[quote=“Rawiri, post:13, topic:6098”]I’m going to have to unfortunately disagree with everyone above me. If you just want to pass the course then it’s all well and good, get out some flash cards and shovel the equations into your brain. That’s typically all anyone needs to not just pass but do very well at almost any class nowadays.
But that’s the reason most people think they are not “math people” and have difficulty “thinking in numbers.” Everyone has difficulty thinking in numbers, and math people don’t really think in numbers either!
Most likely, at some point in your life, you missed out on some fundamental “step” in your knowledge which makes everything after just not “click.” Mathematics builds on top of itself and when you miss a step everything after is going to be very shaky. So, if possible, try and find what you might have missed.
A starting place would be vocabulary, make sure you actually know what the definition of all the “math words” actually mean so you can understand an explanation which uses those terms. If a concept comes up that you don’t “get” try and find an explanation for it…don’t stick to one text book or explanation, keep looking through numerous ones until you find something that makes sense.
Secondly, don’t think abstractly. Like I said, most mathematicians don’t think in “numbers.” Either try and bring something to a conceptual level you can understand, or look for an explanation that does. Break it down. A lot of mathematical concepts can be understood through shapes.
For a relatively “simple” example, squares and square roots are, not surprisingly, based on squares…
Draw a square (if on your computer, you can look at your number keypad at the right of your keyboard for this) How many squares do you need to make it a perfect square? Well, none, it is already a perfect square so 1 squared is 1. How about 2 squares? Well let’s see. If you put two squares next to each other, you need another 2 squares of the same size placed next to them to make a perfect square. 4 squares in total. 2 squared is 4.
This works inversely too. Take a square. Divide it up into 9 equal squares. How many squares across (as the “root” of the square) did you need to do this? 3. The square root of 9 is 3.
But now try get the square root of 2. Divide one square into two perfect squares. Can’t do it? Neither can I. How about 3? 5? 6? 7? 8? Nope. So these squares are irrational. 4 and 9 are rational. You can divide a square up into equal squares of 4 and 9. There are all these proofs for why each is irrational, but god darn it, you can just look at a square and see it is irrational! Most of the “hard” maths is due to mathematicians trying to solve problems like dividing a square into two equal squares.
Thirdly, link it to things you do enjoy. If you enjoy history and philosophy, well…look at the history of mathematics and the philosophy derived from it. There is a lot of it. And keep in mind, if you learn anything beyond very basic maths, even algebra…heck even zero and negative numbers, you are learning something that would boggle the mind of the top mathematicians not that long ago.
As for spirits, I will second the above who recommend Thoth. Ganesha is a joy too.
(Sorry for the long rant, but some things like people thinking they can’t learn something well get me all hot and bothered)[/quote]
Excellent information mathematics was my strong suit I can do equations in my head faster than most people on a calculator. I believe some people are just wired for math as it seems impossible to me that people could have trouble with it another thing is algorithms there are many ways to come to the same conclusion in a mathematical problem. If you know nothing of algorithms look into basic elementary common core math it makes kids use stupid ass hard ways to get the answer but in doing so teaches them the break down of the problem and helps them to understand ways of coming to the conclusion not the way I would do it that’s for sure but teaches the basics of ways to figure math problems
here schooling is free, except if you only go and take 1 specific class - but if you go for everything its free. Of course you will have to buy the books yourself if you choose to go.