Why you hate math and think you suck at it.

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I suspect many find math hard because of how it is taught. I was stuck at Algebra until I discovered review books. Simple, plain bare bones. Then I excelled and did calculus in High school.

With my kid, he always seemed to have an intuitive mathematical mind as a preschooler. Then school. They managed to make solving problems so convoluted that I and other parents were struggling.

Now with him at home online school, I really see how ridiculous the math is. The dragged on 1 concept at a time for a week of drills, doing it in a way I could not comprehend (I had 26 yrs of education). Fortunately you can skip things. I showed him the shortcut I learned in school, we just did the tests and he got 100%.

If the course gets really bad and I can't teach it, Khan academy is great. It's a free online video series. You can have him teach you any topic in math, taught clearly.

To rabbittss
Math is like a language. Some languages have different rules than English.
There is a convention in math so we all speak the same language. But math is not English.

You can actually create math rules and see where it takes you. But you will find few if any who will understand. You may become one of the greats and discover a new concept. But day to day Calculations with conformity matter. Think design, finances, and engineering and the need for precision.

I posted this elsewhere, in addition to lists, the modified version was on difficult concepts that I could not remember well, I would write them down. So if I had my simple rule list as I did problems, it helped. There are sheets you can buy, but the act of writing and walking around in a silly way talking to myself about them set it in my brain. I could never learn in a quiet library. The more senses you engage the better. But the rule sheet was in front of me as I worked.

I wish they had a track in math for those who really need math for living skills so they are not subjected to non relevant math.

But math is important if you don't fit into the workplace, don't want a boss, want non traditional routes,stay at home, computer, means math to run your business matters or life matters.


I should also add, the math we parents were struggling with was second grade math level. That's how bad it was and we were a pretty highly educated bunch.

Also sometimes the way you are taught to do something in alegbra for example if you know calculus there is a lot easier way to do it. For example completing the square to find the vertex of a parabola versus using power rule and second derivative test to find where it is by taking derivite to zero which is easy for quadratic equation. I asked my calculus teacher who was also teaching a class of alegbra and he said he never had anyone do that way in alegbra because they may not be taught the easy way for them to do it.

I like the article. Although the best way to teach music is like a language. I believe same for math. My parents did and I do not rely on schools for education. They teach whatever they do, but I educate. So that creative play is done at home. My kid hears about the great people, the history of who invented things and their stories. Everyday life is looked at as we go to play with concepts. Even if it's video games, trying to figure out and think about graphics and how it's done. Whatever interests him, we talk about.

History channel and similar shows are great if you don't like to read. Check out the technology of ancient civilizations. I am starting to think we lost knowledge.

The essay was cool, but it doesn't change how I feel about numbers in general. I find it hard to conceptualize numbers and even when maths is presented as a puzzle or as something playful, it is still utterly baffling and stressful for me. I guess that's either down to the educational system, how my brain operates or a mixture of both.

I have always been bad at mathematics. I also have a problem with rhythm and that worries me, because I'm training to be an animator (though I do use a metronome). I just find it very difficult to conceptualize numbers. I guess that shows i have a cruddy imagination (at least in regards to maths). I'm a visual learner and a bit of a kinesthetic learner, so I try to think of numbers as objects, but because there's so any to keep track of, it confuses me. Does that make any sense? Most of my teacher never understood it. I was a good student as well, but maths was something I never got the hang of, no matter how enthusiastic my teachers were. Maybe if the curriculum was written differently, I would have got it, but who knows?

Incidentally (slightly off topic), I kind of wish we were taught the principles of things like painting and drawing a bit better in school. We didn't do life drawing nearly enough and we didn't get taught about how to interpret and analyse paintings until we we in higher or in uni.