Musings on math

[Goathorns]

Have you ever stopped to wonder just why math eventually gets to be so hard at some points?
I've been staring at this example for a few hours and I still dont get it, and I've been trying to figure out why I don't get it. I got to think, its relative to each one, chinese get precalc at 4th grade we get it at 12th but we all have a hard time eventually, you all know this.

What is the point? how to move forward. Personal tips? Experience? Words of advice?

[Shurt]

Actually, if you're on track, you'll get Pre-cal in the 10th or 11th grade

But about your problem, I'm not sure. I hate math myself, although I'm quite good at geometry

[Goathorns]

Yeah but high-school precalc falls short next to the University course :P
I loved functions, but I just couldnt get circles. Logarithmic and exponentials, inyective, etc, just couldn't take circles.

Linear equations bleh... matrices with complex numbers T_____T

[camaz0tz]

we eventually dont get it because its not like this is all common knowledge most of it is rather recent so to think that wed all instantly understand it when its just being figured out on a mass scale is rediculous

actually if we DID understand it all easily id be a bit worried...the whole concept of learning is to fumble around a bit but keep at it til u understand it...if we knew everything right away then we wouldnt need schools

[FatM4n]

Some ppl can se the whol problem and know how to solve it and some can only se the problem and not to solve it. It's genetic. All you can do is to learn how to solve it but you will have a hard time to understand to solve it

[festo]

Lots of math follow the same simple rules.

[TunaFishyMe]

fundamentals

your fundamentals arent strong enough. At your level, questions shouldnt take more than 5 mins to complete. Calculus is just following a bunch of rules and knowing where to apply them. Derivatives/Integrations is quite easy as long as you are confident with substitution, differenitation by parts, etc. etc. Once you have that down, practice practice practice and itll all come to you.

They arent "smarter" in asia. They just practice a hell of a lot more than people in America. They are trained to be machines to see a problem and know exactly how to do it because they have done so many problems in the past, they know the procedure. No one can "genetically" see a question and know the answer. There are a few, but the majority of people in asia are just more experienced.

I finished a 3 hour midterm in 1 hour, scoring 72.5%. 1 person (asian) left earliar than me but aside from that, (according to my friend) no one left until the 3 hour mark was done. The average for the midterm was 45%. How was I able to do it so fast? Because I memorized all the midterms solutions and procedures. There are so many ways you can test a certain topic. Know them all, and its a piece of cake.

However, once you get into abstract math, its a whole new ball game.

Linear Algebra...solving systems with matrixes arent that hard. Well, it depends on the numbers you are given but there are a lot of patterns and tricks you can use to shorten your time which you will figure out with practice. Math is like a rubric cube. It looks complicated if you dont know the patterns, but if you do know the patterns, its simple.

[Goathorns]

Originally posted by camaz0tz+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camaz0tz)</div>

actually if we DID understand it all easily id be a bit worried...the whole concept of learning is to fumble around a bit but keep at it til u understand it...if we knew everything right away then we wouldnt need schools[/b]

Sometimes... If a toddler takes 2 toys and you give him 2 toys but you take 1 and give him 3 more he knows whats going on. Induction is really easy, we had already been doing similar things under different names and guides but when the part came none of us could figure out what the fuck was going on. :P

<!--QuoteBegin-TunaFishyMe

However, once you get into abstract math, its a whole new ball game. *

That is true. My friend is taking the course(Superior Algebra or Abstract algebra or something...), one night we were talking about Induction and he said: "You know 2+2 = 4 right?" "yes" "did you know that in this course i'm taking 2+2 = 0? Or probably 1, they dont really know yet"
:lol:

[Dro]

for me math was all pretty and easy... the last semester when I got into calculus 3. Ecuation sistes is easy, all sort of algebra too. Once you get into diferencial ecuations.. god those are fucking awefull. Every ecuation changes, and for a really small change you got a whole different process. I had exam of this last wendsday, they set me to determinate the value of a variable that depended on an independent term, but the thing was so huge that finished up with like 6 constants to find, took me a lot of time and brain work. <_<

[TunaFishyMe]

Originally posted by Dro
for me math was all pretty and easy... the last semester when I got into calculus 3. Ecuation sistes is easy, all sort of algebra too. Once you get into diferencial ecuations.. god those are fucking awefull. Every ecuation changes, and for a really small change you got a whole different process. I had exam of this last wendsday, they set me to determinate the value of a variable that depended on an independent term, but the thing was so huge that finished up with like 6 constants to find, took me a lot of time and brain work. *<_<

pfft. differientials equations is just annoying because there are so many different ways to do it. But its the same as any other math. In my differential equations course, each question takes me about 1.5 pages of work but its all simple math. You just have to be very careful when doing the work.