I have never heard of that!

(August 14, 2016 at 9:32 am)LadyForCamus Wrote: I have never heard of that!

khanacademy.org

Give it a try, and see if it ends up helping.

(August 14, 2016 at 9:28 am)LadyForCamus Wrote:

(August 14, 2016 at 8:07 am)pocaracas Wrote:
Don't be like that.
Math is fun.... and this is a simple geometry problem.

Many kids are feeling like you, simply because of this generalized social repulsion towards math... don't add to the problem, be part of the solution!
Try.... as with many other things, you will fail, at first... try again and again... eventually, it becomes second nature.
Pass that on to your kids and friends...

The only reason I feel that way is because I am TERRIBLE at it, lol.  I struggled all throughout high school, had tutors, summer practice, staying after school for extra help, and re-taking of Regents exams (doing worse the second time around).  I hate it because I could never "get" it, not because of any kind of 'social repulsion' or pop-culture reputation it has.  I can't stand not being able to understand something.  It hurts my ego!  Either my brain is not wired to understand math, or I never had the right teacher.  Probably the first one.

I literally, to this day, feel sick to my stomach remembering my struggles with math; the frustration and feeling of being totally lost taking exams, and the disappointment in myself when the poor grades rolled in.  It was the only subject in school that I couldn't excel in no matter how hard I applied myself.

Believe me, I understand how important math is, and I will do everything in my power to make sure my own children have a better experience than I did!  I admire those who excel at mathematics.

Sorry for rambling; I suppose you hit a nerve.  [emoji39]

It's alright....
I'd wager that the problem lies in not having the right teacher at that important time. Perhaps the time when you learn to go abstract, or maybe they just forced the numbers down your throat, without explaining them, first... I don't know.
I just know that I had great math teachers throughout my learning cycle... except for probabilities... could never get a good hang of those.

(August 14, 2016 at 9:57 am)pocaracas Wrote: I just know that I had great math teachers throughout my learning cycle... except for probabilities... could never get a good hang of those.

I got better at math because my father was so painfully slow and witless as a tutor that it encouraged my self reliance. If I asked him for help I'd have to sit there while he read (at least) the chapter before and tried out several problems himself. Funny but the reason I liked probabilities was the reason he hated them. He insisted there must be a decision procedure which would be applicable to all such problems but he just didn't understand it. I like probabilities precisely because it seems each situation must be analyzed afresh. I suspect though that if anyone acquired enough experience solving probability problems eventually they would distill a decision procedure that would pretty much handle all comers. But one would have to have acquired great expertise to get to the point where those relationships were transparent.

Probably not.

I couldn't remember the formula for the area of a circle. I haz a sad.

(August 14, 2016 at 8:07 am)pocaracas Wrote: Math is fun

Math isn't fun, math is bad spelling. Maths, on the other hand, is fun.

(August 14, 2016 at 9:28 am)LadyForCamus Wrote:

(August 14, 2016 at 8:07 am)pocaracas Wrote:
Don't be like that.
Math is fun.... and this is a simple geometry problem.

Many kids are feeling like you, simply because of this generalized social repulsion towards math... don't add to the problem, be part of the solution!
Try.... as with many other things, you will fail, at first... try again and again... eventually, it becomes second nature.
Pass that on to your kids and friends...

The only reason I feel that way is because I am TERRIBLE at it, lol.  I struggled all throughout high school, had tutors, summer practice, staying after school for extra help, and re-taking of Regents exams (doing worse the second time around).  I hate it because I could never "get" it, not because of any kind of 'social repulsion' or pop-culture reputation it has.  I can't stand not being able to understand something.  It hurts my ego!  Either my brain is not wired to understand math, or I never had the right teacher.  Probably the first one.

I literally, to this day, feel sick to my stomach remembering my struggles with math; the frustration and feeling of being totally lost taking exams, and the disappointment in myself when the poor grades rolled in.  It was the only subject in school that I couldn't excel in no matter how hard I applied myself.

Believe me, I understand how important math is, and I will do everything in my power to make sure my own children have a better experience than I did!  I admire those who excel at mathematics.

Sorry for rambling; I suppose you hit a nerve.  [emoji39]

I had a friend who thought like that until I pointed out that him sizing up our attic and figuring out how much building materials (including wood, floorboard, plasterboard, plaster, cement &c.) to make it a liveable space was maths. You'd be surprised how much of it you do on a daily basis and how good you are if you sat down to think about it.

(August 14, 2016 at 11:02 am)Tazzycorn Wrote:

(August 14, 2016 at 8:07 am)pocaracas Wrote: Math is fun

Math isn't fun, math is bad spelling. 

I think the colour (sic) of your spelling is as strange as your pronunciation of aluminum.  (Notice there is only one "i" at the end of that word and it is too busy providing the "min" we agree on to also offer the "i-um" you give it.)

(August 14, 2016 at 11:12 am)Whateverist Wrote:

(August 14, 2016 at 11:02 am)Tazzycorn Wrote: Math isn't fun, math is bad spelling. 

I think the colour (sic) of your spelling is as strange as your pronunciation of aluminum.  (Notice there is only one "i" at the end of that word and it is too busy providing the "min" we agree on to also offer the "i-um" you give it.)

Hey, I'm Irish. While I know the Queen's english I don't use it. The way I pronounce aluminium is "bendy metal".