Math is not hard at all, "except" those who pretend to know or who teach make it harder, because they fkin stupid. Teaching is not just you have to know the solution of the problem, you have to know how to elucidate and you have to know what is the knowledge level of pupil who receive it. There is a difference in teaching a college graduate, high school student, a baby, a crow, a chimpanzee, a worm. this video itself is a proof, the guy who want to lecture you how he figured why for some people math is hard, is a fkin moron.
It is because we learn a natural language first that is learned is a different way to how we learn mathematics. Language is learned in phrases where mathematics is learned in a reductionist fashion and is void of sensory input. Mathematics is qualitatively a different kind of language. Mathematics is mostly an inner process and this why autistic people are better when natural languages are learned as part of communication, at least initially. By the time children are taught mathematics the brain is structured in a way that it is not compatible with a totally internal process. Some people have more of an advantage because of their genetics.
Until I was in my 12th year of schooling in America, I was led to believe I couldn't do math. Then an extraordinary teacher proved them all wrong. TEACHERS MATTER.
They absolutely do. I lived with math anxiety as a result of a teacher making an example of me in a classroom as a young child and have never fully recovered from it. As a young adult I followed my passion and needed to use math in my Bachelor and Master's Science degrees but it somehow seemed different when I was learning it within a context of something I was really interested in, unlike school when I would sit there daydreaming and wondering what is the point of this 🤔
Same. They didn’t care to teach girls math back in the day. I discovered I was actually gifted in mathematics once I went to college and had decent instructors.
I agree. It’s true of other subjects as well, not just math. Students’ preferences for subjects are influenced by teachers’ characters, knowledge, teaching skills, storytelling etc…
@@coldplay8680 Right. Not everyone has the same level of understanding, some students often lack context why they are doing it and that's why they failed to put necessary concentration required to solve a math ( or any other ) problem so it's up to the teachers to step back a little and give them a context so the students can gather their concentration around the problem. This is a leaner approach and may slow things down a bit but it's worth it.
Same here, I was put in Advanced Math in 7th grade even though I struggled much more with that than English. They just wanted the same 30 kids to be in those two periods cause it was easier to schedule. It took me till 9th grade to find a teacher who understood and taught in a way I could understand.
A teacher who engages you is very important - I didn't have one but still did ok; having left school 50+ years ago I've gained more knowledge because of my own interest. I'm now over 70 & still learning, because I'm INTERESTED.
It is more often our mindset, not our genes, that limit us. With "I want to learn this. I can learn this. I WILL learn this!" you can do almost anything challenging. It maybe takes some time, but you get there. But learning something is exponential with feedback system. With good feedback your interest grows as you become better. You learn faster. With alot of setbacks your mindset cannot handle, you learn slower.
I used to be scared of mathematics when I was at school, but I can't believe that now I'm doing master in mathematics honors. The only thing you need to have is a right teacher and your willingness to learn mathematics.
For those who think their situation is hopeless... I had an abusive mother, who used to even punch me in the face age of 5. By the time I was in primary school I was clearly the worst student, couldn't even do 2+2. My abusive mother passed away, went to live with my grandparents and their children (who were doing academically good ). My grades since then improved and my math still not perfect but I'm doing better than all my ex colleagues who used to make fun of me. Today I'm an IT engineer and I do math exercise regularly as it was the only way for me to improve. Those childhood punches to the face from an adult is impacting my life to date, but I'm fighting it. I did it, you can do it too! At least you will be better than if you didn't take any action
It isn’t that math is hard, it’s just poorly presented by a lot of teachers. My math anxiety started in the first grade when my teacher was extremely impatient with me learning to subtract. She would try to force answers out of me without breaking the concepts down for me in a more digestible manner. After that, I floundered through math all the way until high school, dealing with sarcastic teachers who would even mock students who were slower at it and enduring memorization and rules-based learning that gave me **no** clue what was going on in any of the problems (I’m a visual-spatial learner). Homework was a nightmare when I would always end up crying and my poor mom would angrily break pencils because she couldn’t get me to figure anything out. One of the things I hated the most were timed math tests, which only measured how fast people memorized things and gave me *horrendous* anxiety. It wasn’t until college when I bought books and learned basic math myself at home my own way. As a result, I did so well at advanced algebra at school, I ended up helping other students. Go figure…
It seems to be quite common for people to be bad at math for years and then something clicks. I was similar to you in that eventually I had to teach myself. I read something that just happened to unlock a door - maybe just the way it was presented - and I was able to build from there.
I'm genuinely curious what your "own way" was. Did you find visual-spatial concepts that helped you? Multiplication, for example, has an intrinsic spatial element to it.
Much like my case, but without tutoring others. There’s a pattern people like us follow which must be reflected in the research. Roughly, “late bloomers,” but that only captures the experience in part.
And now there is a movement among teachers to ban homework so kids can't take their books home and try to figure it out at home. I couldn't learn math in a classroom with people talking. For me, I don't process words and math well at the same time. I can manipulate equations when I look at them but if someone spouts numbers at me, I don't catch any of what they said. Match clicked for me at algebra, when I started to ignore the teacher and just read the book. I'm an engineer.
Yes. Dyscalculia is a real neurological disability. It's not as well known as Dyslexia. But it affects so many individuals, more than we'd like to admit.
Thank you! Unfortunately, for some strange reason the fact that people have difficulty with something as inherent as language is made loud and clear but people having issues with abstract concept like maths are just told; well, you didn't learn hard enough. :/
While I agree that genuine learning disabilities exist, they are far less common and less clear cut than many people understand or realize. Much of it is just horrible teaching. Dig deeper into texts like the dyslexia debate of Fletcher's work on LD identification. It is far more of a grey area than many want to admit.
My mother with dyslexia laughed in my face & said I was just lazy, when I told her I thought had dyscalculia. Looking back at a lot of things she did, I don’t think she really liked or wanted me lol 😂
@@islandpersuasion4690 wow, that is unhinged. :/ I think because dyslexia is recognised more widely people don't even question it nowadays, but dyscalculia is this weird, unimprobapossible monster that couldn't exist and is not taken seriously. :(
We are so fortunate now to be able to go to the internet, ( UA-cam specifically) and find any number of dedicated, patient, clear math teachers to teach any any aspect of math you are struggling with. I've been using them for a couple of years in my journey of math literacy and pleasure. Some of these people are absolute top teachers.
I think my problems with maths started with hearing problems that weren't picked up on as a baby. I still hadn't said my first word at 2 years old and was sent to speech therapist and audiologist. I had surgery that helped and I remember being so upset about my world suddenly getting so loud. I had a decade of speech therapy and worked hard to eliminate my deaf accent. Reading and writing were a joy even though I was unaware that I was extremely slow. I enjoyed it anyway. But counting was not only difficult, it was painfully slow. I wasn't the kid who cared what the other kids were doing but the gap between what I was doing became so great that even I noticed. I was still struggling with double digit addition and they were moving into long division. I had kind teachers. I had extra help from some excellent teachers over the years. I don't feel like I was singled out or bullied. I was fine with being behind and working hard to catch up with things like reading and writing and clear speech and listening skills. No one accused me of laziness. Stubborn yes, but not lazy. I was identified with multiple learning disabilities that are common for kids with missed hearing difficulties. There is an important window in early childhood development for learning critical language skills. As an adult in university, I was told I missed some of that window and should be proud of how well I've done. Unfortunately, maths is a language and while I have continued to work on my skills, I never reached secondary school levels. I wish there was more acknowledgement that it isn't always about desire or effort. Sometimes critical building blocks can be missing. This doesn't mean I'm stupid or intellectually stunted. I've had other excellent advantages in life that I lacked as a baby. However, even wonderful teachers can only do so much. They can't fix the first 2 years of my life.
I agree but one word of caution here from my own experience returning to school after 15 years. It’s easy to watch too many videos and because you understand what they are saying and it even seems simple you think you have learned and understand the topic. But in reality this doesn’t mean you can do it on your own. Practice without help is critical. Use videos as supplement when you need and make sure you can do the problems without it. My first Calc 2 test I got a D for this reason after fixing this got a perfect score on the second. Just my experience hope that helps someone.
My maths teacher was bullied by students in my class, and as a result, I am not exaggerating, I got about 2 hours of maths eduction from him over 4 years. I studied honours Physics and Chemistry, I excelled in these subject, but was far behind in Maths. Then one day my chemistry teacher pulled in to the side during break, and I remember the bewilderment in his face as he asked me why I was so good at physics and chemistry but rubbish at maths, it was like he was witnessing a reverse miracle. The reason this situation happened was because my entry exam was poor due to stress, and I was initially put in classes for slower students, but my mother successfully argued they should let me study honours students for Physics and Chemistry, but they did not budge for Maths. So I was stuck with a load of brats and a bullied maths teacher. I now have a PhD and I'm a data analyst, I deal with numbers and statistics as part of my job, having taught myself maths.
@@Diamonddavej what kind of school had students bullying the teacher? As a maths Chad naturally I was a standout maths student and as a Chad i was never bullied unless you count the continual harassment by Stacies desperate to get with me, of course.
Just start learning from Khan Academy . Keep at it. Eventually it clicks. I've began mastering high school math at age 30. It's truly an empowering experience. All you need are the basics - fractions, decimals, multiplication, and division, etc- the trick is to understand the nuanced relationships between them. Don't concern yourself with high end math. Once you truly understand the basics, math becomes easy. It's sad most schools never teach the foundations in a way that resonates. Math is such a delicate subject and in most cases it's a failure of teaching not learning.
I am an Indian woman, generally people in my country loves maths, but since my childhood I do not like maths, even scared about exams. In board exam I scored 59, and was heavily mocked. Funny things is when I moved to Canada, again at age if 33, I registered for high school level math classes for adults ; believe it or not I was one of the best in my class and my teacher and classmates could not find why I was scared in maths in younger life, now I enjoyed percentile and alzebra even 😂😂
@@HigkeyRegarded007 true canadians do exceptionally well in the international eduction rankings of PISA making the top ten which is over 100 places higher than india trialed at
It's because some people can only grasp anything once they see it's application, I was bad at maths or couldn't grasp concepts easily, it's only when I started carpentry and had to know trigonometry and geometry to work out my cuts and angles and my maths understanding increased and a light bulb 💡 moment when I seen it's practical application
This was me. Math only clicked with me when I started working in an office and using programs like Excel. It was quite wild when concepts that has eluded me all my school life began to make sense once I found myself working as a payroll and time and attendance clerk. I'm still no math wiz ofc, but I know what I'm doing.
I don't mean to peek on the presenting crew or anything, but the solution presentation felt like it was made for people who had already gotten it, rather than for the ones who hadn't, such as myself. So I agree with @esparda, as that solution presentation gave me exactly the same feel as through my entire school life: "they're 'explaining' it to themselves, not to me" ... human communication, dudes. But thank you very much for the extremely interesting content.
let suppose total animal=x no. of sheep=x-3 no. of goat=x-4 no. of horses=x-5 (x-3)+(x-4)+(x-5)=x 3x-12=x 2x=12 x=6 so, no. of sheep=x-3=6-3=3 no. of goat=x-2=6-4=2 no. of horses=x-5=6-5=1
I had never have to study math at school, it came really easy for me. But I believe that having a great teacher is half of success. Basically in every subject, great teacher makes a huge difference.
Some people become weak in math because of their surroundings, their imbecile teachers, their nonsense education system and their disturbingly non cooperating fellows. Those people make everything, explain everything, display everything in their very own fashion so that others can not cope with that. Of course all of us do not realize everything in the same way and hence it is the responsibility of the authority to arrange and allow diverse learning tricks for diverse types of students. Does every patient get the same treatment in hospital ? Do we have the same meal in a restaurant ?
Nah. Maths doesn't need a clown teacher or society. Good students in math need just a struct teacher....matter of fact they can just do with textbooks😂
A true teacher will have 3 different explanations for each principle so as to reach the majority of their students. I have witnessed this behavior from great teachers all the way through my doctorate.
Bad at maths as a child, bad at maths as an adult, bad at maths as a pensioner. I can’t imagine the concepts in my mind. However, I have an expansive imagination and an unusually prodigious memory for visuals, emotions, scents.
we each have our funny peculiarities to compensate for our limitations, it gives us a personal perspective on life and how to handle it. It seems your creativity has brightened up your days, and how I envy your memory!
For some reason my head can't understand numbers and acts like it is some sort of Eldritch language which i can only see the symbols and maybe know what they mean but struggle a lot to be able to anything with them and the more abstract things get, the worse it gets and my head just starts hurting. Meanwhile i can create stories, think of *literary symbolism*, understand complex works, have a great imagination (well, in fact i have issues with Daydreaming so...), i have a relative facility to learn different languages, understand sociopolitical stuff, history and there goes... But, i can't do 9+69 without having to stop to count on my fingers and if you request more advanced basic math i will start getting genuinely desperate and have an absolute mental block and not be able to do anything without looking up it (and even then i might not understand it). Unfortunately my memory also sucks, but it's highly selective about how bad or good it is....
@@renren47618 thanks for explaining how complicated mathematical concepts and symbols are to you. Do you have similar difficulties with letters, which are themselves another set of symbols? what about languages with a different alphabet such as Greek or Japanese? Do you learn orally rather than by writing? Sorry, these might feel like personal questions but I am often trying to imagine how other people think, how they experience life, how they perceive the world. Feel free to ignore my comment, I'ld understand.
I think in America culture discourages students from learning math. When I migrated to America as a 10 year old I was very well trained in math. I remember getting 100% on tests in American math classes when I had a hard time in all other classes. Then I stopped learning math, until 23 I didn't know how to do pre-calc. I got married at 29 and my wife studied business calculus so I helped her. In about 6 months I was doing differential equations. There is no doubt American culture slows down math advancement if you LET it.
People are bad at Math because they had terrible teachers, lack of after school tutors and nonsense fear that Math is supposed to be difficult. It is difficult, but not to be terrified about.
For me , it's physics.....physics is one of the scary thing in my life .....but the ironic is I am a math major student. People say that ,if someone is good at math,they are automatically good at physics & I am that example which contradicts the above statement....🙂🙂🙂
In primary school, I was overwhelmed with learning basic multiplcation. I told my Mum that I was struggling, but she reminded me that I already knew how to do it. The reason being she had taught me 4 yrs prior when I was 4 years old, and I remembered that I loved it so much because she made it fun for me. When I remembered that I flew through the tests, even when the numbers got higher than when I learned before. The funny thing is my Mum is not very good with advanced maths and couldn't help me after I finished primary, the reason being she never finished past the 10th grade.
I never liked studying Maths. It was boring to me. Because I was not interested in it other than addition, deduction, multiplication, and division. Equation, algebra, and the rest meant nothing important to me.
@@calyco2381 except for making the machine you used to post this and all the many other things you tend to use in daily life but don't even consider they heavily depend on math.
A heartfelt thank you to BBC for this info. Emma"s story resonates the most with me. I am almost 30 and I have continually relearned my 2-12 time tables throughout my life. Just as Emma admitted, as soon as I begin to move on to other projects, about half of my tables leave my mind. I have never heard of discalculia but it can help me better understand my mind. Thank you. Also, can the name of the game the professor mentioned that helps us find other ways to understand numbers be revealed please?
Try singing the times table to a rhythm in a sing-song fashion with hand and foot movement. foot-tapping and hand clapping for instance along with body movement swaying to the rhythm. Even if you forget the details you can easily refresh your memory with just brushing up on the math tables. Many people can remember a tune far better than a number ie what it sounds like.
People who can't cope with math(s) are considered stupid. It's their problem to fix. People who can't cope with basic orthography, syntax etc are given all sorts of extra follow up. An oversimplification, perhaps, but sadly too often true.
thats not allways the case, the conditions of the country, what you eat and your environment can also inpact and affects your ability to learn..how you were developed as a baby or inside you mother also matters.
It is considered normal to struggle with math. Hence it is rarely seen as a problem. I think what you are describing is more true about P.E. School math is mostly repeating recipes like following orders. If it is a little more interesting it is presented so confusing you loose most students immediately. Furthermore advanced math normally don't use numbers past 20. So you are bad at arithmetic a small portion of math. At this level it is always the teachers fault.
@@emilwandel to some extend - yes, but struggling like people with dyslexia do - isn't normal, it isn't even recognised as a deviation from your usual: teacher can't teach. How many people do you know that are diagnosed with dyslexia and how many do you know with diagnosed dyscalculia? From the people I know I know many dyslexic ones but none with dyscalculia, and the funny thing is language is more natural for people than maths and yet - nobody sees the issue :/
In my younger years, it was all about perceived relevance. Not that math was hard, per se, but it was dry. Not worth my attention. Oh, sure... I went through the motions enough to get decent grades, but I didn't enjoy a single second of it. Honestly, I was in my second year of college/university as a Biology/Chemistry major before the coursework broke through the boredom barrier. There was amazing stuff out there to observe and measure. My old nemesis quickly became an ally. 60+ years on, I still don't consider mathematics a thing of beauty, but as a kind of Swiss Army Knife to help make sense of things. Cheers!
What's difficult for me is how abstract mathematics can get. The basics are easily understandable of course (addition, devision etc.) but it reaches a point where you just apply particular sets of rules to work out something but it isn't really obvious what it is all about or how these rules originated/make sense.
I tried to learn abstract algebra and topology and it just doesnt make any sense anymore 😂. Since you cant have any tangible physical problems that these topics can solve. Unlike calculus and differential equations, they are hard but you can see their effects in real life. So they can be analogous. Unlike these abstract rules of higher mathematics 😅
@@cedricreinelopez992 Small children are really good with abstract concepts. The need to find applications makes it more confusing for many people. But I wish math wouldn't be taught with the goal in mind and more with how to develop solutions for hard problems and testing if the solution is right. More time to play with numbers.
@@cedricreinelopez992 There are tangible physical problems that you can solve with abstract algebra and topology. My topology professor used Borsuk-Ulam to prove the ham sandwich theorem. She also gave us this puzzle as a homework: "Is it possible to hang a picture with a string on two nails driven into a wall in such a way that removing one of the two nails always causes the picture to fall down?"
Don't worry if you're bad at maths, and pretty much everything else. BBC will still hire you as a journalist. Then you can produce reports that look like hard work, but barely scratch the surface of any question.
Despite my immense love and interest in Physics and Astronomy, I always find math very difficult. Sometimes, I can solve a difficult problem speedily. But at other times, a very easy problem can give me a headache.
I found out I had a learning disability, specifically called a visual-spacial learning disorder, combined with a history of bad teaching. I ended up taking a coarse designed for students with a variety of learning disorders, to get to the math level I should have been. After that, I found out about a new, temporary math class that took a different teaching approach, with the goal of taking students who were stuck in pre-algebra and algebra, to learn everything that would allow them to test out of taking those classes and move on to the more advanced math that would allow them to move on in school. It worked and I eventually was able to take Statistics for the first time. Once I did, I had to work, really, really hard to keep up but got an A in a class that was previously out of reach. Unfortunately, the only math coarse left, that I needed was calculus (my goal was to major in Economics in the Southern California University system). The calculus coarse that I need was taught by a professor who was really behind the times, refused to acknowledge the idea of any kind of learning disability, accommodations and was just mean. I ended up missing a class where there was a test given, not listed in the syllabus or anywhere else because I had a Doctor's appointment that couldn't be scheduled any other time. He wouldn't believe me and refused to let me make up the exam. I ended up filing a complaint with the administration office and found out he had a long list of complaints but couldn't be fired because he was ten yeared. He ended up retiring the following semester. By then I had already changed majors and transferred to another school where I completed my Degree. To think, I was 1 class away from being able to do an Economics major. 🤷♀
1:40 Same experience with me. I was bad at division, I cheated 3answers from my friend beside me among 9problems in total when I was 8yrs old as 2nd grade of elementary school. Divison is too tricky to kids because all teachers teach them as sharing, dividing, not as "repeating subtraction". All teachers show the algorithm as packaging or tieing or sharing items into a group, no one told me dividing is repetition of subtracting. They are totally different for kids. Packaging items into some groups means that the kid doesn't lose anything. The kid still keeps the original amount as shown as in the picture of the quiz/paper/board/his or her brain. But repeating subtraction means and shows that the kid loses the items repeatedly. They are totally different. Dividing is not sharing. It's just minus, negative, losing or being stolen. Fckg sharing
X->sheep Y->goat Z->horse There are only three types of animals so Total animals is X+Y+Z Since other than sheep there are three animals Y+Z=3 Similarly X+Z=4 X+Y=5 Add lhs and rhs 2X+2Y+2Z = 12 2(X+Y+Z)=12 X+Y+Z=6 That means total animals is 6 Also from first statement All are sheep except three means X+3=total X+3=6 All goat except 4 Y+4=6 Z+5=6 There fore X is 3 Y is 2 and Z is 1
Yea, if they brought back how to solve for this problem by introducing algebra in an accessible way and solving the problem versus the weird logic approach they used, it could’ve been more beneficial to those that struggled with math.
You can also solve it in your head somewhat using combinatorics. Start considering the largest number of exclusions and work your way down to the lowest. First consider the statement that all except 5 are horses. Assume at least 1 horse with potentially more and move on. So far the solution looks like this: X X X X X H Legend: H means horse, G means goat, S means sheep, X means except the type of animal being considered. Next consider all except 4 are goats. Of the 5 “X” exceptions remaining at least 1 is a goat but that leaves 4 exceptions and 1 horse so there must be another goat so that the total number of non goats is 4. The solution so far looks like this: X X X G G H The last step is considering all except 3 are sheep. Since we know 3 are goats and horses, the remaining exceptions are all sheep. Final solution looks like this: S S S G G H Of course for larger numbers you will want an arithmetic formula type solution similar to the one you presented. This is just an alternative representation of the same solution approached differently.
You made the solution more complicated than it is. The explanation at the end of the video was simple. I'm glad I never had a math teacher like you during high school and university.
I'd love to hear more about people like Emma. I myself can't calculate numbers by heart, but abstract concept are very easy for me to understand (e.g algebra, programming).
Top-down processing requires understanding the breadth or scope of a concept and its relations with other side concepts. Making a mental model of things. Relating diverse things into a coherent whole. This requires associative memory. Much of school maths is quite the opposite bottom-up thinking. This requires procedural memory (step by step procedures)
Yeah, I managed to get that far too. 🤣🙄 My nightmare started with LONG DIVISION numbers like "43296÷942" and even problems like "7448 × 398" which I managed to DO, but not FAST, and I can pinpoint the PRECISE time and point of the beginning of my math nightmare: 3rd grade, Ms. S______'s class at B_____Elementary School of the ____ Unified School District located somewhere in the Bay Area of California back in the year______(Sometimes PRIOR to September 11th, 2001🙄) And UNLIKE book author Judy Blume, I HAD "Tales of a Fourth Grade SOMETHING" when THAT school year rolled around-- "charming" tales at THAT. 😱🙄😒😒😒😒
A lot of basic math is about structured logical thinking and framing the problem, such as the problem in the beginning of this video. Not so much about trying to solve a problem in the head all at once which i have found many believe math as such. Being able to look at a problem, interpret the information presented by it, and breaking down into smaller sub-problems before tackling it one after another is a type of logical thinking pattern that everyone has the capacity for and it gets better with practice
I'm writing this before watching the video: From my perspective, a key problem with Maths is, that, unlike in many other areas, almost everything you learn is important for subsequent contents being taught in Maths. My own teacher back in the day compared it to building a house, specifically a wall of said building. You layer brick by brick side by side and on top of each other, but if you skip a brick (or multiple of them), the whole thing becomes unstable and might come crashing down at some point. It is similar with Maths: if a specific idea is not understood well enough, there is a gap in your knowledge that automatically prevents you from understanding some future contents. And since we are all just human, it is only natural that most of us will at some point struggle with something in Maths. Consequently, if such a conflict is not resolved adequately, a person will be unable to fully understand everything that is yet to be taught in Maths. As examples: how can someone be expected to add and multiply fractions, if they already had problems with it in context of natural numbers? How can someone solve context-specific tasks regarding distances, areas or volumes, if they already had problems with conversion of distances, areas and volumes? Or also: how can they understand the Binomial distribution, if they haven't understood a Bernoulli trial? How can someone, in context of a Binomial distribution, solve an inequality in order to solve for the minimum number of required trials (given everything else), if they have neither understood the Binomial distribution nor inequalities (and how to deal with them)?
Let z be the total number of animals. It follows that: The number of sheep is z - 3. The number of goats is z - 4. The number of horses is z - 5. Since z is the total number of animals, we can construct an equation wherein z is on the left-hand side of the equals sign and the sum of the three types of animals is on the right: z = (z - 3) + (z - 4) + (z - 5) Some of you may remember from your mathematics lessons that the parentheses are unnecessary in this instance, so we can simply make them vanish. Then, combining like terms on the right-hand side leads to: z = 3z - 12 This is known as a two-step equation in certain mathematical circles, as it can be solved in (at least) two steps. Carrying out elementary algebra leads to: -2z = -12 ⇒ z = 6 Since we want the number of each type of animal, we will substitute the value of z into the above expressions. This leads to 3 sheep, 2 goats, and 1 horse.
This was the method I used - creating equations directly from the words in the story problem; in short, creating a mathematical model. The logical reasoning method presented in the video seemed way more complex to me, but I studied math so know the techniques. Abstract algebra was my favorite subject. 😂
That's certainly a good way. I knew from the description that this would essentially be a system of linear equations. "All my animals are sheep except 3" means that the number of goats and horses equals 3. (g + h = 3) The other statements gave me h + s = 4 and g + s = 5. I added those together to get 2g + 2h + 2s = 12, so g + h + s = 6. There are six animals. Now go back: "All my animals are sheep except 3" means that there are 6 - 3 = 3 sheep, etc. The fact that it lined up this way makes it a very uncharacteristic example of a problem that one would solve with a system, though.
Exactly, the way presented in the video is IMHO, a *terrible* way of solving it. It reminds me of solving a logic problem, and while it can be done that way, it takes an awful lot of thinking. Imagine if the problem stated "all my animals are sheep except 50, goats except 60, and horses except 70. You now can't just come up with a couple of possibilities and deduce from there. Algebra ftw. By the way, with algebra, you can prove that the total number of animals is always half of the sum of the exceptions (so in the the above (50 + 60 + 70)/2 or 90). So give me any set up like this and I can plug it into a formula for an almost instant answer (limited only by my ability to add numbers with many digits in my head). And frankly, the ability to turn a problem statement like this into a set of equations means that you can simply teach that aspect. Solving the equations, while also important, is a rote skill that is independent of this set-up. And turning problem statements into equations is not very unlike turning a problem statement into computation steps that a computer program needs to do. So by learning this, you are also teaching a basic fundamental of computer programming.
I can follow the logic when presented with it but it just doesn't occur to me to say " let z be the total number " . This has always been my difficulty with maths. People seem to have methods and tools that I have never learnt or been taught.
@@welshgruff The key to solving word problems is the "let" part where you set up variables and the equations that relate the variables to the problem description. We spent a lot of time in my algebra classes in learning how to do this, and I think it is the #1 that should be taught (or taught better) in schools. Once you have a system of equations, it usually is not all that difficult to learn how to solve them, but I agree that the setting up part can be difficult until you are taught how and have experience with them.
Also have dyscalculia. My biggest problem was working with numbers. Part of that problem was solved with the calculator. So I went back to school in my thirties, learning math. And I was actually very good at it, so I went on to study econometrics and got a master. But still can’t remember my phone number, or bank account number. And have problems with the clock.
@@jannetteberends8730 I have no problem with the clock but give me two two-digit numbers and my brain goes blank, I have to really focus on counting to count it and I count very slow. :/ I have astigmatism, so switching numbers is common, try to make any equations right, when the numbers literally jump in front of your eyes. :/
Monitor yourself so your career doesn’t stress you over a lifetime. Some people love to sing and aren’t good. Some have a great voice and don’t like to sing.
I'm the opposite. I think maths has poor retention and understanding for me it's because it's so dull, devoid of any life, colour, and texture. The meaning is obviously there, but I can't find anything tangible to it. A forest to me isn't about the number of the trees, it's more about the description of the forest itself. Subjects that don't require complex mathematics however, tend to be much easier for me to understand and retain. Take biology for example, it's full of descriptors. The parts of the body, each performing a function, what they would feel like if you had them in the hand, what colour they are? What red blood cells look like? What they do? And so on. Mathematics doesn't have that same kind of lifeness to it. No ambiguous interpretations. The cold, black and white sterileness of the numbers and calculations just don't bode well with what my life is. I don't see four children, I see the Jessy, Nathan, Lucy, and William's with all their smiling faces and personalities.
@skycloud4802 Damn how maths is dull! Maths has poor retention! You almost triggered me. I used to think about biology like you till secondary education but higher secondary level curriculum really changed my perception about biology and maths. That made me love maths more and love physics the most and I started to hate biology much more than I hated geography studies in my whole life
We are brothers in that! 😂. Give me a physics or maths problem and I'll not be Calm until I solve it, but give me a biology lessen to memorize and I'll be lazy about it 😅
@@skycloud4802 Its not devoid of life, it actually takes you using your brain and applying yourself and creativity. Biology is just memorization, I can't just dissect a cadaver mid exam if I forget something but in maths I can prove it using only pen and paper. Maths in school is pretty terrible though and removes all of the stuff that makes maths cool and makes it into yet another subject where you just memorize everything.
Math plagued me all my life up until I did a project of relearning it from the start and I realize it was a problem of basic comfort with numbers and their combinations that I didn't get from early grades. I wasn't in a special brain section, just poorly informed. Now math study is my hobby and delight.
I didn't discover that I had dyscalculia until I was in my 30's. I learned strategies, but I am aware that there are certain kinds of maths that simply don't stick in my head. I can have formulas explained to me, and I can work the formula as long as I don't stop. If I walk away for even 10 minutes, I'll struggle and in the end most likely won't be able to work the formula. Very frustrating. I am also aware that I sometimes switch certain numbers. 5's and 7's are often the culprits. Overall, dyscalculia can be a very mixed bag of abilities and frustrations. I do think that if there had been better recognition of this issue when I was in school, I might not have as many issues now. Granted, in the 1960's, they barely recognized dyslexia.
With dyscalculia is it just that numbers just slip out of your head unless written down? I'm a math tutor and would like to understand this disability more to help my students better.
@@bl00jay No, the numbers don't slip, it's the formulas. Algebra and on up. Or, as my friend jokes, once they put the alphabet in with numbers, my brains left. So much of math is patterning, and it is the patterning that just doesn't move from short term to long term memory. That's why I had a notebook of hints on how to do the formulas. I recognized that something wasn't right, but had no name for it. Oddly enough, I'm a very good seamstress and chef. Both of those disciplines use fractions. I can increase sewing patterns and recipes almost without thinking, but if given a test involving fractions, it would take me forever. If I were tutoring in math, I'd be asking the student what it is that they have trouble grasping. Finding the right questions to ask can be difficult. Then, work with them to find a method that lets them succeed. Far too often, kids get told they are dumb for not understanding things, when it is the teacher not asking the right questions.
@@bl00jay You're exactly describing my math-in-head problem! If I try to add three numbers, I can add the first two, but when I go to add the third I've sadly forgotten the sum of the first two. It's more like the sum "evaporates". I did, however, teach myself to read at the age of 3 with no instruction at all. I'm 65+ and it has gotten worse as I age. My mother was very good at math, and dad made do with simple math. Here's hoping there's something in my tale that helps your students. Thank you for caring and tutoring!
Bad with numbers doesn't equal bad at math, I know a lot of people who became experts at higher mathematics despite being terrible at basic arithmetic.
Also hearing that some at point hearing how easy it is will be a cause for problems for many individuals since they would think they can't find the soloution.
Why do we accept some people are not artists or actors or capable at empathy. Whilst maths seems to be this huge issue that of course you can do it. I find it ridiculous. Always had a huge blank in my head. Makes me utterly ache to have to concern myself with math. It simple doesn’t have the pathways. But I can do a thousand other things. And a lot mathematicians can’t ! So please can we accept the individual attributes and leave them alone if numbers don’t figure!
I think I came to believe that our family is not a math family. Nearly all relatives struggle with numbers, performing "just enough to pass" in school. However, I noticed that many from my family have excellent lingual/verbal abilities excelling at public speaking and creative writing. Yet, a twist to this is this: most of us are actually in science, mostly biology-based sciences.
Making Math Real--your kid will easily learn to multiply-David Berg is my hero. I tried everything. Nothing worked until I tried this with my 9-year old daughter. Math trauma is huge. Avoid it. Help your kid feel better about herself. It’s not her fault, it’s the fault of our educational system.
I know it sounds crazy but teaching method is also important. Get a Chinese maths teacher, start at early age and things get easier. I’m not kidding. Here in the UK we don’t really start teaching maths until year 7. The Chinese start at year 1.
Believe me, even Chinese are not good at Math. Most Chinese just been taught to memorize how to solve problems. Maths is difficult because the important theorems were constructed by genius ancients. They spent years to finish one theorem, and we have to study several theorems in a year.
I have dyscalculia. I always struggled, but i had an amazing teacher who tutored me enough to make the math team once! I did not do well at the event, but i was just amazed i even made the team! I finally understand algebra for the most part, but i wish she could have tutored me in calculus too! I feel hopeless in calculus. I enjoyed geometry and trig tho.
my math scores were around the average kids, not so good not so bad, and most of the time I couldn't even understand the thought process of the equation, couldn't understand what the question was asking and therefore I couldn't solve it by myself. Then, my math scores peaked around 11th-12th grade/last year of high school, the time when most kids were overwhelmed with the varieties of math formulas, such as Integral, limit, and trigonometry.. I managed to survive those years because I met really good math teachers who were really good when it came to understanding the student's comprehension difficulties, easy explanations, and their effort to not belittle students but instead motivate them. If not for those teachers, I wouldn't be able to solve a math problem logically nowadays
I was average in math but excellent in other subjects. I always felt that I’m good in other subjects because I study hard to memorize but math expose my mediocrity.
I always enjoyed math bc the answer was either right or wrong. If I got it wrong, I could trace my work to see my error. I appreciated the objective logic in math…as oppose to English Literature, which I found it to be very subjective.
Most of real-world physics and engineering is calculus. For example, calculating wind-resistance is done using the Navier-Stokes equations, and introduces non-trivial exponents into the Force equation, and integrating the corresponding acceleration function to find velocity, and integrating again for position, allows you to calculate the exact velocity and position at time T. And, typically using approximated solutions using Riemann sums, as opposed to finding algebraic solutions to the integrals because they often don't exist as is true with the aforementioned example.
I have been so convinced that your preformance in maths is directly linked to your confidence since I was only like 12 so this is so interesting to hear! I am now in collage studying maths and use a lot of positive affirmations to help me become able to understand new topics. I experienced maths anxiety when I was in year 10 of secondary school I had a teacher who told me I need to work harder and other things that impacted my confidence as a result, my grades fell to a grade 6 (B) in all subject assignments and I became very tense when trying to learn new topics. In year 11 I studied and asked for help but also told myself “I am smart I can do this” when I began to shut off in maths. Not only this my teacher fully believed in me and told me I was going to achieve good things. I fully believe this positive language was the main factor in shifting my mindset for maths and I eventually achieved a 9 (A*) in the gcse this year.
6:16 I'm a non-tdentical twin and my science teacher compared me with my brother unfairly, saying I didn't work hard enough without scientific backing 😞... a teacher can make / break someone's future. As a child, it hurt. I hate being a twin. Funny that because now I spend time alone mostly... but that's another story for another day.
g + h = 3 h + s = 4 s + g = 5 Subtract the second equation from the third equation: s + g - h - s = 5 - 4 g - h = 1 Add that to the first equation: g + h + g - h = 3 + 1 2g = 4 g = 2 Substitute g = 2 into the first and third equations: 2 + h = 3 h = 1 s + 2 = 5 s = 3
I cannot solve like he solved in the video, my brain just cannot understand that situational/IQ process But i solved it the way you did here, through substitution method, i can solve kind of easily 😅😅 I wonder what is the reason behind being able to solve this way and not through other way
@Stuarta.jr. Oh, I can see how they solved it; but, I don't consider it a good method in general. Their method exploits the fact that there must be a whole number of animals. If the same problem substituted a farmer and animals for a soda manufacturer and inventory of flavored soda in tons, then their method no longer works because the inventory could contain a fractional number of tons. There are then an infinite number of ways to make 3 tons from two different flavors instead of just two combinations. Yes, I could have 2 tons of 1 of the other; but, I could also have 2.25 of one and 0.75 of the other. With an infinite number of possible cases, their method of examining all of the cases no longer works, and they would need to use a method more like mine.
Had you added all equations together, you would have found right away that twice the number of all animals is 12. So the number of a specific type of animal is 6-minus the number of the other two types.
I have three siblings they all gets A+ on math while in school. I always gets below 10/100. Other subjects I gets good grade but math never been easy for me. I had the same math teachers as my siblings. Because I fails math my parents thought I'd never finish school but I did. I admits numbers scares me and shut my brain down to think about it further.
I gave my son the maths problem presented at the start of the video, he gave me 3 equation :- g + h = 3 s + h = 4 s + g = 5 3 equations 3 unknowns, solution should be simple
Yes, this is how the solution should have been presented if the video cared about actually using the problem to teach people something. But instead it just gave a solution that's only intuitive because the quantities involved are so small. Safe to say, I wouldn't want this reporter as my maths teacher 😆
I hate maths, couldn't do it. It's always been hard. I missed the basics because of changing schools various times and could not keep up at all. Got no real help, my father also told me I was stupid for not understanding. However I and function well in the real world never having needed algebra or calculus or anything of the sort. I think it was a torture at school and a waste of my time.
Well, it's unfortunate that you was unsuccessful with math in school. I think this is pretty common situation among students in States. But I've been told many parents resist hard math and science training for their children on the basis that if they didn't master it - their offspring shouldn't master it either. Is it true in general, that this stance is quite common among ordinary country people? And, if I may ask, what is your trade that you never needed math in your life?
@@gaHuJIa_Macmep I don't know where you get your info, but our parents don't choose our courses for us. We pick them ourselves. And the reason I wasn't good at advanced math because I didn't see where I would ever use it in adult life, and so far after 44 years, I still haven't had to use it. I did enough to get by, but never really was into advanced math. I did pass algebra and geometry though. Another reason I don't like it is that I can see numbers and when you're throwing out numbers to me I tend to visualize the numbers and have a hard time concentrating on how to apply the math involved.
@@ebogar42 well, I didn't ask you, I asked the originator of the branch. But you may answer as well: what is your trade that you don't use math and even have no idea how you could possibly apply it in your life? Your take that math is about numbers is wrong: math is about numbers in the same way as literature is about letters and calligraphy. True, any text in the long run ends up as a sequence of letters but the essence of literature doesn't boil down to drawing letters. In the same way mathematical results are expressed in a quantitative form (which distinguishes science from humanities where everything is vague and uncertain) but it's so much more than numbers! In fact, math is about concepts, so in a way it's the only real humanitarian trade. And all your "humanities" are just a bullshit.
She may be a genius who doesn't need to memorize it, but Multiplication tables have helped me and MILLIONS of others. Education/School shouldn't deprive others of the opportunity to memorize multiplication tables, just because others can't!
@@randomaccessmemories311 I think you missed the point of the video. Everyone should do whatever works for them. Memorization worked for me too. Those for whom it doesn't work should have an alternative.
Thank you for this! I suffered from Asthma as a child and missed many Math classes (missed long division classes and it still doesn’t make sense to me!) and ever since I had to work so much harder at it and felt I was naturally no good at Maths. However, like one of the teachers mentioned, Maths is like building a wall, you cannot miss bricks! Now it all makes sense to me!
Maath is a language. In order to learn it, you have to use is. That means, basically, practice solving math problems. That's the only way to get any good at at it, seems to me.
I was always just lost and confused in calculus and physics that I always felt stupid and just stopped trying and gave up as the lowest grade in the class that I felt embarrassed to study in groups with but miraculously flip the script and everyone gives organic chemistry a bad rap since there’s no math but pure abstract thinking and I love it and did research in it. Still struggled badly with the math portions of biochemistry and general chemistry 😅
Really appreciate these BBC pieces; they are just so well done. Anyway, I am saving this one. And before I tune in, am going to make a guess: (1) Maths proficiency requires very high language skills in a person's native language, and (2) Logical training, useful for maths, does not appear until college, often. If an Olympic sprinter is afraid of the painted starting line, already there is a big problem; the more maths you do, the more it looks like a word problem.
I'm not bad at math. I'm bad at arithmetic, especially addition and subtraction. I can't add numbers up in my head or subtract them. I have trouble holding them in my head. I'm great at algebra or symbolic logic. Other students at school used to get stumped when algebra problems contained no numbers. I found that no problem at all; in fact, I found it easier.
% Define the predicate that relates s, g, h, and f. solve(S, G, H, F) :- % Ensure all variables are positive integers H > 0, % Define the relationships based on the given equations S is H + 2, G is H + 1, F is H + 5. % Query to find solutions % You can run this query in a Prolog interpreter to find solutions: % ?- solve(S, G, H, F).
I'm thankful to God I'm good at math. My favorite subject. One of my strengths, but I have weaknesses too. In terms of school subjects, my weakness was English composition -- writing essays. --- As a kid/teen with a supercritical stepfather, he'd tried to take away all my self-worth (I don't think it was deliberate, but that was the effect his actions had on me), but being good at STEM was the one thing he couldn't take away from me. And because of that, for a long time, I tied my self-worth to being good at STEM, but that wasn't healthy and often lead to anxiety and self-doubt when I struggled with STEM. Thankfully, I have been able to move past that and adopt a growth mindset. I still enjoy math and often watch math/STEM UA-cam for fun lol --- I think we all have something we can be good at!
interesting, ive the opposite situation as you - I love to write and I'm good at it (English is one of my best subjects) but my maths skills are pretty lacking.
Start to learn and use the Counting Number System in Chinese language, not English, not French... it will make easier for lots of young kids. Chinese Number system is the most simple, logical way to begin to learn to count, totally 10-base pronunciation that won't confuse young kids' developing minds.
Here’s the solution : 1. Start with the first equation: - Sheeps + 3 = Total - Rearranging this gives: Sheeps = Total - 3 2. Next, express Total: - Total = Goats + 4 3. Now, substitute the equation for Total into the equation for Sheeps: - Sheeps = Goats + 4 - 3 - Simplifying this: Sheeps = Goats + 1 4. For Horses: - Horses + 5 = Total - Rearranging gives: Horses = Total - 5 5. Substitute the same expression for Total: - Horses = Goats + 4 - 5 - Simplifying this: Horses = Goats - 1 Conclusion: - The number of Horses is 1 less than the number of Goats. - The number of Sheeps is 1 more than the number of Goats. So, if you have: - 2 Goats, - Then you’ll have 3 Sheeps and 1 Horse.
G + H = 3 S + H = 4 S + G = 5 S - G = 1 2S = 6. Good old simultaneous equations. Alternatively: It's fairly intuitive that S > G > H Just guess combos of numbers until it works. Eg S= 4, G = 3, H = 2.. didn't work? Try S= 3, etc
@@emilwandel the application side of math has zero room for guessing. In software engineering, more often than not it is much harder to solve a math problem than it is when you're on a piece of paper. Therefore one can not ignore the applicating value of those streamlined solution, because they're the actual one that can be put into a computer and send people to mars.
@@emilwandel Yeah, how I solved it. The question directly translates to the following, and T=6 satisfies all the equations. (s)heep, (g)oats, and (h)orses immediately follows. s = T - 3 g = T - 4 h = T - 5 s + g + h = T
Here is my solution to the question (it's 8th grade math): You get a system of equations consisting of 3 linear equations with 3 unknowns: S+G+H-3=S S+G+H-4=G S+G+H-5=H. All you have to do now is solve these equations.
If I solved it by writing an equation and solving for x, is it still doing math? All I'm doing is transforming the equation with rules that I memorized, and I end up with the answer. No problem solving required. But all of high school math IS just regurgitating formulas according to rules.
My reasoning and solution : method - simultaneous equations. Let all sheep be = x Let all goats be = y Let all horses be = z Total animals = x+y+z X+y+z -3 = x Eq 1 X+y+z -4 = y Eq 2 X+y+z -5 = z Eq 3 Add them up 3(x+y+z) - 12 = x +y+z => x+y+ z = 6 Plug back into equations to get values for each X = 3, y = 2, z= 1
My take before watching the video. Maths is hard, it’s similar to learning an instrument. If I was to compare maths to most other subjects in school using the instrument analogy I would say most subjects are like music theory to some degree, but mostly just learning the chords in a pop song. You could tell the teacher that the song goes C,G,Am,F and you would be done. But in maths you need to be able to play the song, explain why a certain key would not belong, not based on feeling or sound but actual theory. Then look at how you could relate this song to another song and then do a key change, create a medley of the two songs in a new key and actually PLAY the music. This is why maths is hard. So how do we get people to become good at maths? Well how do we get people into music? We should teach children the beauty of maths, allow them to explore fun problems. Most people who can play an instrument doesnt work in music, imagine if maths got to that point. People love puzzles, loads of people do cross words and sudokus, and they only choose those because they know the rules of the game. So to end where I began. Maths is hard, but people are actually screaming to learn it without knowing they are. Let’s begin by making maths fun, the we can worry about maths in school being useful.
maths is what calculators are for - understanding the concept of the problem or how to solve it is important. i'm ok at concept, but cant remember formulas - it's like i'm formula colour blind
People are bad a MATH (not Maths) because from an early age they confused memorization with learning. At some point you have to jump from memorizing history dates, the parts of a plant, and multiplication tables, to actually thinking. Many people are unable to do that.
I was always awful at math but I decided to minor in it out of curiosity and to challenge myself (my main focus was linguistics). After completing my minor, I decided to keep going and ended up double majoring and getting an MS in it. I guess I succeeded in a way, but I failed in becoming a "math person". I still need a calculator to do basic math and you could say I'm about as bad as I was before the experiment. The only difference is that now I know some fun terms that nobody really cares about like "clopen set".
From an early age beginning with homeschooling and in a classroom for those who choose mainstream schooling, there should be a quote in every maths class that says" You don't need innumercy or dyscalculia.There is no mathematical disorder".
That's true to an extent, but there is a thing called 'number sense.' I remember taking a test where they very briefly flashed up an image of different coloured dots and you had to say which colour had the most dots. That was a test to show your natural instinct for numbers. I've yet to watch this whole video; they may have mentioned it.
All nice and good but I don't understand why the initial problem can't be explained more simply with equations, x=total animals, s, g, h, are sheep , goats and horses, we know x=s+g+h by definition, and we have three more equations that sounds complicated when spelled out but actually are very simple x-3=s x-4=g x-5=h Summing all three together we get 3x-12=x So x= 6 ,is the total of animal, that was the only unknown of the problem, from this going back to the 3 initial equations we have home many sheep goats and horses are in the farm s=x-3=3 g=x-4=2 h=x-5=1 Like the last person interview I also have dyscalculia, i find complicated to say how much is 6+16 I have to put effort of it, like her I also trained this kind of basic arithmetic ability but then I forgot very easily, but I also have a degree in physics, and I work with tensors in general relativity. In the end math is just another language, like Portuguese.. or English, no matter how much physics I learned, there will be always some obscure math that when first encountered will make me feel like I'm back to primary school, but the good thing is I can keep learning, getting familiar with the notation and keep practicing until I can understand it and use it
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Please, what is the best way to contact you for research purposes (specifically "BBC Earth")
In the twin study, did the families know exactly they were monitored and what categories? As that may have unintentionally introduced bias...
The answer is sheep=3, goat=2, horse=1 knowing that horse or goat cannot be greater than two. s>g>h
Math is not hard at all, "except" those who pretend to know or who teach make it harder, because they fkin stupid.
Teaching is not just you have to know the solution of the problem, you have to know how to elucidate and you have to know what is the knowledge level of pupil who receive it.
There is a difference in teaching a college graduate, high school student, a baby, a crow, a chimpanzee, a worm.
this video itself is a proof, the guy who want to lecture you how he figured why for some people math is hard, is a fkin moron.
It is because we learn a natural language first that is learned is a different way to how we learn mathematics. Language is learned in phrases where mathematics is learned in a reductionist fashion and is void of sensory input.
Mathematics is qualitatively a different kind of language. Mathematics is mostly an inner process and this why autistic people are better when natural languages are learned as part of communication, at least initially. By the time children are taught mathematics the brain is structured in a way that it is not compatible with a totally internal process.
Some people have more of an advantage because of their genetics.
Until I was in my 12th year of schooling in America, I was led to believe I couldn't do math. Then an extraordinary teacher proved them all wrong. TEACHERS MATTER.
They absolutely do. I lived with math anxiety as a result of a teacher making an example of me in a classroom as a young child and have never fully recovered from it. As a young adult I followed my passion and needed to use math in my Bachelor and Master's Science degrees but it somehow seemed different when I was learning it within a context of something I was really interested in, unlike school when I would sit there daydreaming and wondering what is the point of this 🤔
this
Same. They didn’t care to teach girls math back in the day. I discovered I was actually gifted in mathematics once I went to college and had decent instructors.
teachers are everything !
Nope. Good Enough teachers matter. The rest, can GFT.
You wanted to get men out of schools, this is what you get.
I don't think math itself is hard but the way it has been represented by the teachers made the difference.
you are right dear
I agree. It’s true of other subjects as well, not just math. Students’ preferences for subjects are influenced by teachers’ characters, knowledge, teaching skills, storytelling etc…
Reading comprehension is quite important.
@@coldplay8680 Right. Not everyone has the same level of understanding, some students often lack context why they are doing it and that's why they failed to put necessary concentration required to solve a math ( or any other ) problem so it's up to the teachers to step back a little and give them a context so the students can gather their concentration around the problem. This is a leaner approach and may slow things down a bit but it's worth it.
Same here, I was put in Advanced Math in 7th grade even though I struggled much more with that than English. They just wanted the same 30 kids to be in those two periods cause it was easier to schedule. It took me till 9th grade to find a teacher who understood and taught in a way I could understand.
A teacher who engages you is very important - I didn't have one but still did ok; having left school 50+ years ago I've gained more knowledge because of my own interest. I'm now over 70 & still learning, because I'm INTERESTED.
Did your parents tell you that education is important?
@@growtocycle6992 Of course!
absolutely sir ..its the interest that matters .
Interest matters a great deal. Matter of fact you can teach yourself lots of things without a teacher
It is more often our mindset, not our genes, that limit us. With "I want to learn this. I can learn this. I WILL learn this!" you can do almost anything challenging. It maybe takes some time, but you get there.
But learning something is exponential with feedback system. With good feedback your interest grows as you become better. You learn faster. With alot of setbacks your mindset cannot handle, you learn slower.
I used to be scared of mathematics when I was at school, but I can't believe that now I'm doing master in mathematics honors.
The only thing you need to have is a right teacher and your willingness to learn mathematics.
For those who think their situation is hopeless...
I had an abusive mother, who used to even punch me in the face age of 5. By the time I was in primary school I was clearly the worst student, couldn't even do 2+2.
My abusive mother passed away, went to live with my grandparents and their children (who were doing academically good ).
My grades since then improved and my math still not perfect but I'm doing better than all my ex colleagues who used to make fun of me.
Today I'm an IT engineer and I do math exercise regularly as it was the only way for me to improve. Those childhood punches to the face from an adult is impacting my life to date, but I'm fighting it.
I did it, you can do it too! At least you will be better than if you didn't take any action
I'm sorry that happened to you, but glad that's now in the past.
The punches in the face are an important part of upbringing.
Being a survivor of abuse is hard but I am happy that you are in a better place and thriving. I hope that you continue to heal
@@clouds2593Stop spewing religious nonsense you child
@@European-Man-88 It's important to introduce sustainable spanking.
I was afraid of Mathematics for a long time. Now I am gradually unlearning and relearning the right concepts.
great for you
keep up the good work
Nice. Keep going... I'm still shit terrified of maths 😭😭💔
I am the same I am learning with kids from their lenses. I focus more on the concepts and less than the mechanics.
It isn’t that math is hard, it’s just poorly presented by a lot of teachers. My math anxiety started in the first grade when my teacher was extremely impatient with me learning to subtract. She would try to force answers out of me without breaking the concepts down for me in a more digestible manner.
After that, I floundered through math all the way until high school, dealing with sarcastic teachers who would even mock students who were slower at it and enduring memorization and rules-based learning that gave me **no** clue what was going on in any of the problems (I’m a visual-spatial learner). Homework was a nightmare when I would always end up crying and my poor mom would angrily break pencils because she couldn’t get me to figure anything out. One of the things I hated the most were timed math tests, which only measured how fast people memorized things and gave me *horrendous* anxiety.
It wasn’t until college when I bought books and learned basic math myself at home my own way. As a result, I did so well at advanced algebra at school, I ended up helping other students. Go figure…
It seems to be quite common for people to be bad at math for years and then something clicks. I was similar to you in that eventually I had to teach myself. I read something that just happened to unlock a door - maybe just the way it was presented - and I was able to build from there.
I'm genuinely curious what your "own way" was. Did you find visual-spatial concepts that helped you? Multiplication, for example, has an intrinsic spatial element to it.
Sarcasm and impatience can really kill a person's self confidence at it. It's what happened to me
Much like my case, but without tutoring others. There’s a pattern people like us follow which must be reflected in the research. Roughly,
“late bloomers,” but that only captures the experience in part.
And now there is a movement among teachers to ban homework so kids can't take their books home and try to figure it out at home. I couldn't learn math in a classroom with people talking. For me, I don't process words and math well at the same time. I can manipulate equations when I look at them but if someone spouts numbers at me, I don't catch any of what they said. Match clicked for me at algebra, when I started to ignore the teacher and just read the book. I'm an engineer.
Yes. Dyscalculia is a real neurological disability. It's not as well known as Dyslexia. But it affects so many individuals, more than we'd like to admit.
Thank you! Unfortunately, for some strange reason the fact that people have difficulty with something as inherent as language is made loud and clear but people having issues with abstract concept like maths are just told; well, you didn't learn hard enough. :/
Yes, I have dyscalculia and my brain just cannot deal with numbers
While I agree that genuine learning disabilities exist, they are far less common and less clear cut than many people understand or realize. Much of it is just horrible teaching. Dig deeper into texts like the dyslexia debate of Fletcher's work on LD identification. It is far more of a grey area than many want to admit.
My mother with dyslexia laughed in my face & said I was just lazy, when I told her I thought had dyscalculia. Looking back at a lot of things she did, I don’t think she really liked or wanted me lol 😂
@@islandpersuasion4690 wow, that is unhinged. :/ I think because dyslexia is recognised more widely people don't even question it nowadays, but dyscalculia is this weird, unimprobapossible monster that couldn't exist and is not taken seriously. :(
We are so fortunate now to be able to go to the internet, ( UA-cam specifically) and find any number of dedicated, patient, clear math teachers to teach any any aspect of math you are struggling with. I've been using them for a couple of years in my journey of math literacy and pleasure. Some of these people are absolute top teachers.
I think my problems with maths started with hearing problems that weren't picked up on as a baby. I still hadn't said my first word at 2 years old and was sent to speech therapist and audiologist. I had surgery that helped and I remember being so upset about my world suddenly getting so loud.
I had a decade of speech therapy and worked hard to eliminate my deaf accent. Reading and writing were a joy even though I was unaware that I was extremely slow. I enjoyed it anyway. But counting was not only difficult, it was painfully slow. I wasn't the kid who cared what the other kids were doing but the gap between what I was doing became so great that even I noticed. I was still struggling with double digit addition and they were moving into long division.
I had kind teachers. I had extra help from some excellent teachers over the years. I don't feel like I was singled out or bullied. I was fine with being behind and working hard to catch up with things like reading and writing and clear speech and listening skills. No one accused me of laziness. Stubborn yes, but not lazy. I was identified with multiple learning disabilities that are common for kids with missed hearing difficulties. There is an important window in early childhood development for learning critical language skills. As an adult in university, I was told I missed some of that window and should be proud of how well I've done. Unfortunately, maths is a language and while I have continued to work on my skills, I never reached secondary school levels.
I wish there was more acknowledgement that it isn't always about desire or effort. Sometimes critical building blocks can be missing. This doesn't mean I'm stupid or intellectually stunted. I've had other excellent advantages in life that I lacked as a baby. However, even wonderful teachers can only do so much. They can't fix the first 2 years of my life.
Can you recommend some you tube links please, who explain mayhs clearly. Thanks
I agree but one word of caution here from my own experience returning to school after 15 years. It’s easy to watch too many videos and because you understand what they are saying and it even seems simple you think you have learned and understand the topic. But in reality this doesn’t mean you can do it on your own. Practice without help is critical. Use videos as supplement when you need and make sure you can do the problems without it. My first Calc 2 test I got a D for this reason after fixing this got a perfect score on the second. Just my experience hope that helps someone.
My maths teacher was bullied by students in my class, and as a result, I am not exaggerating, I got about 2 hours of maths eduction from him over 4 years. I studied honours Physics and Chemistry, I excelled in these subject, but was far behind in Maths. Then one day my chemistry teacher pulled in to the side during break, and I remember the bewilderment in his face as he asked me why I was so good at physics and chemistry but rubbish at maths, it was like he was witnessing a reverse miracle.
The reason this situation happened was because my entry exam was poor due to stress, and I was initially put in classes for slower students, but my mother successfully argued they should let me study honours students for Physics and Chemistry, but they did not budge for Maths. So I was stuck with a load of brats and a bullied maths teacher. I now have a PhD and I'm a data analyst, I deal with numbers and statistics as part of my job, having taught myself maths.
Awesome and interesting story. I'm curious about but bad at math.
A part of me wants to learn just to see what I missed out on.
@@Diamonddavej what kind of school had students bullying the teacher? As a maths Chad naturally I was a standout maths student and as a Chad i was never bullied unless you count the continual harassment by Stacies desperate to get with me, of course.
Your math teacher was bullied or he was the bully?
@@nillyk5671🤔
How can you do physics and not be good at math?
Just start learning from Khan Academy . Keep at it. Eventually it clicks. I've began mastering high school math at age 30. It's truly an empowering experience. All you need are the basics - fractions, decimals, multiplication, and division, etc- the trick is to understand the nuanced relationships between them. Don't concern yourself with high end math. Once you truly understand the basics, math becomes easy. It's sad most schools never teach the foundations in a way that resonates. Math is such a delicate subject and in most cases it's a failure of teaching not learning.
Me too!!
I am an Indian woman, generally people in my country loves maths, but since my childhood I do not like maths, even scared about exams. In board exam I scored 59, and was heavily mocked. Funny things is when I moved to Canada, again at age if 33, I registered for high school level math classes for adults ; believe it or not I was one of the best in my class and my teacher and classmates could not find why I was scared in maths in younger life, now I enjoyed percentile and alzebra even 😂😂
india performed atrociously in the PISA education rankings when they trialed a few states. I mean near bottom of the rankings atrocious
@@blengi cool
@@blengi So you can imagine how bad things must have been in Canada then for her to perform so well lol.
Your brain was slow to develop in certain areas?
@@HigkeyRegarded007 true canadians do exceptionally well in the international eduction rankings of PISA making the top ten which is over 100 places higher than india trialed at
It's because some people can only grasp anything once they see it's application, I was bad at maths or couldn't grasp concepts easily, it's only when I started carpentry and had to know trigonometry and geometry to work out my cuts and angles and my maths understanding increased and a light bulb 💡 moment when I seen it's practical application
This was me. Math only clicked with me when I started working in an office and using programs like Excel. It was quite wild when concepts that has eluded me all my school life began to make sense once I found myself working as a payroll and time and attendance clerk. I'm still no math wiz ofc, but I know what I'm doing.
How the solution was presented at the end is a good example of HOW NOT TO TEACH MATH. That was horrible.
I don't mean to peek on the presenting crew or anything, but the solution presentation felt like it was made for people who had already gotten it, rather than for the ones who hadn't, such as myself. So I agree with @esparda, as that solution presentation gave me exactly the same feel as through my entire school life: "they're 'explaining' it to themselves, not to me" ... human communication, dudes. But thank you very much for the extremely interesting content.
@@natal8261 Check out my solution. Clear enough, I trust.
let suppose total animal=x
no. of sheep=x-3
no. of goat=x-4
no. of horses=x-5
(x-3)+(x-4)+(x-5)=x
3x-12=x
2x=12
x=6
so, no. of sheep=x-3=6-3=3
no. of goat=x-2=6-4=2
no. of horses=x-5=6-5=1
I had never have to study math at school, it came really easy for me. But I believe that having a great teacher is half of success. Basically in every subject, great teacher makes a huge difference.
I was relentlessly bullied for being bad at math so no wonder I hate it, it literally makes me so insecure and I avoid it as much as I can
Same goes with me as well
Some people become weak in math because of their surroundings, their imbecile teachers, their nonsense education system and their disturbingly non cooperating fellows. Those people make everything, explain everything, display everything in their very own fashion so that others can not cope with that. Of course all of us do not realize everything in the same way and hence it is the responsibility of the authority to arrange and allow diverse learning tricks for diverse types of students. Does every patient get the same treatment in hospital ? Do we have the same meal in a restaurant ?
Nah. Maths doesn't need a clown teacher or society. Good students in math need just a struct teacher....matter of fact they can just do with textbooks😂
Omg so true 🥹
A true teacher will have 3 different explanations for each principle so as to reach the majority of their students. I have witnessed this behavior from great teachers all the way through my doctorate.
Bad at maths as a child, bad at maths as an adult, bad at maths as a pensioner. I can’t imagine the concepts in my mind. However, I have an expansive imagination and an unusually prodigious memory for visuals, emotions, scents.
we each have our funny peculiarities to compensate for our limitations, it gives us a personal perspective on life and how to handle it. It seems your creativity has brightened up your days, and how I envy your memory!
For some reason my head can't understand numbers and acts like it is some sort of Eldritch language which i can only see the symbols and maybe know what they mean but struggle a lot to be able to anything with them and the more abstract things get, the worse it gets and my head just starts hurting.
Meanwhile i can create stories, think of *literary symbolism*, understand complex works, have a great imagination (well, in fact i have issues with Daydreaming so...), i have a relative facility to learn different languages, understand sociopolitical stuff, history and there goes...
But, i can't do 9+69 without having to stop to count on my fingers and if you request more advanced basic math i will start getting genuinely desperate and have an absolute mental block and not be able to do anything without looking up it (and even then i might not understand it).
Unfortunately my memory also sucks, but it's highly selective about how bad or good it is....
@@renren47618 thanks for explaining how complicated mathematical concepts and symbols are to you. Do you have similar difficulties with letters, which are themselves another set of symbols? what about languages with a different alphabet such as Greek or Japanese? Do you learn orally rather than by writing? Sorry, these might feel like personal questions but I am often trying to imagine how other people think, how they experience life, how they perceive the world. Feel free to ignore my comment, I'ld understand.
I think in America culture discourages students from learning math. When I migrated to America as a 10 year old I was very well trained in math. I remember getting 100% on tests in American math classes when I had a hard time in all other classes. Then I stopped learning math, until 23 I didn't know how to do pre-calc. I got married at 29 and my wife studied business calculus so I helped her. In about 6 months I was doing differential equations. There is no doubt American culture slows down math advancement if you LET it.
You are ADHD neuro-divergent. I have and always had the same problem.
People are bad at Math because they had terrible teachers, lack of after school tutors and nonsense fear that Math is supposed to be difficult. It is difficult, but not to be terrified about.
Nah. Some people won't be good at math even if they had Einstein as a teacher 😂
Good student at math never needs an after school tutor😂
No idea. My mind "switches off" when the numbers are at play.
Same.
You cant force yourself to be interested in something
For me , it's physics.....physics is one of the scary thing in my life .....but the ironic is I am a math major student. People say that ,if someone is good at math,they are automatically good at physics & I am that example which contradicts the above statement....🙂🙂🙂
In primary school, I was overwhelmed with learning basic multiplcation. I told my Mum that I was struggling, but she reminded me that I already knew how to do it. The reason being she had taught me 4 yrs prior when I was 4 years old, and I remembered that I loved it so much because she made it fun for me. When I remembered that I flew through the tests, even when the numbers got higher than when I learned before. The funny thing is my Mum is not very good with advanced maths and couldn't help me after I finished primary, the reason being she never finished past the 10th grade.
I never liked studying Maths. It was boring to me. Because I was not interested in it other than addition, deduction, multiplication, and division. Equation, algebra, and the rest meant nothing important to me.
Because no one told you why algebra is useful, beautiful, powerful and intriguing.
Agree, and as adult Math have no use but to count money and tax 😂
@@emjaydark2811why is it? I have never needed to use other than + *-/. And some geometry to workout how much carpet is needed
@@calyco2381 except for making the machine you used to post this and all the many other things you tend to use in daily life but don't even consider they heavily depend on math.
@@BlacksmithTWD keep that for ppl that love math or work in the field.
For commonfolk like me math just for counting money.
A heartfelt thank you to BBC for this info. Emma"s story resonates the most with me. I am almost 30 and I have continually relearned my 2-12 time tables throughout my life. Just as Emma admitted, as soon as I begin to move on to other projects, about half of my tables leave my mind. I have never heard of discalculia but it can help me better understand my mind. Thank you. Also, can the name of the game the professor mentioned that helps us find other ways to understand numbers be revealed please?
Try singing the times table to a rhythm in a sing-song fashion with hand and foot movement. foot-tapping and hand clapping for instance along with body movement swaying to the rhythm.
Even if you forget the details you can easily refresh your memory with just brushing up on the math tables.
Many people can remember a tune far better than a number ie what it sounds like.
@@TheGuruNetOn reminds me of the hours of listening to times table songs as a child, it didn’t work for me, I still suck at times tables.
I love math. It’s about understanding the rules to solve the puzzle. I am both left and right brain.very analytical but creative as well.
People who can't cope with math(s) are considered stupid. It's their problem to fix.
People who can't cope with basic orthography, syntax etc are given all sorts of extra follow up. An oversimplification, perhaps, but sadly too often true.
because it is impossible for dyscalculia to exist. :/ *sarcasm*
thats not allways the case, the conditions of the country, what you eat and your environment can also inpact and affects your ability to learn..how you were developed as a baby or inside you mother also matters.
It is considered normal to struggle with math. Hence it is rarely seen as a problem.
I think what you are describing is more true about P.E. School math is mostly repeating recipes like following orders. If it is a little more interesting it is presented so confusing you loose most students immediately. Furthermore advanced math normally don't use numbers past 20. So you are bad at arithmetic a small portion of math.
At this level it is always the teachers fault.
@@emilwandel to some extend - yes, but struggling like people with dyslexia do - isn't normal, it isn't even recognised as a deviation from your usual: teacher can't teach. How many people do you know that are diagnosed with dyslexia and how many do you know with diagnosed dyscalculia? From the people I know I know many dyslexic ones but none with dyscalculia, and the funny thing is language is more natural for people than maths and yet - nobody sees the issue :/
In my younger years, it was all about perceived relevance. Not that math was hard, per se, but it was dry. Not worth my attention. Oh, sure... I went through the motions enough to get decent grades, but I didn't enjoy a single second of it. Honestly, I was in my second year of college/university as a Biology/Chemistry major before the coursework broke through the boredom barrier. There was amazing stuff out there to observe and measure. My old nemesis quickly became an ally. 60+ years on, I still don't consider mathematics a thing of beauty, but as a kind of Swiss Army Knife to help make sense of things. Cheers!
What's difficult for me is how abstract mathematics can get. The basics are easily understandable of course (addition, devision etc.) but it reaches a point where you just apply particular sets of rules to work out something but it isn't really obvious what it is all about or how these rules originated/make sense.
I tried to learn abstract algebra and topology and it just doesnt make any sense anymore 😂. Since you cant have any tangible physical problems that these topics can solve. Unlike calculus and differential equations, they are hard but you can see their effects in real life. So they can be analogous. Unlike these abstract rules of higher mathematics 😅
@@cedricreinelopez992 Small children are really good with abstract concepts. The need to find applications makes it more confusing for many people.
But I wish math wouldn't be taught with the goal in mind and more with how to develop solutions for hard problems and testing if the solution is right. More time to play with numbers.
@@cedricreinelopez992 There are tangible physical problems that you can solve with abstract algebra and topology. My topology professor used Borsuk-Ulam to prove the ham sandwich theorem. She also gave us this puzzle as a homework: "Is it possible to hang a picture with a string on two nails driven into a wall in such a way that removing one of the two nails always causes the picture to fall down?"
Don't worry if you're bad at maths, and pretty much everything else. BBC will still hire you as a journalist. Then you can produce reports that look like hard work, but barely scratch the surface of any question.
Best comment here👍👍❤️❤️
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Unnecessary snarkiness.😕
Despite my immense love and interest in Physics and Astronomy, I always find math very difficult. Sometimes, I can solve a difficult problem speedily. But at other times, a very easy problem can give me a headache.
I found out I had a learning disability, specifically called a visual-spacial learning disorder, combined with a history of bad teaching. I ended up taking a coarse designed for students with a variety of learning disorders, to get to the math level I should have been. After that, I found out about a new, temporary math class that took a different teaching approach, with the goal of taking students who were stuck in pre-algebra and algebra, to learn everything that would allow them to test out of taking those classes and move on to the more advanced math that would allow them to move on in school. It worked and I eventually was able to take Statistics for the first time. Once I did, I had to work, really, really hard to keep up but got an A in a class that was previously out of reach. Unfortunately, the only math coarse left, that I needed was calculus (my goal was to major in Economics in the Southern California University system). The calculus coarse that I need was taught by a professor who was really behind the times, refused to acknowledge the idea of any kind of learning disability, accommodations and was just mean. I ended up missing a class where there was a test given, not listed in the syllabus or anywhere else because I had a Doctor's appointment that couldn't be scheduled any other time. He wouldn't believe me and refused to let me make up the exam. I ended up filing a complaint with the administration office and found out he had a long list of complaints but couldn't be fired because he was ten yeared. He ended up retiring the following semester. By then I had already changed majors and transferred to another school where I completed my Degree. To think, I was 1 class away from being able to do an Economics major. 🤷♀
You might need to brush up on your spelling too. It’s ‘tenured’ not ‘ten yeared’. Lol 🤔
@@bipolarbear9917 why are you so evil and not logical? That was obviously an autocorrect mistake.
It's course not coarse
1:40 Same experience with me. I was bad at division, I cheated 3answers from my friend beside me among 9problems in total when I was 8yrs old as 2nd grade of elementary school.
Divison is too tricky to kids because all teachers teach them as sharing, dividing, not as "repeating subtraction". All teachers show the algorithm as packaging or tieing or sharing items into a group, no one told me dividing is repetition of subtracting.
They are totally different for kids.
Packaging items into some groups means that the kid doesn't lose anything. The kid still keeps the original amount as shown as in the picture of the quiz/paper/board/his or her brain. But repeating subtraction means and shows that the kid loses the items repeatedly. They are totally different.
Dividing is not sharing. It's just minus, negative, losing or being stolen. Fckg sharing
X->sheep
Y->goat
Z->horse
There are only three types of animals so
Total animals is X+Y+Z
Since other than sheep there are three animals
Y+Z=3
Similarly
X+Z=4
X+Y=5
Add lhs and rhs
2X+2Y+2Z = 12
2(X+Y+Z)=12
X+Y+Z=6
That means total animals is 6
Also from first statement
All are sheep except three means X+3=total
X+3=6
All goat except 4
Y+4=6
Z+5=6
There fore X is 3 Y is 2 and Z is 1
Yea, if they brought back how to solve for this problem by introducing algebra in an accessible way and solving the problem versus the weird logic approach they used, it could’ve been more beneficial to those that struggled with math.
You can also solve it in your head somewhat using combinatorics. Start considering the largest number of exclusions and work your way down to the lowest. First consider the statement that all except 5 are horses. Assume at least 1 horse with potentially more and move on. So far the solution looks like this:
X X X X X H
Legend: H means horse, G means goat, S means sheep, X means except the type of animal being considered.
Next consider all except 4 are goats. Of the 5 “X” exceptions remaining at least 1 is a goat but that leaves 4 exceptions and 1 horse so there must be another goat so that the total number of non goats is 4. The solution so far looks like this:
X X X G G H
The last step is considering all except 3 are sheep. Since we know 3 are goats and horses, the remaining exceptions are all sheep. Final solution looks like this:
S S S G G H
Of course for larger numbers you will want an arithmetic formula type solution similar to the one you presented. This is just an alternative representation of the same solution approached differently.
You can short cut. If y+z=3 and all are +ve integers the only possible solution is 2+1
You made the solution more complicated than it is. The explanation at the end of the video was simple. I'm glad I never had a math teacher like you during high school and university.
I'd love to hear more about people like Emma. I myself can't calculate numbers by heart, but abstract concept are very easy for me to understand (e.g algebra, programming).
Top-down processing requires understanding the breadth or scope of a concept and its relations with other side concepts. Making a mental model of things. Relating diverse things into a coherent whole. This requires associative memory.
Much of school maths is quite the opposite bottom-up thinking. This requires procedural memory (step by step procedures)
2+2 is 4, minus 1, that's 3. Quick maffs.....Everyday mans on the block
Yeah, I managed to get that far too. 🤣🙄
My nightmare started with LONG DIVISION numbers like "43296÷942" and even problems like "7448 × 398" which I managed to DO, but not FAST, and I can pinpoint the PRECISE time and point of the beginning of my math nightmare: 3rd grade, Ms. S______'s class at B_____Elementary School of the ____ Unified School District located somewhere in the Bay Area of California back in the year______(Sometimes PRIOR to September 11th, 2001🙄)
And UNLIKE book author Judy Blume, I HAD "Tales of a Fourth Grade SOMETHING" when THAT school year rolled around-- "charming" tales at THAT. 😱🙄😒😒😒😒
A lot of basic math is about structured logical thinking and framing the problem, such as the problem in the beginning of this video. Not so much about trying to solve a problem in the head all at once which i have found many believe math as such. Being able to look at a problem, interpret the information presented by it, and breaking down into smaller sub-problems before tackling it one after another is a type of logical thinking pattern that everyone has the capacity for and it gets better with practice
As a private math tutor, you'd be surprised at the number of students I see that aren't taught logic. It's sad really.
I'm writing this before watching the video:
From my perspective, a key problem with Maths is, that, unlike in many other areas, almost everything you learn is important for subsequent contents being taught in Maths. My own teacher back in the day compared it to building a house, specifically a wall of said building. You layer brick by brick side by side and on top of each other, but if you skip a brick (or multiple of them), the whole thing becomes unstable and might come crashing down at some point. It is similar with Maths: if a specific idea is not understood well enough, there is a gap in your knowledge that automatically prevents you from understanding some future contents. And since we are all just human, it is only natural that most of us will at some point struggle with something in Maths. Consequently, if such a conflict is not resolved adequately, a person will be unable to fully understand everything that is yet to be taught in Maths. As examples: how can someone be expected to add and multiply fractions, if they already had problems with it in context of natural numbers? How can someone solve context-specific tasks regarding distances, areas or volumes, if they already had problems with conversion of distances, areas and volumes? Or also: how can they understand the Binomial distribution, if they haven't understood a Bernoulli trial? How can someone, in context of a Binomial distribution, solve an inequality in order to solve for the minimum number of required trials (given everything else), if they have neither understood the Binomial distribution nor inequalities (and how to deal with them)?
The way Montessori teaches maths is amazing. It's a much loved subject in Montessori schools as a result.
Let z be the total number of animals. It follows that:
The number of sheep is z - 3.
The number of goats is z - 4.
The number of horses is z - 5.
Since z is the total number of animals, we can construct an equation wherein z is on the left-hand side of the equals sign and the sum of the three types of animals is on the right:
z = (z - 3) + (z - 4) + (z - 5)
Some of you may remember from your mathematics lessons that the parentheses are unnecessary in this instance, so we can simply make them vanish. Then, combining like terms on the right-hand side leads to:
z = 3z - 12
This is known as a two-step equation in certain mathematical circles, as it can be solved in (at least) two steps. Carrying out elementary algebra leads to:
-2z = -12
⇒ z = 6
Since we want the number of each type of animal, we will substitute the value of z into the above expressions. This leads to 3 sheep, 2 goats, and 1 horse.
This was the method I used - creating equations directly from the words in the story problem; in short, creating a mathematical model. The logical reasoning method presented in the video seemed way more complex to me, but I studied math so know the techniques. Abstract algebra was my favorite subject. 😂
That's certainly a good way. I knew from the description that this would essentially be a system of linear equations. "All my animals are sheep except 3" means that the number of goats and horses equals 3. (g + h = 3) The other statements gave me h + s = 4 and g + s = 5. I added those together to get 2g + 2h + 2s = 12, so g + h + s = 6. There are six animals. Now go back: "All my animals are sheep except 3" means that there are 6 - 3 = 3 sheep, etc. The fact that it lined up this way makes it a very uncharacteristic example of a problem that one would solve with a system, though.
Exactly, the way presented in the video is IMHO, a *terrible* way of solving it. It reminds me of solving a logic problem, and while it can be done that way, it takes an awful lot of thinking. Imagine if the problem stated "all my animals are sheep except 50, goats except 60, and horses except 70. You now can't just come up with a couple of possibilities and deduce from there. Algebra ftw.
By the way, with algebra, you can prove that the total number of animals is always half of the sum of the exceptions (so in the the above (50 + 60 + 70)/2 or 90). So give me any set up like this and I can plug it into a formula for an almost instant answer (limited only by my ability to add numbers with many digits in my head). And frankly, the ability to turn a problem statement like this into a set of equations means that you can simply teach that aspect. Solving the equations, while also important, is a rote skill that is independent of this set-up. And turning problem statements into equations is not very unlike turning a problem statement into computation steps that a computer program needs to do. So by learning this, you are also teaching a basic fundamental of computer programming.
I can follow the logic when presented with it but it just doesn't occur to me to say " let z be the total number " . This has always been my difficulty with maths. People seem to have methods and tools that I have never learnt or been taught.
@@welshgruff The key to solving word problems is the "let" part where you set up variables and the equations that relate the variables to the problem description. We spent a lot of time in my algebra classes in learning how to do this, and I think it is the #1 that should be taught (or taught better) in schools. Once you have a system of equations, it usually is not all that difficult to learn how to solve them, but I agree that the setting up part can be difficult until you are taught how and have experience with them.
I have dyscalculia, and I remember crying over my Math homeworks since the 2nd grade. I hateeee it.
Me too! Math makes me cry
I love math , nothing better to feel good about yourself
I feel ya. I had dreams about maths tests and exams long into my college years. I studied English.
Also have dyscalculia. My biggest problem was working with numbers. Part of that problem was solved with the calculator. So I went back to school in my thirties, learning math. And I was actually very good at it, so I went on to study econometrics and got a master. But still can’t remember my phone number, or bank account number. And have problems with the clock.
@@jannetteberends8730 I have no problem with the clock but give me two two-digit numbers and my brain goes blank, I have to really focus on counting to count it and I count very slow. :/ I have astigmatism, so switching numbers is common, try to make any equations right, when the numbers literally jump in front of your eyes. :/
I studied Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering Technology 🖥 💻 but I suck 😕 at Mathematics, but I will keep trying 😅
Monitor yourself so your career doesn’t stress you over a lifetime.
Some people love to sing and aren’t good.
Some have a great voice and don’t like to sing.
I studied electrical/electronic engineering and sing. Keep studying and there is still hope.
For me, Maths is so easy and find it exciting. But when it comes to memorizing facts in Biology or sth like that, I really suck at it.
I'm the opposite. I think maths has poor retention and understanding for me it's because it's so dull, devoid of any life, colour, and texture. The meaning is obviously there, but I can't find anything tangible to it. A forest to me isn't about the number of the trees, it's more about the description of the forest itself.
Subjects that don't require complex mathematics however, tend to be much easier for me to understand and retain. Take biology for example, it's full of descriptors. The parts of the body, each performing a function, what they would feel like if you had them in the hand, what colour they are? What red blood cells look like? What they do? And so on.
Mathematics doesn't have that same kind of lifeness to it. No ambiguous interpretations. The cold, black and white sterileness of the numbers and calculations just don't bode well with what my life is. I don't see four children, I see the Jessy, Nathan, Lucy, and William's with all their smiling faces and personalities.
@skycloud4802 Damn how maths is dull! Maths has poor retention!
You almost triggered me. I used to think about biology like you till secondary education but higher secondary level curriculum really changed my perception about biology and maths. That made me love maths more and love physics the most and I started to hate biology much more than I hated geography studies in my whole life
We are brothers in that! 😂. Give me a physics or maths problem and I'll not be Calm until I solve it, but give me a biology lessen to memorize and I'll be lazy about it 😅
@@maseehwardak6055 I'll not just be lazy I'll forget whatever I memorized within 3 minutes.(Most of the cases)
@@skycloud4802 Its not devoid of life, it actually takes you using your brain and applying yourself and creativity. Biology is just memorization, I can't just dissect a cadaver mid exam if I forget something but in maths I can prove it using only pen and paper. Maths in school is pretty terrible though and removes all of the stuff that makes maths cool and makes it into yet another subject where you just memorize everything.
I enjoyed math because of calculus. It explained everything to me.
No one bad at maths, it's all in the head.
It's a skill not just knowledge.
Math plagued me all my life up until I did a project of relearning it from the start and I realize it was a problem of basic comfort with numbers and their combinations that I didn't get from early grades. I wasn't in a special brain section, just poorly informed. Now math study is my hobby and delight.
I m bad in math. But I believe teacher makes difference.
I didn't discover that I had dyscalculia until I was in my 30's. I learned strategies, but I am aware that there are certain kinds of maths that simply don't stick in my head. I can have formulas explained to me, and I can work the formula as long as I don't stop. If I walk away for even 10 minutes, I'll struggle and in the end most likely won't be able to work the formula. Very frustrating. I am also aware that I sometimes switch certain numbers. 5's and 7's are often the culprits. Overall, dyscalculia can be a very mixed bag of abilities and frustrations. I do think that if there had been better recognition of this issue when I was in school, I might not have as many issues now. Granted, in the 1960's, they barely recognized dyslexia.
With dyscalculia is it just that numbers just slip out of your head unless written down? I'm a math tutor and would like to understand this disability more to help my students better.
@@bl00jay No, the numbers don't slip, it's the formulas. Algebra and on up. Or, as my friend jokes, once they put the alphabet in with numbers, my brains left. So much of math is patterning, and it is the patterning that just doesn't move from short term to long term memory. That's why I had a notebook of hints on how to do the formulas. I recognized that something wasn't right, but had no name for it.
Oddly enough, I'm a very good seamstress and chef. Both of those disciplines use fractions. I can increase sewing patterns and recipes almost without thinking, but if given a test involving fractions, it would take me forever.
If I were tutoring in math, I'd be asking the student what it is that they have trouble grasping. Finding the right questions to ask can be difficult. Then, work with them to find a method that lets them succeed. Far too often, kids get told they are dumb for not understanding things, when it is the teacher not asking the right questions.
@@bl00jay You're exactly describing my math-in-head problem! If I try to add three numbers, I can add the first two, but when I go to add the third I've sadly forgotten the sum of the first two. It's more like the sum "evaporates". I did, however, teach myself to read at the age of 3 with no instruction at all. I'm 65+ and it has gotten worse as I age. My mother was very good at math, and dad made do with simple math. Here's hoping there's something in my tale that helps your students. Thank you for caring and tutoring!
Learning math is not hard. TEACHING MATH on the other hand is one of the hardest things. Everybody can learn math. Very, VERY few can teach it.
Bad with numbers doesn't equal bad at math, I know a lot of people who became experts at higher mathematics despite being terrible at basic arithmetic.
"Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." - Von Neumann
Also hearing that some at point hearing how easy it is will be a cause for problems for many individuals since they would think they can't find the soloution.
Why do we accept some people are not artists or actors or capable at empathy. Whilst maths seems to be this huge issue that of course you can do it. I find it ridiculous. Always had a huge blank in my head. Makes me utterly ache to have to concern myself with math. It simple doesn’t have the pathways. But I can do a thousand other things. And a lot mathematicians can’t ! So please can we accept the individual attributes and leave them alone if numbers don’t figure!
I think I came to believe that our family is not a math family. Nearly all relatives struggle with numbers, performing "just enough to pass" in school. However, I noticed that many from my family have excellent lingual/verbal abilities excelling at public speaking and creative writing. Yet, a twist to this is this: most of us are actually in science, mostly biology-based sciences.
Making Math Real--your kid will easily learn to multiply-David Berg is my hero. I tried everything. Nothing worked until I tried this with my 9-year old daughter. Math trauma is huge. Avoid it. Help your kid feel better about herself. It’s not her fault, it’s the fault of our educational system.
I know it sounds crazy but teaching method is also important. Get a Chinese maths teacher, start at early age and things get easier. I’m not kidding. Here in the UK we don’t really start teaching maths until year 7. The Chinese start at year 1.
Believe me, even Chinese are not good at Math. Most Chinese just been taught to memorize how to solve problems. Maths is difficult because the important theorems were constructed by genius ancients. They spent years to finish one theorem, and we have to study several theorems in a year.
BBC WS is great source of knowledge and new ideas, thank u folks for posting these amazingly educative podcasts!👏👍
I have dyscalculia. I always struggled, but i had an amazing teacher who tutored me enough to make the math team once! I did not do well at the event, but i was just amazed i even made the team! I finally understand algebra for the most part, but i wish she could have tutored me in calculus too! I feel hopeless in calculus. I enjoyed geometry and trig tho.
my math scores were around the average kids, not so good not so bad, and most of the time I couldn't even understand the thought process of the equation, couldn't understand what the question was asking and therefore I couldn't solve it by myself. Then, my math scores peaked around 11th-12th grade/last year of high school, the time when most kids were overwhelmed with the varieties of math formulas, such as Integral, limit, and trigonometry.. I managed to survive those years because I met really good math teachers who were really good when it came to understanding the student's comprehension difficulties, easy explanations, and their effort to not belittle students but instead motivate them.
If not for those teachers, I wouldn't be able to solve a math problem logically nowadays
I was average in math but excellent in other subjects. I always felt that I’m good in other subjects because I study hard to memorize but math expose my mediocrity.
I always enjoyed math bc the answer was either right or wrong. If I got it wrong, I could trace my work to see my error. I appreciated the objective logic in math…as oppose to English Literature, which I found it to be very subjective.
Most of actual maths is calculus anyway. Arithmetic is basucally useless at this point unless you are trying to build something
Most of real-world physics and engineering is calculus. For example, calculating wind-resistance is done using the Navier-Stokes equations, and introduces non-trivial exponents into the Force equation, and integrating the corresponding acceleration function to find velocity, and integrating again for position, allows you to calculate the exact velocity and position at time T. And, typically using approximated solutions using Riemann sums, as opposed to finding algebraic solutions to the integrals because they often don't exist as is true with the aforementioned example.
@@LyricsQuest indeed. Never liked Stokes though. Always a bore to work through
I have been so convinced that your preformance in maths is directly linked to your confidence since I was only like 12 so this is so interesting to hear! I am now in collage studying maths and use a lot of positive affirmations to help me become able to understand new topics.
I experienced maths anxiety when I was in year 10 of secondary school I had a teacher who told me I need to work harder and other things that impacted my confidence as a result, my grades fell to a grade 6 (B) in all subject assignments and I became very tense when trying to learn new topics.
In year 11 I studied and asked for help but also told myself “I am smart I can do this” when I began to shut off in maths. Not only this my teacher fully believed in me and told me I was going to achieve good things. I fully believe this positive language was the main factor in shifting my mindset for maths and I eventually achieved a 9 (A*) in the gcse this year.
6:16 I'm a non-tdentical twin and my science teacher compared me with my brother unfairly, saying I didn't work hard enough without scientific backing 😞... a teacher can make / break someone's future. As a child, it hurt. I hate being a twin. Funny that because now I spend time alone mostly... but that's another story for another day.
Sorry for that mate. It's always unfair when teachers think they're in any right to compare two siblings. Can't be shamed for individuality
g + h = 3
h + s = 4
s + g = 5
Subtract the second equation from the third equation:
s + g - h - s = 5 - 4
g - h = 1
Add that to the first equation:
g + h + g - h = 3 + 1
2g = 4
g = 2
Substitute g = 2 into the first and third equations:
2 + h = 3
h = 1
s + 2 = 5
s = 3
I cannot solve like he solved in the video, my brain just cannot understand that situational/IQ process
But i solved it the way you did here, through substitution method, i can solve kind of easily 😅😅
I wonder what is the reason behind being able to solve this way and not through other way
@Stuarta.jr. Oh, I can see how they solved it; but, I don't consider it a good method in general. Their method exploits the fact that there must be a whole number of animals.
If the same problem substituted a farmer and animals for a soda manufacturer and inventory of flavored soda in tons, then their method no longer works because the inventory could contain a fractional number of tons. There are then an infinite number of ways to make 3 tons from two different flavors instead of just two combinations. Yes, I could have 2 tons of 1 of the other; but, I could also have 2.25 of one and 0.75 of the other.
With an infinite number of possible cases, their method of examining all of the cases no longer works, and they would need to use a method more like mine.
Had you added all equations together, you would have found right away that twice the number of all animals is 12. So the number of a specific type of animal is 6-minus the number of the other two types.
I became good at Math because I had a great teacher. It's been almost 40 years and I still remember her name. She was good at explaining concepts.
I have three siblings they all gets A+ on math while in school. I always gets below 10/100. Other subjects I gets good grade but math never been easy for me. I had the same math teachers as my siblings. Because I fails math my parents thought I'd never finish school but I did. I admits numbers scares me and shut my brain down to think about it further.
I gave my son the maths problem presented at the start of the video, he gave me 3 equation :-
g + h = 3
s + h = 4
s + g = 5
3 equations 3 unknowns, solution should be simple
Yes, this is how the solution should have been presented if the video cared about actually using the problem to teach people something. But instead it just gave a solution that's only intuitive because the quantities involved are so small. Safe to say, I wouldn't want this reporter as my maths teacher 😆
I hate maths, couldn't do it. It's always been hard. I missed the basics because of changing schools various times and could not keep up at all. Got no real help, my father also told me I was stupid for not understanding. However I and function well in the real world never having needed algebra or calculus or anything of the sort. I think it was a torture at school and a waste of my time.
Everythinf is waste of time in universe life is delusion
Well, it's unfortunate that you was unsuccessful with math in school. I think this is pretty common situation among students in States. But I've been told many parents resist hard math and science training for their children on the basis that if they didn't master it - their offspring shouldn't master it either. Is it true in general, that this stance is quite common among ordinary country people?
And, if I may ask, what is your trade that you never needed math in your life?
Why do y'all say maths? We just say math in America. The plural form of math here is just math.
@@gaHuJIa_Macmep I don't know where you get your info, but our parents don't choose our courses for us. We pick them ourselves. And the reason I wasn't good at advanced math because I didn't see where I would ever use it in adult life, and so far after 44 years, I still haven't had to use it. I did enough to get by, but never really was into advanced math. I did pass algebra and geometry though. Another reason I don't like it is that I can see numbers and when you're throwing out numbers to me I tend to visualize the numbers and have a hard time concentrating on how to apply the math involved.
@@ebogar42 well, I didn't ask you, I asked the originator of the branch. But you may answer as well: what is your trade that you don't use math and even have no idea how you could possibly apply it in your life?
Your take that math is about numbers is wrong: math is about numbers in the same way as literature is about letters and calligraphy. True, any text in the long run ends up as a sequence of letters but the essence of literature doesn't boil down to drawing letters. In the same way mathematical results are expressed in a quantitative form (which distinguishes science from humanities where everything is vague and uncertain) but it's so much more than numbers! In fact, math is about concepts, so in a way it's the only real humanitarian trade. And all your "humanities" are just a bullshit.
Math is not hard. You just need alot of practice. The problem is how hard the questions are made.
Yes! The questions read like trick questions. It gives me anxiety.
RE Emma: I once read that the astronomer Caroline Herschel (William's sister) never succeeded in memorizing the multiplication table.
She may be a genius who doesn't need to memorize it, but Multiplication tables have helped me and MILLIONS of others. Education/School shouldn't deprive others of the opportunity to memorize multiplication tables, just because others can't!
@@randomaccessmemories311 I think you missed the point of the video. Everyone should do whatever works for them. Memorization worked for me too. Those for whom it doesn't work should have an alternative.
Thank you for this! I suffered from Asthma as a child and missed many Math classes (missed long division classes and it still doesn’t make sense to me!) and ever since I had to work so much harder at it and felt I was naturally no good at Maths. However, like one of the teachers mentioned, Maths is like building a wall, you cannot miss bricks! Now it all makes sense to me!
Maath is a language. In order to learn it, you have to use is. That means, basically, practice solving math problems. That's the only way to get any good at at it, seems to me.
It is entirely true (as somebody with top grades in top university in Maths graduate study. It's only work, practicing and passion
I was always just lost and confused in calculus and physics that I always felt stupid and just stopped trying and gave up as the lowest grade in the class that I felt embarrassed to study in groups with but miraculously flip the script and everyone gives organic chemistry a bad rap since there’s no math but pure abstract thinking and I love it and did research in it. Still struggled badly with the math portions of biochemistry and general chemistry 😅
@@Justyouraverageguy172 Just keep on slogging. That's what I do. You'll get better, but if you're like me, it's a slow slog.
Really appreciate these BBC pieces; they are just so well done. Anyway, I am saving this one. And before I tune in, am going to make a guess: (1) Maths proficiency requires very high language skills in a person's native language, and (2) Logical training, useful for maths, does not appear until college, often. If an Olympic sprinter is afraid of the painted starting line, already there is a big problem; the more maths you do, the more it looks like a word problem.
I'm not bad at math. I'm bad at arithmetic, especially addition and subtraction. I can't add numbers up in my head or subtract them. I have trouble holding them in my head. I'm great at algebra or symbolic logic. Other students at school used to get stumped when algebra problems contained no numbers. I found that no problem at all; in fact, I found it easier.
That’s what calculators for!
% Define the predicate that relates s, g, h, and f. solve(S, G, H, F) :- % Ensure all variables are positive integers H > 0, % Define the relationships based on the given equations S is H + 2, G is H + 1, F is H + 5. % Query to find solutions % You can run this query in a Prolog interpreter to find solutions: % ?- solve(S, G, H, F).
I'm thankful to God I'm good at math. My favorite subject. One of my strengths, but I have weaknesses too. In terms of school subjects, my weakness was English composition -- writing essays.
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As a kid/teen with a supercritical stepfather, he'd tried to take away all my self-worth (I don't think it was deliberate, but that was the effect his actions had on me), but being good at STEM was the one thing he couldn't take away from me. And because of that, for a long time, I tied my self-worth to being good at STEM, but that wasn't healthy and often lead to anxiety and self-doubt when I struggled with STEM.
Thankfully, I have been able to move past that and adopt a growth mindset.
I still enjoy math and often watch math/STEM UA-cam for fun lol
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I think we all have something we can be good at!
interesting, ive the opposite situation as you - I love to write and I'm good at it (English is one of my best subjects) but my maths skills are pretty lacking.
Start to learn and use the Counting Number System in Chinese language, not English, not French... it will make easier for lots of young kids. Chinese Number system is the most simple, logical way to begin to learn to count, totally 10-base pronunciation that won't confuse young kids' developing minds.
Here’s the solution :
1. Start with the first equation:
- Sheeps + 3 = Total
- Rearranging this gives: Sheeps = Total - 3
2. Next, express Total:
- Total = Goats + 4
3. Now, substitute the equation for Total into the equation for Sheeps:
- Sheeps = Goats + 4 - 3
- Simplifying this: Sheeps = Goats + 1
4. For Horses:
- Horses + 5 = Total
- Rearranging gives: Horses = Total - 5
5. Substitute the same expression for Total:
- Horses = Goats + 4 - 5
- Simplifying this: Horses = Goats - 1
Conclusion:
- The number of Horses is 1 less than the number of Goats.
- The number of Sheeps is 1 more than the number of Goats.
So, if you have:
- 2 Goats,
- Then you’ll have 3 Sheeps and 1 Horse.
G + H = 3
S + H = 4
S + G = 5
S - G = 1
2S = 6.
Good old simultaneous equations.
Alternatively:
It's fairly intuitive that S > G > H
Just guess combos of numbers until it works. Eg
S= 4, G = 3, H = 2.. didn't work? Try S= 3, etc
@@growtocycle6992 this is the right answer, by math standard the OP's solution doesn't count because it involves guessing.
@@SVAFnemesisIn formal proofs you often "guess" a solution and show it is true.
@@emilwandel the application side of math has zero room for guessing. In software engineering, more often than not it is much harder to solve a math problem than it is when you're on a piece of paper. Therefore one can not ignore the applicating value of those streamlined solution, because they're the actual one that can be put into a computer and send people to mars.
@@emilwandel Yeah, how I solved it. The question directly translates to the following, and T=6 satisfies all the equations. (s)heep, (g)oats, and (h)orses immediately follows.
s = T - 3
g = T - 4
h = T - 5
s + g + h = T
Here is my solution to the question (it's 8th grade math): You get a system of equations consisting of 3 linear equations with 3 unknowns: S+G+H-3=S S+G+H-4=G S+G+H-5=H. All you have to do now is solve these equations.
The comments are more enlightening than the podcast. Makes sense as they are truly crowd sourced.
My sincere thanks for sharing it.
1+1=Bigger One
A "bigger one" is still one! LOL!
1+1 = 11 I think lol
Math can be challenging but it's worth learning. It's a valuable subject to learn.
Only basic math is worth learning. I've still not used advanced math ever.
If I solved it by writing an equation and solving for x, is it still doing math? All I'm doing is transforming the equation with rules that I memorized, and I end up with the answer. No problem solving required. But all of high school math IS just regurgitating formulas according to rules.
Yes, that's algebra, a more abstract form of mathematics.
And modeling the problem as an algebra problem *does* qualify as problem solving AFAIC.
My reasoning and solution : method - simultaneous equations.
Let all sheep be = x
Let all goats be = y
Let all horses be = z
Total animals = x+y+z
X+y+z -3 = x Eq 1
X+y+z -4 = y Eq 2
X+y+z -5 = z Eq 3
Add them up
3(x+y+z) - 12 = x +y+z
=> x+y+ z = 6
Plug back into equations to get values for each
X = 3, y = 2, z= 1
I'm bad at maths since I remember, however I'm good at Languages/History/ Biological Science/ Sports.
My take before watching the video. Maths is hard, it’s similar to learning an instrument. If I was to compare maths to most other subjects in school using the instrument analogy I would say most subjects are like music theory to some degree, but mostly just learning the chords in a pop song. You could tell the teacher that the song goes C,G,Am,F and you would be done. But in maths you need to be able to play the song, explain why a certain key would not belong, not based on feeling or sound but actual theory. Then look at how you could relate this song to another song and then do a key change, create a medley of the two songs in a new key and actually PLAY the music. This is why maths is hard. So how do we get people to become good at maths? Well how do we get people into music? We should teach children the beauty of maths, allow them to explore fun problems. Most people who can play an instrument doesnt work in music, imagine if maths got to that point. People love puzzles, loads of people do cross words and sudokus, and they only choose those because they know the rules of the game.
So to end where I began. Maths is hard, but people are actually screaming to learn it without knowing they are. Let’s begin by making maths fun, the we can worry about maths in school being useful.
Great analogy.
Maths is difficult not for some people, it's difficult for many many people😂
Agree😂
maths is what calculators are for - understanding the concept of the problem or how to solve it is important. i'm ok at concept, but cant remember formulas - it's like i'm formula colour blind
People are bad a MATH (not Maths) because from an early age they confused memorization with learning. At some point you have to jump from memorizing history dates, the parts of a plant, and multiplication tables, to actually thinking. Many people are unable to do that.
In British English the word math is never singular. It is "maths."
I was always awful at math but I decided to minor in it out of curiosity and to challenge myself (my main focus was linguistics). After completing my minor, I decided to keep going and ended up double majoring and getting an MS in it. I guess I succeeded in a way, but I failed in becoming a "math person". I still need a calculator to do basic math and you could say I'm about as bad as I was before the experiment. The only difference is that now I know some fun terms that nobody really cares about like "clopen set".
I can't calculate in Mathematics at all, this is caused by Bad Teacher and Teaching method and Bad education system😂😂😂
Nah. You will find good maths students in all your classes with the same teacher.😂
From an early age beginning with homeschooling and in a classroom for those who choose mainstream schooling, there should be a quote in every maths class that says" You don't need innumercy or dyscalculia.There is no mathematical disorder".
I don't think that's true at all, nature of a person, how much someone focuses on which thing affects what we are better at
That's true to an extent, but there is a thing called 'number sense.' I remember taking a test where they very briefly flashed up an image of different coloured dots and you had to say which colour had the most dots. That was a test to show your natural instinct for numbers. I've yet to watch this whole video; they may have mentioned it.
All nice and good but I don't understand why the initial problem can't be explained more simply with equations, x=total animals, s, g, h, are sheep , goats and horses, we know x=s+g+h by definition, and we have three more equations that sounds complicated when spelled out but actually are very simple
x-3=s
x-4=g
x-5=h
Summing all three together we get
3x-12=x
So x= 6 ,is the total of animal, that was the only unknown of the problem, from this going back to the 3 initial equations we have home many sheep goats and horses are in the farm
s=x-3=3
g=x-4=2
h=x-5=1
Like the last person interview I also have dyscalculia, i find complicated to say how much is 6+16 I have to put effort of it, like her I also trained this kind of basic arithmetic ability but then I forgot very easily, but I also have a degree in physics, and I work with tensors in general relativity. In the end math is just another language, like Portuguese.. or English, no matter how much physics I learned, there will be always some obscure math that when first encountered will make me feel like I'm back to primary school, but the good thing is I can keep learning, getting familiar with the notation and keep practicing until I can understand it and use it
Anyone can do math-this is not a comprehension problem it’s all about whether the instruction is excellent or poor.
No. Not anyone. Maths can get hard for some kids. And the good ones don't need Einsten for a teacher
Pure rubb!sh!
Very interesting and stimulating! A good example of what is good about public broadcasting.
I know exactly why I was a poor student in grade school. No one had time to work with an eight year old, not even my parents.
There are three types of people. Those who know math and those who don't.