What specifically do you not like about it. And I don’t just mean “it’s too hard”, what specifically is hard?
I feel like most people would like mathematics, but the education system failed them, teaching in a way that’s not enjoyable.
What specifically do you not like about it. And I don’t just mean “it’s too hard”, what specifically is hard?
I feel like most people would like mathematics, but the education system failed them, teaching in a way that’s not enjoyable.
I don’t think this applies to everyone but the major difference I have found between people who enjoy math and those who don’t lies primarily in how they do math. People who don’t like math usually learn and reproduce the subject by memorizing formulas and using them as tools to solve problems where as people who enjoy mathematics typically seek to understand why those formulas work and often rederive them. For the former who didn’t take the time or was not interested in learning the laws that govern math, the subject is a slog of searching your tool box for the correct tool. Sometimes numerous times until you find the one that works, though often not knowing why it worked and the others did not. For the latter it is like a language they have become fluent in. The indentification of which tool they need has become second nature and they will sometimes design tools specific to their needs.
Edit: I saw all this from my experience as a physics major for most of my undergrad. This primarily comes from what I observed in other physics majors so this could be somewhat skewed info. I’m certain there are people who understood math from the roots up and still hated it. Puzzles like that aren’t for everyone and I certainly got tired of it by the time I reached up level math.
Literally why I hate math. There was no explanation in highschool, it was just here’s a formula bv+yq-72(7ph+u/65) use it when you see pineapples.
…how the fuck am I supposed to just remember that? I need to understand how something works or my brain simply will not retain it. The response I always got was “proofs are too complex, you’ll learn that in college.” …ok but that doesn’t help my D+ ass now and just made me think I’m terrible at math, completely avoiding anything science related even though I loved pretty much most fields of science.
I got super lucky in highschool. Algebra came super easy to me as I enjoyed the subject and my ADHD brain wanted to understand it but the people teaching the subject were like yours. Even if that weren’t the case many people can get through algebra sufficiently just memorizing formulas. Calculus was where the line was drawn between the those who memorized processes and those who understood the language. I really lucked out with my calculus teacher. He was one of those people who you could tell really enjoyed teaching because he loved watching his students grow. When he worked one on one with you his favorite thing was when you very obviously had a sudden moment of realization/understanding. He’d get excited and celebrate with you because you just grasped the why beyond the how. To this day I have not had such a positive experience with education. Teachers like that are a fucking gem and I wish there were more of them. He is almost the sole reason I am pursuing a career in education. The fact that math, taught in the manner he taugh it, isn’t the norm is fucking tragedy.
who is teaching anyone the ‘laws that govern math’?
Anyone who focuses on proofs really. Pythagoras is a good historical example even if he could be unconventional by modern standards. Check out 3blue1brown on youtube tbh, he isn’t doing formal proofs but he’s great at explaining a visualizing why math works how it does.