Math!

[cows]

Hey,

I'm up for transfer from one college to another in the fall. Last semester was completely mathless for me and I had no desire to try to touch on it over the summer. In all ways possible, math was a dead subject. Until tonight...

I just finished a transfer math test for placement or to get out of some courses, I'm not sure which exactly. The concrete of it is that my gooey mass of a thinker flopped for an hour or so.

Nothing came to me. Not differentials, not trig, nothing. I barely got by with fragments of quadratics and algebra and such. Beyond that I was like a Quaker with an ipod.

And so, as an English major, I'm hoping I can kiss this stuff goodbye. And I suppose I'm posting this for some response. Any math horror stories? Or are all of you great at it? Advice? something.

[dramasnot6]

Every math class is a horror story on it´s own.

[Pensive]

Math has never been my strong point.


And so, as an English major, I'm hoping I can kiss this stuff goodbye. And I suppose I'm posting this for some response. Any math horror stories? Or are all of you great at it? Advice? something.

Good for you! I am not good in math and I want to quit studying it, but I feel I would have to take it along with me for quite long...

[EAP]

the fragments of algebra and the quadratics are ultimately the most important ones unless you plan on becoming a Maths major/Engineering major.

[Video Drone]

Math is the easiest class in America for me... English is worse.

[Dori]

Math is my strongest subject. That and both foreign langauge and history. I even enjoy my dad showing me cool tricks and stuff. He's a physics grad student.

[kilted exile]

The trick to maths (especially algebra) is to just look at it as another language, and the rules as similar to rules for grammar.

[Bakiryu]

I hate math with a passion, even thought my father was a math teacher. Ever since i was born he tried to make me a mathematical genius. :LOL: It didn't work although I learned to read before i even learned to walk.

[formality hater]

The best way to shake hands with mathematics, is to learn to love it.
Believe me,it works!
You will find that nothing gives you more pleasure than your mind working like a calculator, and your hands playing with the geaometry scales, and Algebra -peanutbutter to your toast:D.

[Pensive]

The best way to shake hands with mathematics, is to learn to love it.
Believe me,it works!
You will find that nothing gives you more pleasure than your mind working like a calculator, and your hands playing with the geaometry scales, and Algebra -peanutbutter to your toast:D.

I wouldn't like my mind working like a calculator! *horrified at the thought* But hey, playing with geometry scales is surely fun, I have been playing with them since four, don't know how many I have broken. :p

[Bakiryu]

I have manny many match teachers cry but I love mathematical instruments. I always end up poking myself with the compass!

[Annamariah]

I like math. It has clear rules and no exceptions. And I love the feeling I get when I manage to solve some difficult mathematical problem :)

[Debrasue]

I thought I hated math....but then I had a really cool math teacher in High School....I learned that... yes...I was 'slow', just not wired for it as much as reading & the arts...but I learned to love it thru the this amazing teacher...She didn't love the math as much as she loved to Teach it...she took all the freaking mystery & mysticism out of it....and I learned it! All of the other teachers made me feel really stupid if I didn't catch-on fast enough...very frustrating...but most math teachers are good at the math ...and awful at teaching it!.....They are not 'wired' to teach....LOL!

[Taliesin]

Ah, the sweet art of math, poetry in abstactions, the tender creativity...

[Debrasue]

Taliesin...Ha, ha....the longer I contemplate it...the more confused I get...I love it!...LOL!

[andave_ya]

yeah, math isn't my strong point anymore. Algebra really got me confused. :blush: alas for the days of simple mathematics! Thankfully logarithms aren't hard and I'm working on those right now.

[motherhubbard]

I was like a Quaker with an ipod.

.



This cracks me up. I love math. It's just one step and then the next until it's done. I especially love a problem that takes up a whole page, I hate shortcuts. I wish everything in life worked like algebra. Then everything would come out right as long as you followed the rules. And if you did make a mistake it would be easy to go back and spot it, right there - oh I didn't carry the 1, glad I have an eraser!

[bluevictim]

I always get the feeling that there is something wrong with the way mathematics is taught (at least in America). It seems like the main motivation that students are given is that it is useful. In my experience, the most interesting math is the math that is not useful. After all, people might study useful math because they have to, but people must study the non-useful math because they want to. Unfortunately, most people are never exposed to the non-useful math unless they are a math major in college (or perhaps a physicist in grad school). Thus, the humanists, who are most interested in artistic beauty, never experience the elegance of real mathematics (which for the most part is absent at the high school and undergraduate level).

It's not that real mathematics is too hard for high schoolers, or that the useful math must be learned first. It's just that educators don't see the value of teaching math that isn't "useful".

[RobinHood3000]

Math is one of my many, many, many, MANY strong points. Obviously, humility is not. ;-)

It's all about the foundation - if you managed to get a good start in math, you'll have a huge advantage. The more practice you get wrapping your head around unusual concepts, the easier it'll be for you to pick up new ones.