Why Math Is Considered Very Hard by Many?
Why Math Is Considered Very Hard by Many?
Mathematics is the name given to a set of great knowledge base, mankind gathered in thousands of years. No doubt this knowledge have done wonders in our lives, still this knowledge isn’t liked by a huge population of humanity.
As a Math teacher background I witnessed the above on multiple occasions. This hate towards mathematics by many of our fellow humans made me to think about why do many of us feel math is useless, or not for them or very hard?
I did my own little research on this and talked to about 80 persons I knew who hated math. I analyzed their background (as all of them are my classmates, friends or relatives) and their way to learn things. Then I draw the following conclusions based on my findings;
1. Mathematics have developed over thousands of years, perhaps it is same old as humanity itself. It builds over the key basic concepts, and ignorance of any of these key concepts makes it harder to learn the higher concepts.
For example; if we want to learn least common multiple, we have to have good knowledge of times, factors and even before that skip counting and addition.
Once I realized that, I changed my way of teaching. Before it was “one size fits all” but after I changed it to individual basis. I saw kids in grade 5 struggling to grasp the concept of least common multiples or greatest common factors. Instead forcing them to learn these concepts as they done in grade 5 math textbook, I ask them to spend some extra time to learn skip counting, times and factors.
Who listened got perfect on least common multiple, greatest common factor and even performed very well on fractions, later. So, if you miss any link (key concept) in mathematics, whole chain (your math skills) is weak and can break anytime.
2. Second, other than Arithmetic there is very little direct application of mathematics in day to day life. Indirectly mathematics involve in every aspect of life from medicine (such as strength in mg) to air planes (how to fly, how to build).
We use math in our cell phones, cars, ovens, washing machines and clocks indirectly so never notice its importance just more than counting or simple addition and multiplication.
3. Third one is very generic but very important while learning anything new. You guessed it right! This is the concentration of the mind while learning.
As mathematics is developed over thousands of years, there is huge brainwork behind its development. So the learner needs to pay full attention to grasp those concepts while being explained by the teachers. This was one of the big reasons for success and failure in all of the 80 persons I did my research with.
So, while learning math full mind attendance, concentration and focus is needed, mere physical presence is not enough.
Above are the three main reasons I found that many of us find mathematics hard or find it useless.
Also I wrote an article on the same topic long ago, below is the link to that article;
Actually I was never good at algebra and calculus but I am very good in business math which I find very simple. You make some interesting points and I agree that the one size fits all way of teaching excludes many learners.
I Love This Cartoon!
Thanks a lot my dear big bro. Your feedback made my day!!
Yes, my dear friend @mathworksheets, I know two reasons which work in synergy to make people hate math. In my experience those two reasons are:
Inability of teachers to explain things in a clear and, if possible, entertaining manner. That is, great number of teachers do not even try to instill a love towards math into their students.
Repressive educational system that forces students to fight for certain mark, and not for a knowledge.
Together, these two reasons are a lethal combination that leave many students in frustration with marks, which they “translate” to a hate towards math.
Excellent complement to my post my dear friend @lighteye. Thanks a lot for your valuable time and your support, care and encouragement.
Math is not hard if your mind is set to learn and master it. I strongly believe that the psychological aspect of a learner is one of the biggest factors why many consider it as a difficult field of study. There are two laws that I personally think should be considered by Math teachers in teaching the subject.
First is the Law of Learning by Thorndike. There are actually three laws of learning: Readiness, Exercise, and Effect. Readiness is crucial in teaching Mathematics, or any subject. Under this law, motivation is essential to achieve learning. People learn best when they are physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to learn. On the other hand, they do not learn if they do not see any reason for learning. Perhaps this is the reason why Math is my waterloo. I can't find valuable reasons in learning algebra, trigonometry, or any other fields of Mathematics that may be useful or at least applicable in my daily life. That's why I always felt sleepy (sometimes dizzy) in every Math class I've had back when I was still studying. :D
The second one is not actually a law but a theory - the Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Gardner. This theory states that every individual has his own field of inclination or expertise based on his skills and abilities. Those who excel in Math have the Logical-Mathematical intelligence. In my case, I'm interested with words and languages therefore I have a Verbal-Linguistic intelligence.
However, it is not impossible for an individual to possess more than one intelligence. These are the people whom we can consider as gifted or genius individuals. Chances are rare though.
This is only my personal opinion and based on my own experience as a learner. I hope I could be of help. :)
Marvelous my friend @juliusdiam. Your feedback is actually a great supplement to my article. I really appreciate your time to reading my article and writing such a great comment.
Thanks for finding my feedback helpful. Just learned it in college and I thought that sharing it would be of some help in one way or another. Great article by the way. Easily caught my interest. :)
Awesome my dear friend @juliusdiam, Steem on!!
I had good math and science teachers when I was just starting out and I really liked math and did well. It helps if you can get the basics and feel like you are enjoying it and are able to understand things.
I think my hesitation in concentrating on getting a math degree was around feeling like it would not lead to many employment opportunities. I was never very interested in being a teacher.
In any case the employment situation now is difficult - I'm not sure what I would do if I was a youth again.
Exactly my dear brother, doing a degree in math means to become a math teacher. That was my case as well, I didn't find many employment opportunities once I finished my degree back in India though my goal was to become a teacher. Here in Canada it didn't help much either.
Math does help a lot when doing computer programming or studying computer science. It is a very good way of learning to think in a general problem solving way. I think it (possibly?) used to be more common for businesses to hire mathematicians for statistical process control, planning or other things. Some of this type of work might be being displaced by machine learning at this point. Computers are much better at identifying general trends and analysis of big data sets than humans.
I'll be curious to see what we end up focusing on in teaching math in the future. One of my frustrations as a kid was spending a lot of time and effort on learning things that I felt were easily obtained in other ways and not really understanding what the math was good for. For example, why bother learning to solve calculus problems when you can get the answer with a trivial operation on a computer? Perhaps it might be better to learn more in depth what cases require this type of calculation for an answer. Maybe this has changed already - it has been a long time since I was in school.
Sorry about the wordiness, dear brother. ;)
Absolutely right my dear brother, all the statistical analysis jobs have been replaced by computers and mathematicians needed now for computer programming to design those analytical software.
I think in the future math learning going to be very limited to persons who want to teach it or to do research further or software development.
Most focus will be on learning how to use mathematical instruments such as a graphing calculator, financial calculator or statistical software (or learning applications). I always wanted this way. I saw many of my friends who wanted to be language or PE teachers and they had to learn geometry and trigonometry for grade 11, totally ridiculous (they forced to waste their time and energy on learning something they probably would never use in their whole life).
Ha haha. No worries for wordiness, this is perfect, I like it and we need it.
This is very true and nice way to share and discuss different opinions of math. We use it everyday and most of us dont realize how often. I have never been a huge math fan and the reason for me was b/c I didnt enjoy formulas in school. I couldnt remember how to complete problems how they showed me. But i realized that once I understood the pattern I always found my own ways to solve them. My own solutions ended up being faster too. Today I use math everyday wether it be in poker, computer programming or my sports formulas and predictions. THanks @mathworksheets for another amazing thought provoking post.
THANK YOU my dear beloved brother for your support, care and encouragement.
I was excellent in math since grade one, picked the concepts very fast before all my classmates. I think it was due to the gifted concentration power to me, I later realized that I could concentrate deep while listening to my teachers.
I think the great divide comes with the introduction of algebra. If I had my way, I would leave it until it is necessary, instead it is introduced to make easy questions become hard! Deeply dumb syllabus in most countries.
Every kid I know can do x + 5 = 9 in their head, but with algebra it becomes a painful process.
The other problem is similar: demanding the learning of methods instead of understanding. There are often multiple ways to solve a problem - the only incorrect method is one that doesn't work.
And the third problem is that most primary teachers are not themselves very good at maths. I teach my own daughter - I dare not infect her with school-maths confusionitis!
Take care!
Thanks a lot my dear friend @rychardee, for your excellent feedback. You got it right, once algebra is introduced many of kids give it up.
Yes, I know many teachers they want to solve problems only their way otherwise it's wrong. Once I have conflict with a math teacher here. I tutored here a lot and one of my students got zero for completing the square solution, he solved it my way though all the steps he did were right.
Good and stimulating article. Thanks!
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Thank you for stopping by my dear friend @math-trail.
Oh wow. I truly enjoyed reading the experiment process. I enjoyed the pleasure of being a teacher for a period of one year at the high school I had graduated from. The way you explained the approach you took after your experiment is the exact same way I taught my students. That's is the way the old educators used to be. I am not in any way putting down the current educators, I know they do try their best, but somehow from the time I have been to school compared to now, there seems to be a loss of compassion towards individuality among students. Not everyone grasps things the same way. Truly excellent post. I am a serious fan of yours.
Thank you very much my dear brother @sashin, for your feedback and kind remarks. Yes, myself too taught at the same high school I graduated from. Then I truly realized the difference in my time as a student and as a teacher at the same place. I think change is the other name of the universe, and lot had changed since I was a student and even since I stopped teaching!!
Thanks you @steemiteducation for stopping by.