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Is it truly a difficult subject that only a few people with special brains can master? Or is it just that the entire way it's taught is awful. If you don't excel at math when you are very young, can you ever "catch up" later in life? Have many adults mastered math after being terrible at it as children?
I wish I knew. There was a thread on here not too long ago asking a similar question but more specifically about math teaching methods in the US.
I'm not buying some of the posted arguments that people slack off in class and that's why they don't do well. I didn't slack off, I paid attention, and did fine in math and kind of pre=algebra stuff in gradeschool, but it started getting dicey in Middle School. Then in HS I was slammed with Algebra I. I worked my butt off just to pass the class. So it wasn't for any lack of effort. I wonder if some people just lack the math gene, or something.
I wish I knew. There was a thread on here not too long ago asking a similar question but more specifically about math teaching methods in the US.
I'm not buying some of the posted arguments that people slack off in class and that's why they don't do well. I didn't slack off, I paid attention, and did fine in math and kind of pre=algebra stuff in gradeschool, but it started getting dicey in Middle School. Then in HS I was slammed with Algebra I. I worked my butt off just to pass the class. So it wasn't for any lack of effort. I wonder if some people just lack the math gene, or something.
I think it just takes some digging by a professional to help you understand where the disconnect is. There is no mathematics gene. Math is basically the study of patterns, which everyone does, innately.
Why is algebra so hard? For many students, math experts say, it is a dramatic leap to go from the concrete world of computation-focused grade school math to the abstract world of algebra, which requires work with variables and changing quantitative relationships. It is not just the shock of seeing letters where numbers have been but also the type of thinking those letters represent.
“In arithmetic, you are dealing with explicit numbers,” says Hung-Hsi Wu, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. “Algebra says, ‘I have a number; I don’t know what it is, but three times it and subtract three is 15.’ You have a number floating out there, and you have to catch it. It is the thinking behind catching the number that baffles students.”
I think it just takes some digging by a professional to help you understand where the disconnect is. There is no mathematics gene. Math is basically the study of patterns, which everyone does, innately.
This is interesting. I wish there were teachers who explained things like this. Teachers who might come at it from a different angle from time to time. I do extremely well with foreign languages, which are all about patterns, but I couldn't get Algebra. I did ok in advanced Algebra/trig, or whatever it was, because the school offered a dumbed-down option for those who struggled with math. But I never recognized it as a study in patterns.
I think it just takes some digging by a professional to help you understand where the disconnect is. There is no mathematics gene. Math is basically the study of patterns, which everyone does, innately.
While I agree that math is basically the study of patterns, many people get confused when they leap from the concrete to the abstract. Once the fear is there, it is hard to overcome it. Math anxiety is real and many kids give up and believe they cannot do math.
Why is algebra so hard? For many students, math experts say, it is a dramatic leap to go from the concrete world of computation-focused grade school math to the abstract world of algebra, which requires work with variables and changing quantitative relationships. It is not just the shock of seeing letters where numbers have been but also the type of thinking those letters represent.
“In arithmetic, you are dealing with explicit numbers,” says Hung-Hsi Wu, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. “Algebra says, ‘I have a number; I don’t know what it is, but three times it and subtract three is 15.’ You have a number floating out there, and you have to catch it. It is the thinking behind catching the number that baffles students.”
This is so right on! It's such a huge change from grade school arithmetic to solving for "x". It's like, "What's THIS stuff supposed to be?!".
Most math teachers are just not very good at math themselves.
Most kids think it's boring and don't want to practice.
The system is not set up properly.
Some people just take more time to learn certain parts of math. instead of taking the time to make sure everyone learns their stuff, the slow learners just get a bad grade and after a certain point are just done. When really math should have no grades and people just keep trying and trying until they have it figured out, with more personalized attention.
I used to be a math tutor (I have a math degree) and I can get anyone up to speed. I can recognize where their real weaknesses are and what they need to do to get to the level they want to be at. Sometimes they have to start much further back than they think. However I get paid so much more having a math related job other than tutoring, so I don't do it.
There are three types of people regarding math. Those who understand it and those who don't.
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