Wow...studying again is hard

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Ok, I'm not the "I'm in my special interest" mode of study where I'm a vacuum. But that boring, laying groundwork, reclaiming the basics studying.

I checked with my doctor about this since they are giving me an IQ test. I wanted to know if it would do anything to skew their results. They said no, so, studying math I am, I am.

Oh man...41 years since doing any 'learned' math and only the four basics since for the most part.

Good grief!! This is tedious!! I've even lost where the information is on so many rules I am literally going back to refreshing on fractions and conversions. I started in word problems, but found that I had to convert and all....so, really back to the basics. It comes back to me as I read it. But, for the life of me, I can't just pull it out like other things I remember.

And, here's the kicker. I'm struggling with this, but, I could write my own algorithms when I was making my games. I did do a bit of research on how to formulate those things in theory (how to make things move at speeds and create layers and the illusions of parallax...part code and part how to implement the math)

So, why the heck is this giving me so much trouble? I shall persevere but....wow.......

Yeah I know what you mean. I'm in the same maths league as you with the algorithms and all but I used to find maths easy at school but I found that my son was getting to a point at high school where I can't help him with his homework anymore so I'm doing a refresher class. I'm not doing as well as I thought. I used to remember rules and formulae and understand relationships after hearing it once but not anymore. It is hard.

I'm searching for a better tutorial site. The place I'm working at is good for straightforward information, but I need it broken down further than this site does. Maybe once I'm back up to speed maybe go back there.

The only time I could get into math at school is if the teacher hit that magic combo of attaching it to something I could apply it and see results or they were just really, really patient.

I am looking forward to getting back into shape again and actually doing trig and calculus. I've never studied that before.

I was just talking about wanting to try calculus. People say it's hard, so my motivation is just to see if I can do well with it. I've always found math to be pretty easy. Most complicated I took was probability and statistics though.

It was just a skill I never kept up. Everything I did was always intuitive or by sight. Finding centers of circles, right angles with only a ruler and compass.

I am eager to learn it. It's just so tedious laying that foundation again.

My fascination with calculus is that it was invented by Newton. Imagine that. Being able to invent a math system that was just so damned accurate. Feynman did a good job with that as well.

Maybe I'll call mine..."Doodle Math" LOL

My math knowledge----and inclination----is limited to practical math.

Have you tried Khan academy yet? (https://www.khanacademy.org/) They do more than math on there and it is free.

I advise my chemistry students who struggle with different concepts to try that site out. It works well for some of those who work at it. You can also google/yahoo for calculus worksheets to practice different problems on each part.

Thank you for the link. I must say that I am not crazy about any website that requires me to sign in with some sort of account.

By that I mean it is not like here. Here it is a local account. I hate being required to use a damned social media account, let alone have it active while I am on a different website.

I really hate that stuff. I'm using it but, damn, this is bad that they are all doing this in some sort of 'bragging rights' crap.
Edit:
Oh, and forcing people to use the social media accounts means that they are tracking your activities to target advertising and other services towards you.

Edit again:
By signing into account I mean signing into a social media account......

I did find another site also. I think between the videos on Kahn and this place which has work problems and the steps to review.

Refresher vids are good reference (and I haven't found the work problems yet on Khan...kinda bouncing around this morning) but I do have to work a lot of practice problems.

Oddly enough for me, it's the mental equivalent of physical labor or working out. It's like there is sort of 'muscle memory' or mental equivalent at play. I struggled yesterday on some basic stuff, got up this morning with an upset stomach and decided to fire up the computer to practice.

Blowing through the stuff that gave me hell yesterday.

That seems to be a pattern for me. Immediate intake and retrieval of information is a real pain and sometimes, just can't do it. But, give the brain some time to process it and it's just there in living color.

But, at least it's exciting this morning to finally feel those math legs getting worked out a bit.

Next stop...Grand Unified Field Theory!! ! BWAH hahaha

I went to Khan Academy website and they did not require me to sign up to view their videos. Registration is for personalized programs, whatever that means.

Just select the subjects from the main page.

Good luck with your studies.

Thank you for your information. I did not see a way to view things without an account of some sort, but in a less visible/standout button, you *can* sign up with just your email and not be required to be logged into social media.

YAY!! !!

And, boo hiss at my observational powers this morning.

I do think between loads of work problems (it just sinks in if I do it) and review I really can make progress. So much I could do with math. My games, my animations (huge amount of math can be employed there) and just general fun with math.

The first time I truly understood the beauty of math was in the late 70's when I saw an article on fractals. Just blew me away. Since then, I've been endeavoring to learn things.

The strange thing is that I get the higher concepts and really loopy stuff. But the basic maths just throw me.

So, on my way to understand....took me long enough, eh?

Here are some calculus worksheets that I found for you to try:

https://math.berkeley.edu/sites/default ... rkeley.pdf

http://math.arizona.edu/~calc/m129Worksheets.html (This is for calculus II)

http://schoolcenter.hilton.k12.ny.us/ed ... ilid=16535

I have a possible working solution to it, but there is a catch. Our technology is not far enough along to be able to correctly measure some of the variables exactly in experiments, so the best that can be done is an approximation formula right now.

I don't think I could handle going back to school or college. The work and the studying is too hard.

Not doing it in school. I am mostly an autodidact. I work better by myself without the close confines of classrooms and students. Have to deal with that enough at work....can't do it for any other length of time.

Also right now, I'm processing so much information on top of my daily responsibilities (Plus digging myself out of the rut I put myself into when one of my special interests completely took me over in December) that I have to completely work at my own pace.

I also do much better if I can teach myself. Or I guess learning one-on-one would work too. But in most classes, I am learning faster than everyone else and get bored. I have no patience for other people's questions because I am bored, ready to move on, and really getting irritated. I have to learn at my own pace. That's probably the case with you, too.