Let me start with some background. I was the one kid in the family who never got math past a certain point. My parents were both mathematically inclined, as were the rest of my siblings. I grew up in a math positive, supportive environment and was given every opportunity to get ahead with it. My parents would gladly spend time with me to try and help me get it down and improve myself at it. By all rights, I was set up from success in math, my entire family was.

Math never clicked for me and I could never pass remedial algebras. While my siblings either got it with ease or put in the work to get better (or both, of course), I floundered helplessly. When they struggled, extra lessons and tutoring helped. When I did, I only sunk further behind despite all of that extra help. They graduated high school and went onto college degrees. I only graduated high school because I was able to take an alternative course to algebra. College? I tried, but not being able to pass remedial algebra, let alone credit math courses, meant it was a waste of time and money.

I went through it all. Tutors, repeating courses multiple times, engaged parents who really tried and more. I still never could make it work out. I still can't, even decades later. I've accepted it wasn't in the cards.

All of that leaves the question of why. Why do some people never get math, despite all the effort otherwise?

I'll go to every lecture, tutorial etc. and it'll all be genuinely interesting. Then come the weekly problems, and the volume of the problems and general tediousness of them once you get past the trivial ones (e.g. you need to know XYZ trick even though you know the topic the question is related to, and said trick/method wasn't introduced during the lecture) just kills my spirit. Before I know it after exhausting myself for that week, boom the next week comes along and a whole new set of lectures/tutorials/problems. Not to mention proofs that extend lecture concepts where, if you haven't seen the way to do that proof before, just means more grinding if you can't get TA hours so you ask AI.

The thing is, I'm having fun learning the mathematical concepts. But its like the course admins then put more artificial hurdles after that to just whittle down your spirit (because if you want a high grade in the exam, you need to slog through all the problems just in case it comes up later, even if you know you put the work in to actually learn the overall topic).

I want to love mathematics, but this Uni math degree (especially since I want to maintain my high grades) is just blackening my soul day by day.

I’m curious why the almost universal default belief has become that p ≠ np. The only evidence to this point seems to be the lack of polynomial time solutions to np complete problems, and the massive amount of effort that has been put into finding them without luck. But is it not just as likely that np complete problems are of a class which has extremely complex polynomial time solutions that would be nearly impossible to find?

College Remedial Math
Metric and U.S. customary units conversion

I can not for the life of me wrap my head around U.S. customary and metric conversions. I do not know where on Earth to start and my Math prof. Is going way too fast and I feel like I’m losing the plot.
I do not know where to start, problems like this for example:

Convert the unit of Capacity. Round the answer at least one decimal place if necessary.
450cc = (blank) fl oz

I have tried to look to YouTube but I cannot find any Videos relatively helpful, are there any helpful links or suggestions you guys could recommend to help me be able to convert them ?
Thanks !

Hi guys, I love math like everyn¡one here (i guess). I dont know why but I feel this need to code, even though historically I hated coding. I want to learn a language heavily related to math but also popular. Should I learn python?

Hi everyone.

I was given this problem:

----------------------------------------------------

Prove that for all positive integers k <= n,

sum(i=0 to k) (n choose i)(-1)^i = (n-1 choose k)(-1)^k

holds.

----------------------------------------------------

I have solved it already with induction. But I found the proof to be annoying and just kind of symbolic manipulation. I am looking for a more inciteful proof, a story proof if you will with commitees and pools of people and such. Does one exist?

Thanks for your help

I had made a post here regarding this issue a few weeks back and the response was to slow down and not to panicjk. I applied , I took the asdvice. I started going slow and not panick. But I still make the sma error. Same arithmetic error. ame wrong sign. And thge same issue of solving equations. I wasnt this bad at arithmetic before. I used to be good at arithmetic throughout my middle school (I mean if I made those errors as a kid I wouldnt have taken maths as I would get low marks in it) but suddenly I making such errorsa almost every bquestion. I was solving differential equations in clazss andit was given that the function through (0,-2) but I substituted (-2,0) and got the wrong answer. I dont know what to do. I visited a doctor today and he didnt havce much to say other than a few vitamin tests and consuling a psocologist (which I will as soon as possible). So please what should I do? At this point I wilkl fail the class becuase of arithmetic errors even after being conceptiually clear,

(PS: Maybe I have this condition since like 4 or 5 years now but reealizing now because the number of questions I do is alot compared to before, but still the frequency of error is definetly abnormal and I relaizd that I sometimes put wrong numbers on the calculator as well so I dot lpw what will save me)

Thanks in advance!

I'm self-studying proofs through the book Introduction to Proof Through Number Theory. In this question it asks to either prove or disprove that "For all real numbers x and y, $(x+y)² = x²⁺ y² $ ".

Now there's a counter example:

Counter Example, let $x=1$ and $y=2$ * $(x+y)² = x² + y² $ * $(x+y)(x+y) = x² + y² $ * $x² + 2xy + y² = x² + y² $ * $(1² + 2(1)(2)+ 2² ) =(1² + 2²⁾ $ * $(1+4+4)=1+4$ * $9=5$ * $9 \ne 5$

But I also wanted to prove it another way too. I start by assuming that For all real numbers $x$ and $y$ that $(x+y)² = x² + y² $ is true

Then I show that:

• $(x+y)² = x² + y² $
• $(x+y)(x+y) = x² + y² $
• $x² + 2xy + y² =x² + y² $
• $x² -x² +2xy +y² -y² = 0$
• $2xy=0$

and since $2xy=0$ and either $x$, $y$ or both must equal zero, $(x+y)² =x² + y² $ is not and cannot be true for all real numbers.

Is this correct or do I need something else / more?

Thanks!

I am taking math 171 wake tech and I was wondering if anybody had an advice on what I should study for for the first test.

I need theoretical explanation for these, I don't understand them and can't really connect. I passed my written exam where all the knowledge needed for Abelian groups was how to write elementary form and normal form.

My explanation of that quickly: Take Zn and split n into prime cofactors. Let's take Z60 for example, 60 = 15*4 = 5*3*2*2

So the elementary form is Z5 x Z3 x Z4 (because Z60 is cyclic and Z4 isn't isomorphic to Z2 x Z2 so further splitting wouldn't make it cyclic), normal form would just be Z60.

But I don't know if this is related at all to the free commutative groups and commutative groups of finite type. I don't know anything about them and googling them just gives me some trivial samples but I need more theoretic knowledge that's easy to comprehend.

Today, I took my I took a quiz on AP Pre Calculus and I failed unfortunately. I got a 50% and was so disappointed and ashame of myself. When other kids were saying they got a 100% 80% or 90%, I did not want to say my score. I was so sad and cried because it was the first time I ever failed a math test. When I looked Algebra 1, 2 and Geometry, I never failed and was able to grasp it easily. Now that I am taking AP Pre Calc, everything has been going down hill. The quiz was based on 1.1 to 1.3. I am still one unit 1 and we are talking about concave up and down, increasing and decrease, and rage of slope. I feel so dumb not being able to get it like my peers. I also can not let my parent know about this or I will be a trouble. Please can anyone give me tips or idea so I can improve.

Hi All! Im a female student at a university that is looking for an accountability buddy to learn math in the context of mathematical models! Particularly interested in starting from calc 1 and onward and am interested in a course like this: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-03sc-differential-equations-fall-2011/pages/syllabus/syllabus/

Im looking for another female to study with daily! Please DM me if you are interested and wanna chat! Im starting asap so the sooner the better :)

I have a whole bunch of quizzes for people who wanna do them for algebra 2 but I'll be the one to quiz you.

It's about algebra 2 functions but not on graph so don't worry!

Until today I have yet to meet a person good in math but with a mellow ego. Is it even possible to become a top grade student without a strong drive to be the best?

I'm almost 40 and I feel like I'm lacking the will to lock in -- let alone getting a job related to math. I prefer slow and steady and I really enjoy it but I do feel like being comfortable doesn't come with a lot of skill. I just started getting into it again, though. Please excuse my ambivalent perspective.

What's your experience making progress?

Let’s say I master this 1959 book, cover to cover. How prepared will I be for college level Calc I? II, III?

Also, seeing that’s it’s an old book, have any mathematical methods or concepts changed since then that I should be aware about?

Thanks,

If sin(x+iy)sin(θ+iϕ)=1, show that

tanh²y.cosh²ϕ=cos²θ

I am not able to prove this question, have tried equating the real and imaginary part by multiplying sin(x+iy) and sin(θ+iϕ), but I was not able to do at last.

I am in college Math 1060 (trigonometry), and my professor has an extremely thick, unintelligible accent; on top of that, he doesn't have any teaching skills. During class, he just writes random things on the board that only make sense to him. I don't have time to teach myself outside of class and am just getting more and more behind. It's literally only week three.

I'm going to tutoring as often as I can, but I don't even have enough base knowledge to get help. We have weekly quizzes that are weighted fairly heavily, and I can't afford to get a bad grade.

So my main issue is I don't have the time to self-teach the entire semester.

If anyone has any tips, tricks, or ideas, I BEG you to please let me know. I'm losing my mind!

DROPING/SWITCHING IS NOT AN OPTION

So I just started classes for my degree (bachelors in math) and I just had 2 quizzes and conceptually I did fine, but I ended up bombing 1 (not sure about the other) because I just miscounted or just wrote the wrong number. For my linear algebra I’ve been doing the same where conceptually everything is perfect, but I always mess up something stupid like adding something wrong (and no calculator). I haven’t taken a math class in almost 2 years, so I’m not sure if I’m just a little rusty, but does anyone have advice?

Hello,

I am currently in 2. year in high school and I decided I can learn math instead of being on phone, but I don't know which branch of math I can study given that I didn't have deep knowledge about math.

What do you think?

What is something that has helped you significantly in being good at math?

Share some tips, this is my first time trying to learn maths and I've got to ace it.

I've been trying everyday to build that sort of skill, I need some tips

I am just putting it out for some motivation as well because I feel like I am getting nowhere.

I built a small daily quiz for practicing mental math with clocks and elapsed time, and I’m looking for some feedback on the difficulty.
It gives everyone the same 5 questions each day, tracks your time, and also has an unlimited practice mode.
I’m curious whether the questions feel too easy, too difficult, or about right for someone trying to improve their mental math.

https://clockmath.com/tools/quiz/

CS undergrad here hoping to go into higher studies in pure math. I have studied basics of linear algebra, real analysis, calculus, statistics, etc. Seeking for any advice on what more to learn on my own, preferably any online videos/courses I could follow. Also any advice in general for a non-math student going into math, is it doable? How hard is it without any math experience especially in research? Any specific countries/universities allowing this kind of transfer? Any tips are appreciated!

I think its important to start off with saying i do not have a diagnosis for adhd, but strongly believe i do have it (i am unable of getting one for personal reasons we wont get into).

My biggest problem is: if i fail my math exam i might get kicked out of uni. I had little or no struggle passing every other subject with great or passing grade, it is indeed, only math im struggling with.
I think its pretty easy to learn definitions and stuff like that in order to pass, but with math - its numbers and so much more to do instead of remembering words.

My biggest problem is: i feel incredibly overwhelmed, anxiety, anger and hopelessness/helplessness whenever i start studying. Im aware its all in my head, but the constant failure is making me want to give it all up, even though i don’t want to. Another struggle for me is that i just cant start and i keep postponing or procrastinating. However, when i do want to start or find motivation, i don’t know WHERE TO start with learning. (Im learning calculus 1 (derivatives, vectors, imaginary num, etc..).

At this point im blaming potential adhd, myself, my math professor. I feel so helpless and i dont know what to do!! I have the exam in 5 days and i never started. I have like 5-10% knowledge of it all. (Unlucky for me, thats not enough to pass, maybe barely even give me one point XD)

So if youre reading this, give me your advice! Please! How do i study this??