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Are You Good at Math?

Bush

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Minored in math in undergrad. I've still got a lot of the concepts down pat, but I hardly remember many of the implementation details behind many of them beyond differential equations or so.

In operations research, I'm usually able to get away with providing a "good enough" picture of some phenomenon, system, problem, etc. -- what sorts of mathematical models/methods could be used to represent it, what assumptions would have to be made, and whether those assumptions would take us away from the problem at hand. Then, other folks could take that ball and roll with it.

I'm a fan of looking out for needless complications and nixing them before we dive in. Sometimes, the more advanced methods aren't necessary. We don't need a damn Rube-Goldberg machine to hammer a nail -- we have, you know, hammers -- but we might need something pretty damn close to one if we need to collect and stabilize aerosols or something.
 

Typh0n

clever fool
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I'm quick at calculating in my head, and consider that I should be fairly good at it for that reason, but I only calculate basic stuff relating to practical necessities. I don't like that abstract aspects of math, they just feel convoluted. In grade school, I was average at math, but I can't say I really applied myself in school, for most subjects. I just did enough to pass the class, since I found school boring, now I've changed my attitude and try my best at stuff. But I haven't had a math class in over 16 years, so who knows if I'm good at it as an adult.

So my answer to the OP would be " It's hard to say, especially for the theoretical aspects of it, but I can use math well enough to manage my daily life"
 

SurrealisticSlumbers

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I was always rather average at math - I don't have the brain for "mental math"! I actually enjoyed Algebra and was apparently at the top of the class in Alg. I (but bear in mind it was an extremely small class). After freshman year I transferred to another school, where I proceeded to take Geometry and Alg. II. Kids would try to get the teacher off track and we did other stuff that didn't correlate all that strongly to the subject matter, i.e. make Moravian stars. She was a nice teacher (the math teachers at both schools were both female, interestingly enough) but I just didn't care about her class both sophomore and junior year and felt that she went off track a lot. So my grades reflected that and I got, I believe, a C or something for both Geometry and Alg. II... I would have liked to have taken maths like statistics or something that maybe would've been more applicable to "real life" and put me at an advantage. Sadly, these kinds of classes were not offered at my very small, Christian high school.
 

Doctor Cringelord

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I like math, especially algebra and proofs but I'm not a natural. I thought I was terrible at it when I was younger but I later realized I just had terrible teachers.
 

great_bay

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Honestly, I never took my math class seriously when I was in high-school. I only got up to alge 1 and geometry.
 

kyuuei

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The most splendid thing about math is that it is practice-based. You can be pretty bad at it, and with enough practice, you'll become better. You can struggle with it, but still pass classes about it, and you can be surprised by how quickly you learn it when something in your life is motivating you (i.e. you like your job a lot, but it requires you to know more math than you once did.).

I don't consider myself great at math (it does not intuitively for me, I do not run calculations quickly in my head to this day even basic add/sub problems, I forget basic concepts if I am not actively using them, I super struggled in trig, and I don't find myself to be in a position to easily try my hand at harder equations or theroretical things), but above average (I can grasp most of the math one would need to know in the practical world and then some, and I don't find math discouraging or frustrating). I tutored Math Models students in high school (Took it out of laziness, it was simple for me, but this was a class with students who typically really struggle with basic algebra) during the class, and generally just ended up becoming a teacher's aid during it because I became quite good at teaching it. I taught myself statistics out of the textbook with no real help outside of a few questions I asked higher-learning students in college because I needed the class to go to nursing school and online was the only option available to me last minute.. I passed the class, and with an A to boot. It was difficult to learn by myself and I spent many hours in the library, but it was possible. I practiced as much as I could each day.

And that's the beauty of it. there is no practicing concepts like microbiology.. either you get it, or you don't. Math, you can have no fucking clue why any of this is relevent (like logs for me), but you can still practice your little heart out and do alright enough to at least quasi-understand it. (i.e. I have no idea what logs are to this day, but I knew at one point in time how to use them in my math class to get the results I wanted). I find it a really wonderful area of academia because it accomplishes so much and it is so versatile to everyone's lives.
 

Red Memories

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haha I just saw math problems presented at a story and those are where I am terrible.
I am bad at word problems. My grandfather had to explain to me key words to show what mathematical formula they were suggesting I use. XD I do better when the formula is straight forward like.

4 - 7 + 7 x 9 - 2(3+5) (divided by) 2 + 12
 

nature-addict

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mercy, NO. no, i (ENFP) am NOT good at math.

in school, geometry was tolerable because it was visual.

now that i've been adulting for a good long while, i realize how critical math skills are to life... and i have found fabulous workarounds, like a calculator and my super awesome, problem-solving ISTP <3
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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haha I just saw math problems presented at a story and those are where I am terrible.
I am bad at word problems. My grandfather had to explain to me key words to show what mathematical formula they were suggesting I use. XD I do better when the formula is straight forward like.

4 - 7 + 7 x 9 - 2(3+5) (divided by) 2 + 12
But that is the easy part. The challenge is to turn the story into an expression like this.
 

Ashtart

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Yes, I'm fairly good at math.
 

Hitoshi-San

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I got called out by a VERY old man for counting change on my fingers at work the other day and struggling the tell the difference between a quarter & a nickel so that should answer the question :(
 

Frosty

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Im not bad at math. Im not GREAT at it but when Im not shaken up about it- and I have time to do it- I can usually figure it out.

Im mot good at remembering formulas. Or much to do with a calculator but... Im passable at anything pretty much before pre-calc. Which isnt impressive but is what it is.
 

SearchingforPeace

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I was always good at math. I learned to add before I learned to read, almost. Won district wide math contests in elementary school. Perfect score on AP Calc test. But I never went much further, not due to ability, obviously, but due to interest.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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I got called out by a VERY old man for counting change on my fingers at work the other day and struggling the tell the difference between a quarter & a nickel so that should answer the question :(
When I worked as a cashier, elderly folks would often compliment me for counting their change back to them. Apparently that is a lost art now.
 

Novella

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Simple, yes. Complicated - no. My sister is a Math-magician (to the nth degree in this arena) she robbed me of da Math genes, biology wasn't a strong point either ;)
 

citizen cane

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Not once it's anything beyond the quadratic equation, and at this point I'd probably have to relearn that. I'm quite good with running simple figures in my head.
 

biohazard

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I enjoyed it. Especially when I did my minor in Economics. I taught myself Calculus before Algebra 1 & 2. It helped me understand Algebra more.
 
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