Best Techniques for Efficient Math Learning in Today's World

[KINGBOB28]

In today's world its not enough just to learn things. You have to be able to learn them fast or you will never accomplish very much. Mathematics can of course be quite difficult to wrap your head around at times and so if one can learn mathematics quickly and efficiently then there are few limits to one's capabilities. The question then is: How can one maximize one's efficiency in learning something abstract and at times difficult like math? Please share your experiences and advice. Thanks

 

[craig0303]

well I am still learning personally, from my experience there is no quick way to learn math unless your a genius, you just have to gain a general understanding of what math is, then start from the bottom and work your way up

plus, if you rush learning math you may not be building a proper foundation of elaborative understanding, so when you work you go to try more complex math youll get lost

just takes time, work away through the types of math, do any problems you can find, and learn from various sources, not all teachers and textbooks are perfect, and some are awful, so its good to have many perspectives to shed light on the issue fully.

learning math isn't so much the acquisition of knowledge, its more of a manipulation of the mind, adaptation and growth, which takes more time than just learning facts.

 

[Bill Simpson]

Read "Talent is overrated: what really separates world-class performers from everybody else" by Geoffrey Colvin. He describes and gives lots of research references on what it takes to become very good at something as efficiently as possible.

To oversimplify my understanding of this into a sentence, it takes "directed practice" (Google can find that phrase for you) which demands enormous drive, focus, energy, concentration, sacrificing things that get in the way of this and finding a coach who can see your weaknesses and pushes you hard every day to overcome those weaknesses.

My question is: how to find such a coach in mathematics.

Colvin does caution the reader" do you really want to pay the high price to do this?

 

[hillzagold]

This is a problem with more than one solution. I personally think math should be made less intimidating.

http://education.nmsu.edu/ci/morehead/documents/begley.pdf

A stereotype that pervades the culture the way "ditzy blondes" and "forgetful seniors" do makes people painfully aware of how society views them--so painfully aware, in fact, that knowledge of the stereotype can affect how well they do on intellectual and other tasks.

As long as math is viewed as hard and complicated and boring, as long as math is viewed as a boy's subject or an Asian's subject, we'll still have a massive obstacle in our education.