 Hello, and welcome to this video on how to read a math textbook. In this class, you're going to be asked to read sections of a math textbook and to read them for full understanding. This is trickier than it sounds. Reading a math textbook isn't like reading most books. It involves a lot more effort and will require a lot more time. So this video will have some advice about how to read math and how to set yourself out for success. And the next part will have an example where you can actually see some of these in action, as well as some summaries. So let's get started. The first thing to do is to prepare yourself and put yourself in a place where you will be able to read a math textbook successfully. So above all else, remove distractions. This means put away cell phones, close Facebook, turn off the TV, and get away from any friends who aren't studying. And most importantly, keep those distractions away. You know what this means, but it can be very hard to do. So try to discipline yourself to not look at the phone. One way that you can do this is to find a good study location. A good example of this is something that has a desk and good light. It could be at your own desk in your room, at a study space such as the library, or even in an empty classroom. A bad example would be laying on your bed while your roommates are playing games. Wherever you study, choose a good time where you can be alert, awake, and focused. You'll need to devote some serious brain power to reading, and glossing or skimming won't cut it. Finally, set aside 30 to 60 uninterrupted minutes for a short reading assignment. This should sound long, but reading a math textbook is a very much more involved process than reading any other sort of book. So that's how to prepare yourself. Now let's talk about what you have to do when you're actually reading. So when you're reading, you want to read actively. And the first thing necessary for this is to have a notebook and pencil immediately available for taking notes. Or if you prefer, you could take notes on a tablet such as an iPad, a Microsoft Surface, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab. If you want to take notes electronically, there's a lot more you have to set up, but it can also be a really useful way to do things. Popular apps for this include things like Notability, Iannotate, or Notes Plus. And if you Google, you can find a lot more of these. You also will want to have some sort of a stylus as opposed to just your finger so that you can write on the screen. When you have these, you'll be able to do things like highlight the textbook if you have an electronic copy of it, to take notes directly, move them around and reorganize them, and generally have an electronic copy of your notes, which is much more helpful than having a paper copy often. This gets a lot outside of the scope of this video. But if you're interested, Google for note-taking apps and stylus for iPad or something similar, or ask your instructor. And you can find a lot more information this way. So when you're actually taking notes, what should you take notes on? Well, first off, be sure to take notes on any sort of definitions or vocabulary words, formulas, or anything in a box that's specially called out in any way. For example, if there's a symbol in the margin or the word warning, you'll definitely want to take notes on that. When you do take notes, don't take word-for-word notes, but rather summarize what you're actually reading into your own words. Textbooks have many examples. If you have an example, even one that's worked out for you, work it out completely in your notes, even if this has already been done for you. Work it out yourself, possibly without referring to those notes. You'll learn a lot more by forcing yourself to actually do the work, not just copying it down. If you're following an explanation or an example, ask why all the time and explain it to yourself. If you had to explain a lot, write it down in your notes. Textbooks will often make a statement and expect you to be able to fill in the reason, or they might refer to something that you've forgotten from the last page or the last section or even the last chapter. Whatever it was, go find it and make a note about it. This might require referring to diagrams, equations, going back and forth between the text and a picture, anything like that. Whatever you do, summarize it in your own words and be on the lookout for big picture ideas and keep those reading questions you have in mind. The purpose of all of this is to keep yourself tuned in on why you're reading what you're reading right now and how it fits in with everything else that you've been looking at. So ask questions like, why is this here? Why are we studying this now? If you keep the reading questions in mind, that will help you focus in the same way that your instructor would like you to. Come back in the next video where we'll take a look at how to actually do some of these things with a real textbook example. We'll also wrap it up with a few general bits of advice. See you there.