Why is math hard for the general populace

[Llcoolbay]

Also it hurts when they go to college as teachers start giving out word problems
where you actually have to understand what your doing.

My Pre-Calc gave us that wake up call in highschool when he said at this level you actually got to start studying cause all his test where word problems

 

[EndDomination]

Most people are functional retards breh

This too.

 

[Stir Fry]

I'm terrible at math. To to have enough credits to graduate high school, the last class i took for it was group pre-algebreh

 

[Audemar]

It's been in the news a lot so I think it's being reflected here.

The average person, from what I've seen, is "bad" at just about everything academic: Math, writing skills, critical reading, general knowledge--everything. Math is just one aspect.

 

[ItWasWritten]

Your ability to post on this forum depends entirely on advanced mathematics, as does nearly every aspect of your modern life.
You just haven't used it, but trust if other people thought like you we'd be using stone tools to crack open coconuts for sustenance while baking in the sun right now.

Yes thank you, but I dont have a major in computer-science so that info is irrelevant to me and should only be used on those who manipulate those numbers.

I'm talking real life every day use, not "the whole damn chalkboard" math problems that doesn't help the casual person in life.

 

[root_eruditorium_org]

I think because people, for the most part, don't understand what they're being taught.

Math isn't just a set of formulas and lemmas and postulates... it's a language. It's an extrapolation of the behavior of the universe.

I was HORRIBLE at math until I understood this. Then one day (during my 3rd attempt at calculus) the scales fell from my eyes and for just the briefest of seconds, I "saw the universe" and it all made sense. I have tried to help others have the same revelation, but really I think you just have to see it for yourself.

Once I realized what math was, it became easy.

best post in the thread. math is really just a language. i do not agree that it is an extrapolation of the behavior of the universe though - i don't know where you even got that. a lot of the practical / applied math now was useless for the longest time. calculus and graph theory were born out of practical needs but number theory did not really find a practical utility up until the 70s when it was used in cryptography.

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

people who suck at math and have a disdain for the subject are paid to teach your kids the basics of math.

most teachers who majored in math and or hard sciences work in high school, not elementary. can pull up a stat if needed. they expect kids to have a certain level of math knowledge. if the kids aren't at that base level the teacher isn't expected to go back and teach 13-14 years of subject material to each student individually. they have to focus on what their current grade level curriculum is.

all of a sudden these kids who don't understand the fundamentals of algebra are being taught about slopes and intercepts and it makes their brains hurt. they don't understand the concepts and also start disliking the subject.

math, like any subject, builds on previous knowledge. if you don't know addition, multiplication won't make sense. if multiplication doesn't make sense then factoring won't make sense. etc.

it all starts with a strong foundation. most of the teachers who teach elementary shouldn't be teaching your kids math because they don't appreciate the subject.

I feel you breh.
Speaking for myself, I've had mostly horrible math teachers. I've prolly only had 2 good math teachers in my whole life and they were when I was in middle school (which was a magnet school for the performing arts which prolly explains the higher quality of teachers) The rest have been from average to garbage as fukk and this including the college level.

I found it hard to connect with what was being taught because it was done in such disdainful haste. Like these math teachers really gave no fukks if you learned it or not and would speed through lessons and belittle you for asking questions.



Every subject has its share of bad teachers, but I've come across more bad teachers in math than in any other subject.

 

[joeychizzle]

1. The American educational system is shyt.
2. People expect everything to be handed to them.
3. Social media has completely ruined attention spans.
4. A lot of people are just stupid.

Mathematics is the language of the universe, the key to all things quantifiable. We should all do well to become well acquainted with it.

 

[FSP]

best post in the thread. math is really just a language. i do not agree that it is an extrapolation of the behavior of the universe though - i don't know where you even got that. a lot of the practical / applied math now was useless for the longest time. calculus and graph theory were born out of practical needs but number theory did not really find a practical utility up until the 70s when it was used in cryptography.

Not every part of it has to be practical. That's why there's pure mathematics and applied math. Math can be just as much of an expressive art form as something like painting IMO. You can use it to describe abstract things, and they don't have to be practically useful, they don't even need to exist. You can use math to describe your imagination. It's part logic part expression. Not unlike a language as you guys have pointed out. I think it was Newton who said math is the language of God himself. But that's just my opinionated stance, from someone who's always been told I was "gifted" in math.

Don't know about that part about math being easy though. If it's not tough then you're probably not challenging yourself enough.

 

[Wild self]

For me, I was great in math until Precalculus. Then I was like

A machine these days can teach me better than any shytty teacher can. Some teachers have no humanity.

 

[Black Nate Grey]

I think because people, for the most part, don't understand what they're being taught.

Math isn't just a set of formulas and lemmas and postulates... it's a language. It's an extrapolation of the behavior of the universe.

I was HORRIBLE at math until I understood this. Then one day (during my 3rd attempt at calculus) the scales fell from my eyes and for just the briefest of seconds, I "saw the universe" and it all made sense. I have tried to help others have the same revelation, but really I think you just have to see it for yourself.

Once I realized what math was, it became easy.

I'm starting to see that now as well, The study of Mathematics and Physics are the closest things to the study of 'God', these two subjects explain everything while setting irrefutable laws about the universe that everything follows from Electrons to Multiverses. I didn't see that in High School. Now I'm trying my hardest to get good at and understand Math and Physics. I still suck, so I'm starting from the basics I must have missed something.

 

[nose hair]

i don't know but i struggled with math. geometry was cool though

 

[Rigby.]

Throughout school, I've always been considered pretty smart and statistically, that was proven. But when I hit middle school, I got lazy as hell. I still got As and shyt but without actually trying, algebra was HARD. I barely pulled out a B. I haven't gotten an A in a math class since

Basically not knowing the foundations can damn you forever when it comes to math

 

[God Almighty]

I only encoded 2.16% of you with the genes necessary to mentally visualize high level mathematics so that you little motherfukkers wouldn't be able to figure out how to escape your planet before evolving into a peaceful and safe species fit to travel the universe.

And once again, I see that I have fukked up.

 

[damn_ese]

I blame my horrendous math ability on a bad school system and my own lazyness together with a weak support system. my parents had barely finished 4th grade before they had to drop out to work. so as much as they encouraged me to succeed in school, they couldnt really help me with math or any other type of school work.

through out my entire public school career, I constantly averaged D and F grades in Math, there were periods where I would get tired of failing and would join after school help sessions, but to no avail. Numbers are just so damn boring, like once I see a problem, my mind vomits and a wall goes up against retaining any math info. didn't help either that in elementary, if you weren't already good at math, the teacher usually put the bad students in the last row and pretty much ignored us the entire school year.

today I can barely do basic division shyt is embarrassing brehs, but I have a decent job and soon I'm going to be making even more. so it's not a handicap in my line of work.

funny story:

in my senior year of high school I was missing 1 credit in order to graduate, so I had to go to summer school and pass 12th grade Math class. our summer school teacher was a young go getter, he realized many of us had just one more chance to graduate on time so he gave a truly inspiring speech something like straight out of any given sunday. talmbout . . . "we can fight our way back out of hell!"

shyt had the entire class inspired as fukk

we all promised to work our asses off the entire summer in order to pass the final test. no BS, no one skipped class, there was no fooling around, everyone pushed themselves, everyone was gonna give everything to succeed.

so finally the big day comes and everyone in class takes the test, afterwards everyone felt so damn relieved and we knew we had achieved perfect scores, scores that surely were gonna get the attention of the media

so a day later we get the results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Breh

20% of the class passed the damn test! I was one of the lucky ones . . your breh passed with a solid 65% my best math score ever that did not involve cheating

the teacher was straight up perplexed and had his soul crushed "i believed in you dumb motherfukkers!"he was pacing around saying " I have no idea what the hell happened"

class was like