Quote:
Originally Posted by Reincarnate
I honestly blame teachers for much of this because most teachers are shitty empaths / communicators. The challenge is explaining something in a way that is sensitive to the student's state of mind.
One skill that isn't taught at all (or at least not well) is how to ask the right questions. Determining what your goal is / what you want to solve and what you need to know to get there, and how you can break each one of those problems down.
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This. Seriously. I am fortunate to have a great number theory professor and currently, an amazing combinatorics professor here at Budapest. They have stirred my mathematical interests towards these areas because they alleviate the difficulty of mathematical thinking by explaining
why statement A implies statement B, instead of drilling mathematical facts into my head. Many students find mathematics difficult because they do not see the concepts that lie beneath the many variables and numbers contained in a mathematical proof.
With that being said, to improve your mathematical intuition, try understanding why the derivative of x^n is nx^(n-1), or why 1+1/2+1/4+1/8+ ... = 2, etc. This is really fascinating because the beauty of mathematics lies in why mathematics is, instead of what mathematics is. Many people only see the complicated computations and because this is apparently an alien language to the majority, they are discouraged and generalize mathematics as a very difficult academic field to pursue.
Some additional suggestions: If these concepts do not make any sense, try using examples to help you understand them better. Do a few calculus exercises as often as you can. Solving a shitload of problems is the best way to reinforce concepts. Remember time tables back in elementary school? They used to drill those facts into our heads when we were young. (Not to mention, they showed why 1+1=2 by holding up apples in front of the class rofl). Now at this age, 1+1 just seems so trivial to at least 99% of the high school population because we spent so much time memorizing what 1+1 is.
Hope this helps. Good luck.