Anyone else terrible at Maths?

[Pinhead Toss]

Just read the MENSA question thread, and now my head is hurting. That is how bad my maths is.

Anyone else here suffer from 'numbers dyslexia'? It is so bad i am even thinking of going to a nightschool course to sort this out. I can get away with everyday addition, subtraction, multiplication and division but anything more than that and i completely fail to grasp the concept.

My maths education fundamentally stopped in the third year of Comprehensive school where i went off the rails a touch and although capable of using the written word i can remember having difficulty with numbers prior to that. I look at a problem or question and it just doesn't sink in or register. I cannot comprehend how the question wants me to manipulate the terms.
I know my times tables and basic stuff as i stated earlier, but i am now faced with having to look on the internet to be able to help my eleven year old daughter with her homework.

I don't know maybe i am just as thick as sh*t and should accept it?
Is there a syndrome where people are unable to comprehend maths?
(nice if there was because then i could use this as an excuse)

Edited by Pinhead Toss on Thursday 29th January 02:22

[RupertTheFridge]

Not necessary dyslexia (for god sake, why spell it that way), it could be dyspraxia (similar, but it's about how you process information, not being thick as the preverbial)!!!

[Sheaver1]

My maffs was me worst subjict at skool - fank goodnesh me spellin wos awlrite!

[GingerWizard]

nope (early morning gloat...)

[Don1]

I took my maths GCSE twice - passed it at the sixth attempt.... That's how bad my maths is! (Numerical dyslexia).

[Don]

Pinhead Toss said:

My maths education fundamentally stopped in the third year of Comprehensive school where i went off the rails a touch

That's your problem right there.

You are almost certainly not "thick" at maths. You just haven't practiced it enough. If you can multiplication/division/addition/subtraction and know your times-tables then most basic maths should be a doddle. Algebra is not a great deal harder, TBH. The problem is more to do with understanding how they write the questions and what answer they are after...and to "get" that you need to practice.

If you want to help your kids with their maths homework get yourself a couple of GCSE Maths revision books or similar and work your way through the question and answer sections until you get a feel for how the questions are worded and how to translate that into a formula that you can solve.

By the way - if you know your times-tables then that is more than me - I could never be bothered to learn them, I just work out the answer any time I need it and by now I'm fast at doing that...and I did maths (for Computing) at degree level!

[DBSV8]

You do understand this simple equation ???



It was the only useful bit of maths I learnt in secondary

[DangerousMike]

I'm not very good. I am fine at arithmetic but not so good at algebra, and have no clue about matrices or calculus. This is a bit of a problem given what I do

[speedy_thrills]

The only way I could ever learn mathematics was using applied problems, no idea why but my memmory works better with a practical association. Doing lots of problems really does help.

You do tend to find applications in real life as well once you start seriously studying mathematics .

[Hub]

DangerousMike said:

I'm not very good. I am fine at arithmetic but not so good at algebra, and have no clue about matrices or calculus. This is a bit of a problem given what I do

Oh god, calculus - still a mystery to me... WHY is it necessary? overcomplicates things, and is all theoretical. I speak from embarking on a (joint honours) economics degree without maths A level! I had to try and teach myself to catch up, but didn't get it at all!

[Eric Mc]

Hub said:

DangerousMike said:

I'm not very good. I am fine at arithmetic but not so good at algebra, and have no clue about matrices or calculus. This is a bit of a problem given what I do

Oh god, calculus - still a mystery to me... WHY is it necessary? overcomplicates things, and is all theoretical. I speak from embarking on a (joint honours) economics degree without maths A level! I had to try and teach myself to catch up, but didn't get it at all!

People seem to confuse "Maths" with "Arithmetic" all the time. I was always fine with Arithmetic - I should be, I'm an accountant. But higher Maths, especially Calculus and Binomial Theorem and stuff like that seemed to leave be struggling.
I now understand much better WHY calculus is used. It's by no means "all theoretical". It is essentially about plotting paths and curves of non-straight lines and is essential when computing ballistic trajectories, orbits and solving any other problems involving non-linear equations. If only this had been explained to me as a teenager I might have been better motivated to get my head around what it was all about. Who knows, I could now be an engineer - or an astronaut!

Edited by Eric Mc on Thursday 29th January 09:01

[King Herald]

Pinhead Toss said:

Just read the MENSA question thread, and now my head is hurting. That is how bad my maths is........

........I don't know maybe i am just as thick as sh*t and should accept it?
Is there a syndrome where people are unable to comprehend maths?
(nice if there was because then i could use this as an excuse)

I never understood trigonometry until I was at college! S=O/H, C=A/H, T=O/A. It simply did not register what it was about, meant nothing.

And I still don't understand anything else about maths.

[NDA]

Pinhead Toss said:

Anyone else here suffer from 'numbers dyslexia'? It is so bad i am even thinking of going to a nightschool course to sort this out. I can get away with everyday addition, subtraction, multiplication and division but anything more than that and i completely fail to grasp the concept.

I don't know maybe i am just as thick as sh*t and should accept it?
Is there a syndrome where people are unable to comprehend maths?
(nice if there was because then i could use this as an excuse)

I seriously doubt you're thick. I have a complete brain freeze with all mathematics - so much so that I had to count on my fingers under the kitchen table the other evening when checking my 7 year old sons maths homework.

But..... I ran a public company in my 30's and have done reasonably well (I'm not painted orange by the way).

So I wouldn't worry too much about having a mental shut-down when faced with numbers - just learn to double, triple check everything with a calculator!

[fido]

I'm pretty terrible at maths. I was working on a project to value Collaterised Debt Obligations year before last, and it involved alot of minimum/maximum functions and difficult integration using those functions. In fact i couldn't understand the point of it, or what the numbers coming out of it meant. Then i got an e-mail telling me my job was at risk, and a few days later i got booted out of the office. It was all rather distressing.

[Landlord]

Pinhead Toss said:

'numbers dyslexia'

Dyscalculia.

[NDA]

fido said:

I'm pretty terrible at maths. I was working on a project to value Collaterised Debt Obligations year before last, and it involved alot of minimum/maximum functions and difficult integration using those functions. In fact i couldn't understand the point of it, or what the numbers coming out of it meant. Then i got an e-mail telling me my job was at risk, and a few days later i got booted out of the office. It was all rather distressing.

[Landlord]

fido said:

I'm pretty terrible at maths. I was working on a project to value Collaterised Debt Obligations year before last, and it involved alot of minimum/maximum functions and difficult integration using those functions. In fact i couldn't understand the point of it, or what the numbers coming out of it meant. Then i got an e-mail telling me my job was at risk, and a few days later i got booted out of the office. It was all rather distressing.

Who did you work for? I used to do the very same for Deutsche Bank. Didn't get sacked though, fortunately!!

[fatboy b]

All I know is that there are 3 types of people in the world. Those who can add-up, and those who can't.

[scorp]

Eric Mc said:

People seem to confuse "Maths" with "Arithmetic" all the time. I was always fine with Arithmetic - I should be, I'm an accountant. But higher Maths, especially Calculus and Binomial Theorem and stuff like that seemed to leave be struggling.
I now understand much better WHY calculus is used. It's by no means "all theoretical". It is essentially about plotting paths and curves of non-straight lines and is essential when computing ballistic trajectories, orbits and solving any other problems involving non-linear equations. If only this had been explained to me as a teenager I might have been better motivated to get my head around what it was all about. Who knows, I could now be an engineer - or an astronaut!

Edited by Eric Mc on Thursday 29th January 09:01

You raise a good point, at school I rarely paid much attention mainly because of the way the topics were taught, you could never see any practical application and everything seemed like a punitive chore. Had I have known that years later I would have been relying on the bulk of it for more fun stuff I would have paid more attention instead of having to re-teach myself maths on the job.

[okgo]

Yes, I used to be very good at maths.. but fast forward five years, I am useless and wouldn't be able to function without a calculator. Quite depressing really.