Poll of the Day > The biggest problem I had with math in school was the fact that....

(+) Yeah! (+)

Always had this issue and I am horrible at math. I rarely if ever use any math beyond basic arithmetic and I have a field where people act like you do.

I mean, programming is heavily rooted in algebra, as a fundamental concept (take input variables, manipulate them, produce output variables), but pretty much all the algebra that's needed for it is covered by about grade 6/7, which is a whole lot less than anything that might qualify as "advanced."

Everything after that I could never wrap my head around. Algebra was the last math course I did well in. Anything calculus based just never resonated with me.

Why shouldn't people who did well in school be able to criticize school curricula?

Not really a failure on my part. Its their job to teach me it, if they don't know what its applied to themselves means that maybe it should have been taught.

I teach high school math. I make a point to show a real world career application for everything I teach. Some units are tricky to make that connection (like the unit we have on simplifying radical expressions).

I also make a point to say that the vast majority of students won't directly use most of the concepts they learn. That isn't the point of learning math. Math is an exercise in applying pre-established facts to come to a logical and true solution to an abstract problem. You're solving problems you didn't even know you had; that's about as real world as it gets.

If you think your teachers refused to acknowledge any of this, your teachers didn't really care. Unless they did explain things to you but you've just subconsciously chosen to ignore it.

tc, were you good in math though? did you get up to calculus etc......?

My main problem in math is that my brain just refused to comprehend it. No matter what I tried, I could not understand the concepts at all. I can add pretty quickly if I dont think about it, but if I actively look for an answer, I lock up. I liked all my math teachers though. Such nice people!

well the theme of this topic might actually help you. Some people with problems with math normally need to associate it with real world reasons.

Lets say basic problem 4x+4=28

You and three friends go to a bar with a coupon for free plate of nachos, those nachos are 4 dollars. The bill comes and is 28 dollars, how much does each person pay. Yes theres easier ways to figure that out, but that Algebra equation is one way to do it.

Not really, you are just trying your hardest to troll. Not really a surprise there.

I mean, programming is heavily rooted in algebra, as a fundamental concept (take input variables, manipulate them, produce output variables), but pretty much all the algebra that's needed for it is covered by about grade 6/7, which is a whole lot less than anything that might qualify as "advanced."