math blues

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I'm in my 40s, but I am taking a little math course that is the equivalent of Grade 12 math here in BC. With much hard work and time spent, I can do it. The course is online and is poorly organized. I used to be a teacher and I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I get frustrated and upset when I see a chaotic interface with critical information missing.

Then I contact the instructor for help and while they try, one has broken English and the other is a typical breezy math guy who leaves out 9/10 steps and can't elucidate his assumptions. I want it solid. I want details, clarity. The disorder frustrates me. It makes me cry and I am getting "depressed" to the point of not wanting to get out of bed, thinking I should stay there the whole day.

It pisses me off that we (at least in the past) are told to be excruciatingly precise with laying out steps, showing assumptions, and calculating significant figures, but the teachers in this case can't do the same! How the hell am I supposed to get a feel for proofs when they don't make any sense. The proofs are just simple stuff like logarithm rules/definitions. We're only in chapter 2, and I am getting behind. We haven't even touched the handfull of proof problems, because I'm stuck on 3 weird little algebra problems. I don't have a problem with the bulk of the material, but they assigned these things too, so they must be important.

My husband is a coder and he can do most of the problems far faster than me, but he is an intuitive abstract thinker (where as I think very visually and concretely, it seems to me and actually I am more logical, according to all accounts) but he can't explain it to me in the way I need. He can't do proofs either. (He is good in other areas -- like algorithms -- that ordinary mortals trip on.)

This is why people hate math -- but I hate the disorder of how it's being taught. I know it doesn't have to be this way. Grr. I need a solid sense of wtf is going on with the few problems in question. They throw these 3 weird little algebra problems into a hundred pages of other stuff and that's what I trip on. I need a solution to the math problem and then the emotional garbage will clear up. I'm frustrated.

maybe you should tka a real classroom class instead of a online class, it might be easier for you

I don't have the time for that. I don't like being around people. I don't need to be spoon fed on the material of this course. Just when I have a specific question, I want a specific answer, not a BS answer. Proofs. Not a big part of the course, and they all suck at explaining them.

There are some pretty smart people here... I wouldn't be surprised if there was a math geek here who could help.

yes.

No offense, but perhaps you would be better off in a traditional classroom setting. Community college classes are typically tiny, math in particular for some reason i had 8 other students in my class when I went. It is OK not to be that great at something, I'm horrible at math, the first thing you need to do is admit you need extra help in the subject, then get the extra help you need. If your teacher this semester is as bad as you say, consider dropping the course and taking it again during the summer at a smaller school where there will be much more student-teacher interaction.
You say you can't be around people which is why you are doing an online course. How well is it working out for you? If you were to take an actual class at school you would be tackling both issues: the social interaction to an extent and, of course, the math.

> You say you can't be around people which is why you are doing an online course.

No, I didn't say that. I don't have the time to drive across town and sit in a high school for 2 hours a day. I've taken an online class before, and they don't have to be like this.


I solved the major blockages by asking the teacher a bunch more questions, PITA as it was. He is disorganized, and I am offended, as I was a much better teacher than he is.

I still need help with proofs. That part of this is stalled. I can phone the teacher and get his "help" over the phone, but I really don't want to do that because based on his BS so far, he sucks.

Hey I got 92% on the latest practice exam. Also caught numerous errors in the text book and a serious one in the online materials. The teacher said "my bad." I'm starting to get better at it, but I still don't get proofs. Next chapter has a bunch of that and identities and stuff. I dream about this stuff every night. I want to really get this stuff down solid.

92% is pretty good. If it's any consolation, then most math/stat professors are really terrible at explaining things. And as far as doing proofs goes... I've always been bad it and always will, no matter how hard I try. I just don't get it, it is too abstract. I can only do applied/computational math. I think math is the subject where you are either born with the right kind of brain for it or you aren't and there is very little you can do about it. It seems to me though that you are doing very well. Don't get frustrated over the teachers, as I said, most of them are bad (keep in mind that professors, unlike school teachers, receive 0 pedagogical training) and it's a waste of time to try and change them. Just do your best and find a good textbook if you can.

> Don't get frustrated over the teachers, as I said, most of them are bad (keep in mind that professors, unlike school teachers, receive 0 pedagogical training) and it's a waste of time to try and change them.

The sad thing is this is a HIGH SCHOOL course with so-called "professional teachers." I found big errors in the online materials going back 5 years (He admitted it. "Good catch" he said), not to mention errors in the textbook.

But I hear ya ... gotta spend the energy where it matters, even if they are falling down on the job. I get chuffed when my time is wasted because other people have been sloppy.

Hi Ladarzak,

I can really empathize with your situation. Unfortunately, mine didn't work out so well.

Like you, I'm in my forties. I never earned a degree over the years and thought I'd give it a try. Last year I started with trigonometry and scored a "B" overall. Last fall, I jumped into Calculus I and pulled off an "A". I started Calc II just over a month ago and it kicked my behind.

The instructor is not great, but this class has me actually feeling stupid. Homework problems that take an hour, each problem. I made the effort, working at it several hours every day. It was painful, but I though I was making slow progress.

Then I took the online quiz, the day before my first exam. Even "cheating" with my notes and homework problems, I scored 10% out of 100. I could have dealt with 50 or 60%, but 10%? That's not even in the ball park.

I freaked out and withdrew from the class. I'm still a bit upset about the situation.

I think the biggest blow was to my self esteem. I've never done poorly at anything I've really tried. Perhaps I'm simply not as smart as I thought I was.

Oh well.

oh dear I am going through a similar feeling (or trying to avoid admitting I am going through the same)
I managed to get by with next to no real indepth organic chemistry knowledge...i can analyse data in a heartbeat, remember bio pathways., worse case focus on neurons and electrical potentials. Now we have a module where they have decided to focus on chemistry and reactions ...and I'm drowning vertically.
Because all but one of my fellow students are overseas students I don't know if I'm doing significantly worse than everyone else, but as a pessimistic perfectionist I hate feeling so lost. It shouldn't matter, i don't want to go into drug development...but urgh! Imminent failure

> Homework problems that take an hour, each problem. I made the effort, working at it several hours every day. It was painful, but I though I was making slow progress.

Ouch, that sounds familiar. That's how it was for me at the beginning of this class. Had to get used to tons of unfamiliar stuff.

Sorry you felt you had to withdraw. I was tempted to do so.