My brain hates math.

[ladyfalcon]

I have not been posting, because I am home, and home is boring. I have been having a bit of fun seeing friends and hanging out (mostly Krystle and David - everyone else has been busybusy), and I have a few nice things coming up soon (Hershey Park with the college group, possible cross-country roadtrip with my grandfather?) but for the moment things

Comments

[radanax]

I've never heard of a case like that before. Have you tried forcing it into your everyday life? The lack of any sort of continual presence could be the issue, rather than some absolute difference in brain receptivity, you know - it's a lot easier to avoid thinking about math than it is to avoid thinking, I'd imagine.

[ladyfalcon]

Did you not read the part of the story where this was going on when I was in high school, and my dad had to help me with my math homework every day? So at the time, I was thinking about it every day? I don't think not thinking about it is the issue. Also I know lots of very clever people who aren't able to learn math with the same facility they learn other things.

[radanax]

I didn't miss it, but I was saying that there's a difference between having distinct math time and having math be a part of your life. Maybe there isn't any difference between the two, but I know that when I was a kid I was doing math all the time (and yes, I know that's just a chicken-egg situation, but it's all I've got).

I'm not arguing against the possibility, but I would at the very least argue against deciding on a viewpoint that could easily be self-defeating.

[philthecow]

Yeah--I know a lot of them too. You're definitely not alone there.

But I have no idea why it is. I also know that some people can't learn a foreign language to save their lives, whereas others pick them up quickly, with exactly the same instruction. (and I'm talking about people who started studying their first foreign language at 14 or 18 or 21--with language, we know that exposure before the age of 5 is hugely important, but there can still be disparities in people who didn't have that exposure. I don't know what we know about math.)

[ladyfalcon]

Haha, it's unfortunate, but I think I might also fall into the category of people who can't learn foreign languages with any ease! I studied French (albeit with no great degree of dedication) from the time I was in kindergarten until 5th grade (although granted a lot of that was the same things over and over - as I learned teaching myself, there are a limited number of subjects of enough interest to young children to bother teaching) and then from 9th to 11th, and I still doubt I could even manage to get around Paris with no English. In Prague, I managed to pick up the same amount of Czech in a 7 month period, which might be one reason why I found French so difficult - I wasn't actually trying to speak it most of the time. Which probably bears out Mr. Kast's point, that there is a difference between distinct math time and math as a lifestyle

[philthecow]

Right--I think Mr. Kast's point made more sense to me with languages--it's really obvious how one would make French a lifestyle rather than a subject, but algebra and geometry? Hells no.