It’s NOT Your IQ – You’re Just Learning Math Wrong

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[thesquee]

I do wonder sometimes how much physical brainpower and ability affects my learning. I remeber being younger and when I would learn math my mind was blank and nothing made sense. I used to cry at the table when my dad would help me with homework and get frustrated. When I got to college and switched to a stem degree I had to catch up on math and it was suddenly just possible to learn and even excel. No idea what changed I think my brain just matured, and now I'm self teaching linear algebra for fun.

[markkromer]

This summer I grew weed and after smoking some I began watching videos on microbiology and history of calculus; mathematics in general. I'll be 53 in March. Going to finish off my degree in Mathematics.

[Andreas-vf]

Mathematics for me is like working out, but for the brain. When I stop doing it regularly, even for a few days, I notice my mental performance suffers almost immediately. And this diminishes the quality of life in other areas as well. The quality of conversations with people suffers for example, as somehow mathematics have an effect on my verbal skills.
The good thing about this is how life improves almost immediately if I just sit down and do a bit of math every two days or so. It feels almost like cheating because most people don’t know this trick.

When I say doing math, I refer to actually reading mathematical texts though, and learning. I’m not solving pointless easy examples which I already know. It’s tiring, but so is physical workout.

[ishikihikari]

One of the things I find that made me bad at math was getting scared of equations or numbers, it really helped to sit down and just look at it and go, "I think I can solve this" and try solving it, asking teachers or friends until I understood the problem and how to solve it. I think that's the first step for me to develop more of a action based mindset to actually do the math, doing it a bit everyday and not being scared to learn "hard" subjects just because you might fail or make mistakes because when you do make a mistake it will only be a guide towards your goals.

[lks]

When I got into university I found it extremely hard to understand my calculus classes, just winged it on calc 1 2 3 and almost failed calculus 2. I didn't really focus on other people, but at one point I just asked someone if they understood. No, they didn't get anything. Many people had the exact same problem. For myself I found the best way was to do a little bit every single day just like you say. I started treating it like I do my exercise, doing an hour maybe every day. Everything changed after that, went I went into my calculus 4 classes I just understood everything, proving theorems or corolllary, and I understood the problems and exercises given. I aced that class as a top student, and this method helped me on all my other chemical engineering classes too. From being an almost failing student into a top 10 in the whole department. Good thing about being consistent is that I didn't have to do all nighters for a bad grade, I just knew I was ready for whatever came so it also improved my sleeping habits and my assignments (well, sometimes they collapse you with too many things so there's that). It also helped me outside of just studies, I could make time to review my weighted calisthenics program and improve it, I taught myself to draw and learned 2 extra languages, taught myself how to invest, even got to make more friends because I could spend more time talking to people after tests because I wasn't tired and grumpy from the day before. Funnily enough being consistent improved my health too, less stress, less anxiety, more sleep, and doing well feels good too so it's uplifts the spirits even more.

[dimithripremachandra]

This is exactly true.! I did my undergrad studies in mathematics at a lower ranked university. I used to pass most of the exams by cramming at the last minute. However, now I am doing graduate studies in Functional Analysis at a top 100 university in the world and I really feel the pressure because I don't have a proper routine. Now, I feel like I don't belong here. Thankfully, my supervisor is patient with me and letting me get used to the culture here.

[Whateverworksism]

Thanks for the inspiration Mr. Sorcerer.

[nickjohnson]

I am a very language oriented person. I always thought I was just bad at math, but after 20+ years of trying to learn math on my own here are my observations on why I struggle with math.
1) Math is very poorly notated. The operators are very poorly explained... most people don't understand that multiplication is addition and division is subtraction. The symbols, such as the Pi symbol, and variable designations are used without regard for continuity of definition.
Seriously though... for all the teachers out there... please explain what the variables are and why they have a certain letter designation. Don't just use arbitrary letters and change them all over the place...
Speed = S, heat = K, Velocity = V, Acceleration = ▲V (finding the alt key for that was an ordeal), Height = H, etc etc.
Using X and Y arbitrarily for everything doesn't help anyone understand what the purpose of that variable is and it gets really confusing to language oriented people who are searching for patterns and continuity.
Another great example of poor notation are the constant yearly clickbait titles of "What does this equation equal?" and people are getting two different answers because the order of operations in Math is not clearly defined... PEMDAS, like I before E except after C, is a LIE and does not work reliably. There should be absolutely ZERO ambiguity when dealing with logic.
2) The progression of math is not properly communicated. It took me a while to understand how algebra and geometry join to form calculus and how calculus might be one of the most powerful tools ever created/discovered by humans. I need to know how a puzzle piece fits into the bigger puzzle before I can even begin to contextualize it and understand it.
3) Math is often taught "in a vacuum" and never related to anything tangible. The classic quip "When am I ever gonna use this?" only exists because people really don't understand how powerful geometry and calculus are as tools. If I was told calculus was the math used to build the rockets that went to the Moon as a child maybe I would have cared a lot more about it... but instead I was never told by any teacher how geometry or calculus was used in everyday life or shown any examples of how they work in the actual practical world.
I hope this either helps or gives someone a laugh at how stupid I am... either way I will see it as a win.

[StoutM]

I used to be like this until I started studying poetry and then for some reason it clicked. The key to learning math, for me was to relax and just look at it no differently than the "reading between the lines" I have always known intuitively.

[DarthArtoo]

Been loving the longer videos lately! Really lets you dig into things and get a lot out. It’s great!

[Smashachu]

The action mindset you speak of is very powerful, i've always been a chronic procrastinator. One day i was sitting in my chair and realized that it took me 3-4 minutes of thinking to convince myself out of doing what i need to get done. So i tried just doing it as soon as i thought about it. I would tell myself, just get up and do 5 minutes of it, if after 5 minutes of doing it i wanna stop, then i'll stop. But i never stopped after 5 minutes, i just had to get over the mental hurtle of convincing myself why i can do it later. I would repeat to myself, do it now or do it never, do it now or do it never. Knowing that if i didn't complete it now, chances are i would never do it. It worked pretty well, but it's really really hard to develop that into a habit and so i still struggle tbh.

[elemileTLDR]

Totally agree on the 2nd strategy: having to teach X subject boosted my expertise on it like nothing else; especially by preparing notes for every class and then, after lecturing them and know how they went, revising and turning them into clean versions to share with the students.

[Arusi--IKENGA-]

I grew up in a country where English is the official language, a legacy of British colonization. Although my English proficiency is intermediate, I've made an interesting observation. Despite speaking my native language at home and elsewhere, I find that I grasp mathematical concepts more easily in my native language. This is because my native language has a simpler vocabulary and sentence structure, whereas English is more sophisticated and complex. I've come to realize that difficulties in learning math can sometimes be attributed to the challenges of grammar and sentence structure.

To illustrate this point, let's consider learning calculus in my native language. The explanation and teaching style would be akin to explaining why a dog barks to an 8-year-old – straightforward and easy to comprehend. Whereas teaching calculus in English is he opposite.

[jadenjosharc]

thank you for this video. i’ve been watching your content for a bit. i was never naturally good at math, honestly i was below average compared to most people. all throughout middle school and even now (senior in highschool) i carried this fear and anxiety towards math as i never fully learned how to do proper algebra due to improper schooling. but thanks to you ive developed a better mindset towards math and my approach towards practicing its art. again thank you.

[sg-zn]

Your videos helped me loads. I failed college maths for YEARS because of mental blocks like you've mentioned. The only time I made progress is when I started treating maths like a gym routine, you can't build maths knowledge overnight just like how you can't lose weight or build muscle overnight. It takes small efforts daily to make solid progress. Thank you so much.

[Insidethehangar]

I've started doing math early in the morning today because I know I can accomplish my goal of passing precalculus this upcoming summer.

[keithwald]

Yeah, teaching really works wonders. Answering the questions from the students really solidifies and bulletproofs your knowledge and skills. After teaching a course a few times, you start hearing the same questions, and in the meantime you've had the opportunity to noodle on things and develop even better, clearer answers. Once that confidence pump is primed, you can really perform at a high level. Even a below average brain like mine can do sort of okay given enough time and effort spent.

[MrSinghSAmit]

You are right and i appreciate you making this, and making it clear to the world!

[amorfati]

Ironically, I ought to be studying discrete math right now...

[rogerharrison]

Hi from the uk. I love this guy he is a one off and so passionate about his subject. He also has that rare quality of wisdom.