I hate math

[Gold Vanguard]

It's the only class I can never pass. I have A's and B's in all of my classes except math(which is a big fat F). When I was kid math was easy but now, it's my mortal enemy.

[ZemZem]

Ask your teacher for help. Tell him/her about what you're mostly confused on, and maybe try to do a few examples until it sticks in. Also, parents can be good help, too.

[Peppy]

What topics are you having trouble with?

[Freohr Datia]

Yes, ask teachers or parents (unless yours aren't as well educated as mine =<) or you could ask us perhaps~

[Hero]

I feel the same way, except that for me math was a struggle as compared with my classmates' experiences as far back as my first years of elementary school. I don't know if it's because my brain is wired differently, because I don't like doing daily homework assignments or because I just don't like and have trouble getting along with most math enthusiasts and teachers. I got math tutoring in elementary school through the special ed department and later on in the 7th grade, I was placed in special ed math which prevented me from being able to take any electives that year (although my parents eventually worked out an arrangement for me to attend Spanish two days a week.)

In high school I was placed in the "slow track" math classes, where all of the students were more unmotivated and disruptive and the teachers more authoritarian and bitter than almost any I have met since. I truly hated every minute of those classes, and even managed to get kicked out of algebra 1 in the last 6 weeks of the year because the teacher decided that she couldn't deal with me and the rest of the class at the same time anymore--we hated each other and I felt like she initiated stupid power struggles with me every day in order to confirm to herself her authority over me and the class. I was allowed to finish the course in independent study with another teacher who took pity on my situation, and in that limited time frame managed to boost a C- to an A-. Next year I was in a geometry and failed the class when I didn't turn in some assignments at the end of the year that the teacher himself admitted he never read--isn't it great that the majority of your grade in almost every high school class rides on BS makework? I retook geometry in summer school and was able to get an A without ever having to think very hard. In my second two years of high school, I went to a much smaller school where academic "tracks" were a lot more flexible, and I got the idea that I wanted to continue with math since it involved so much less BS there. I put a lot of effort into it, and I was able to convince the AP calculus teacher to let me take his 8 AM class my senior year despite not having any of its prerequisites beyond geometry on the condition that I worked with a math analysis textbook over the summer. I did that and took the class, which I only just barely managed to pass with the help of a private tutor.

Unfortunately, my experiences with college math have been more in line with my experiences with AP calculus (or worse) than summer school geometry. A lot of the time I even call myself a fool for choosing a math-intensive major like computer science when I know it's probably my biggest academic weak spot. So I don't know if I would recommend continuing with math if you consider it a "mortal enemy", even though I took the opposite route. Whether or not you intuitively like a subject has a lot to do in my experience with your innate untrained talent for that subject and your ability to quickly pick up skills related to it. Maybe I was just trying to strike back at all the teachers I hated for telling me I was a poor student and could never succeed in math, a futile attempt to prove them wrong. I really don't know, except that it feels good when you finally master something that nobody thought you would be able to do.

[Flying Shogi]

Practice really helps. Try asking your teacher for some problem(without tricks) to get the basics down. Math is a cumulative subject. It builds on each year of new material. However, math can only be so clever in so many ways.

[Phoenix Wright]

No, math is beautiful!! It's the language of the universe!

Look, math takes a ton of practice for the average person. For example, you don't start calculus understanding what an integral is, how it came about, and how it's computed. And even when you do find out those things, actually doing it yourself is the real challenge. Starting off small, then working your way up towards difficult problems is the way to do it.

It's OK to have trouble in math, *everyone* does, that's not the issue. It's your attitude towards it. Up until my senior year, it could be said that even though I wanted to be a physics major, I hated math. I always felt it was one of my weakest points. My disdain for math led to a positive feedback loop where I'd learn something new, not practice, then be surprised when I got questions on the test wrong, which again led to a deeper dislike for math.

Work at this stuff. Ask tons of questions (during class and after), practice with problems, test your knowledge of the concepts. Try to find problems in your math book where the math is being applied for a practical purpose (that's what helped me). Don't be afraid to admit you're having trouble, either. [Most] people in real life will act just as we are here: supportive and willing to help.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Phoenix Wright

[Original Alear]

Like Phoenix said, math is really amazing, even though I think every language is a language of the universe. Like Phoenix said, it requires a lot of practice. For my part, the biggest problems arose when I didn't do it in order (like learning derivatives and integers without having taken formal algebra). But whether you are doing it in order or not, if you have problems, you may just need to spend more time practicing, like Phoenix said, if you want to learn it. One important thing is to remember that you might not need to learn it in however many years you want to spend in high school or college, and by the time you are in college, it's important not just to learn it but learn it well if you're bothering to take a course in it. D: I probably know too little to help you. I wish you luck, though.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Mouse

[redturtle806]

I've always felt like when there are more letters than numbers, math magically turns into bullshit. I feel you man.

[Bluedoom]

Itts ok bro I join you in the math failboat. Weird though cuz I never felt yrs 9 and 10 math very hard.

CALCULUSSSSS NOOOOOO >_>

[Samias]

As someone who liked to not do homework in school, math was a struggle and you'll never pass if you don't diligently do the work and take notes and work with the teacher as best as you can. My only advice I can give beyond what was already given is don't cheat yourself, and don't look at the answers until you've finished the question (since most textbooks have the answers written in the back). You'll learn the formulas only by doing the work, and doing it often, and on time in the order that all the work is taught, since each lesson in a unit reinforces the last.

And yeah, I'm in the same boat. Up until grade 8, I was a math wiz. I feel like I was screwed over by a horrible teacher (she was a Spanish teacher and didn't give two shits about math) and never regained even the slightest modicum of interest, even as the difficulty of the work increased, leading to a sticky situation where I struggled to keep my grades in the 60% range when I was once an A. The only math beyond that point of time that I could grasp without too much invested effort was trigonometry and geometry, which were much more "visual" than say, FOILing equations to balance them out.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Samias

[Phoenix Wright]

Itts ok bro I join you in the math failboat. Weird though cuz I never felt yrs 9 and 10 math very hard.

CALCULUSSSSS NOOOOOO >_>

What are you having problems with? Same question to OP.

[Gold Vanguard]

My main problem is mostly algebra. Those damn Y=MX+ B

[eclipse]

What part of y = mx + b is giving you grief?

[CT075]

grade 9 ap calc get at me

[Gold Vanguard]

1353182633[/url]' post='2187204']

What part of y = mx + b is giving you grief?

Mostly the parts in where you have to graph the answers on a chart.

[Flying Shogi]

Start with the number you have as b. Say your equation is y=1/2x+3. Since your b is 3, you go to (0,3) and put a dot there and start from there. Since your slope is 1/2, go up one space(from 0,3) on your paper and go to the right 2 spaces.

[Gold Vanguard]

1353192259[/url]' post='2187285']

Start with the number you have as b. Say your equation is y=1/2x+3. Since your b is 3, you go to (0,3) and put a dot there and start from there. Since your slope is 1/2, go up one space(from 0,3) on your paper and go to the right 2 spaces.

Thanks, that helps a little.

[Freohr Datia]

Okay so in addition to that... this might not work for you as well as it does for me, but...

I always kind of thought of the b as shifting the entire thing, like when adding 3, it shifts the graph up 3 spaces, so where it starts at 0 with x, it gets bumped up 3 spaces and that's why it ends up being your y-intercept. So I always look for the + or - sign and know that number's going to move it up or down. So then I would move it up or down however many spaces, then work on using the slope to find the other dots.

I always remember the slope in that it's usually a fraction, but if it isn't, then there's only two things to remember, the m and b. I just remember that b is what I think about above, so the slope is the m instead =o

Though typically it was easy for me to remember that the slope is just the number in front of the x~

I'm not sure what more input I could give but I can't help but think that saying all this could've possibly just confuzzled you even more x3

[Phoenix Wright]

Okay so in addition to that... this might not work for you as well as it does for me, but...

I always kind of thought of the b as shifting the entire thing, like when adding 3, it shifts the graph up 3 spaces, so where it starts at 0 with x, it gets bumped up 3 spaces and that's why it ends up being your y-intercept. So I always look for the + or - sign and know that number's going to move it up or down. So then I would move it up or down however many spaces, then work on using the slope to find the other dots.

I always remember the slope in that it's usually a fraction, but if it isn't, then there's only two things to remember, the m and b. I just remember that b is what I think about above, so the slope is the m instead =o

Though typically it was easy for me to remember that the slope is just the number in front of the x~

I'm not sure what more input I could give but I can't help but think that saying all this could've possibly just confuzzled you even more x3

The y-intercept is shifting the entire function because the function is intercepting the y-axis at a point off of the origin.

Also, if it helps you think about what the slope is (rise over run), the slope can always (usually?) be expressed in the form of a fraction.

A slope of 1/2 is easy enough to see, but with a function like f(x)=3x+2, the slope of 3 can obviously be expressed as 3/1 if you need an easier visual.

[Komeiji Koishi]

Every thing every one said, but I'll add my own tips.

If the equation is something like y=-2/3x+4, then the y-intercept is at (0,4). And since the slope is negative, you'd have to go up 2 spaces, left 3 (or down 2, right 3) from (0,3). Just think of slope as rise/run and it should be easy. Inequalities are also pretty easy, but I'm guessing you aren't there yet.

Btw, quadratics is pretty easy once you get to (and understand) it, but there's so many things to remember, like roots and where it's pointing, that it becomes a drag later on.

[Freohr Datia]

The y-intercept is shifting the entire function because the function is intercepting the y-axis at a point off of the origin.

Also, if it helps you think about what the slope is (rise over run), the slope can always (usually?) be expressed in the form of a fraction.

A slope of 1/2 is easy enough to see, but with a function like f(x)=3x+2, the slope of 3 can obviously be expressed as 3/1 if you need an easier visual.

Well... yeah that's what I was trying to say but I must've been doing a horrible job x3 One of the things (among many others) I'm really bad at is finding the right words to explain what I mean...

Oh yeah I do typically forget that it could be rewritten but I was just meaning and easy way to identify it to begin with x3

[Bluedoom]

What are you having problems with? Same question to OP.

more ore less the basics of differentiation and continuity. -.-

EDIT: Like in general how am I to prove a function is continuous or not or how I should prove an equation is differentiable/derivable or not.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Bluedoom

[Silvercrow]

You can basically think of continuity this way:

A function is continuous at a point C if the limit as X approaches C of the function is the same as f( c)

So a function that has any sort of discontinuity won't satisfy this since the limit of the function at that point won't match the actual function.

As for differentiability, differentiability is a local property which exists at a point D if you can compute:

lim x -> D (f(x) - f(D)) / (x-D) = f'(D)

And this is pretty much just algebra.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Silvercrow

[Knife]

No, math is beautiful!! It's the language of the universe!

No, beyond 2+2=4 and 2*2=4, math is Indo-Arabic. It's a form of torture they devised centuries ago to punish people like the TC. TC, don't let math beat you. Best way to tackle these torturous problems is to do some examples and be able to solve them again with different numbers. That'll show them.