Too Slow To Learn Math
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- Sometimes people are very intelligent but they are a little slow when it comes to learning. It just takes some people longer but they can train themselves to be faster, they can focus on speed. In this video I discuss this phenomenon. This can apply to any field like math, physics, computer science, etc. Do you have any advice for people? If so, please leave a comment below.
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Thank you:)
I relate to being slow, as a self learner, I can spend hours on a single page of a math textbook and still when I revisit things day after day I will get insights and feel like I didn't understand anything. While it's good to understand things properly it can be frustrating feeling you are staring into a void for extended periods, until something clicks.
That seems pretty normal, actually. Math is just dense material! Plus, most textbooks aren't even written for self-learners. They're written for students who had prerequisite courses and who currently have a professor and classmates to learn with, and who are in a course program that's supposed to be just right for them.
You're awesome for doing this on your own! But don't be hard on yourself because it really is just hard for most people similarly situated!
@@surrealistidealist thank you for your insightful post ❤
Yeah I have to admit, I’m done with school but I wasn’t as fast as the other kids when it came to certain subjects 😅
@@Living_for_Him_Alone Anytime, my friend! I'm glad you found it helpful! 🙏
Spending hours on a single page is actually pretty optimistic lol. Sometimes it can take weeks or months even years just to understand a single paragraph. It's ok, you are not alone.
As someone with dyscalculia, it takes me ages to solve problems but since practicing arithmetics everyday for atleast 10 minutes, my difficulty has largely subsided. Some people learn a thing after one try, for others, the number of tries is indefinite. The more you do it, the more subconscious and instinctual the answers become. If you show up with a desire to excel consistently, and dont focus on other's abilities, after years you may surprisingly find that you exceeded them at some point when you finally recognize your perpetual efforts.
Robert Green said something similar about instinct: it's comes to us more frequently after we spend considerable time working on a craft, skill
One of my biggest issues; it was especially discouraging seeing others walk out of an exam well before the end and knowing I'd probably not even get 2/3 of the questions answered in the alloted time. I'm on a long-term break from college (technically I've dropped out but intend to return) but, I've actually just recently started working on speed since I've begun practicing math daily again, but, man, old habits die hard.
You got it man, keep going. I’m on a similar path as you.
Much respect for sharing that. Best of luck when you jump back in.
This video is so helpful. I am a slow learner and a slow thinker. I can't enumerate the important things in my life I've given up because I am slow. Wish I had seen this guy when I was in college. It's really helpful to go through his videos now.
Damn Im fairly slow, and have been for the most through out my life, so your experience does resonate with me. Just curious if you dont mind me asking, what are you up to, these days?
@@tamlcruceyabortion
As someone who might have dyscalculia I have to say that this conversation is very importent. Not only for slow learners but also for the fast learners as you said. If I got exstra free hours then I will be studying the hardest subject first that is in my case math. I learned through self learning that I miss some of the very fundamentals while I can still go on and understand the more advanced math. I really need to take my time with simple math tests than speedrun it and end up missing stuff along the way. I bought Khan like service online that can help me practice and I was lukey to get good teachers in my high school. I got tired of my nurse diploma and I’m now 24 going into my first year of high school. Practice in your sparetime to get the basics done and then apply for a local school. The basics are you tool box through all the math after all. You bc use this tool box to fix your way through math problems. It’s like building a house I would say. Never give up!
Update after two months: I still follow this plan and it’s helping. I study the level I’m at and the lower levels. Never overstudy when you are in school. Study the level you are at now and the easier stuff. Then you avoid confusing yourself doing exams. My teacher told me this.
I got a Dyscalculia test done and I’m in fact Dyscalculic.
I have an average IQ of 100. So obviously I find taking content hard. I take more time to grasp concepts and solve problems. I have this problem solving technique that has helped me very much. Whenever I find a hard problem, I try to understand it first. Then I try to apply Polya's problem solving technique. If I don't succeed, I'd open my book and read the related concepts of the problem over and over again until I get a good hold of the problem. It is just like connecting dots. By doing this, I come close to the solution and the only ingredient to the solution's completion remains, which is just a "bright idea" that can hit me anytime if I just put the time and effort.
I have an IQ of 130+, have a bachelor's in CS, and work as a software engineer at a high level company. I've gone through courses in calc, linear algebra, probability, stats, algorithm analysis, AI etc.
I STILL often struggle with rather simple problem solving 😅. My algebra is absolutely god awful at times. I was doing some exercises on evaluating limits with radicals in numerator or denominator and I totally failed.
I realize that math is a use it or lose it skill for many of us. And success at math is largely due to consistent learning over raw intelligence.
how did you all calculated your iq?
@@nonames1572 You can contact the Mensa society and book an appointment to test yourself (which isn't free), there are also good, respectable free online tests.
I wish I had better teachers that cared when I went to school. Back in the 70s. The squadren went over my head in math, so I gave up. All the red marks and sad face drawings I got made me entirely turn off. Now, I'm screwed! Sadly.
I had no support when growing up. None. Yet I'm a very detailed exacting artist. I know my mind can do it...oh well.
I'm looking for simple easy math tricks somewhere on TH-cam. I was never able to do math "in my head". Forget it. It held my chances in everything back. Lesson to youngsters here.
Thanks for the video.
Thanks for this video. It’s exactly what I needed to listen to.
Not really related but I just wanna say thanks @TheMathSorcerer for not only teaching me to appreciate mathematics. This helped me to get accepted into Med School (despite being 28 already). Cheers!
I face a similar issue to you. I'm fast, but often times I'll finish up with a topic-doing well along the way-and then realize I have no where near the depth I was aiming for.
Hello! I just wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for your TH-cam channel. As someone from Brazil, your videos have had a profound impact on my ability to focus and study effectively. Your content has not only provided me with valuable knowledge but also a sense of tranquility that has been invaluable in my learning journey. I am incredibly thankful for stumbling upon your channel, and I can't emphasize enough how much it means to me. Keep up the fantastic work, and please know that your efforts have made a significant difference in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Love your content and supportive nature regarding math. I’ve always struggled with math compared to humanities and have been ashamed to be slow and take time to understand.
I Love this content. Thank you. Our words / thinking matter. Self knowledge will help to understand our mechanisms.
i learned alot from u. thanks for ur advices.
Thank you very much.❤️
You make very good content and very helpful specially for people with non mathematical and statistical background.
It will be great if you can add time stamps to your videos please.
You make your own luck. Getting that difficult question correct that you did the night before seems like a fair reward for all your study. Cheers for the videos.
I still have to work through the details on a second read, in order to *get it*. I would re-write my lecture notes, and was fairly slow with homework; however, all of the concentration and practice allowed me to complete most exams.
My overall retention has held-up pretty well over the years; a lot of stuff comes back pretty quickly when I review something.
hi, i'm one of your subscribers, watch alot of your videos. You're a really good teacher and glad i came across your stuff. I get stuck on some of this and try to take my time to work thru it and it may require to come back to it later. So in my selfstudy over the past 10 yrs, i've gone thru all the algebra & precalc (both by blitzer) and recently bought the used book u recommended 'brief applied calc", fortunately got an instructors edition! Also have a used calc book by Larson. Anyway, given i'm 68 y rs old, and the math selfstudy and all the algebra books i collected are sorta like a hobby to me. My wife finds it interesting that i spend so much time on it each day. Yrs ago in grad school I literally got nauseated leaving my calc class for business students (early 80's at va tech), i'm slowly getting to understand what i didn't quite get in that class. Btw, i got a B in the course, but i really had to work at it! Ps - glad u don't use foul language or suggetive stuff on ur videos!
You have sparked my interest in Maths again. I was always labelled to be "bad at maths" and i want to prove them wrong. I want to learn to help my kids and also for my own self.❤
I'm with ya Math Sorcerer... going too fast can be a drag. I was always "that guy" in most of my math classes, who was usually either first to finish tests, or at least one of the first 4 or 5 to finish. Speed was never a problem for me. Except... I'd always lose points for dumb shit because I was rushing. Mostly I'd just simply transcribe things wrong when rewriting a sub-step in the problem. Like, I'd look at a page with:
"Solve: 9x + 3 -4x + 12 = 36" and in doing my scratch work I'd inevitably write:
9x+3x-4x+12=36
or 9x + 3 +4x + 12 = 36
or some other borked up variation. Then I'd proceed to solve it correctly, only it wasn't the assigned problem! D''oh.
My exact problem. I end up solving problems that aren’t the ones I have to deal with.
Makes me feel like a real fool, the reality is that I just need to have the real problem in my head, lol.
I've never understood why there are time limits on tests, other than the students and teachers just have another class to get to. Putting arbitrary time limits on difficult topics is just completely unnecessary and unproductive. What matters is that you understand the material, not that you are a speed demon. It's like speed readers: yeah they can read a lot of books quickly, but how much of it do they actually understand and retain?
I have a very direct connection with all of this. I have been an honor roll student every semester without an upper level math class as a mechanical engineer. Every single mathematics course has been a process of barely surviving if not outright failing. In class quizzes, B's or better. HW. B's or better, but simply put the exams were too long to complete and worth way too much comparatively to crawl back from.
The students that did not struggle speed wise with diffiQs, calc2, etc, would conversely get slaughtered in any Physics or engineering based classes because the mindset was different. Partially a difference of teaching but also expectations, but we(engineering types) were expected and excelled at finding answers that were abstract uses of abstract concepts. 2/3 of engineering is knowing when to look up references, when to negate what doesn't matter, and in general favor flexibility over speed. I nearly dropped out after failing calc 2 for the second time, but I took it with a professor who was an engineer and the one simple difference was he let us prepare basic formula sheets. We had to prepare them, study them, knew what they meant, and day of the class he would randomly cross out a couple lines and anything that was really a note and not formula.
Not having to second guess formulas or worse burn time driving them for basic things despite the problems just being intentionally harder was a godsend. In the real world (at least engineering) speed rarely if ever supersedes accuracy.
I think there is a growing fundamental disconnect with professors of academia (usually those who excelled at a subject) being the ones to teach a group that is made of more than just memorizationally apt individuals. Test cramming and speed solving should not be the deciding factors in competency of material or a reasonable form of creating a curve. In engineering there were several times our exam was simply. "Make a transmission, you have a week." They would rarely explicitly outline that it included the Free body diagrams, calculations, materials choices, thoughts for how to fill, drain, service etc. The entire method of separating students was based on people's abstract grasp of a subject, and giving them the time to deliver on it. The concepts recommended to be covered would be walked through in the semester, but the whole major was fundamentally about being slow, methodical, and flexible. The fastest answer could be drawn on a napkin but you would certainly fail for all of the related components you failed to consider.
For those wondering I got an A that third time around, and the professor saved my college career. The only change was recognizing math is a toolbox, not a set of flashcards.
I think a key take away here is balance, which pops up in many areas required for academic success.
Too slow, you just don’t get enough done. But too fast and errors start to pop up.
Goldilocks zone for speed. Still trying to find it myself.
I'm a 2L law school student taking a college algebra course on the side. I feel pretty damn stupid. But, that's the process. Have to stick with it.
This is what I find about classic 90 min lectures in university. You are expected to understand everything and then move to the next lectures. The bad thing is that people who might be good at it, stay behind and have to work even harder to keep up. In my case watching online lectures beforehand helped a lot. Of course thats not given, but I think even the professors have some guide plan or some publish their powerpoint slides beforehand. Of ourse that takes more time as well. But this kind of preparation helped me a lot. Of course the most important thing is what happens after the lecture and between the deadline of assignemnt. Revising content one thinks to have understood is still very hard to me
I don't know what to do and I hate myself that am like this. When I learn something I need to understand why it works I hate memorising stuff without understanding why it works. For example why negative exponents can be changed to a positive exponent by just flipping the fraction by its reciprocal i understand that it works but I have no idea why it works and it doesn't click , this is just an example as I've continued with more complicated stuff it bugs me that I can easily solve a problem but not understand the underlying logic on why it works I know there's rule but I would like to know why. This has tremendously slowed down my learning and continues to bug me. Any advice should I accept it and come back to it as I learn more stuff.
So nice to hear
If I can do 92 % Algebra from textbooks for college students correctly, anyone can. Same thing with Calculus (although my correct percentage might be a little bit lower than it is in Algebra.😆😆) The textbook is Introductory & Intermediate Algebra for College Students by Robert Blitzer that I refer to when I refer to getting 92 % correct. So far. Very proud that I can do math. The calculus book is Calculus by James Stewart. Also doing Blitzer's Precalculus. Just to kind of make things interesting, I've started skipping around in the books. Such as skipping ahead in the Blitzer Algebra book from chapter 3 Linear Equations in 2 variables to chapter 8, which is about Functions.
I'm that type of guy and I really want to practice speed. How can I do that? Do you have a video explaining it?
Thanks for your videos, it really helps.
Do you think speed has perhaps under-appreciated value outside of university courses (eg in research)? Also, have you noticed any other traits common among slow, methodical learners? Do they gravitate towards certain areas of math, have certain personality traits, etc?
I find myself really unable to move on from a problem until I’ve convinced myself that the proof is water tight, even though I know the clock is ticking. Any tips for learning to “let go” when necessary?
I’m in Calc 3 right now and we just started learning about Power series and have Taylor and McLaurin series coming up this week, then an exam on all of it next Wednesday. I’ve heard Power series are one of the toughest topics in calculus for people to understand so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Any advice for dealing with power series?
To be fair tho, being able to do advanced maths requires you to hold a large number of variables in your working memory and process them before they're lost so if you're genuinely slow in terms of having a poor processing speed - as opposed to just having a personality that prefers to go slowly as your friend seemed to - then you probably will struggle a great deal.
Math Sorcerer i just want to thank you for your great and inspiring videos. I'm soon about to start some intense math classes and physics classes that are part of a Prepatory year for real university. I just found out that calculators and formulas are not allowed during the math test, which really demotivated me because im really used to them. Any advice?
For formulas, you just have to memorize them. You can memorize them using tricks or you can go deeper and see why these formulas hold.
For calculators, most of the time, you don't need them. You will not be asked hardcore divisions or things like that mentally.
When I learn something initially (in higher math), I tend to be slow. I'm not stupid, I just have to answer all of my questions myself in order for me to get it. I haven't gotten this far because I'm a genius, it's because I'm consistently willing to spend an hour trying to understand three sentences. On the flip side, I'm one of those people who sees everything at once when solving a problem. I may get stuck on a detail at points, but I see the roadmap to where I want to go instantly when things are going to work. If I don't see what I have to do within a minute (at the longest), I'll spend 4hrs on the problem and then quit because I just can't solve it right then and there. That is in no way shape or form an exaggeration, I timed it. I try to remedy this by consciously looking for several potential ways of doing it when stuck (looking for equivalent end goals, different definitions of the same thing etc), but that doesn't normally work. I'm practicing, but it's really annoying to feel like I can't think. As for testing, I'm normally pretty slow on tests due to paranoia (triple checking everything I'm doing while I'm doing, waiting a minute to see what I'm doing. . .), but I find it funny that, even if I finish early, I won't check my work because I've corrected my correct work to something incorrect 3 times too many.
Everything from speed drills in elementary school math to fostering tomorrow's Olympiads. If AI reaches singularity and possess genuine sentience, we might perhaps reside as the philosophical guidestone to this newer life?
I have always been a slow learner. Going back and learning math is so hard
Many of us lack an appreciation for the importance of learning. We just learn for the sake of learning and forget. That's not a better way to learn. We should at least see that our silly mistakes are corrected.
I AM VERY SLOW AT READING SO I AM FORCED TO CONCENTRASTE BETTER LOOKING FOR CORE OPRTATING SYSTEM TO FORM COMPREHENSIBLE GIST SO MY PSUEDO DYSLEXIA HELPS IN THE END I TEST 28 PECENT LINGUISTIC YET OFTEN 100 PERCENT SCORE AT MATH REREAD 4 OPERATING PROCESSES WORDS NO LONGER MATTER ONCE CORE OPERATIONS ARE SECURED LIKE A HABIT HENCE SPEAD AFTER TIME /UNDER DURESS PRESSURE
Hello, I have a question but first I wanted to congratulate you because you have a monstrous chain. I personally had a disastrous schooling because I lived in a sensitive neighborhood and I did a lot of stupid things so I was always kicked out of class. Today I'm 18 and I don't know anything about math. I'm reviewing the multiplication table and I'm a sucker for basic arithmetic because I never study. What book or video would you recommend to really start from 0 in math and get to a monster level (I know it's going to be a long road). I also have a Japanese soroban. Thank you for answering me. Have a nice day.
Hi, I have a question I hope you can ask me. As a curious person, I really want to understand a lot of things and I have some doubts about what to do. Wanting to understand everything means wanting to understand things properly to being able to live "rigorously". Fortunately, I am 15 years old yet and I have studied some things: analysis (Spivak, Marsden's multivariable calculus, Apostol's analysis, that Dover complex analysis book, a 5 million dollars Springer measure theory book 🤣 and most of Papa Rudin) I have also studied linear algebra, topology, gone through the famous theorems of logic behind mathematics and read half of 1rst volume Whitehead's Principia Mathematica so I have no problem with logic and proofs. I would like to study abstract algebra, some differential and algebraic geometry, algebraic topology, elliptic curves stuff and those Cantor discoveries that everyone claims to be awesome. I know this could sound funny but I also want to study physics, chemistry, biology and learn everything about computers and how and why they work (but really rigorously). I have also studied some physics and I can do some basic things but I want to learn more. My two problems are that, first, I need books/lectures recommendations for physics and chemistry or at least a guide to what to know to achieve what I want, and, second, that I don't know whether I should try to memorize some advanced proofs and stuff (which requires a lot of time) or, as soon as I completely prove everything, I should study another thing and consult the book in case I needed the information. Thanks.
I met with my calculus 3 professor this week and she was telling me that i don't understand calculus, and my test scores reflect that. I told her that most of my low scores come from the fact that i never finished a single test. And her response was "then how come you're so slow?!" I didn't know how to respond to that but it felt awful. I didn't pass the class so i'll have to take it again.
Do you have advice for people with Dyscalculia?
Question:
If i learn math and see some proofs then sometimes i really cant get it until i see a exercise. Often its also like this that you can calculate simething but you do not understand the proof.
How is it for you today as a very advanced mathematician? If you read papers or a new topic, you need examples or is the proof the theory enough to know what it is about?
Sir I had some researches on prime numbers occurence which I call the elasticity of prime functions I want to know that how can I upload it as a formal document
Obliged much for your answer
for me when i have a visual representation i remember math concepts very good but when its strictly algebraically i learn them but don't retain them as i cant picture them in my head
How much overlap is there between discrete math and how to prove it by velleman
Math sorcerer AI math tutor? Something to compliment the Udemy courses.
Timed tests are really stupid.
I’m a person who learn math on slow basis as I try my hardest to learn and understand the basics of math and learn how to do my exams the best way I know how because im really tired of not being able to pass my math class to move to the next level class why I take a major in medical lab tech 😢
I absolutely hate mathematics I am a PUC (Pre University Course) student from India I wouldn't say I like maths due to I can understand the concepts but when It comes to solving problems I suck terribly I don't know why a question which can be solved in like 1 minute takes me like 3 hours to solve all other students in my class can solve that at least in 5min but for me, it is like a hell i don't know what to do
Same here
my teachers are so mean to me about how im too slow and don't understand fast enough for them. it upsets me a lot i just wish they could understand. i don't know why i am the way i am
Tell them they are bad teachers. You are in school for yourself, not them, so you aren't obligated to be "fast enough for them", they are obligated to teach you properly, help if they can, or simply remain quiet and let you be, that's what they get paid for and what they chose.
I'm slow at learning math sometimes my math teacher will wait for me to finish solving the question he gave to the class to solve sometimes confused and don't know how to start solving the question
WTF🤨. That person on thumbnail looks exactly the same as I do
Jokes on you, I am quite slow while making many, many careless errors!
❤
Anyone can give any advice, hiw should i speed up my study process, what i need to do? + i have a question, how should i thin fast while read? I have problems, like reading new text as slow read-thinker also i am slow learner and thinker, i still haven't found any benefits, even doctors didn't give me any solid solution, it's just exhausting. And at sport, i am just super fast, idk what's going on eith me 😂
I am a slow learner but I still managed to get a Bachelor's Degree In Electronics Engineering. I also want to go back to school and get a PHD in mathematics but I do not have the money.
you can learn by autodidact
Something was said.... not good
Suffering from chemistry too😢
You can do it
Wait 50% isnt enough to pass?! What sorta hell is college?? Thats a c where im from, they let you go above 25% most of the time
My biggest issue is being slow and then second guessing my answers 😅.
We’ll hold on. Are we talking about slow LEARNING or slow at doing problems? A slow learner can’t really help it. It takes them longer to understand the material. If you’re slow at doing problems then you can work on being faster. But if you’re a slow LEARNER, you can’t just learn faster. Believe me, if I could learn something faster than I do, then I’d have already done it.
It made me hate evry body and everything ,because i was slow they made fun of me ,laughed at me ,it was horrible for my self esteem ,then I went to work for the city and had to learn math kinda all over at 32,what I do is Geometry ,tank volume Dosage ,pounds per gallon ,volume of sphere is pretty cool ,,If my Math teachewr could see me Now ,Ihated him for years coz he broke yard sticks over my back yes
Does he call himself "The Math Sorcerer" because he conjures people into thinking they can learn math? It appears to be working
Well time to stfu a leave "naaaa"
Then.... I traded my boxing gloves for math, then tora. Jew polesph imprison be praised. I should have been a vet. No blank pages, demon says release the kraken. Pp
Dear Math sorcerer do you have a contact email?