Re: Why do so many people hate or have trouble with math? Your input is needed!

In article <1160085520.507495.269140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
LearningNerd <LearningNerd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Why do so many people hate math?

Same reason a lot of people hate spinach or broccoli. They've been
forced to have it because, they are told, "it's good for you", but
they can neither see nor perceive those benefits, and it is being
served by mostly uninspired cooks who don't much care for its taste
either.

Note that the same may be said about reading. A ->lot<- of people hate
reading; the idea of reading a book for fun, or in order to learn
something, is a terrible chore to be avoided if possible. And even
those who may enjoy some reading will often recoil at the idea of
reading Dickens, Tolstoi, Jane Austen, Cervantes, or Milton; let us
not even consider Shakespeare which, granted, was not meant to be read
bu rather seen performed. And let us not even mention Plutarch or the
likes of "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire".

The difference there, I think, is that while it is considered socially
acceptable to acknowledge, nay, brag about, a hate of math, the idea
of saying that you think reading book is dumb, that people should not
be forced to read quite so much in school, that you "hate books", is
not socially acceptable. So there is less talk about it.

Why do they have trouble understanding it?

A vast majority of people are taught mathematics by people who do not
like or enjoy mathematics either. That's a very big obstacle to overcome.

Again, the same may be said about reading in general. From what I can
see, there is a very large problem with reading comprehension in
general; let's not even go to reading Dickens or Shakespeare and
making sense of the plot (which far more people have trouble with).


What are your experiences with learning math (at school, on your own,
etc.)?

No idea where you are going with here. I've been studying nothing but
math since 1988, barring one summer course of French in 92, and one
semester of introductory japanese in 95. Way too much for me to talk
about in usenet.

Do you enjoy math?

If I didn't I wouldn't be a mathematician.

If so, why?

The pleasure of finally solving a problem that once seeemed
unsurmountable is a very big part of it.

How could teachers and students make math more fun to learn?

Why does it have to be "fun"? I would settle for ensuring more people
learn it properly, just as I would settle for more people being able
to comprehend basic written English. I mean, I just had an exam with
a very big prominent instruction to give extact answers and not
approximations, with explicit examples of what to do and what not to
do (including, explicitly, "Use pi, no 3.14"), only to have about
1/4-th of the students blithely replace every fraction with a one
digit decimal approximation, and e and pi with its decimal
approximation to the hundredths.....

But, first and foremoest, whoever is teaching it has to understand it,
and should probably enjoy it him or herself. When you teach something
you don't like, the students pick up on it.

--
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"It's not denial. I'm just very selective about
what I accept as reality."
--- Calvin ("Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson)
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Arturo Magidin
magidin-at-member-ams-org

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