math anxiety

[low_delta]

I think that for a lot of people, their math anxiety causes them to not realize that they really are smart enough to solve the problem. They confuse their phobia with inability.

Comments

[beckmermaid.livejournal.com]

I think I am phobic, but ALSO not great at math anyhow ;)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that's true of most math phobes. But don't let it get in the way of learning. :-)

[ravengirl.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU! story of my life.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

I've been observing R struggle with math for two reasons that I can figure:

(1) She has always been so exceptionally quick and bright with verbal learning, that because math takes more time for her to grasp, she thinks she's not math smart. (I recognize myself in her.)

(2) Her 5th grade teacher didn't like teaching math and didn't even complete the math textbook (although the other teachers managed to), setting R back in terms of understanding beginning 6th grade math.

Fortunately, her current math teacher seems to be really on top of things, and I'm hoping it's the year that R develops confidence in her math skills and prevents future math phobia.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised of she ended up phobic, but you need to be careful that she doesn't end up thinking she's not good at it, just because she's better at other things.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

I know. She already thinks she's not good at math, and I remind her that it just takes her more time to get it, that's all. Especially in the high speed of the Internet Age, she and other kids expect things to be FAST and IMMEDIATE. Uh, no, some things take patience, which is decidedly not her strong suit.

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

I also see it happen that once someone realized someone else is around to figure it out for them, they hand over the problem without trying.

Some folks just don't find working that part of their brain enjoyable, I spose. That would make sense.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

they hand over the problem without trying

It's like using a calculator - you learn to rely on it, and your basic skills fade.

But it's not a matter of finding it enjoyable. It's about getting through life with a minimum of complication.

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

It's about getting through life with a minimum of complication

I thought you were talking about higher level math, not balancing your checkbook, figuring out how many pounds of fertilizer to buy or doubling a recipe kind of math.

I have yet to uncomplicate my life with the use of imaginary numbers.
:-)

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

My math thing today was to find out this:

I have the price of a forklift in 2006, which is $25,135.00. I know that it's 3% more than the price was in 2002. What was the price in 2002?

I figured there was a formula to find out the answer. Just subtracting 3% is close, but not correct. The 3% was the increase over the 2002 number, not 3% less of the 2006 number.

Turns out that I just had to take $25,135 and divide it by 1.03. I don't know exactly WHY that works, but it does. How does dividing magically come up with the original number in 2002??

And then this too...WHY when you divide 1.00 by 1.03, does it come up with 0.97087378640776699029126213592233? Where the hell did all those crazy numbers come from?? It's so random! One divided by three is simply .33333333333 etc. That makes sense to me. There's a pattern.

I need to go to bed. My ears are bleeding and I'm breaking out in a rash...

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

And now for an answer that will make sense only to me:

If you were figuring out the price happening in the future you would have multiplied by 1.03. Since your going backwards, timewise, you do the opposite, you divide.

ta da!

Those random repeating numbers are unsettling, aren't they.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

But going into the future, I know that I'm figuring 3% of the number that I'm looking at. To go backwards with division, how does it know the 3% that it's going back to? It's not 3% of 26,135. It's 3% of the other mystery number.

[sweetinsanity.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I truly don't get math. Like, it doesn't make sense to me--at all. I'm sure that there's the anxiety there, but really, even when I'm calm, I don't get it.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

But you're smart enough to be able to pick up on some. Don't let your phobia get it the way of that.

Some people think they don't get it, even when they do. Seriously. Try not to be like that.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

And some of us KNOW it is a phobia and CHOOSE not to get over it. I am one of those, and yeah, I do knwo that compared to most of those around me, I am pretty good at math, but I still have that "numbers/rules chip on my shoulder".

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Why?

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

I am not sure where it stems from. I remember every time we went over a RULE in math thinking "who made up this rule, why do they get to make up the rules and why does it behave that way?". I wanted to know the LOGIC or REASON for the rule, and what I got for my questions was "that is the rule, learn it". I have sucked at math for math's sake all my life. Interesting thing.. if I am doing math in my head, like algebra to figure out a chemical unknown, or math to figure out an angle or percentage when building or shopping, or math to figure out if someone has given me enough money for lunch.. I am a WIZ at that. I do it without thinking. But math just to be leaning math.. NAH!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

So you *are* good at math. And the only reason you don't learn any more is because you already know enough to get by.

But that's the way everyone is. Nobody learns more, just for the sake of learning, unless they have to, in college.

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Nobody learns more MATH than they have to .. or anything? Math.. that may be true, but if I find something I am interested in, I do keep researching and learning.

I was reading the discussions in this thread before I answered this, and like you I was better at geometry in high school than algebra. I
"got" geometry. It was visual, and I could see a purpose. In HIGH SCHOOL I sucked and hated algebra. In college I had to take algebra three times at two different schools to score higher than a D.. but that same algebra that I could not pass with an acceptable grade, I did in my head automatically in chemistry to figure out unknowns. That was a surprise to me.. that I was doing that same crap IN MY HEAD, and understanding it in chemistry, when I could not pass a test in it in math.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

Did you ever like algebra? When I do things simply by numerical logic
(which, I believe, is an oxymoron) I get so confused. If I can reduce it to an algebraic formula I often understand something better. Often, you notice I said. Not always.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Algebra is beyond me. I barely got through it, in high school. Anything with more than one variable is impossible. Basic ratio formuas, I do a lot of. That's how I solved Cyn's forklift problem.

I use basic trigonometry all the time, though. That's easy.

[emschin.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I did well enough in geometry and solid geometry in high school--largely due to an excellent teacher. I managed to get through a semester of trig. But my favorite, and the one I most use, is algebra.

Still, basic arithmetic makes me thankful for calculators.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It took me over a year to get through a year's worth of algebra. Then I went directlyk to geometry and did well because I'm good at that sort of thing.