For me the brick wall was social, not related to the math, and I hit it in geometry class in 10th grade. Our teacher was an idiot, and had trouble solving the

For me the brick wall was social, not related to the math, and I hit it in geometry class in 10th grade. Our teacher was an idiot, and had trouble solving the more difficult proofs at the end of the homework. Day after day I would go up to the board and write down the solution to the problem he couldn't solve. Then, I would get an F for not turning in my homework, which I rightly considered to be a waste of my time, and the people who copied down my answers would get an A's. That was when I decided I had enough formal mathematical education. I taught myself the math to do AP chemistry in high school and tested out of pre calculus in 2000 in college. I am currently teaching myself calculus from Michael Spivak's Calculus. You couldn't get me back in a math class, but I love learning math.