<p>michael2, get over yourself. “only a 780”? Really!?</p>
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<p>Then why mention it?</p>
<p>When I was in 6th grade another guy said to me, “I’m kind of a math genius.”</p>
<p>After a day in our math class he was switched to another class because he literally answered every question by the teacher before anybody else had a chance to think about it.</p>
<p>Anyway, I find it obnoxious when people that are very good at math say they’re not because either it’s a subtle way of saying they’re good enough at math to know people that are truly great, or it comes off as trivializing what other people can do.</p>
<p>Either way, false modesty is unbecoming.</p>
<p>I’m good at math, but I’ve seen people that just operate on a level that I can’t even FATHOM (Evan O’Dorney is just a god). I’m sure a lot of people that say “they aren’t very good at math” have has similar experiences.</p>
<p>PS Michael what textbook are you using for Abstract Alg?</p>
<p>Okay fine, I’ll admit it; I am excellent at mathematics!</p>
<p>Books I’m using:
First Semester.
Reading, Writing, and Proving: A Closer Look at Mathematics by Ulrich Daepp and Pamela Gorkin
End of first semester and second semester.
A first course in abstract algebra by John B. Fraleigh.</p>
<p>People like that make me want to jump off a cliff.</p>
<p>I guess when they say “I’m bad at math” they’re just taking a different vantage point, kind of comparing themselves to the whole country. For example, relative to my school, I’m most likely one of the best mathematicians ;D, but relative to the country, I completely fail.</p>
<p>I suck at math, I know it, I get it.
So when my friend who gets 97% with minimal effort says she sucks, well, I just shrug it off. I know she doesn’t, I’ve told her several times, so now I don’t care what she says, it’s just ignored.</p>
<p>I have yet to meet someone who is better than me at math and says he/she is bad at math. </p>
<p>I think michael2 comes close though… he’s the only person I’ve heard complain about a 780. However I got a 790… so I guess that doesn’t qualify.</p>
<p>I think its all about having your “mojo”. I have always loved math since I was in the 1st grade and I thought I was pretty good. Then when I started to do average in Alg. 2 and Pre Calc and a little of AP Calc AB, I thought I was horrible and I started to hate math. For some reason, this year in BC, I have gotten my “mojo” back and am wrecking/loving math. So I think its about having the “mojo”. A somewhat similar word that doesn’t exactly fit what I mean by “mojo” is confidence.</p>