" I needed to have a conceptual understanding of why you were doing something in order to understand the 'rules.' " That's exactly it. I frequently got frustra

" I needed to have a conceptual understanding of why you were doing something in order to understand the 'rules.' " That's exactly it. I frequently got frustrated in high school Calc class because I couldn't understand why we were doing certain things. THe problem is that so much material needed to be just groked at once, and then and only then can they explain and prove anything....this time around I'm a lot more proactive in spotting when I'm only "faking" understanding, and working it out. Another poster commented that with Algebra for example it all boils down to applications of axioms. So for that I am doing tonnes of practice. amazing story =) I too believe that there is life beyond Math, but for now, rumours has it that doing some math will make me a better hacker(at least for bureaucratic reasons). So I shall persist.