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meems
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18 Sep 2012, 2:07 pm

ruveyn wrote:
here is my favorite quote from R. A. Heinlein:

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house.


ruveyn


As much as I adore ruveyn, I kind of hate being reminded that I've felt like a subhuman wearing shoes and not making messes in my house.

I'm finally taking pre-algebra courses, it is the only area in which I have trouble excelling academically so I've just avoided it for years. Now I'm sick of being innumerate so I'm taking courses and forcing myself to sit through the panic attacks and learn what I can.

I might be competent within a few years!



treblecake
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22 Sep 2012, 8:48 am

I'm pretty good at maths, although I'm not very good at getting myself to do maths.


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RocketPeacock
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23 Sep 2012, 1:25 am

I'm great with concepts.

Problem solving, not so much. I can figure out the way to solve hard problems, but, the messier the algebra gets, the more likely I am to misread my own handwriting, forget a negative sign, or make a mistake in 8th grade level algebra.

Math is still my worst subject, but I'm a B+/A- student in honors math classes at a very hard school, and I (somehow) managed an 800 on the SAT Math II (the curve must have been large enough to compensate for my inevitable stupid mistakes.)

I rarely make stupid mistakes in physics and chem, though. There, I see that my answer doesn't make sense, and go back to correct my math.



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23 Sep 2012, 7:17 am

I'm good with Maths, and want to study it forever. :D


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MDD123
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23 Sep 2012, 3:13 pm

Thanks to Khan Academy, I'm competent at just about all precalculus level math. As soon as I'm ready to step it up to Calculus, I'll enroll in an actual class again.



wbport
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03 Oct 2012, 5:24 pm

When Video Cassette Recorders first came out, the only indication of where you were on a tape was a counter on the take up side. I realized that given a zeroed counter when the tape was rewound and counter readings at one hour and two hours, a quadradic equation could be derived and solved to relate any time to counter reading and vice versa.



ruveyn
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04 Oct 2012, 7:03 am

MDD123 wrote:
Thanks to Khan Academy, I'm competent at just about all precalculus level math. As soon as I'm ready to step it up to Calculus, I'll enroll in an actual class again.


If you can grasp the concept of limit and convergence then calculus is no big deal. It is mostly an algebraic exercise.

ruveyn



MDD123
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06 Oct 2012, 7:47 pm

ruveyn wrote:
MDD123 wrote:
Thanks to Khan Academy, I'm competent at just about all precalculus level math. As soon as I'm ready to step it up to Calculus, I'll enroll in an actual class again.


If you can grasp the concept of limit and convergence then calculus is no big deal. It is mostly an algebraic exercise.

ruveyn


I'm familiar with limits, convergence is new territory though. I keep hearing that calculus is mostly algebra, but I also hear a lot of complaining about calculus 3. Any time I overhear a pre-engineering major complain about math, it's usually about calculus 3 or linear algebra. If those guys have a reason to complain about it, there must be something to it.



Agent_Smirnoff
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15 Oct 2012, 6:06 am

Kairi96 wrote:
Well, depends. I'm quite good at some algebra things, but I suck in all the others math things, expecially in geometry.


This is precisely the case with me, I can handle algebra and most advanced level mathematics no sweat but geometry is a real struggle.



wbport
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15 Oct 2012, 6:18 am

Geometry was by far my easiest subject in high school, but I've forgotten just about all of it now. Algebra would take only a short revew to get on top of (why factor when you can plug in the quad formula?).



ruveyn
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15 Oct 2012, 9:32 am

wbport wrote:
Geometry was by far my easiest subject in high school, but I've forgotten just about all of it now. Algebra would take only a short revew to get on top of (why factor when you can plug in the quad formula?).


The quadratic formula is an exercise in completing the square which permits an easy factorization to get the final formula. Factoring is built in to the quadratic formula.

ruveyn



wbport
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15 Oct 2012, 9:51 am

ruveyn wrote:
The quadratic formula is an exercise in completing the square which permits an easy factorization to get the final formula. Factoring is built in to the quadratic formula.

I did the proof in the 11th grade, but haven't needed to keep on top of it since then.



Evinceo
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17 Oct 2012, 12:49 am

wbport wrote:
Geometry was by far my easiest subject in high school, but I've forgotten just about all of it now. Algebra would take only a short revew to get on top of (why factor when you can plug in the quad formula?).


It'll only solve quadratic problems though-I haven't used it in many years.



LeeAnderson
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17 Oct 2012, 1:43 am

I'm not great at it only because it doesn't interest me. When I am forced to and I apply myself, I do great though.



maroptmax
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17 Oct 2012, 6:50 am

my heroes: Boole, Dedekind, Peano, Russell (my favorite) ...

If you are familiar w/those names, then you know w/o being told that my interests are about 100 years out of date for being "all the rage." That does not matter. I am interested in number/set theory and symbolic/formal logic. I can't help myself. Geometry has its charms, and I do well enough w/it when I need to work w/it - but - I am an algebraist at heart. I can see and appreciate the contributions that geometers/geometricians (whichever term you prefer) have made* - but I know that I myself could never have made such contributions, no matter how hard I tried. Why? Because I think in ways that are suitable to - number theory and symbolic logic.

*to the study of nonlinearities, for instance

What is my point?

Even mathematicians tend to do better w/one or the other of the many fields and subfields w/in the vast universe that is Mathematics: nobody is a whiz at everything - especially not geniuses (they say that Einstein had trouble tying his shoes). Relax! I like to play w/geometry because it challenges (and diverts) me.

The joy of math is in doing math - not in proving anything to anybody.



ruveyn
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17 Oct 2012, 7:31 am

maroptmax wrote:

The joy of math is in doing math - not in proving anything to anybody.


+1 ! !!

ruveyn