Are You Good at Math?

[Jonny]

I majored in it and actively work as an actuary, so I'd like to think so. Though at the higher theoretical levels my interest (and thus aptitude) fades--algebraic topology comes to mind.

Here's a recent video I watched on modular forms by the man who wrote the one sentence proof of Fermat's theorem on the sum of two squares. Maybe I'm not so good after all... the guy is a beast.

 

[Cellmold]

Woefully poor at it. I still struggle with even long multiplication or division.

But I try extremely hard.

 

[Kas]

I used to be good. It was my favourite subject at school. But unfortunately my mathematical skills right now are limited to counting money and sometimes solving sudoku.

 

[Red Memories]

Very good at algebra.
anything geometric loses me.

 

[Yama]

13-50=47

 

[Ashtart]

13-50=47

hahahahaah.

 

[Gone]

Yes.

 

[anticlimatic]

The best mathematician is a lazy mathematician.

 

[Jaq]

I couldn't solve you a math problem, but I could probably write you a story (after research of course) about a man/woman who is good at math.

 

[Coriolis]

I couldn't solve you a math problem, but I could probably write you a story (after research of course) about a man/woman who is good at math.

So then, if a math problem is presented as a story, do you find it easier?

 

[Jaq]

So then, if a math problem is presented as a story, do you find it easier?

If it could be tied to something instead of just shooting random numbers off, then yeah for the most part. Like a class I took last semester was a math class that tied a lot it to real work applications. I did pretty okay in that class.

 

[Population: 1]

Hate it. Horrible at it. My brain just shorts out when it comes to numbers. Letters? I can see paragraphs in my head. My spelling is decent. If I had to choose which I'd rather have a problem with, math wins hands down. If I had that level of difficulty with writing and language in general, I'd live in a cave somewhere.

 

[Coriolis]

Hate it. Horrible at it. My brain just shorts out when it comes to numbers. Letters? I can see paragraphs in my head. My spelling is decent. If I had to choose which I'd rather have a problem with, math wins hands down. If I had that level of difficulty with writing and language in general, I'd live in a cave somewhere.

Please don't make me want to stab my eyes out! Innumeracy is no better than illiteracy. If you have that level of difficulty with math, you should run off to the same cave. You don't need to know multivariable calculus, but a knowledge of proportions, exponents, and basic statistics in addition to the usual arithmetic is necessary just for managing your personal finances, and assessing risk/probability so you can make sound decisions in the presence of uncertainty, which describes most of life. Questions like: how expensive a car/house can you afford? is it better to pay down your debt, or invest in your retirement account? how many paving stones do you need for your new patio? are you more likely to win the lottery, or die on the way to buy a ticket? It helps in understanding when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, too, whether that is a salesman, con artist, or politician.

 

[Dreamer]

Please don't make me want to stab my eyes out! Innumeracy is no better than illiteracy. If you have that level of difficulty with math, you should run off to the same cave. You don't need to know multivariable calculus, but a knowledge of proportions, exponents, and basic statistics in addition to the usual arithmetic is necessary just for managing your personal finances, and assessing risk/probability so you can make sound decisions in the presence of uncertainty, which describes most of life. Questions like: how expensive a car/house can you afford? is it better to pay down your debt, or invest in your retirement account? how many paving stones do you need for your new patio? are you more likely to win the lottery, or die on the way to buy a ticket? It helps in understanding when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, too, whether that is a salesman, con artist, or politician.

But, this image...doesn't make sense to me. If one reads in binary, then they're doing both, no?

They like numbers AND words, kablam!

 

[Coriolis]

But, this image...doesn't make sense to me. If one reads in binary, then they're doing both, no?

They like numbers AND words, kablam!

No. Perhaps you should join Population: 1 in that cave.

 

[Dreamer]

I've always thought I was extremely math disabled growing up. But these days, I am nearly certain that it wasn't that I couldn't deal with numbers and equations, but the way my teachers taught math that didn't work for me. I always need to know why, where something is coming from, the context for something. I was only ever given a string of letters and numbers and told what to do, but not why I did it. Therefore, math, was only ever a memorization game for me. When I started taking physics classes for architecture, that's when things really got interesting for me. Then, all those equations started making sense to me. There was something tied to the equations that I could then visualize. Had math been taught in a similar method, then I most definitely would've had a profoundly different view and approach towards math growing up.

 

[Coriolis]

I've always thought I was extremely math disabled growing up. But these days, I am nearly certain that it wasn't that I couldn't deal with numbers and equations, but the way my teachers taught math that didn't work for me. I always need to know why, where something is coming from, the context for something. I was only ever given a string of letters and numbers and told what to do, but not why I did it. Therefore, math, was only ever a memorization game for me. When I started taking physics classes for architecture, that's when things really got interesting for me. Then, all those equations started making sense to me. There was something tied to the equations that I could then visualize. Had math been taught in a similar method, then I most definitely would've had a profoundly different view and approach towards math growing up.

Glad to hear it. Unfortunately there is no shortage of bad math teaching, which results in lots of people who not only can't do math but aren't particularly interested in learning. I don't mind abstract math on its own - it's like a game or puzzle, but it takes on a much deeper meaning when used to understand or accomplish something practical.

 

[Population: 1]

Please don't make me want to stab my eyes out! Innumeracy is no better than illiteracy. If you have that level of difficulty with math, you should run off to the same cave. You don't need to know multivariable calculus, but a knowledge of proportions, exponents, and basic statistics in addition to the usual arithmetic is necessary just for managing your personal finances, and assessing risk/probability so you can make sound decisions in the presence of uncertainty, which describes most of life. Questions like: how expensive a car/house can you afford? is it better to pay down your debt, or invest in your retirement account? how many paving stones do you need for your new patio? are you more likely to win the lottery, or die on the way to buy a ticket? It helps in understanding when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, too, whether that is a salesman, con artist, or politician.

Salesman/politician = con artist. That equation I know well.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Above average for sure. However I haven't used the more advanced one for quite some time and therefore I forgot pretty much everything about it. However I tend to think in the terms of numbers.

 

[Bush]

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.