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Just adding my own experience to this: Until the age of 15, maths was considered a real "problem subject" for me. At every parent-teacher conference it was ge

Just adding my own experience to this: Until the age of 15, maths was considered a real "problem subject" for me. At every parent-teacher conference it was generally accepted that I would never be good at it (and I had no problem with that at all - I found the whole subject very boring and difficult). Then one day, at age 15, a classmate showed me how to do quadratic equations. I have no idea why, but that day a really bright light suddenly switched on for me. I quickly caught up to, and then passed the abilities of everyone else in the class, and then started teaching myself calculus in my spare time. I went on to get a PhD in Pure Mathematics. I do think I just wasn't ready for a long time.

flatline 17y ago
I came out of Algebra I with a C or a D and didn't feel like I understood any of it. Geometry came next and it was fun, I really liked proofs and somehow by the time I got to Algebra II, everything made sense. From that point forward, however, math just seemed like rote memorization without any meaning or elegance. I shied away from it for years, only just returning to school to learn more math recently, in my 30s. I still feel like there's something fundamentally lacking in the way the whole math curriculum is set up, as I didn't see much that I really enjoyed in the period between 9th grade Geometry and Calculus II. I understand the need to build a solid foundation before learning more advanced material, but it seems very one-sided when there is such a breadth of interesting material out there.
bokonist 17y ago
I'm curious - before math clicked for you, were you good at other subjects and generally one of the brightest in your class? IE - did your teachers think you were dumb overall, or just that you were a smart kid who for some reason didn't get math?
- abstractbill 17y ago
  I was always good in the sciences, especially physics, and also in music. My teachers seemed to think I was smart, but they definitely thought I would never get maths.

flatline 17y ago

I came out of Algebra I with a C or a D and didn't feel like I understood any of it. Geometry came next and it was fun, I really liked proofs and somehow by the time I got to Algebra II, everything made sense. From that point forward, however, math just seemed like rote memorization without any meaning or elegance. I shied away from it for years, only just returning to school to learn more math recently, in my 30s. I still feel like there's something fundamentally lacking in the way the whole math curriculum is set up, as I didn't see much that I really enjoyed in the period between 9th grade Geometry and Calculus II. I understand the need to build a solid foundation before learning more advanced material, but it seems very one-sided when there is such a breadth of interesting material out there.

bokonist 17y ago

I'm curious - before math clicked for you, were you good at other subjects and generally one of the brightest in your class? IE - did your teachers think you were dumb overall, or just that you were a smart kid who for some reason didn't get math?

abstractbill 17y ago
I was always good in the sciences, especially physics, and also in music. My teachers seemed to think I was smart, but they definitely thought I would never get maths.