I've recently started coming on this board, if I'm being honest it's not where I belong. I'm more of a /pol/ guy. I enjoy philosophy and do well in anything involving English or deep thought. Often times I'm paraded around the classroom as if I'm the Magnus Opus of giving quotes or ideas. There's one problem though. I'm terrible at math. As much as I like thinking I'm a "big brained nibba" I just can't get over the fact that math is truely where the power of the brain can come into effect. While a stoner can ask "why" a mathematician or some user who loves math greatly can get what seems to be a impossible problem solved. I want to learn. In fact I need to learn. Watching myself in a math class is pathetic. My academic prowness goes out the window and I feel greatly out of place. All I need is something. Anything that you guys have that can perhaps teach me to become better. Programs, books, advice, etc. A avid reader can become a lawyer or politician. But a true genuis in my eyes can solve any problem that you throw at him.
Where I am now: Senior, Algebra 2.
It's dissaponting compared to the standards of this board. But I'm willing to start anywhere to improve.
>Senior algebra 2 >pol make sense. you wanna start somewhere? stop going on pol
Lucas Watson
Help him faggota
Anthony Torres
Scrutiny is all apart of the process I understand, but scrutinizing the beggar is a cheap shot. You must be a fellow brainlet.
Logan Gutierrez
Start with arithmetic! Even a review wouldn't hurt, almost all problems in mathematics will boil down to arithmetic, so you want a strong foundation. My favorite lectures of this subject are by Herb Gross:
I think he even talks over the phone if you call, but he's really old now so I'm not sure.
Matthew Lewis
>But a true genuis in my eyes can solve any problem that you throw at him. Not really, geniuses typically excel only in their area of expertise. No one can be great at everything. I'm sure that a lot of artistic genius we know of didn't really care for math and science. > Anything that you guys have that can perhaps teach me to become better. Pick up a book and start practicing. There's nothing else to it.
Samuel Howard
This is true. All the math you can think of boils down to arithmetic.
I remember entering Calculus class thinking to myself that this shit isn't even hard, it's the basic math that really messes you up. The memes were a lie.
Ayden Bailey
Thanks for the advice guys.
Austin Myers
Unless you have strong foundations, you're gonna go nowhere. If you're willing to put in the effort, you will get the most out of it. If you take 3 hours to solve a problem and get the wrong solution, you will learn more than reading the solution directly from the back of the book.
With that said, what are the foundations? At your level it is arithmetic, geometry and algebra.
Arithmetic is the least important of the 3, in the sense that arithmetical computations are mostly irrelevant in mathematics. However, the way that it requires you to think for some problems is a nice and intuitive introduction to algebra. Also note that in ancient Greece, arithmetic was purely geometric, whereby one would add lines and angles. You could probably pick up any book on arithmetic that does the job, but Khan Academy is good too (at x1.5 speed for your own mental well being).
For the next two, you will most likely want to read all of I.M. Gelfand's books: >Trigonometry >Algebra >The method of coordinates >Functions and graphs
After you're done with this, you want to create intuition (and give source to a lot of examples) for analysis, and that is best done through unrigorous calculus on the level of Stewart.
All these were baby steps. Before you can put your foot in proper mathematics, you need to gain some maturity. This step is essential. You need to read at least one book on proofs: Velleman or Polya are good.
Now you can enter the world of proper mathematics. The foundations here are (more meme arrows imply you need the one above in general): >Set theory (not recommended, most books on other topics give all you need of this) >Linear algebra >>Abstract algebra >Real Analysis >>Complex analysis >>Point-set Topology
Aiden Martin
Do you think someone who isn't a genius can excel in mathematics with effort and in doing so improve his thinking?
