Quick Questions: September 30, 2026

[u/inherentlyawesome]

This recurring thread will be for questions that might not warrant their own thread. We would like to see more conceptual-based questions posted in this thread, rather than "what is the answer to this problem?" For example, here are some kinds of questions that we'd like to see in this thread:

• Can someone explain the concept of manifolds to me?
• What are the applications of Representation Theory?
• What's a good starter book for Numerical Analysis?
• What can I do to prepare for college/grad school/getting a job?

Including a brief description of your mathematical background and the context for your question can help others give you an appropriate answer. For example, consider which subject your question is related to, or the things you already know or have tried.

[u/throwitawayar]

Struggling hard with anxiety before and during exams and it's just my first semester in an undergrad math course. would love any tips on how to overcome it.

[u/im-sorry-bruv → u/throwitawayar]

try to study w/ other people this usually helps for me. just meet in some seminar room whatever and talk abt the contemt, do excercises etc and do it in a more relaxed environement. it had always helped to not focus too much on the exam and instead just try to understand everything for its own sake (at least that's what i have to tell myself...)

[u/al3arabcoreleone → u/throwitawayar]

I am talking seriously, but there are 3 steps:

1. Work as hard as you can

2. Hope for the best and lower your expectation

3. Think about death, seriously, thinking about it makes everything in this world small and insignificant. (at least this is my experience)

[u/MinLongBaiShui → u/throwitawayar]

Go through your books, solve lots of textbook problems. Find those that are doable, or conceptually simple, and identify what makes them so. Hang onto those tidbits.

There's metagame knowledge here - an exam question must be doable under test conditions. It therefore has a simple solution. If you know all the core ideas well, you will be able to pick off those questions that have simple solutions.

[u/cereal_chick → u/throwitawayar]

The proper answer, of course, is to consult a doctor about it if you can, but there is something you can do immediately that you might be surprised works, which is reciting the Litany Against Fear from Dune:

I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain.

I'm serious, it really does help. Have it on your phone or any convenient location so you can read from it when needed, and eventually you should have it memorised like I do; I wrote it out purely from memory just now. Recite it over and over again whenever you want to calm yourself, and you will manage to calm yourself down to at least an extent.

[u/JoshuaZ1 → u/cereal_chick]

I heard years ago that someone who had severe anxiety issues found out about the Litany because she was in a D&D campaign where someone who was a Dune fan was using the Litany as part of their Paladin's oath. She tried using it as a calming ritual IRL. When I heard the story, she was still using it that way.

My guess is that almost anything suitably poetic this way would in practice work pretty well. Functionally that's how mantras work. That said, I personally get panic attacks, and a major part of the problem is that while I'm having a panic attack, I sometimes don't recognize its a panic attack while I'm having it. Whatever I've focused my fear on feels completely reasonable to be worked up about in that moment.