<p>What is your theory? :D</p>
<p>They fear what they don't understand.</p>
<p>Why do many people assume that they don't understand math?</p>
<p>Because I'm arrogant and ignorant elitist. (or so I think so)</p>
<p>Past experience and grades, I would expect.</p>
<p>I hate it because I am terrible at it.</p>
<p>It's not something that you can passively and impulsively do. You have to put in quite a lot of initial effort before you can do anything of remote importance in it. And math is a skill that takes time, A LOT of time, to develop. And the results of developing and improving on the skill aren't necessarily observable in a short period of time (whereas it is more observable for reading (pages read) or for computer games (obvious))</p>
<p>I --seriously-- think people hate it because they think its bullsh*. It's the one subject that you don't use consistently in daily life, and when you do, its basics. I also think they hate it because its not explorable like other subjects, like literature, or history, or philosophy, or psychoanalysis. In other words, its a stale, "set," and untouchable subject, where it leaves no room for creative thinking or imaginative discourse, which can make it odd, dull, and boring. But when you are engineering major, and do apply it, you can see it is in fact useful at times, but it's just too "set" to allow an array of ideas to emerge. And I agree, I hate it. The level of thinking I did in my human rights class, my literature class, and political science classes are all theoretical and are interesting areas of human thought. Math is too stale to allow any of it.</p>
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<p>:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>I think this perception of mathematics would radically change if one experienced a true mathematics class, like Topology or Abstract Algebra. People get this impression from high school mathematics [which, unfortunately in many cases, is taught by teachers who are not passionate about the subject].</p>
<p>It's about application. Sure, the way math works tends to be set in stone, but its use can be extremely elegant. You can figure out solutions to problems or discover alternate approaches to things or even make breakthroughs if you understand something well enough.</p>
<p>I think it is the notation that scares people, and the terminology. When you start throwing obscure words and crazy symbols at people, it scares them off. It's like a language, and like any other language, you need to be able to read/speak it properly. Really, mathematical relations are not too bad if you can explain it in a way that strips it of all that crazy jargon.</p>
<p>Chaos you lady, I don't mean it in the traditional sense - I mean it in using the English language to apply/extrapolate/interpolate ideas.</p>
<p>... Lady? o_O /<em>comment</em>/</p>
<p>I know I don't like it because I have a hard time taking a concept I learned in one section and applying it to another concept, because I would learn it for the test and then completely forget it. Some math (like probability) I find interesting, but the majority of it just about bores me to death and can be pretty fustrating. That's why I decided to skip math next year and take courses that actually interest me. I want senior year to be relatively fun. :P</p>
<p>"if one experienced a true mathematics class, like Topology or Abstract Algebra. People get this impression from high school mathematics [which, unfortunately in many cases, is taught by teachers who are not passionate about the subject"</p>
<p>the most interesting math class I took was Statistics, because it involved a lot more English/ideas. And it definitely was more complicated than the normal math classes one takes. Nonetheless, I think math is easier, than being an excellent writer. Like I said, you can be taught math, but good writing involves creativity, and creativity cannot be taught. To be good at writing you must be creative; to be good at math, you don’t.</p>
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Like I said, you can be taught math, but writing is something that is not that teachable.
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<p>If math is so easily taught, then why are so many students failing? Are teachers the only ones to blame?</p>
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To be good at writing you must be creative; to be good at math, you don’t.
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</p>
<p>I don't know where to begin.</p>
<p>When I was younger (and indeed, up till 3 years ago), I hated Math because I never really "learned" it the right way. I always thought that math was just "plug and chug", and you just do as many problems as possible, until you can do any problem in your sleep. But then, I slowly began to realize that its a lot more conceptual, and that there's really no point doing 100 practice problems for a test, but more just understand the processes and why it happens. That made Math a lot more enjoyable for me.</p>
<p>I think it's relative for each individual in this world, and cannot be narrowed down to one set thing. I'm not advocating one is more abstract than the other. In any event, I think the social sciences really require you to think on your own--math of course makes you think, but with already given rules and equations. Try arguing for war, abortion, art's effect on man, the death penalty, or anything to a similar degree - I've done it and you really really have to delve in the issue.</p>
<p>
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To be good at writing you must be creative; to be good at math, you don’t.
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When a promising graduate student of his left mathematics to be a poet, Paul Erdos is said to have remarked: "It's just as well. He wasn't creative enough to be a mathematician"</p>
<p>I had bad math teachers in elementary school (including one who hated subtraction and refused to teach it!), and that just set me to hate math. HS was just me trying to get through stuff and my mom freaking out that I was going to end up "one of those math illiterate people that work at McDonalds/WalMart," which just made me hate math even more. College was a big turning point for me, though. Math classes in college are a very welcome challenge and something that I actually look forward to. I think it's that all of my professors have been really enthusiastic and actually wanted to help and connect with the students. Plus, I tend to be able to grab really abstract ideas and run with them, which is actually welcomed in collegiate math.</p>
<p>I think the overall root of mathphobia is that math's perceived as being something that's hard to learn and above all of us, when it's really not. If one is willing to put some work into it, it's actually kind of easy and fun.</p>
<p>how the HELL are you supposed to be creative in math when the rules, principles and procedures are given to you in advance? lol! No SH* math makes you think (just like any other subject nimrods), but the level of creativity in the social sciences is higher because you have to formulate abstractions on your own and draw convincing and persuasive arguments from your brain alone, not from a rule or set theory!</p>