Were any of you guys really awful at math once?

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Mayel
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01 Nov 2012, 2:09 pm

Once?
I wish. I'm still bad at math. I think I may have dyscalculia.

Quote:

Symptoms:
Normal or accelerated language acquisition: verbal, reading, writing. Poetic ability. Good visual memory for the printed word. Good in the areas of science (until a level requiring higher math skills is reached), geometry (figures with logic not formulas), and creative arts.

Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. Substitute names beginning with same letter.

Difficulty with the abstract concepts of time and direction. Inability to recall schedules, and sequences of past or future events. Unable to keep track of time. May be chronically late.

Inconsistent results in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Poor mental math ability. Poor with money and credit. Cannot do financial planning or budgeting. Checkbooks not balanced. Short term, not long term financial thinking. Fails to see big financial picture. May have fear of money and cash transactions. May be unable to mentally figure change due back, the amounts to pay for tips, taxes, etc.

When writing, reading and recalling numbers, these common mistakes are made: number additions, substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and reversals.

Inability to grasp and remember math concepts, rules, formulas, sequence (order of operations), and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Poor long term memory (retention & retrieval) of concept mastery- may be able to perform math operations one day, but draw a blank the next! May be able to do book work but fails all tests and quizzes.

May be unable to comprehend or "picture" mechanical processes. Lack "big picture/ whole picture" thinking. Poor ability to "visualize or picture" the location of the numbers on the face of a clock, the geographical locations of states, countries, oceans, streets, etc.

Poor memory for the "layout" of things. Gets lost or disoriented easily. May have a poor sense of direction, loose things often, and seem absent minded. (Remember the absent minded professor?)

May have difficulty grasping concepts of formal music education. Difficulty sight-reading music, learning fingering to play an instrument, etc.

May have poor athletic coordination, difficulty keeping up with rapidly changing physical directions like in aerobic, dance, and exercise classes. Difficulty remembering dance step sequences, rules for playing sports.

Difficulty keeping score during games, or difficulty remembering how to keep score in games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of whose turn it is during games, like cards and board games. Limited strategic planning ability for games, like chess.

link

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unduki
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01 Nov 2012, 2:24 pm

I did ok with math until 5th grade long division. That's when numbers started making me zone out or feel ill. I was able to get an Associates Degree (with high honors) at the local Junior college but I've taken Algebra 4 times and flunked out every time - it's the only class where I didn't get an A. I did the whole tutor thing, spent hours in tears over this crap and I just can't seem to get it. I'm good with some things, like variables, word problems and matrices, but horrible in so many other areas. I really want to take Chemistry and get a Bachelor's Degree but I've got to conquer Algebra first. At 53 yrs of age, it's not looking like it's going to happen.

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eric76
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01 Nov 2012, 2:33 pm

unduki wrote:

The first time I ever taught a math class was in 1977. For one student in the class, that was his first math class since he was in school in pre-World War II Germany.

Nihilo
Emu Egg
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04 Nov 2012, 5:59 am

I still am. I believe that it's mostly because I find math so incredibly unsatisfying and uninteresting, dyscalculia aside.

Erasmus
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Joined: 30 Sep 2012
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04 Nov 2012, 10:48 pm

I'm good at math but bad at math tests. I mean, since when did they sit engineers and statisticians in a room and say, "ok, you have 60 minutes to do all of these complicated problems using only what you know off the top of you head." The only time I mess up is, surprise, when I am rushed. You don't rush something like math, it is a tool, not a collection of facts that you have to memorize. While you do have to know how it works and be able to recognize permutations of common formula, it ain't history ( i.e. a collection of facts).

For the record, I love both mathematics and history and am good with both.

blue1skies
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Joined: 7 Nov 2012
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12 Nov 2012, 7:43 pm

Yes, I was awful in Math from Kindergarten on to about Grade 6. A lot of my earlier teachers did Mad Minutes, where you have a minute to answer as many questions as you can correctly. They stressed me out so much. I need time to work, and I don't like to be rushed. So terrible
By Grade 7, something clicked inside my head and suddenly all the numbers made sense to me. I never used flashcards or tried to improve in Math. It just happened naturally.

shyengineer
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Joined: 3 Oct 2011
Age: 36
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13 Nov 2012, 12:29 pm

AjustableTableLamp wrote:

I've been struggling with it since coming out of my mother. When I see numbers, I just phase out. I do have ADHD, but I just absorb chemistry like a sponge so I don't think it's that.

It makes me sad because I want to major in biochemistry.

I was never good at maths class because I have a hard time memorising non-visual things (formulae, dates etc.). However, I can use maths as a tool perfectly fine.

I failed maths once at high school and university and I still got an engineering degree. It's not the only paper, so don't worry about it.

91
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13 Nov 2012, 5:22 pm

I avoided math where I could. But inevitably I ran into it in Grad School. Tutoring is the best escape, you can make up ground pretty quickly.

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reneeirena
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22 Nov 2012, 9:33 am

ME. I had straight Fs for this entire year. Not sure how I'll pass my A levels...

PixieBoy
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23 Nov 2012, 1:14 am

I'm not good at maths, I may remember the concepts vaguely and am able to do bookwork but not tests, just barely passing them. I'm bad enough for it to give me troubles in life, yet too good to get any help for it since I do pass most tests, only it's mostly luck that makes me pass them. Reading Mayel's dyscalcylia quote, it sounds rather a lot like me.

ttqs84
Deinonychus

Joined: 6 Dec 2008
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23 Nov 2012, 12:19 pm

Oh yeah, I have struggled with math my entire life. I've had two different math tutors in my teens and they've hated me through and through, to the point where they've called me out in class commenting on my flaws in front of everyone else. I even ended up in summer school for math once...it was a traumatizing and I hated every minute of it, including everyone in there.

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Ewags
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23 Nov 2012, 11:29 pm

I have only done well in math due to the large amount of time I have invested in it. Math for me equals very hard work and like all hard work, there is some satisfaction involved.

madnak
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24 Nov 2012, 3:41 am

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/s ... index.html

If math were taught more like this I doubt there would be as much trouble.

unduki
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24 Nov 2012, 11:12 am

madnak wrote:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/series/steven_strogatz_on_the_elements_of_math/index.html

If math were taught more like this I doubt there would be as much trouble.

Awesome column! Thanks. I'm a never-say-die kinda person so I've bookmarked this and I'm going to try to work up to attempting, once more, to get through my college algebra book again. I gave up on taking classes. The teachers just seemed to confuse my issues more. They couldn't understand how I couldn't understand.

If I can get through the book, I can get through the class and on to chemistry... finally.

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Sempiternal
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01 Dec 2012, 12:11 am

From a more general perspective, I don't think I'm horrible at math. The lowest overall grade I ever got was either a B or B+ and I'm apparently two grades ahead in math, but my parents see B's as failing... and so do a lot of the people I know in my classes (they never told me that I failed when I got B, but I see them panicking about how much trouble they're going to get in for that grade). :shrug:

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ianorlin
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01 Dec 2012, 12:53 pm

Sempiternal wrote:

Do you know what you are doing wrong in math? sometimes even professors in math classes make simple mistakes but that can be bad for your grade in high school math.

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