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Why do i find maths so hard? Am i just naturally incapable of learning it?

  • 11-12-2012 11:24PM
    #1
    Tom_Cruise
    Closed Accounts Posts: 734 ✭✭✭


    I have always had a hard time grasping maths. In school i done enough to pass any exams but i never had an interest in learning any aspect of the subject. Other subjects such as English and Art i really enjoyed.

    Anyway i have recently decided that i want to tackle my fear head on try to become some way proficient at it, which can only benefit me.

    My question is why do some people have such a hard time with math? I understand some people are better at some subjects than others and everyone has certain subjects they enjoy a lot more, but it seems a large majority people struggle to understand even the basics.

    Is it possible for anyone to improve to a decent level with a strong work ethic and commitment?


Comments

  • #2
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,228 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    Personally, my biggest obstacle to doing better in Maths and most such subjects is memory. I don't think that requirement gets stressed sufficiently. When you encounter a new Maths problem, your ability to make sense of it all depends on your ability to remember all that Maths techniques on which it depends, and recall them at that moment.

    I didn't get this until I started studying Calculus at university as part of an Engineering course. There are many standard differentials and integrations, all of which were derived from fundamental Calculus, but you just have to remember them so that you can move on to more advanced Calculus. By the time we got to Lagrangians, Fourier Transforms, Line Integrals etc., I had frankly run out of space in my head and didn't see why I had to do it. I presume there are practical applications of such things, but you don't cover those at university. :o

    In its pure form, fascism is the sum total of all irrational reactions of the average human character.

    ― Wilhelm Reich



  • #3
    Justin1982
    Closed Accounts Posts: 328 ✭✭Justin1982


    Tom_Cruise wrote: »
    I have always had a hard time grasping maths. In school i done enough to pass any exams but i never had an interest in learning any aspect of the subject. Other subjects such as English and Art i really enjoyed.

    Anyway i have recently decided that i want to tackle my fear head on try to become some way proficient at it, which can only benefit me.

    My question is why do some people have such a hard time with math? I understand some people are better at some subjects than others and everyone has certain subjects they enjoy a lot more, but it seems a large majority people struggle to understand even the basics.

    Is it possible for anyone to improve to a decent level with a strong work ethic and commitment?

    I think your personality can have a large bearing on how good you are at maths. I'd probably guess that you have the mental ability to be good at maths if you could apply yourself to it, particularly if your young (< 20), and study it properly. Some people's personality means they find it hard to apply themselves to the subject.

    Hard work can get you a long way. But if you find that your forcing yourself to sit down to learn it then you'll probably not enjoy it, end up day dreaming while studying and probably not improve that much. And probably give up after a short while.

    You probably need to learn how to enjoy maths before you can really improve at it. Try reading some popular maths books (which really have very little maths in them) like Fermats Last Theorem, The Codebook or Professor Stewarts Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities. If you can firstly learn to appreciate the world of mathematics then you can you'll probably find that it isnt so challenging or as much hard work.

    Personally I found that, while I was studying for my leaving Cert 12 years ago, Maths was probably the most interesting subject along with Physics (which is highly dependent on maths). Only draw back was that I studied Maths a lot for my Leaving Cert just to get to that stage. When you sit down and solve your first really really hard maths problem then you begin to understand what its all about and what your brain is really capable of.


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