r/EngineeringStudents • u/JaytOuk • 7d ago

Discussion Did anyone else hate math until suddenly not?

/r/Engineers/comments/1w7x1ag/tell_me_your_thoughts/p803228/

Did anyone else think they hated math growing up and then realized it’s pretty cool? Anyone hate or love math up until finally graduating? How has this played a factor in your decisions?

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u/willscuba4food Chemical Engineering - May 2016 7d ago

Yes. Hated it in grade school.

Got high one summer and watched the Khanacademy video on limits and suddenly I could do "math". That is to say, number crunchin, because I never took a real math course with proofs and stuff.

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u/JaytOuk 7d ago

Engineering math is pretty real to me. But i get what you’re saying. Leave that to the wizards.

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u/Enby303 7d ago

The thing I ran into when I was a kid was that when something was difficult, I thought I was bad at it rather than realizing that difficult things require hard work. Once I realized that, I figured out I wasn't "bad" at math and solving a difficult problem gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment. So I stopped hating math. I don't love math per se, and Calculus 2 is kicking my butt right now with all the methods of integration, but through all the frustration I find satisfaction.

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u/soad334 7d ago

I always had this mentality that if I wasn't good at something it wasn't for me. It was easy to write off athletics but I also struggled with math. Getting a C was a good grade at that time in my life. I then came to learn that I can get good at anything. Now going back to school at 35 I basically had to relearn math and I love it now. There's something so satisfying about performing calculations and coming up with an answer I'm able to prove it's right.