God I fucking hate math.

[friesianrider]

I hate it, hate it, hate it. I hate it with every part of my body and soul. Plus, my professor loves putting us on the spot and embarassing us (by us I mean me). Why is this always a thing with math teachers loving to call on students?

God. I am going to be 50 years old and will have totally completed my college degree except for my math requirements. I'll never graduate. :cry:

[Wapsie B]

1. You'll make it.

What breed of math is it? Algebra? Trig? Calc?

[friesianrider]

5. It's only a college algebra class which is what is so sad...

But because I purposely put off my math requirements until my last year, and because I fulfilled my HS math requirements by my junior year of high school, it has been 4 or 5 years since I've had a math course. I'm still a little rusty and trying to remember the basics but I'm spending more friggin' time worrying about this professor embarassing me than anything else! And don't ask me why I care...truth is, I rarely care what people think of me. But for some reason in this situation it scares me to death.

[Wapsie B]

13. I was fairly good in algebra in high school

but like you it was several years before I took it again in college. Thankfully I didn't have a prof like yours.

[alarcojon]

2. Math phobia is a national illness

I'm sorry you are having a hard time with math, and even sorrier your teacher is using antiquated methods - ones few, if any, profs in my department use. But hate?

I heartily recommend you check out "Overcoming Math Anxiety" by Sheila Tobias.

[Heidi]

3. I agree.

If math is taught improperly, or if we don't experience some success with it during the "fundamentals" phase, the phobia can grow like the monster in the closet to gargantuan proportions by adulthood. If math had been taught to me as an art or a language when I was a kid, I wouldn't have spent 20 to 30 years avoiding it. :shrug:

[friesianrider]

7. Now that you mention it...

I was always very gifted in math when I was a child (and a young child, I'm talking 3rd and 4th grade). When I was in 3rd grade, I remember when my regular class would do their math lessons for the day I was always sent to a 5th grade classroom to take their math lessons with them.

Then, and I remember it like it was yesterday, when I finally hit the 6th grade, I had a teacher who made me go to the front of the room and do a math problem on the board. I had no idea how to do it, and being only 12 or so I remember feeling terrified and just breaking down and crying in front of my whole class...and I remember how embarassed and mortified I was. Ever since then I think I've always been fearful of math.

Don't know how on Earth I will make it through my two math requirements now...plus now I've got a mind thing about it that I "can't" do it. It's so stupid! I'm not like this in any other aspect of my life or academic life...it's *just* with math.

[hfojvt]

4. hmmm hatred to the 4th power with 100% of the body

so if we put that in Pascal's triangle and take that result into the Fibonacci sequence using Fermat's last theorem and the Lagrange postulate of the Poisson distribution, it would seem that we can infer that you find math to be an abhorrent abomination of abstract algebraic afflictions of agony. But that is still not real to me unless you can quanitfy it.

[IChing]

12. I understood everything you said, god and I use to teach it.

and that is sad that I understood, what a nerd.

I look at math as having a living universe of it's own, a matrix of dimensions and time, normally not seen in everyday life, but is there all the time. Pascal's observations of
flowers for example, patterns in nature, cadence in music.

Math can be taught either poorly, badly or even worse, abstractly.
It is really part of the matrix that makes up our universe.

[Lady Freedom]

6. welcome to the club!!!

:hide:

[LaraMN]

8. I took Logic for my math requirement. I loved it. I was a big mouth.

This was after my (refresher) Algebra teacher died a week into class, was replaced by a Russian guy who insisted on doing things in a totally bass-ackwards way that confused the crap out of everyone, and the class finally petitioned to have him removed. He was replaced by a professor who had retired but came back for our class and was a GODSEND. I also hate Math with a bloody passion.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. Oh, do it and fuck him up

One of my beloved college buddies dropped out years ago, but kept taking classes in things that interested him. He now has almost 500 credits, but he can't get his Bachelor's because he has never been able to tolerate one of those generic History Of Modern Civilization courses that are required.

Don't turn into my buddy. He can't even joke about it any more - we're old.

So, get the degree and then rejoice that you're not ever going to be a math teacher.

[TrogL]

Do you need any help?

I used to teach math.

[bicentennial_baby]

10. i like math

but then again, i'm an algebra tutor, so i'm biased :D

[Tikki]

11. To be accepted by the University I applied to...I had to...

...pass Statistics...

...to make the Community College requirements and pass the placement test for transfer Statistics...I had to take seven math classes in a row.... one semester after another....

I can still break out crying thinking about how difficult it was for me to get through and how much I had to study for those classes(mathematics, algebra & stats)....

Hang in there....When it is all over...It will be all over...


Tikki

ps I was in my 40's at the time....

[Gregorian]

14. Knowing algebra is actually very important. And I learned to like it.

I literally burned several math books. If you think calling on students is bad, and I know what you mean, then you probably hate what I still hate. Math books suck! I used to envision punching the author in the nose. They'd show the steps, omitting several that they thought were trivial, and then they'd say, "Clearly.....". And of course, it was not clear at all.

Algebra is very important. And I'll never forget the period in my life (after 30 years old BTW), when suddenly the light went on, and I could actually do word problems! Wow. I wasn't so stupid after all.

However, even after five years of calculus, I will never be able to use it. So I can totally understand where you're coming from.

Just start simple. Get a tutor. Practice practice practice. And remember, it's all based on algebra. Algebra is it. It's the most fundamental of it all. If it's intimidating, it's because it's a big deal. And you can do it. And don't be affraid of the professor. Fuck him. Just say you don't know. But study it because it's useful, not because you have to pass a course.

And feel free to ignore me. Most people do.