Def encourage you to read Lockhart's Mathematician's Lament: https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf https://www.maa.org/external_archiv

Def encourage you to read Lockhart's Mathematician's Lament: https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.... The way we were introduced to integration, the different rules (tricks as you put it) made sense. If you are using rote memorization and cannot derive the "tricks," I imagine all of math is harder to approach. As a former inner-city high school math teacher, recovering, students who tried to memorize mechanical approaches could be easily spotted when they forgot or recalled incorrectly. Simple example: they may not remember X^1 and/or X^0 and they lack the understanding to figure it out.