How to Study: Tip #1: Why Are You Here? The Language of Mathematics IIIb (140)

[MissLadyboy007]

I wonder just how many people were greatly put off mathematics by bad teachers at the primary(elementary) and secondary(high school)level? It might seem that only poor students blame their teachers, but I do remember that my mathematics teachers looked bored and or harassed, went at the pace of the slowest student and made the entire subject seem hopelessly abstract and very very dull as a consequence.

[chychochycho]

Unfortunately, my guess is, most.

[a7thd]

Is it possible to learn Maths on your own? Is there some strategies to learn it, practice it and examinate what we have learnt?

[chychochycho]

Sure, you can learn it on your own. First thing you have to do is to figure out where to start from, i.e. how much math you know. Find out what your schools use as text books and trying going through them. If you find the questions too easy, then move up a grade, if too hard, then move down.

[chychochycho]

If you feel comfortable with it, why not... and just for the record, it shouldn't really be about how you look, it should be about learning as much as you can, especially in high-school because you're not paying for your classes the way you will be in college/university/polytech/et­c...i.e it will be a lot cheaper to take it now than later.

[AnAngelsKisss]

Chycho, I wanted to let you know I failed the math portion for the college (again). I am going to get into college prep math. You really helped me. I know SOOO much more than I did when I first found your videos. I will continue to watch as I continue to learn. I am even having my children watch your videos now. Thank you so much Chycho.

~AnAngelsKiss

[chychochycho]

d'oh... sorry to hear about the test :( ... glad to hear that it's making more sense though, which is a huge step in the right direction and should make your prep math class that much easier. As for the kids, coolio :) ... how does the saying go, "a family that studies together stays together"... or something like that :)

[AnAngelsKisss]

@chychochycho yes if it wasn't for me spending the past month with your tutorials I wouldn't have been able to help my 7th grader with her math yesterday,

[cmoeinc]

Doing great at getting the best of Youtube.

[bitchslapper12]

I am an endangered student in Sweden! Help me!

[TeaMrShifter]

Hello. My name is Robert and I am starting a mathematics major at Waikato Uni in NZ. I am over 40 and have not studied Maths since 1986 when I failed 5th form maths. I have decided to start again, and this time I am not going to give up.

I am watching your videos, and wondering who you are. do you have any biographical material on the web??? I really like your style and your nature.

In fact you may have put into words something I was missing. some kind of

introduction to maths. Thank you!

[chychochycho]

You're very welcome. As for who I am, you can go to my About Page at chycho.blogspot.com and it'll tell you certain things about me, if that helps :)

[piewarrior]

I think that math is very intresting, but I'm not really working with it or learning it much. When I worked more with math, al mostly like it. So in which group do I belong?

[chychochycho]

But you did learn it when you had to, no? These subdivisions are for those that are studying math and actively working with it. If you already learned what you needed to learn, then you're done for now. At some point you may find yourself coming back, and if you found some of it interesting, then your somewhere between "what ever" and "love", would you agree?

[piewarrior]

@chychochycho yeah, I would think so :)

[poconostwin]

Thanks for sharing your first tip. I will definitely be passing this along. Have you ever worked with younger students? I have found that they lose sight of their entire number sense and start to hate mathematics when they can not understand relationships between the different notations, and essentially "read" the mathematics. "Haters" tumble quickly out of control and lose sense of equivalency and even their knowledge of simple arithmetic. Lately, I have been trying to teach students to find t

[chychochycho]

I haven't taught too many younger students (no one less than 10). I personally find that age group, pre-highschool, very difficult to teach, which is a shame really since i think that's where the foundations of math are set.

[abbesieyes]

Thats ok chycho...I'm not attaching a slander to you. I can tell by your method and presentation that you are not an agent of mere indoctrination, but of contemplation and interrogation.

I think we both well understand the reason that 'classical education' was morphed into the fallen thing we now have on both sides of the border.

[chychochycho]

> "I think we both well understand the reason that 'classical education' was morphed into the fallen thing we now have on both sides of the border."

well said, and that's definitely one thing I plan on changing :)

[abbesieyes]

I know the impediments put in your way, by dint of the 'politics' imposed on you by a certain 'philos'.

I just felt some measure of Truth should intrude into tertiary explainations.

Namaste.

[chychochycho]

don't get me wrong, I do plan on covering the specifics of why the education system, especially when it comes to math (critical thought), has collapsed. I just don't want to start with that. Some of the stuff I will be covering in the future will be related to:

1) Judging Books by Their Covers by Richard P. Feynman

2) the BS that is "no child left behind"

3) article from the early 1900's about the collapse of education (can't find link right now)

4)etc.

[chychochycho]

ps. just to clear things up a little more, all of the politics stuff I will most likely file in the "why is math important" section... there are two videos out on this already, the gentle versions of course :)

[abbesieyes]

chycho...the first tip should be to inquire into the disparate reasons for the first groups hatred of mathematics, not butress it by having them provide excuse for illogical hatred of a thing.

In many cases I think you will find that:

1 The basis of maths has never been taught.

2. The history of maths is not taught to show why they progress in a certain manner.

3. Math is not taught according to individual methods of perception. Math is not revealed in Language/Art/Science holistically.

[chychochycho]

Oh, but that's getting into the politics of the whole thing, and I really didn't want to get in to deep into this right now. Take a look at the first video I made for math, "The Language of Mathematics (1): Introduction", at the 2 minute mark. I do hint at what your saying, and I do plan on expanding on this a lot more in the future, but for now, I really don't want to explain why the system is the way it is... not yet anyway :)