I Hate Mathematics...

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I hate math, it is too complicated. I can never, ever get the hang of division and decimals. I do fairly well at multiplication and excellent in addition/subtraction, other than that, I am a failure at it. I would prefer to spend my days writing, watching "Little Women", or playing a Piano. I just HATE math...

I hate it if I don't have my calculator.

It bores me because it is just a bunch of work
that I should not have to do, it is a bother, a waste
of time.

If I have a calculator then I will just get it
out of the way.

My brother loves it so I pass every maths
problem onto him andhe just gives me the
answer.

*Adds LJ to his sworn enemies list*

The key ... at least for myself ... is to associate the equations and crap with visual images and real life correlations. Most people I've explained certain maths to have taken calc 2 or 3 and cannot adequately describe on a real life basis what their equations are really doing ... other than turning out appropriate and constant answers. A scaled down example of this would be like knowing that 8/4 = 2 ... because the number four is told to be a half of eight, and that number ' fits ' into 8 twice.

Though to really understand this, outside of the interaction of the symbols that make up the equation, you would have to realize that if you have an empty cup that has a volume of eight ml or 8 cm^3 with a hundred cups surrounding the empty 8ml cup, all of them holding 4ml's of liquid ... that only two of the 100 cups are required to fill the empty cup. Anything more would simply flow out of the cup. Again, ' simplified ' as 8/4 = 2 ... the only problem with this is that the deeper you get into mathematics, the less attention is paid to the visual actual examples of what the numbers and symbols are truly representing. And toward the far deeper end of mathematics it seems that the numbers and symbols have exceeded the relation to actual reality ... to the point of complete dissonance ... which is probably why ' number theory ' is an active field, and why the math can add up, but no one has a damn clue whats going on or sometimes even why it adds up.

And, to vent one more issue of mine with mathematics ... by now the education system does not seem to care at all if you really understand the material, and consider it adequate that someone can simply pass a math exam to prove they understand what they are doing. I Spent 14 years of school doing math and not having a clue what any of it represented ... all I did was cram the night before the tests/exams and memorize how the formulas interacted.

( sorry for any spelling errors ... this keyboard is crap, and I get disoriented the longer I type things like this )

This might make you feel better, from the list of You Know You're an Engineer if:
"You know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division. "

This is extraordinarily true.

That is not mathematics. That is arithmetic.

ruveyn

I started school with one of the first 'New Math' school of mathematics. It was rank improvisation.
I see math as a tool; forgive me, I don't care about the 'inherent beauty of mathematics', because it always seemed to be about 'how many different ways can you solve these problems"

I can do math, though a lot of it is forgotten from lack of use. It surprises me what some young'ns can't do with math, but then that argument goes back to the Caveman days...

QFT.

I often see people complaining about how much they hate mathematics... not one of those people would even recognize mathematics if they saw it. It is like a blind man critiquing Rembrandt.

... So do I.

True! (Although it could be argued that arithmetic is a very elementary sort of mathematics.) And you know what? Many of the really clever mathematicians I know actually suck at arithmetic! I once saw this professor who couldn't do 5 factorial (which is 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120).

I had the same problem until I went to high school, and onto real mathematics in my opinion. But sometimes when I'm bored and can't go to sleep, I do calculations in my head and check them on a calculator. It makes me happy when I turn out to be right. But I digress, the point here (not very obvious) is that you can't say you hate mathematics when all you've done is arithmetic.

LiberalJustice, I have a question for you: Have you memorized your multiplication tables? It's the thing I recommend the most to people who have difficulty with calculation.

+1 it helped me for sure.

Now do the same for your divisions tables.

I loved it.

I did a module in mathematics with the Open University when I was 15.

I can appreciate math. It always looks so perfect to me, the neat columns and rows of numbers and variables. :3

But I am math dumb, I am a word person.