This Video Is For People Who Are Bad At Math

In this video I talk about learning mathematics.
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Daily Devotionals for Motivation with The Math Sorcerer

Thank you:)

[Mindfulness]

New Year's goal, take College Algebra and pass it. I'm 66 and failed it 3 times. I will pass it, you've inspired me.

[obi]

These videos always come in at the right time. Applied Math major and I've been a mediocre math student all my life. Hopefully that changes now!

[douglasstrother]

"Mathematics is difficult, even for mathematicians." ~ Reinhold Böhme, quoted in Appendix A of "Vector Calculus" (2nd Edition) by Marsden & Tromba.

[adelhany]

The entire time, it felt like you were speaking directly to me. Thank you so much for this advice.

I used to be good at math in middle school and always scored 96% to 100% on tests when everyone else was getting much lower. In my last two major Math tests, despite having studied for them both; I got horrible marks, while simultaneously being surpassed by people who had spent less effort (I apologise if that sounds egotistical, but is quite the contrary).

At first, I blamed luck, but now I am being exposed to geniuses as you explained, and I feel so, for lack of a better word, inferior... My confidence has gone down the drain, and I take it as an axiom that they simply have a natural talent that I wish I had - but don't. It has been really hard accepting this since Math is my favourite subject, and it doesn't help that I do not excel in anything else whatsoever.

I hope that remembering my middle school period is going to help. I hope can succeed this time. And if someone reading this is religious, please pray for me.

[AndreTJones]

I believe I can learn but I don’t have the time. It’s so frustrating. I used to think that I was bad at math. I’m going back to school in my 40’s and hadn’t taken a math class in 20 years (now going on my 3rd time taking calculus 1). I’m similar to the woman you mentioned. Math is basically a language and the more you are exposed to it and work on it the better you get at it.

[WitchidWitchid]

From Grammer school, through junior high school, through most of high school I was terrible in math. My grades in math were always either failure or barely passing. My Guidance Counselor suggested I avoid math and I was thoroughly convinced that I cannot do math. Then in my junior year in high school we were learning Algebra and Trigonometry and while I still flunked I found, for the first time in my life, I found the math to be interesting. I became fascinated by it and I only wished I had the ability to get the good grades. In my senior year something in me changed. I took the Algebra and Trig course again and I seemed to be grasping it. My test grades improved dramatically.and for the first time I both understanding the math, doing reasonably well on the quizzes and exams, and, I was actually finding the math to be interesting. To make a long story shorter by the time I got to college I was understanding and doing well in college level math. When I took Calculus I understood it very well and had some of the top grades in my classes. I took three semesters of Calculus including multivariate Calculus and did extremely well. I switched majors and became a math major. By then I was no longer interested in just using the math to solve problems, I was also interested in the underlying theorems, proofs, etc. I ended up getting my math degree and then went on to studying math at grad school and earning my graduate degree in Math as well. So there, I went from a kid who did terrible in math and was convinced I cannot do math to graduating and getting my degrees in Math and teaching higher level math to others. Never tell yourself that you cannot do something and never give up.

[ronniesan]

My whole life I have wanted to be an astronomer. I got so many bad grades in math when I was younger that it made me take another path in life. You are right about having confidence! It's taken me years to get my confidence up to a level where I am going back to college and starting with college algebra. One class at a time. Thanks Math Sorcerer for words of wisdom!

[Sköldpadda-]

The arrival of depression in my sophomore year of high school was my undoing. I did have lousy math teachers, and I lacked confidence while having adults in my life actively undermining my self confidence/esteem/efficacy. Once lost, confidence, mental clarity, etc., very hard to regain. Also important is to move away from grades, which were easy to achieve, to understanding for understanding’s sake, as well as future growth.
And would 15 yr old me believe that 47 yr old me would watch math videos or buy math books, for fun? No way. But, as bad at math as I still am, I am also still here. Still trying.

[Jason_morecheese]

Thanks you so much man. No one in my life has ever said anything like this to me before, I've only ever been put down for my lack of mathematical knowledge so this is a huge help, thank you so much. 😊

[mismaruda]

Few years ago older brother told me that he never was good at math and other brother too so I probably won't be good at it too. I think he wanted to make sure that I won't be disappointed. After believing what he said is true my grades got worse and worse. My teacher also said something similar about my abilities and I almost completely lost my faith. Then I found Your channel and tried to do my academic comeback. Here I'm, studying hard to get to University to get that engineering degree. My grades got a lot better and now I'm on the top of my class. Thank You for all of those great videos, keep up the good work!

[foraminifera]

Thank you. I heard you and I appreciate your advice.

[zenbrandon]

I just passed college algebra with an A, and it's thanks to channels like yours helping me reframe my mental ideas about math!

[venaphoenix]

Thank you for this. I needed the encouragement

[shelley-anneharrisberg]

Thank you for this video! I didn't need 8 examples to get me onto the right track, but my struggles were similar. I am that student who believed I was not "mathematically minded". And even though I got some really good grades (including full marks) for some tests, that belief is still so deep-seated, it doesn't really let go and still holds me back. So this was really good to hear. (For me at the moment, my abilities in coding are the real hang up - so I am going to apply your advice to that field too!) Thanks so much!!☺

[boogerie]

I keep telling you, you NEED to write you life's story. We always hear about child prodigies. We NEVER hear about a guy who goes from being a high school drop out to a Ph D in Math!

[RestIess.Gambler]

Math builds up on itself, so if you don't pay attention at school and miss a lot of stuff, it's hard to keep learning and at some point, you won't even know what you don't know. I'm in this exact situation by the way. Back then, I hated maths, because I wasn't good. I wasn't good, because I didn't pay attention in class and would fail my exams, that's when I started developing fear for it. Now I want to study CS and I've started learning maths, and I'm actually picking stuff up pretty fast, and I'm pushing my way through. Once you understand maths, it's not even that hard and scary anymore 😅

[nastya]

When you don't feel confident, just have 0:11 in the corner of your screen - and keep deliberately practicing! :) Right now, put it on pause and look at him! Magic

[martinhawrylkiewicz]

Beautiful vid as always! I shared it on my Twitter feed! Btw, every time i get frustrated with math problems, say I am stuck on a math proof (currently studying How to Prove it by Velleman) I just pull out the small print out of my hero Paul Halmos with his famous quote: " Don't just read it! Ask your own question, look for your own examples, discover your own proofs. Is the hypothesis necessary? Is the converse true?...Where does the proof use the hypothesis?"

[idontknow-msmc]

Love this video so much. I need a playlist of just these types of encouraging math videos lol

[voidzennullspace]

It's easy to doubt one's abilities with a failure or two (especially in academia). For the first time in my life, I failed a and it was in Real Analysis. I have never had to study, or really try at all but that one failure made me feel so small. Suddenly, I was questioning my abilities as an aspiring mathematician. However, it was just the slap of reality I needed to make me take such a beautiful subject more seriously. I just took my midterm in Real Analysis this week and ended up with a 98%. I worked through some of my deficiencies and the result was extremely rewarding! It reminds me of the following excerpt:

"Mathematics is the music of reason. To do mathematics is to engage in an act of discovery and conjecture, intuition and inspiration; to be in a state of confusion—not because it makes no sense to you, but because you gave it sense and you still don't understand what your creation is up to; to have a breakthrough idea; to be frustrated as an artist; to be awed and overwhelmed by an almost painful beauty; to be alive, damn it." - Paul Lockhart, from A Mathematician's Lament