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>Half an hour with a good teacher can save you weeks of table head-butting. That says more about the poor quality (or bad fit) of the book/video/material than

>Half an hour with a good teacher can save you weeks of table head-butting. That says more about the poor quality (or bad fit) of the book/video/material than it says about the skill of the teacher. I guess online courses where students can post comments and talk to each other partially address this. These comments may help point out the parts that the material failed to convey properly (and in an ideal world, such feedback would then be incorporated into the next revision of the material).

learnstats2 9y ago
Yes, the quality of the material you use is important. A good teacher can quickly direct you to appropriate materials for your personal needs. A novice learner is generally unable to identify what is or isn't poor quality (hence the OP's question). [Edited to add: This forum has recommended certain materials, but we have no idea whether they suit the OP's needs. There has not been enough two-way communication with the OP, even if the OP has made a good effort to clarify their question.] Using a teacher to bypass this step of identifying materials is way more efficient and... saves you weeks of table head-butting.
- realharo 9y ago
  For very specialized subjects, I would completely agree. But when it comes to lower-level math - a group of topics that surely have been done to death countless times over, there really should be well-known books (or online courses) by now that learners don't get stuck on. If there aren't, that begs the question why. Though now I'm getting into pointless theorizing territory - as far as practical advice goes, it's true that having regular in-person lessons can also help a lot with discipline - so that's definitely a plus compared to self-learning. On the other hand, just like with identifying quality materials, you need to be able to identify a quality teacher.
  - learnstats2 9y ago
    There aren't universally well-known books or courses that suit everyone studying math at this level, and the why is because everybody has their own needs. What you are calling "lower-level math" includes everything that you might expect people could learn in primary and secondary education, from age 2 to age 16 - that's 15 years in which everyone takes their own path and ends up at a different place. It is specialized.

learnstats2 9y ago

Yes, the quality of the material you use is important. A good teacher can quickly direct you to appropriate materials for your personal needs. A novice learner is generally unable to identify what is or isn't poor quality (hence the OP's question). [Edited to add: This forum has recommended certain materials, but we have no idea whether they suit the OP's needs. There has not been enough two-way communication with the OP, even if the OP has made a good effort to clarify their question.] Using a teacher to bypass this step of identifying materials is way more efficient and... saves you weeks of table head-butting.

realharo 9y ago
For very specialized subjects, I would completely agree. But when it comes to lower-level math - a group of topics that surely have been done to death countless times over, there really should be well-known books (or online courses) by now that learners don't get stuck on. If there aren't, that begs the question why. Though now I'm getting into pointless theorizing territory - as far as practical advice goes, it's true that having regular in-person lessons can also help a lot with discipline - so that's definitely a plus compared to self-learning. On the other hand, just like with identifying quality materials, you need to be able to identify a quality teacher.
- learnstats2 9y ago
  There aren't universally well-known books or courses that suit everyone studying math at this level, and the why is because everybody has their own needs. What you are calling "lower-level math" includes everything that you might expect people could learn in primary and secondary education, from age 2 to age 16 - that's 15 years in which everyone takes their own path and ends up at a different place. It is specialized.