Can't Concentrate

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I love mathematics and I am at a university level which means I am expected to prove things but I seem to not be able to concentrate.

When I'm trying to prove something it feels like I can't think at all and my brain won't relax when I'm trying to think of a proof I'll be interrupted by my brain firing and I'll get sidetracked. I just feel I can't think deeper and it's pissing me off. I took a slight break from math until now so it could be that, please help while I try to concentrate to prove a theorem about analytic functions.

What do you think may help?

I would take a five-minute break, relax your muscles, then get back into the analysis.

He's a math genius!

Lucky you; I love math but I've always been kept at grade level. Then again, I was never particularly far ahead of grade level; I didn't study math on my own or anything. I did that with science, and just learned the math I needed to understand it. Relativity theory at age 12? Yes please.

Try writing everything down. That way, you only have to work one step at a time instead of keeping the whole thing in your head. I know you've probably been able to jump straight to the answer without writing everything down until now, but now that you're working on more complex problems that may take a page or more to work out, you need to "keep records", so to speak. If you find you're going in the wrong direction, you can look back over your work and see where you made your mistake.

I know you're good at math, but you're still young; you may not have the academic experience that other people learning college math do. And now that you're working at your actual ability level, you probably need those skills for the first time. It's the average students who are often the best at studying, because they're the ones who have to study. You, on the other hand, probably still have to learn to study, because in the past you most likely went to class, took the test, passed with flying colors, and never had to study. You may be dealing with that, "Holy crap, I don't know how to learn this," feeling for the first time in your life. That's okay. The rewards of actually learning new things at school are worth it.

Oh, and with proofs, try working from the end to the beginning when you can't seem to figure out where to start. And if you can't do that, write down ideas that seem like they may be useful even before you know where they'll fit in; then put them together.

From one gifted kid to another, though: Don't listen to what people say to you about being gifted, because most of it is pretty crap. What you've got is a talent; your brain is specialized to do something particularly well. Enjoy it. Have fun with it. Don't be ashamed of it, but at the same time remember that people's value is not determined by their abilities, and you're just as valuable (but no more so) than that kid who's got dyscalculia so bad they haven't figured out addition yet. Unfortunately, sometimes other people will think you automatically want to use your talent to make them feel worthless. You don't, but they think it anyway. That's the way things go.

Do you like coffee? I find it helps me concentrate. Caffeine in general. Tea. Whatever works.

Concentrating on things is a skill like any other... honestly, you may just need practice doing it. And it'll be easier once you get the hang of doing proofs. I remember when I was learning them, I struggled for a couple of weeks and then suddenly figured it out. Unfortunately, there's no substitute for practice.

I'm dyscalculic and could barely get through Algebra without failing.

I'm doing a degree in Computer Science.

I'm honestly just jealous because somebody let this kid jump ahead and do something interesting instead of staying with his classmates. Yeah, it's cool to get experience with social skills and all, but not at the expense of building your talents! I was held back constantly and I only got out of high school at 16 because I weaseled my way out of taking 8th grade. Only now in college am I getting work that challenges me, and it's a problem because through my childhood I didn't need to learn how to study--so now I don't really know how. Let alone that I'm 32 and older than most college students because I simply wasn't ready to live on my own when I moved out, and wouldn't have been ready at 18 either. But my family was abusive, so it was better than nothing...

If we could consistently get work that was just challenging enough, whether that's "behind" or "ahead" of our classmates, that would be great. But they worship the idea of people doing sixth-grade work in sixth grade, and so on... and so we're either overwhelmed or bored or both simultaneously.

Seems to me that gifted and special-needs/learning-disabled kids have that in common, having to make do with an education that doesn't fit. We should really talk to each other more. And then there are people who are in both groups at once (like, y'know, most gifted autistics and autistics with specific learning disabilities), who really need special ed and gifted/talented and the school system tries to push them into one or the other as though you couldn't have talents and disabilities at once. Of course you can. I do. The OP probably does, seeing as he's posting on an autism forum.

*sigh* Well then. Enough b*tching about the school system. Anybody else have concentration tips for (I'm assuming) doing geometry proofs?

If you took a math break for a while, I might suspect part of it is what you suggest: just being out of practice. It could take a bit for the math-concentration neurons to reassert themselves.

Over the last year or so I have been reading materials that are written at a lower level than I am accustomed to. This morning I started a more challenging book, and was aghast at having to re-read some of the more complex sentances. Thankfully, after a few hours my comprehension returned to normal.

I have real problems concentrating...I can barely get past page one of a book unless I'm totally obsessed with it.