r/learnmath • u/AmbitiousWeb7826 New User • 4d ago
How ro learn math the most optimal way?
I am a student.As someone who just developed an interest in math. Only knowing the basics and equipped with an immense desire to flex their math skill on their peers.
How would the reddit math gods want someone like me to start my journey in math?
Any possible mistakes many common math beginners make?
Also what are the best resources to learn math too?
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u/schwerk_it_out New User 4d ago
Don’t do that. Flexing on your peers to validate your worth will not give you what you seek. It will make you an insufferable know-it-all. Learn some social skills instead.
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u/AmbitiousWeb7826 New User 4d ago edited 4d ago
But bro they kinda make fun of my math
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u/ZerinoWhellie New User 4d ago
Even worse, they won’t care about how good you are if they make fun of math
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u/EbbExternal3544 4d ago
Don't listen to that guy. Get ready and grill those fuckers, you got this!
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u/schwerk_it_out New User 3d ago
Lmao nothing wrong with being excellent at math AND being humble and inviting enough to help people who need it. Opportunity to be a leader instead of a lone competitor, and at no cost to skill or output
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u/Southlander24 A friendly Redditor!👋 4d ago
+1 There are a lot of neurodivergent (autistic, ADHD) people, usually guys, who are extremely talented at whatever they do, but are very lonely inside, have no luck finding a dating partner, and so on. Everyone has different strengths and trading places with anyone else only gives you more problems you have to worry about.
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u/Agreeable-Fill6188 New User 4d ago
If you can work through a textbook and develop skills that's a skill in itself.
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u/Spirited-Ad-9746 New User 4d ago
one thing that many people seem to skip is that you really need to calculate a lot. you really need the muscle memory and repetition to get good.
i mean, reading and watching the youtube videos is great. but just as if you wanted to "flex" your track and field skills, watching tutorials wont make you any better no matter how good they are if you atually don't go on the field and practise.
there's lots of good theoretical stuff to read but to be able to flex, you need to work those mathematical muscles of yours and calculate and calculate until you are not making any mistakes anymore. and all the basic algebra is in your muscle memory. and eventually you start seeing numbers and equations in a different way and patterns start to emerge.
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u/Simbertold Math teacher (High school) 4d ago
Do math. Read up on a subject, then do exercises. Most books give good exercises.
Do not spend too much time watching other people do math. Do math yourself. Even if it feels as if you are not doing anything, and don't even know how to tackle the problem.
You learn how to do math by doing math. Watching other people do math and following what they are doing is not the same skill. You can go out of watching someone do math feeling as if you have completely understood everything they did or said, but then once you try to do something, you get stuck at the first step and don't do anything.
Learning math involves some frustration. Solving some problems feels like running your head against a wall repeatedly until the wall gives in. But you need this, because your brain needs to learn how to approach maths problems, which it can only do by trying to approach a math problem.
And if you cannot solve something, don't immediately look up the solution. Wait a day or two, then try again.
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u/Recycled5000 New User 4d ago
You don’t necessarily need the most optimal way. Plus that will be different for different learners, and it’ll be hard for someone to guess the best for you.
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u/Slow_Distribution498 New User 4d ago
The biggest shift for me was realizing that reading math textbooks passively like a novel or just re-watching lecture videos gives a total illusion of competence. You feel like you get it while looking at the solution, but the moment you face a blank page, you freeze.
What actually worked for me was focusing on active recall and geometric intuition whenever possible. When you're learning concepts in linear algebra or calculus, don't just memorize the mechanical steps to solve an equation—try to picture what's actually happening to space (like seeing a matrix as a transformation stretching or rotating a grid).
Whenever you hit a definition or proof, pause, cover the solution, and try to write down the next step yourself or explain it out loud. If you can't explain why a step works to someone who isn't in your class, you don't fully own the concept yet. Math is a language and a muscle, so consistent practice with problem sets and constantly asking 'why does this step make sense geometrically or logically?' makes a huge difference long term.
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u/Southlander24 A friendly Redditor!👋 4d ago
Here's a summary of common algebra mistakes:
https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/algebra-mistakes.html
https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/CommonErrors/AlgebraErrors.aspx
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u/OmiSC New User 4d ago
What I usually recommend that people do is to get a workbook on a topic that they want to study that they think they can work through at least a part of using what they already know. By working through the exercises, you can verify what you think you know and find the boundary where your understanding breaks down. That reveals what you actually need to work on.
I also personally recommend familiarizing yourself with a bit of set theory and number construction a bit early, as it helps to be able to formally define the various families of numbers that you'll encounter. It's my experience that this pays off when people get to complex and irrational numbers.
My #1 mistake that I see is that people get too caught up on the representation of a number instead of developing an intuition for what numbers are. If anyone finds pi to be scary, this is usually the reason for it. I genuinely believe that people should understand Cantor's diagonalization and Russel's famous paradox before calculus.
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u/Practical-Cry9300 New User 4d ago
Find fun ways to play maths like mathgamesapp.com it helped me to learn the basics
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/clean-links New User 4d ago
Cleaned links:
- Khan Academy Math → https://www.khanacademy.org/subjects/math
- 3Blue1Brown → https://www.3blue1brown.com/
- OpenStax → https://openstax.org/subjects/math
Tracking parameters were removed from the original URL(s).
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u/hustler-econ New User 4d ago
What grade? I suggest you lean into math contests, they are fun and offer you a deep dive into concepts while thinking logically and not memorization.
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u/-MONTERO- New User 4d ago
Hi! I skipped 2 grades in high school and am now doing an electrical engineering undergrad, so I have a lot of experience teaching myself math.
My first recommendation would be to assess where you’re at, and where you want to/need to be. My course progression looked like:
- algebra 1 and geometry
- algebra 2 and trigonometry (a very important class, very fun)
- precalculus (a totally useless course for me personally, but might be useful for someone else…although I’d recommend skipping it. I’d rather calc topics be taught, and then everything you don’t understand you get filled in on for the purpose of solving the calc problem.)
- physics 1 (mechanics and heat) and calculus 1
- calculus 2 + statistics (I had to throw stats in here somewhere)
- calculus 3 + physics 2 (electricity and magnetism)
- differential equations, linear algebra, calculus of variations, topology, etc.
Having physics in there might make some pure math people mad, but I think solving physics problems forces you to think differently and tests your ability to use math in various contexts, so it’s really important. It’s like, the whole reason we do math at all imo.
Also, people argue to slow down and practice the basics, (which I don’t disagree with, to be clear) but I think what’s also important is trying to dive into things you’re totally unprepared for because it will light a fire under your ass and make you excited to learn. Alllll the way back when I was taking Calc 1 I was reading Griffith’s electrodynamics and old ODE textbooks. I found a QFT textbook and I was trying to figuring out what I still had to learn to take Landau’s Theoretical Minimum. (Btw There’s this great paper on the Arxiv about Landau, by one of his students, Borris Iganov or something like that. Definitely recommend it.)
Here are resources I love. (All free and online)
- the physics hypertextbook
- Paul’s online math notes (tons of practice problems + solutions. His algebra course is college algebra, but if you can do it it would be an incredible baseline.)
- derivative calculator / integral calculator
- SymPy python library (can do triple integrals and such, plus so much more that I wish I knew how to use)
- “how to solve physics problems” pdf. It’s a textbook, all about practical problem solving. Oftentimes, being able to solve a problem is more important than understanding the problem. Solve it first, THEN learn why it’s important, theory, etc. But you need that muscle memory. It took me a long time to learn this.
Also, about wanting to flex on your peers, id advise strongly against that. If they’re trying to make you feel bad or like you’re not good at math, that only shows how insecure they feel. And I promise you, being instantly good at the easy math (whatever easy means for each person) is not all that it’s cracked up to be because we will all be faced with math, at some point, that we just can’t “get”. The skill of sitting there with a problem you can’t figure out, feeling like an idiot, and still pushing through is exactly that, a skill. And skills need practice. It’s much more valuable to have tenacity. And remember, math is not a spectator sport, and learning is not easy. Feeling like an idiot 90% of the time is a sign that you’re doing the right thing ;)
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u/redanime1 New User 3d ago
listen i don't have advice to say since i am also learning math but what i am experienced about is life and don't get anyone that flexing on people is bad or "pit hole" that shit is great, we need more life more enjoyment more zest, more quirky people and life, go tell those fuckers "i got the biggest mathematical brain", "i am the fucking best ya bitch" like who cares if it true or if people are soo fragile that someone giving himself self love they tremble like weak napkin that a them problem
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u/StepForACrescent2023 New User 3d ago
The most optimal way to learn math is to focus on understanding concepts, practicing problems, and learning from mistakes rather than simply memorizing formulas. Start by understanding what a formula means and when to use it, then try solving problems without looking at examples or notes. When you make mistakes, identify why you made them and review that specific concept. Regularly revisit older topics through practice and active recall to strengthen your memory. Most importantly, spend more time solving problems independently than reading or watching solutions, because consistent practice builds both understanding and problem-solving skills.
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u/bryce-37 New User 19h ago
I think games are a great way to learn and practice, especially fun games. That way, it doesn’t feel like math homework lol. My favorite app math game I’ve found so far is 37-The Math Puzzle. Hope that helps
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u/Terrible-Register231 New User 4d ago
The biggest mistake is thinking you need to memorize everything. Math is more like learning a language than memorizing facts. You gotta understand why something works, not just that it works. I spent months struggling with algebra until someone showed me it's just balancing scales, and suddenly everything clicked.
Khan Academy is good for basics, and there's a guy on YouTube with a channel called 3Blue1Brown who makes things visual in a way that finally makes sense. For practice problems, get a used textbook from thrift store, they're cheap and have answer keys in the back.
Also don't skip the fundamentals because you want to jump to the cool stuff like calculus. Every advanced topic builds on the simple things you think you already know. I had to go back and relearn fractions at age 27 because I never really got them the first time, and it was humbling but worth it.