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I have absolutely 0 mathematical intuition or knowledge these days. If I had to estimate how much I’ve retained, I’d say most of elementary school math and a ti

I have absolutely 0 mathematical intuition or knowledge these days. If I had to estimate how much I’ve retained, I’d say most of elementary school math and a tiny subset of middle school / high school algebra. I never really failed it, but towards the end of high school in cal us and related courses, I suffered from a “don’t care” attitude combined with teachers who basically just passed everyone. Now of course I find myself strong mathematical skills to work on the things I want, but the knowledge and intuition just isn’t there. I could likely invest in learning it, but it’s difficult as I not only have to worry about learning the fields immediately applicable to what I want to do, but having to go back through many years of subjects I forgot or was never taught and figuring out what the proper prerequisites I need to relearn. At that point it just seems so far away from my original need and such a time sink I’m not sure I could motivate myself to do it. And on the intuition side, I am shocked by just how well people around me, even kids are able to grasp the more abstract mathematical concepts around programming. Things like category theory and such. It all sounds like a foreign language when people begin to discuss these things. Not the the more practical things are much better. I have failed to learn digital design a few times now because despite understanding all the primitive Boolean functions I can never on my own figure out how to arrange them into useful functions, simple or complex.

dartharva 6y ago
I'm barely 22, even I have started to feel deficiencies in my learning and retaining abilities. I think the main problem seems to be that you "grow" out of your learning phase. I can't keep myself concentrated on a reading for more than a few minutes anymore, even though I used to be the most voracious reader in my school as a kid who would keep on reading for the whole day if he wasn't disturbed. I can't concentrate on classes or video tutorials as much as I could as a child. Even skills seem to get impacted - I used to do big calculations in my head and retain multiplication tables up to 20 like most other Asian kids, but I can't seem to make myself do that anymore.
- theonething 6y ago
  I'm much older than you. I grew up without the internet. I found that when the internet became mainstream, my ability to read books and concentrate diminished significantly. Pretty sad about that.
- Agingcoder 6y ago
  While I'm getting (much) older as well, I have found that I'm much more focused when I want to learn something. Unlike when I was 16 and essentially behaving like a sponge, I need to decide that I'm going to learn something, and actively go for it. Once I have turned the switch on, I can learn, and more efficiently than when I was younger since I have some kind of plan/target, and years of experience have taught be when I don't understand/think I know but don't and how to fix it. In other words, I have traded raw natural learning ability for 'I'm slower but more efficient'.

dartharva 6y ago

I'm barely 22, even I have started to feel deficiencies in my learning and retaining abilities. I think the main problem seems to be that you "grow" out of your learning phase. I can't keep myself concentrated on a reading for more than a few minutes anymore, even though I used to be the most voracious reader in my school as a kid who would keep on reading for the whole day if he wasn't disturbed. I can't concentrate on classes or video tutorials as much as I could as a child. Even skills seem to get impacted - I used to do big calculations in my head and retain multiplication tables up to 20 like most other Asian kids, but I can't seem to make myself do that anymore.

theonething 6y ago
I'm much older than you. I grew up without the internet. I found that when the internet became mainstream, my ability to read books and concentrate diminished significantly. Pretty sad about that.
Agingcoder 6y ago
While I'm getting (much) older as well, I have found that I'm much more focused when I want to learn something. Unlike when I was 16 and essentially behaving like a sponge, I need to decide that I'm going to learn something, and actively go for it. Once I have turned the switch on, I can learn, and more efficiently than when I was younger since I have some kind of plan/target, and years of experience have taught be when I don't understand/think I know but don't and how to fix it. In other words, I have traded raw natural learning ability for 'I'm slower but more efficient'.