- #1
Mathemaniac
- 76
- 0
As many of you know, some problems in math or physics require a certain insight, or click of the light bulb, to finish. This is especially true for some of the more difficult proofs (which come to mind because of the Real Analysis class I am currently in).
Perhaps I'm not as innately proficient in mathematics as my easy calculus courses would have led me to believe, but sometimes that light bulb just doesn't turn on, and I inevitably need to seek help from other students, the TA, or the professor (or physics forums, for that matter, but I've yet to use this resource for homework help).
I must wonder, though, how much time it is appropriate to spend on a single problem before seeking help. Obviously, you can't hope to spend forever on that one problem: there's lots of other problems and lots of other stuff to read in lots of other classes! So you might go ahead and try some other problems, but that only postpones the inevitability of having to solve that one problem that you just can't get. So how long should one spend on a problem before looking for help?
Perhaps I'm not as innately proficient in mathematics as my easy calculus courses would have led me to believe, but sometimes that light bulb just doesn't turn on, and I inevitably need to seek help from other students, the TA, or the professor (or physics forums, for that matter, but I've yet to use this resource for homework help).
I must wonder, though, how much time it is appropriate to spend on a single problem before seeking help. Obviously, you can't hope to spend forever on that one problem: there's lots of other problems and lots of other stuff to read in lots of other classes! So you might go ahead and try some other problems, but that only postpones the inevitability of having to solve that one problem that you just can't get. So how long should one spend on a problem before looking for help?