

How I Overcame My Math Blocks - antiform
http://www.deepastronomy.com/how-i-overcame-my-math-blocks.html

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whacked_new
This article kicks tremendous ass; here's another awesome man to the list.
Articles like these are actually useful to most people, compared to, say, the
tales of Feynman, which, while also amazing and kickass, read more like
fantasy than inspiration.

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yters
Yes, that was a great article. I would like to know what changed in the
author's mind. Did he just get good at particular math problems through
repeatedly doing them, or did he gain a general math aptitude? Given his
performance later in life it seems like he gained the latter.

I became interested in math in a similar manner, and I think learning it this
way gave me an edge over those who were just force fed it in school. There is
nothing like understanding the practical significance of a subject to make it
stick in my mind and give me intuitive links. This aspect of learning seems to
be really lacking in public school, at least the ones I've attended.

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foonamefoo
His performance helping a grade school kid with his _population project_? I
kid, I kid.

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yters
I'm referring to the flight school aptitude test, his success in engineering
school, and achieving a BA in physics. That's quite a jump for a guy who
couldn't do high school algebra.

~~~
foonamefoo
That's where the kidding part came in.

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oz
Inspirational article, and it hits home on many levels. I remember loving math
at 12, kicking major ass in geometry. But as I grew older, I didn't seem to
pick it up. I wasted time in high school, and failed Pre-Calculus at Uni, but
I now realize 2 things:

1 - Math is rarely taught well. The "ax2+bx+c=0" approach to teaching
quadratic equations is rubbish. I never understood what it was they were
trying to solve until a few months ago I was at the library and read a book on
the history of mathematics. It became crystal clear. IIRC, the Indians used
quadratics to make sure that they could increase the size of their altars
without losing the proportions.

2 - Many people who get good grades in Math don't get it at a fundamental
level. Sure, they can regurgitate the rules of logarithms, and solve worksheet
questions that follow a _specific_ pattern, but outside of that, they're
sitting ducks. I've asked several people why ax2+bx+c=0. Why doesn't it equal
37? Or 3.456? None of them have a clue. I realize that this logic can be
applied to me if someone asked me about branch prediction or out-of-order
execution, but I think the logic holds.

I've also realized that I use ratio to solve many problems. I remember in my
year at Uni, we were given a problem to solve in electronics class. I realized
the answer immediately, knowing that 1 amp is = to 1 volt applied across a
resistance of one ohm by definition. The 'math genius' in the class struggled.

I've always believed that those who have a natural talent for programming also
have a natural talent for math. It's just not _taught_ well. Me, I've
convinced myself that I have the latent ability, it'll just require me to
learn it on my own terms, instead of a formula-based approach. In the same
history of math book, they showed the history of place value, and it made so
much sense. The same approach we take to crafting algorithms can be used to
find the solution to math problems. Again, great article. Gotta love YC.

PS. I just noticed that when you enclose text in *s, it gets displayed in
italics. Nice one, PG

PPS. Actually, I can speculate about branch prediction and OOE. But that's for
another time.

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mrevelle
Thank you.

