silky, the thing that turned me off maths a bit even before all the theory stuff was when we had to do all these steps to solve problems. I could skip just about every second step but rather took exception about being marked wrong when I arrived at the correct answer by perfectly valid means.
My mother was a math teacher, so she explained to me that she had to see every step to make sure those were right. I think it was like each step, including the answer was the same weight for a grade.
I do know some people who really could do a lot of the steps in math problems in their heads. I always just wrote everything out because it was much 'easier' and I didn't have to think so hard that way.
I had a horrible time with economics, most history, arithmetic, graphs, and using maps. I failed out of Differential Equations (mid-level college math course), which had about 20 steps to problems that one had to memorize. I didn't get any of it, and couldn't bring myself to care. Other than that course and any arithmetic, I loved math.
J'adore trig
i love trigonometry
I find that I am really good at mental math like counting down on a dart board but not good at abstract stuff like algebra.
I thought some Aspies were extremely good at math, econ., etc. but I read that people on the spectrum struggle with these because they think in pictures. Is that a myth? If autistics do tend to find difficulty in math and similar disciplines because of their thinking process, how do some overcome it and do well? Or do all Aspies struggle in math, etc.?
I'm an economist. So is Nobel Prize-winnnig aspie Vernon Smith.
No, really, I have a BSc. and am halfway my Masters'.
I find that I am good at understanding the underlying math to quite a degree but definitely fall behind in the formula memorization and such.
Most annoying thing about math in general is that it seems to have become common practice to drill stupid shortcuts into our head so that we can "do" the math and then only later reveal that those shortcuts we learned are really just an easy way to do something that while more complex, is much easier to understand than some abstract "shortcut".
I also think the problem is that "shortcuts" are abstract and it is hard to visualize an abstract idea, which for me is rough because most everything in my head is visualized. So, I've always worked to learn the base concepts or rules involved in math and from there I can build up my pieces to solving most problems. This can be tricky though as not every teacher will understand the basis for the "shortcuts" that they are teaching.
The memorization problem was luckily solved by a graphic calculator *whew*. Or by a cool website called quickmath.com.
I've been pretty good at algebra and I really enjoy calculus as well as proofs and set theory. However, I cannot understand any of the shortcuts and I never (since 9th grade) memorize a formula until I can prove it myself in case I forget it. I've used those proofs on tests when I couldn't be sure if I had the formula right. I do wonder what some teachers thought of seeing those scribbles on the margins.
If there's hyperlexia, is there hypercalculia?
One thing I can do is compare two tables of numbers at a glance. I don't get it right 100% of the time, but it sure works 85-90% of the time.
I personally find that a lot of algebraic etc maths is so useless and needlessly complicated I can't see the benefit. Aspies can be very logical, and I can see where they may struggle with things like quadratics that seem completely pointless.
Or maybe I'm just making excuse because I'm too thick to do it
I'm in grade 11, I'm taking mathematics and I found a few things in my struggles.
1. I am unable to remember a formula for most anything, unless I come to the answer myself. Thus I know the starting problem, the answer, and a jumbled pile of different mathematical utilities (addition, subtraction, square-root, ect) Then I try and come to the solution on my own. In the end, my formula usually a variation of the teachers formula. Its the only way I'll remember it for good.
2. I am a visual learner. Math is easier to learn when I see 10 cars, and 5 drive off, that leaves me with 5 cars. Its also easy to learn negatives, like being in debt with money, you owe five cars. When math gets more complicated, it takes a good amount of time to find a suitable picture situation to which I can see my math at work.
3. Overall, I can't keep up with my class, I learn somewhat slower, Can't learn what I'm not interested in. I'm fairly good at algebra and using it in problems, such as Physics class. Graphing and quadratic equations is oddly harder for me, even though its mostly visual. Trig is somewhat okay once I got the hang of it.
What methods do you use to learn math? I need help learning how to learn math.
I've always done math visually in my head... usually I picture little pink sideways ovals (like the ovals you fill in with a #2 pencil on tests) against a black background. So if you said to figure out 3 x 7 (I was never able to memorize multiplication tables), I picture it like this:
O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O
O O O
Needless to say that gets way too complicated to count the little circles if the numbers are higher than that, so a calculator is my constant companion. I'm very good at figuring out HOW to calculate things though, so Algebra was pretty easy for me in school. I figure if I know how to calculate it and I can either work it out on paper or on a calculator, then why do I need to memorize the answers in my head? The important thing is to just get to the answer, right?
Numbers have colors and personalities for me too! Actually pretty much everything does. 1 is red, 3 is green, 4 and 9 are definitely yellow... but it depends on the context too. I always wondered if everyone else saw things that way. It is so cool to now talk to people that do! NT's are missing out on that as far as I'm concerned. Their world must look like a black-and-white movie compared to our Technicolor one. I'd love to show the whole world what I see, but I don't even know how to put it into words, and words wouldn't really get it across anyway.
I understand mathematical concepts (geometric concepts especially because I'm a visual thinker) very well and can do arithmetic in my head fairly well, I just hate doing the actual calculations!
I was good with math (well, I learned the meaning of homework in precalculus in college) until matrix algebra. It was a killer, but I did learn (then) the rationale behind the analysis of variance (F test). I got a C (grad school, one strike out, not sure if I was allowed one strikeout or two and could still graduate)
The intro stats class was a joke. I felt like the Israeli Air Force in the Six Day War. Three of the exams were perfect scores.
I am absolutely horrible at math. I'm barely passing. I just had a ten-question quiz and got a headache halfway through. On reeeallly long tests, like the finals and the STAR tests, I go into major "math overload" mode and get huge headaches and forget even the simplest things, like the multiplication tables... I hate it... I think I'd qualify as dyscalculiac...