Bad at Math

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I'm terrible at math, and also chemistry. My brain just doesn't handle numbers and formulae well. I've looked up dyscalculia, and I have almost all the symptoms. I most often find myself needing to use my fingers, a piece of paper, or a calculator to solve any kind of math problem, and if I want any hope of remembering any sort of number, I have to write it down.

I'm marginally competent with basic arithmetic, but higher maths always bugged me because of the admixture of numbers and alpha-numeric characters.

Alphabetic letters ARE NOT NUMBERS, they are representations of SOUNDS.

You cannot multiply 2 X R because R is not an amount, it's the sound "ARR." The very concept is absurd (as is using the letter X to represent the act of multiplying, but the math symbol is usually printed with a slightly different shape).

If you need a symbol to represent an unknown amount, then create a new symbol. Don't misuse existing symbols that already have assigned meanings. That's just intellectually lazy, not to mention confusing.

Sometimes they use Greek letters.

But even when they use regular letters for numbers that doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is "imaginary numbers". Imaginary numbers are things like "the square root of negative two" which is impossible.

And then there are "complex numbers".

I naturally assumed that the regular old "counting numbers" that they taught me in first grade must be "the simple numbers" so I asked folks here on WP what are "complex numbers?". One, two, three, and so on, are obviously the simple numbers. So what are the "complex" numbers?

The mathletes all informed me that those regular old Sesame Street type counting numbers ( one, two, three, and so on) ARE a type of "complex number" (in addition to other kinds of complex numbers).

So this got me REALLY confused.

So I said "lets make this easy, give me examples of numbers that are 'simple', or are NOT 'complex'". The mathletes all talked to me like I was some kind of dolt and snarled that I was "just using words like 'simple' and 'complex' in their usual colloguial meanings and not in the specialized way the words are used by mathmaticians". I never did get an example of any number that is NOT "Complex".

So I guess that all numbers are complex. So the phrase "complex number" is like "single bachelor". Its a tautology.

Math was never one of my strengths, with extra support I was able to memorise specific problems but with little comprehension, it took so much energy away from my other school subjects.
The numbers become jumbled up in different ways, I believe my working memory is the issue as I can't hold numbers in order in my mind. Sometimes even now copying numbers from a book to a notepad can go wrong. I get by though, it's better when my mind is relaxed and rested, I just do things slowly and make light of the mistakes I make, it can't be helped.

Last edited by Amity on 12 Aug 2017, 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

Iv'e always had the issue where I'm extremely good at math as long as I'm using it consistently, but I could be an A student and if the summer comes and I don't use what I learned or hell even a month break I'll forget it all without a refresher. That includes many many subjects not just math but am I bad at it no not at all.

I'm pretty good with practical arithmetic, pretty bad with theoretical mathematics.

I'm terrible at math!

Well everyone, there's no need to feel displeased, I have all your needs at Crazy Bay's!(reference to Ed, Edd, and Eddy)

I am really good in math so if you need help, you can Skype me!(if you have it, PM me first and I'll tell how to contact me.) Though if it's college math I would need an example(I am also good at breaking down equations and putting them back together, So maybe I could help you in learning it... And learn something new myself!)

And for those of you who have trouble with processing the information I'm a very patient person(I know what it's like when you are trying to learn something and someone keeps irritating you because they don't like having to explain steps over again, happened to some classmates in math and me in other subjects such as english when I was younger, to me that makes a bad teacher.)

Anyway if you need help I'm here!(if we are doing it by text then anytime, if by video if you would be comfortable with it, I would like a few days notice like two or three to get ready!) Helps me too! People keep telling me if I want friends I should put myself out there... So I'm doing it! By the way if I write or sound like I'm nervous as heck, this is my first time doing this so please bear with me.(like I probably sound right now...)

I don't think this is because of Aspergers. It's just a difference in abilities of the kind that everybody as.

That being said, a lot of people say they are "bad at math" but sometimes I wonder if they are just intimidated by it, uninterested or not taught properly. About 8 years ago I flunked calculus something massive, like 45%. I had always disliked math and I thought I was just bad at it. I forgot about it and went into a field that didn't require math.

Well, that field didn't work out for me but in the process of trying to figure out what to do with my life I decided I'd give calculus another shot. If I had that class I could do a lot more degrees than what was open to me. I took a state correspondence course, just had to buy a textbook, otherwise it was free. I had a tutor for correcting homework and questions.

Figuring it out by myself with the textbook was a much more efficient and engaging way of learning math for me. In the process of trying to make it more digestible for students, teachers would make it too abstract and overcomplicated, trying to find shortcuts and tricks. The textbook didn't have any tricks or mnemonics, just "here's how it's done in the most basic form" and the rest was up to you. I liked that approach much better; it was refreshing to be treated like an adult. As I got more confident in my auto-didactic skills, I became progressively more interested in the material and it started a kind of virtuous cycle where I would actually be excited to do math problems all day. I have never emailed a question to the tutor and finished the textbook in half the normal time. Passed the class with 93%. This allowed me to get over my dislike (and fear) of math and I enrolled in an engineering tech degree.

Lectures aren't for everyone. Sometimes the best way to learn is by yourself. I think that in school they try too hard to make every problem "fun" and have to set up a context for every one. I always found that convoluted and annoying as I'd always think about the context rather than the problem. In the textbook, the problems were raw at first and the contextual problems came only later (to train you to find and use pertinent information). That presentation allowed me to get used to the raw form first and made me realize math is just a logic puzzle. Once I had that realization, it became more fun to figure it out and when the contextual problems came I could just get at the heart of it.

Oh, I absolutely agree with that! I have had one or two people in my life who could explain higher math formulae to me in a way that made sense - and when it all clicks, I am overcome with fits of uncontrollable laughter, because what has always been so tedious and excruciatingly dull to me, suddenly seems so ridiculously SIMPLE, I am dumbfounded that most teachers have to make it seem so damned HARD.

Which only convinces me that my difficulties with higher math are not because I'm stupid, but because most math teachers are so damned bad at teaching it.

I wasn't terrible with basic level math, but when I got to algebra I just absolutely failed. Not to mention how my maths teacher was the worst on the planet!

I also have NVLD in addition to AS. I've always had trouble with math, specifically visual-spatial things. Sadly, I didn't get tested for NVLD until college, and even then, it was because I took an IQ test for a research study on AS. When I took the IQ test, my performance IQ was actually in the high-average range, which explains why I was able to get so far in math for my science career. But if my math skills were what my verbal skills have always been, I'd be able to understand high-level physics, which is something I'll always yearn for. The only math I'm good at is algebra. That is what saved me in higher-level math courses, that and my photographic memory. I'd usually just memorize how to do problems, especially word problems, and that's how I got "A"s in math. And that's why my teachers never caught on to my deficits.

I wish I had been given an IQ test as a preschooler, because I was hyperlexic but couldn't do anything even remotely visual-spatial. I wouldn't be surprised if my PIQ had been in the below-average range back then. I couldn't "see" in 3D until I was probably in 8th or 9th grade. I vividly remember not understanding how a heart shape had symmetry in sixth grade. Somehow along the way, I picked up the ability to "see" in 3D somewhat well, and I actually did well in the stereoisomer unit of organic chemistry. It took me a lot longer than most to get the problems, but if given the time, I could do it.

The hardest math I've ever done was trigonometry my senior year of high school. That was almost all visual-spatial, very little algebra, and I struggled a lot. I found calculus a lot easier than trig, because there was algebra. I've always felt ashamed of my problem with math, because it's something I really wish I were good at and it contrasts with my skills in other academic areas. I try to work on my visual-spatial skills whenever I can, because I want to always do better.

Oh terrible. My GPA is in garbage because of maths alone. I took some assessment tests years ago, and I potentially have dyscalculia. Never got it validated thoroughly though.

My GPA wasn't fantastic because of my statistics units (I did Psychology). I understood mean, median and mode but when it came to the ANOVAs and their ilk, I struggled. Chi square and regression were also over my head. The exams were open-book and it was still difficult for me. I scraped through with an average of 60% on those units.

Now I'm doing Java programming and I couldn't escape the maths. I understood we had to use BIMDAS (Brackets, Indices, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) but the others in the class (all much younger than me) had no clue.

Now I have to Input info so that the Output is the 7 x tables!