Poll of the Day > You mathematical ability?

(+) Yeah! (+)

How would you rate your mathematical ability?

Although I know a lot of Calculus and some Differential Equations, those concepts aren't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to math! There's also things like Modern (Abstract) Algebra which are much harder to learn and grasp. I actually would say I'm a beginner to intermediate in terms of mathematical ability.

I'm fairly competent on paper, but I'm getting old and can't do multi-stage* algebra in my head any more

On a scale of 1 to 5 I'd say I can't count that high

I'm decent at basic mental math and basic algebra.

thats it.

I took calculus, but I've forgotten it. I don't remember much trigonometry or some algebra II.

I have a bachelor's degree in math and I teach high school math for a living. So I'd say I'm pretty good at math. Although I'll be honest that a lot of my third and fourth year university math has been forgotten.

Probably poor.

I always had trouble with abstract math in general (anything pre-algebra and up), mainly because in K-12 I had like maybe four worthwhile math teachers, while the rest were utter garbage who only still had jobs because tenure exists (one of the reasons why I'm hugely against the entire idea of tenure for teachers, or at least tenure without some form of periodic review).

Because math is THE subject where "building on what you've learned previously" is so damned important, it meant that every year I fell behind because of a shit teacher made every successive year harder.

I managed to make it to pre-calc levels in college (mainly because of multiple statistics classes for Psych), but I've always struggled a bit with the abstract side of math whenever I deal with it. Whereas I've always been pretty good at being able to handle more concrete math (addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions/percents, etc) in my head on a moment's notice.

It even reflected in my SAT scores - I scored a 780/800 on my Verbal, but only 530/800 on Math.

What hurts though is that it's been decades since school for me. And while I still use concrete math fairly regularly (calculating discounts, tips, measurements, etc), abstract math doesn't come up as often in everyday life. So most of what I did manage to pick up has kind of atrophied (in the same way that I took 7 years of French in school, but if you dropped me in Paris today I couldn't even ask my way to the nearest bathroom).

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Probably poor.

I always had trouble with abstract math in general (anything pre-algebra and up), mainly because in K-12 I had like maybe four worthwhile math teachers, while the rest were utter garbage who only still had jobs because tenure exists (one of the reasons why I'm hugely against the entire idea of tenure for teachers, or at least tenure without some form of periodic review).

Because Math is THE subject where "building on what you've learned previously" is so damned important, it meant that every year I fell behind because of a shit teacher made every successive year harder.

It even reflected in my SAT scores - I scored a 780/800 on my Verbal, but only 530/800 on Math.

I managed to make it to pre-calc levels in college (mainly because of multiple statistics classes for Psych), but I've always struggled a bit with the abstract side of math whenever I deal with it. Whereas I've always been pretty good at being able to handle more concrete math (addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions/percents, etc) in my head on a moment's notice.

What hurts most though is that it's been decades since school for me. And while I still use concrete math fairly regularly (calculating discounts, tips, measurements, etc), abstract math doesn't come up as often in everyday life. So most of what I did manage to pick up has kind of atrophied (in the same way that I took 7 years of French in school, but if you dropped me in Paris today I couldn't even ask my way to the nearest bathroom).

Interesting response. Yeah, teachers can make or break a student. And yeah, abstract math can be harder to grasp and retain for the reasons you listed.

I did quite well up until second-year Calculus, at which point it stopped coming to me intuitively and I stopped pushing further because I didn't even need most of what I'd built to that point, and that was over a decade ago now and I've forgotten most calculus beyond the Power Rule. Still, I'd say I'm still much stronger in math than the vast majority of people, understanding concepts that most people never grasped (even if it would take a bit of a reminder/practice to actually apply them) and being much faster and more capable of mental math than most. Obviously, I don't compare to those that actually majored in math and/or turned it into a career, but that's such a tiny minority of the world that it seems weird to use them as metric to evaluate myself. To that end, I don't really know what rating I'd settle on.

I took the math that was required for my degree (4 levels of Calculus, 2 levels of Discrete), how much of that I retained is another story. I guess I would say basic-medium since I can do a lot of the everyday math in my head before I need to break out the calculator.

I'm pretty terrible at math.
Thankfully virtually nothing I learned or failed to learn in school has actually mattered in real life, or I'd be fucked.
I'm one of those people that cannot thrive in a group setting. So the entire concept of school with classes worked against me.

Probably pretty average to above average.

adjl posted...

I did quite well up until second-year Calculus, at which point it stopped coming to me intuitively and I stopped pushing further because I didn't even need most of what I'd built to that point, and that was over a decade ago now and I've forgotten most calculus beyond the Power Rule. Still, I'd say I'm still much stronger in math than the vast majority of people, understanding concepts that most people never grasped (even if it would take a bit of a reminder/practice to actually apply them) and being much faster and more capable of mental math than most. Obviously, I don't compare to those that actually majored in math and/or turned it into a career, but that's such a tiny minority of the world that it seems weird to use them as metric to evaluate myself. To that end, I don't really know what rating I'd settle on.

I hate school because it becomes a race that cuts out the slow learners.

I think most people could learn advanced calculus... Given enough time.

I had to take College Algebra twice

Metalsonic66 posted...

I had to take College Algebra twice

So you're an expert at it

I'm 80% sure I have a learning disability towards math lol

That math meme with the numbers flying around the woman's head is honeslty so seriously what happens to me when I try to do math

Yellow posted...

I think most people could learn advanced calculus... Given enough time.

I've never seen this formally recognized, but I generally get the impression that everybody has a certain point in math after which it stops coming naturally to them and they have to start taking it seriously and actually practicing to push further than that. For some people, that's basic addition. For me, it was intermediate calculus. For some, their limit hasn't actually been invented yet. I fully expect that that point can be shifted with teaching that better aligns with a given individual's optimal learning style, but there's still going to be a soft cap somewhere.

Part of the issue, then, is that school doesn't necessarily give everyone the tools and opportunities they need to put in the extra effort to move past their soft cap, including failing to recognize that those people are soft capped and insisting on grading them in a way that compares them to people who aren't, but another big part is that there just often isn't much point in putting that effort in. If I'd applied myself, I could have done a math degree and taken my math ability much further than I did. I just didn't want to. My major was Biology; even the basic calculus I took was just to satisfy the math credit requirement in a way that wouldn't bore me as deeply as the actual "get your math credit requirement even if you suck at math" class would have. I took intermediate calculus mostly for fun, then when it turned out to be something I had to work hard at, I chose not to go further in math because it wasn't fun anymore.

If we're framing math's primary value for most people as a sort of mental exercise (which I think is quite valid), I think it's important to recognize that while everybody can benefit from exercise, not everybody needs to push themselves to exercise at a high level. Analogously, you can be in perfectly healthy physical shape but never even consider getting to the level of being able to run a marathon. Casual exercise is still beneficial, whether it's physical or mental. In cases where gym is graded, a lot of times it's a matter of grading whether or not people put effort in rather than whether or not people excel the the activity by some arbitrary metric, and I think that philosophy has more merit in math than most curricula recognize.

Absolutely abysmal.

Math ain't my thing. But, I managed to make it through college and this point in my life ok. Just don't ask me any math based questions.

Highest I went was Statistics in my Psychology Masters degree.

I was good with everything up to freshman year of college, after that it was like hieroglyphics

Terrible. Maths has never been a strong suit of mine.

Better than average. But not great. I've forgotten most higher level math at this point. But I do enjoy it enough that I will occassionally watch how to solve math problem videos for fun. I kind of want to get some k-12 textbooks or workbooks and see how much I actually remember.

Poorer than I'd like. My pre-college education was absolutely shit, and I was so far behind in college it was essentially what forced me to switch majors when I got to college level science major calculus. I put a lot of effort into it (daily study sessions lasting hours with two others a lot smarter than me) but I still did pretty horrendously.

AP didn't exist around here, and I still remember the last math class I tried to sign up for in high school getting cancelled because I was literally the only person in the school who signed up for it (the previous math class had like 4 people).

You? Mathematical ability?

JOExHIGASHI posted...

So you're an expert at it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9aea8859.jpg

I struggled with algebra in high school, barely got by in geometry.

In my senior year, I aced trigonometry and easily grasped the concepts of analytic geometry - but then again, I had a teacher who made it look so easy.

Terrible

I used to be really good at math which kinda doomed me because I got bored in math classes when I would get everything right away and had to wait for everyone else and started to hate it. It was still my best subject in school by far though.

Very strong.

I'm an engineer, so I kind of had to be to get the degree (though, perhaps unsurprisingly, many forms of engineering - including the one I'm in - involve shockingly little math and what is present is done by computers).