Any other Aspies struggle math?

Post Reply New Topic

Oh I can do foiling.. I just can't reverse foil for love nor money.

I love math. I'm double majoring in it and CS. I like it because it's logical and straightforward. Doing math problems really play to the way I'm wired. I lock on to it, and nothing matters until I've found a solution to the problem (or at least reached an acceptable point in it, sometimes I'll leave and come back to it). I can fiddle with the same problem with ages without getting overly frustrated. When I do finally manage to solve the problem? It's amazing.

I get the feeling that a lot of the problems that people have with math is that the teachers don't explain it well/make it sound more complicated than it is. I had a wonderful math teacher in high school, she explained things well and her class was structured. I had her all four years and it was wonderful.

I never got bogged down with math since I put it in simple terms/formulas and then apply those appropriately. Instead of focusing on the numbers/values in the problem, it's much easier to focus on the method used to solve it. Although, I do think calculus based physics and partial differential equations are based on magic. That's the only way a person could possibly determine what method to use.

If anyone is confused by algebra or calculus, I'd be glad to try and explain any part that's confusing you.

You just find the factors of the third term that when you add/subtract them give you the value of the second term. If the first term has a coefficient, then one of those gets multiplied by it before you add/subtract them. If you just can't see the answer, there's no shame in breaking out the quadratic equation (which works every time).

Factored form isn't more chaotic or un-solved, it's the same problem, just in a different form. The factored form has different uses than the foiled form. Mainly, it's how you determine the value of x when the equation is equal to 0. But there are other reasons to factor, for example:

(x^2+3x+2)/(x+1) isn't as useful as:
(x+2)(x+1)/(x+1)

In fact, I usually think of factored form as being less chaotic. It's in its basic components rather than the messy outcome you get when you multiply them.

I did horrible with non practical math like Algebra. I was incapable of learning & understanding those formulas. I'm dyslexic & get things confused or backwards or misread things sometimes & I'm NOT a visual person at all. My brain simply can not grasp certain things in certain formats. I may as well be looking at Egyptian Hieroglyphics instead of an Algebra problem on a board

i did slightly better at understanding algebraic concepts when i took a course in symbolic logic.

Hi rabbittss

Interesting to hear your story - since you've already tried videos, visuals and on-on-one instruction, but still can't enjoy math. I would think it is very true that some have brains made for math and some are not so, but are able to do it. And then it is very likely that to some it will never really make sense. I DO think though, that for many people it has a lot to do with interest too. The interest may also be greater or lesser depending on what experiences you have had with doing math/algebra. I realize of course that prior experiences will be affected also by the degree of aptitude for algebra that one might have.

I do not fully follow, why you would hate factoring that much, but ok. I think Ancalagon has a good point though.

Thanks for checking out my blog

-Sif

Interest is a big part of it. I don't have any for math at all. It's odd because Quantum Physics, String Theory, Chaos Theory, Etc. Those ideas I love. I could listen to Michio Kaku, Brian Cox or Neil Degrasse Tyson talk about those things for hours.. I just don't have any idea how scientists came to arrive at those concepts.

To me Math has always reminded me of this quote from Blackadder "I am one of those people who is perfectly willing to wear a cotton shirt, and have no idea how it's made"

Ancalagon has a very good point, but part of it's getting it around my own way of seeing things first. That's more difficult than any math. I know that I can do the material when I'm working directly with a person who goes very slowly and patiently.. But remembering it and applying it for the test never seems to be better than a 70/30 split, and thats with time accommodations and a TI-84. It's why I take such a pragmatic approach, I just want to pass. I'll be thrilled with a 70.0% cause that means I won't be kicked out of school (losing my financial aid is the same thing as getting kicked out) or have to repeat it and deal with the stress for another 5 months.

I unfortunately cannot explain more clearly than that why I dislike factoring so much. It's the one mathematical concept beyond Negative Numbers which I have the most trouble with. Negative numbers if I sit and think about it, I can figure out.. but factoring just requires me to recall so many combinations and do so many things in my head.. I just freeze up. The whole way of trying to find out what multiplies into 12 but adds up to 5.. then trying to remember how to lay it out as a trinomial.. it's just to many concepts and functions and formulas and rules.

12 and 5 only works if you have something in front of the first factor. But if you're having trouble keeping it all in you're head, just write things down on scratch paper. So write out the factor pairs of 12:

12 1
6 2
3 4

Then you can look at them and see how to combine them. I'm horrible at doing math in my head, but when you write things down, it's easier to see the pattern/manipulate the numbers.

I never liked math, however if I really try, I can work most problems out (assuming I know how to do them). I currently am struggling in my Algebra class due to lack of motivation and interest, sometimes even if I know how to work out the problems, I am unable to do so becuase I am just simply not motivated. I've had this problem ever since I first started school. And it hasn't really gotten any better with time.

Oh 12 and 5 was just an example. Had no idea if it really worked. and yeah I'm familiar with that method.. I just never seem to get that far. I see the problem, it makes no sense to me, I forget what I've covered already, and just sit and stare into space, or worse.

The learning disability in Mathematics is called Dyscalculia. I've heard by word of mouth that the number 1 core subject that people struggle with the most in school is Mathematics.

If factoring a quadratic turns out to be too hard, you can always just throw the quadratic formula at it. That will tell you the roots of the quadratic, and after flipping the signs they will be the numbers you're looking for. (If the quadratic formula gives you d and e, then the factored form is (x-d)*(x-e). )

The quadratic formula is ugly, but it will work on anything, including the ones that factoring won't work on.

Trying to chop 12 into factors that add (or subtract) to 5 is too much to fit in your head at once. First chop 12 up into factors, and list the possibilities on paper. Then try adding/subtracting pairs of them. If you get one that works, then worry about getting the signs right. That way you only work on one part at a time, and don't have to keep anything in your head.

generally I can, with much struggling, do the ones that wind up as (a-b) (a+c) the ones I have the trouble with are the ones that are (a-b)(a+c-d)

The only things I could find that look like that are these:
a^3 + b^3 = (a+b)(a^2-ab+b^2)
a^3 - b^3 = (a-b)(a^2+ab+b^2)

Trying to figure these out by trial and error seems way too hard. I tried coming up with a relatively easy mnemonic and couldn't. If I ever saw these, it's been too long to remember, and I can't see where they might be useful. Anyway, you could find the linear factor (the (a+b) or (a-b) part) and do polynomial long division to find the other part.

So if you had 27x^3 - y^3 that's (3x)^3 - y^3, which is zero if 3x=y. So (3x-y) is a factor and you can divide 27x^3-y^3 by it to get the other factor.

I almost failed an entire year at school because of maths. To me algebra, calculus and the like are too abstract. I cannot create a picture in my head with all those formulas and strange characters. And nobody ever told me why I would have to know analysis and curve sketching so I lost interest.
The only area I loved and I was really good at was probability and statistics because I could actually use it in daily life.

Yup

I'm a biomolecular major with a minor in physics. I depend on math a lot and I'm really good at solving mathematical problems. This helps me tremendously in chemistry and physics.