Bad at mathematics? Read this

[kallend 2,106]

www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/the-myth-of-im-bad-at-math/280914/

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[JerryBaumchen 1,436]

Hi John,

I could not agree more.

I have never been nor ever was a gifted student.

I made it when lots of brighter folks did not just because I worked harder; nothing else.

JerryBaumchen
Mech. Engr '71

[lawrocket 3]

I agree totally. I just didn't work hard enough at it. I didn't practice it and I'm better at it now than I was when younger because I'm actually interested in it now.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Skyrad 0]

I don't disagree that its possible to improve with hard work but theres much more to it than that. If I work my arse off on maths every day consistently I can do it and have in the past been awarded a distinction in the subject. However, just a week without the daily grind and its all gone... Vamoose (however its spelt). Yet my wife is great at maths and it sticks with no practice, she can throw numbers around n her head easily and enjoys number work, but theres more to maths than numbers. I enjoy physics and can understand the complexities of various theories and for example the physics behind magnetic resonance imaging, but numbers are pretty much abstract entities to me. My mind works in a different way and I think in a different way to the majority of people and numbers as much as I wish they were not are simply intanigble to me.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Math and physics were the only subjects in school I really worked hard at, and was rewarded with good grades with. The reason why I did work hard at them was, because if I did not pay attention to my teachers every day, I would be lost on the next day's lesson and there was no way to catch up because I was in pretty large classes where the teacher could not take time to cater to each individual student. Pretty much all the other subjects you could actually slack off a little and you could still catch up. Not the case with math and physics.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Tink1717 2]

My problems with math can be summed up in two words: Skill Decay. When I don't use it, I lose it. I like math, like learning it, using it and learning new maths, but that I don't use it, I lose it and rather quickly too. I wish this weren't so, but there it is.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[wmw999 2,534]

Me too; then I helped a friend put together an SAT preparation class, and I found them coming back in a big hurry. If you have some time, spend some of it tutoring kids in math. Yours will come back, and you'll be helping someone as well.

McGraw-Hill has some great books that talk about the test, but that also have lots of worked-out problems that give you how to work out the answer and why -- not just the answer.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[Andy9o8 2]

It was great once my kids reached high school - if I needed help with some math, I got them to do it.

[swisschris62 0]

Everyone can be taught to draw too...

[lawrocket 3]

swisschris62

Everyone can be taught to draw too...

Drawing is the easy part. It's whether you have the guts to pull the trigger.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[ryoder 1,590]

lawrocket

***Everyone can be taught to draw too...

Drawing is the easy part. It's whether you have the guts to pull the trigger.

...and this was where the thread drift started.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[yarpos 4]

a major supermarket in Oz managed to design, print, distrubute and display a sales promotion label " normally $2 , now $1 40% off!"

the fate of mankind as predicted in the movie Idiocracy is well under way.......

regards, Steve
the older I get...the better I was

[Liemberg 0]

Quote

Skill Decay

I did 'college preparation math' later in life. Had 101 tuition from someone who was really good at it and wanted to learn how to play chess. Twice a week during one year we had a math/chess evening being eachothers teacher/student. It worked for me since I passed the exam which was equivalent to 5 years of high school math with a rating slightly above average and 'stood my ground' with the subject in college. However, nowadays my mind turns blank at first when reading a formula. I always wonder if that is caused by learning all this stuff as an adult (+27) while others did it when they were more than 10 years younger...
Anybody has any idea what is going on there? For some reason I would think that 'Skill Decay' is worse when you start out late but I'm not really sure about it.

"Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci
A thousand words...

[Rick 67]

wmw999

Me too; then I helped a friend put together an SAT preparation class, and I found them coming back in a big hurry. If you have some time, spend some of it tutoring kids in math. Yours will come back, and you'll be helping someone as well.

McGraw-Hill has some great books that talk about the test, but that also have lots of worked-out problems that give you how to work out the answer and why -- not just the answer.

Wendy P.

yep totally agree. I was always good at math in school and I use quite a bit of it in my daily work life. Now I have been helping my Niece with her homework, (Her Mother is an english teacher that says she cannot do math ). The stuff I have not done in years comes back quick with a glance through her math book and a few practice problems.

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[oldwomanc6 60]

I'm pretty sure that skill decay happens when you don't use a skill, regardless of when you acquired it, but the class that covered that subject was 30 years ago, so I'm not sure if I remember that correctly.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Rick 67]

You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

[turtlespeed 226]

oldwomanc6

I'm pretty sure that skill decay happens when you don't use a skill, regardless of when you acquired it, but the class that covered that subject was 30 years ago, so I'm not sure if I remember that correctly.

Does that include sex?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[oldwomanc6 60]

Use it or lose it.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[turtlespeed 226]

oldwomanc6

Use it or lose it.

Right NOW?


OK.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[kallend 2,106]

oldwomanc6

Use it or lose it.

That's what the Dr. told me. So I married her.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[champu 1]

http://www.despair.com/incompetence.html

[oldwomanc6 60]

kallend

***Use it or lose it.

That's what the Dr. told me. So I married her.

So the numbers added up?

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[JerryBaumchen 1,436]

Hi Lisa,

Quote

So the numbers added up?

There is that old saying: Once a king, always a king. Once a knight is enough.



JerryBaumchen