (y + 2)^?"

I panicked and said "y^2 + 4"

And she just gave me a glare and said "I can't be teaching pupils who want to take A-level maths and who can't even expand a bracket. I'd expect an answer like that from a 3rd set twelve-year-old"

O thanks. Good job I'm not taking A-Level.

Anyway, it's a shame that I'm so stupid because it truly is interesting. I just can't pick it up at all. It does not come naturally, and whenever I try to consider it my mind goes blank and I get frustrated.

 

[BigApplePi]

she asked me "what's (y + 2)^?"

Can you tell me what "^" means? Makes no sense unless we know the def.

 

[MetallicMoon]

Can you tell me what "^" means? Makes no sense unless we know the def.

Oh, sorry. ^2.

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