If you've thought that that's what Math really is all your life, you are obviously not going to get far. I've thought about math like that since I started learning algebra, but due to some company known as Art of Problem Solving Inc., I finally understand what math really is about. It's about understanding each and every part of an equation. It's know what the equation means. I'd have to say that my entire opinion about math changed once I visited this site. If you are a person who thinks they've mastered algebra, you might want to check this out to find out how much you really don't know. (Trust me, I thought I knew everything until I found that site.)
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Jul 28 2008, 12:30 pm
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Popisfizzy
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I've heard math described before as a science of patterns.
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Interesting. That does make sense in a way, but mathematics is not all about patterns. Maybe just the number theory part of it.
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- * / That is math. The rest is language. If you don't understand math, it's probably because you have a reading problem. That's not to say you're bad at reading if you have a math problem; the main problem is poorly written resources about the subjects, so you have to have a good knack for reading comprehension, communication, and memorization in order to actually take something away from the resources. The actual problem solving part of math isn't that difficult in school because they don't actually force you to apply the math to real-world situations. Instead, they tell you to memorize a set of rules (not just formulae) and hope you remember exactly what to do for that exact situation. If you didn't memorize their specific set of rules, you get docked points. That isn't problem solving. Problem solving implies a dynamic solution. Programming and engineering are far closer to problem solving than math, which is really just a bunch of pre-defined algorithms for crunching numbers until you are a mathematician. | |