"bad at math" is a myth
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- Опубликовано: 14 авг 2022
- I gave a talk at my high school today and it got me thinking again about my experience of being labelled "bad at mathematics" and eventually doing my PhD at the University of Cambridge.
Btw, just because I think people will be confused, my field (quantum computing) is cross disciplinary, but at Cambridge it was in the maths department. I never know whether to call myself a physicist or a mathematician. 
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If only I had Sal Khan and 3Blue1Brown back in high school in the 90s to teach me the "why" of math instead of just grinding painfully through the "how" of it.
YES
I wholeheartedly agree, however I went to school in the 60s and 70s and for me at least we didn't get much of the "how" either.
A lot of memorization but while I sucked at math some kids seemed to excel at it.
Yup . Because of this I found it dry as dust.
I agree with you. If youtube was around in the 90's I would have done a lot better in my math and science classes. Not until college I learned the "why" from a few good professors.
@@quest2718 I am on the younger side. RUclips definitely helped me go trough math in high school and college. I didn't have the best teachers, yet RUclips was always there to help me with more examples and the ability to rewind. You mentionned Khan Academy, but there's also PatrickJMT and Profesor Leonard.
I think the biggest problem in math education is not math itself, it's that we stopped teaching students how to fail. Math is one of those areas where you have to face your own failures head-on, without any excuse to spin it.
This is so true. In any other subject you can always quietly tell yourself "I'm right, but I just don't know how to make others see it". But in mathematics alone, there is no hiding from being wrong.
@@johnnyckrock Am I misunderstanding something? Are you saying that people failing in e.g physics exam think to themselves "what I did is right, the prof just doesn't understand" ? that seems ludicrous
As cliche as this joke is, physics is just applied maths.
What makes maths different is you need to understand concepts, while in chem/bio you can get by with a really good memory.
@@kingplunger6033 Nah that's not what I mean. I mean there are situations like that in other subjects, not that every situation is like that. Physicists do disagree all the time, which means that at least one of them is wrong but is unable to see it. In maths, you can always be made to see it.
@@kingplunger6033 I think you misunderstood.
I feel the same way when people say they’re bad at art. There’s initial talent when it comes to everything, but as with most things, it just takes a willingness to learn and belief that you can improve
This reminds of a quote I love so much “ For every skill talent is overrated but practice is not “
Talent is practice at an earlier age than expected. Most talented mathematicians at age 12 started math at 5 and have more hours of practice than most people in their lifetime. Same with any other skill, the thing is you have limited amount of hours in a lifetime, so you can't be talented at everything, but you can learn to learn new skills easily, by going through a bunch of them, that and loving what you do helps you stay focused and do it more for longer without getting fatigued. If you don't love it, you will have to find a way around and force yourself to do it a lot. That's why a bad teacher is the worst, it makes it harder to learn than if he wasn't there at all. I blame the first teacher for the "no you can never do it, so just give up" it helps only stubborn people who always do the opposite (for no other reason than just to be stubborn, usually only ages 10 or below) and hinders the rest. So, unless you had a healthy connection (or healthy rivalry) and mutual respect with your teacher(the thing bad teachers (and bad parents) forget,it being mutual), that was just bad teaching.
She has never seen me do math.
Damn, how much I resonate with this.
I almost failed high school because of math. Luckily, I was decent at English (second language) and discovered Khan Academy. The motivation from Sal Khan (his TED talks and the Beauty of Algebra video) and the gamified platform changed my world. Fast-forward to today, and I'm about to start my PhD in STEM (my field is applied fuzzy logic).
sameee, thanks to khan academy, im getting better at maths
I was totally useless at maths, failed at English school ‘O’ level. Then had an Indian maths teacher on my building construction course and reached ‘A’ level standard. Went on to University to study BSc Civil Engineering. Our maths teacher , Dr Rangachari was Indian. Partial differential equations became easy. I owe my success to my Indian maths teachers because somehow they transmitted their faith in the subject to me whilst the others simply made me feel as bored with maths as they were. You have a very promising future .
You are an inspiration to all of us who secretly wanted to achieve a dream but were told we didn’t have what it took. That we were stupid and told to go away. I love that you put in the hard work and learned what you needed to despite opposition. You have my respect.
I've done a master's degree in computer science, and while the level of education is rather low where I'm from, I have still seen some glimpses of what actual math looks and feels like. Anyway, some time ago I decided to revisit a bit of school math just for fun, thinking that now it will all look like a piece of cake to me, but it turns out it still looks as dense an imposing as I remember it. Except now when I look at it I'm just angry that stuff is explained is such a bad way (if ever), yet in school I had no option except to think myself an idiot.
p.s. crying over complex numbers is perfectly acceptable
Btw, just because I think people will be confused, the field I did my research in (quantum computing) is cross disciplinary, but at Cambridge it was in the maths department. I never know whether to call myself a physicist or a mathematician though
Quantum Computational Physicist? Quantum Mathematical Physicist?
Similar experience during my Masters': I wanted to do gravity-related stuff, but almost all gravity/GR stuff was done at the Applied Math Dept. - so I lived in a quantum superposition. That alone was a big source of frustration :(
Call yourself both, or either, as the mood strikes you.
Hi Mithuna! I often have similar questions to yours, as in - it often seems like some decisions in math or physics are arbitrary and almost require memorizing, but then there are these light bulb moments when you see the problem from the other end, and you realize how it can be stated in a simple yet revealing way, which make me seek understanding, seeing how scientists came up with the mental models.
Shadowing your thought process is very refreshing and helpful, as you are both very smart yet humble and enjoy understanding how the world works for yourself, it fascinates you. A couple times in your videos you left little keys which came to my mind at the right moments, helping to unlock the confusions I had.
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful mind and helping people understand, appreciate and love math!
Thank you so much for this video! I am in college right now, preparing to become a high school math teacher, and this story was wonderful to hear.
Wow, I had no idea you took the IB too. Cool!
I've just started my Physics undergraduates degree and while I'm extremely lucky to have been shown early on that maths could a fascinating and creative art, I know too many who haven't.
Thank you for making these types of videos! They are an inspiration to so many people.
Well said.I had a love/hate relationship with maths at school (in the UK, 1970s). I was fascinated by physics quite early. But I found school maths either boring or hard enough that I felt slow. What helped me was independently learning about recreational maths, reading books by Martin Gardner. Here were all sorts of intuitive and deep ideas that fascinated me (fractals, symmetry, number theory and more). I went on to do a physics degree and my favourite part was learning some GR (via the maths dept).
I'm obsessed with your accent. I love all your quantum physics videos. Helps me to understand so much with the little drawings and everything. Just that much more enjoyable listening to with such a cool voice!
such an inspiration thank you so much for this videos i wish there is alot of people who make us fall in love with sciences instead of making us pass classes without any value. falling in love with concepts and trying to understand how the world works is the best thing ever .
You're a role model, Mithuna. I'm a college student in prospect and your videos are the reason to why I took higher-level subjects during my IGCSEs (10th grade) so I can actually be good at them. I share a very similar story, and thank you. I feel so represented.
This video was incredibly inspirational, and to hear you went to an Australian school as well! I'm curious to know what state, as I did my schooling in Victoria and loved every bit of math I could get my hands on. So keen to see what you get up to, and hope you keep us updated here!
Oh my. I've just bumped into your video while seeking for interesting concept of quantum mechanics. Today, after having scrolled through your contents, and watched some, yes I was really into yours and decided to be your subscriber.
Keep up the good work.
You are indeed a role model to me. I recently graduated in physics and I am a quantum enthusiast. Your words give me so much hope and encouragement and I just wanted to tell you this. I have a lot of insecurities when it comes to my abilities that if I do good at an exam I consider it to be pure luck and not bcs of my skills haha. Thank you so much for this video
That’s so exciting you like quantum stuff! And I know what you mean, but of course it’s not luck when you do well, it’s your own hard work paying off. You’ll do great :)
I thought I was good at maths, but realised that I was fast and nimble in exams and schoolwork. I didn't really "understand" what I was learning for the most part, especially from ages 17 and above. It's only much later that I am understanding some of it.
I've also had a very similar experience helping my classmates (at highschool). Most cases where someone is struggling, I've had success by explaining them the beautiful side of math - most of which always came from the later (supposedly more complex, pun intended) parts of the books. Funny how the system wants to throw more rote work at the most demotivated - you gotta give them a reason to care about that work!
Thanks so much for this. I think it is really going to help my daughter who has been having a similar experience - loving and good at physics but struggling with her IB maths.
Good luck to her!
I'm about to start taking a module in discrete math in a university and am gearing myself up for a challenge. This is such a encouraging video to watch. Thank you.
The biggest problem I faced was just getting instantly lost and frustrated: 1. Often it's very abstract and things lack examples; 2. It's hard to understand a formulaic solution with no understanding of the problem; 3. Teachers can be quite critical/judgemental when you get it wrong.
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm related at some point. Were I finish high school I was thinking of myself as a Humanities person too, the I began to study psychology, but in first year I discover neuroscience so change to Biology. I struggle with math and know I'm doing a PhD in computer science (computational neuroscience). I'm still struggle with math but becomes better.
Your story is similar to mine and no doubt many other peoples. Thanks for sharing.
I was lucky to have a Maths teacher in 10th school year who convinced me I could be great at Maths. He went the extra mile just for me. I aced GCSE maths, then aced A-Level maths at College and 20 years on, as a computer engineer I can do subnetting and super-netting in my head (think 16 and 256 times table).
I have that GCSE Maths teacher to thank for my career because I often wonder if he hadn't recognised my potential, where would I be today...
I liked how you became happier and happier as you shared the journey
Good video, and so encouraging. Great point about showing the fascination of maths rather than insisting on the mechanical grind. It'd probably be more effective than the current fashion for "making maths relevant" which, as someone whose schooldays are far behind me, seems to mostly entail stuff about how to add up your shopping bills...which would have bored me right out of any interest in the subject.
I've also observed a cultural attitude in which it's okay, even encouraged, to say you're bad at maths. (In contrast, hardly anyone would boast about being bad at reading.) Even teachers suffer from this - I remember a friend's mother, a junior school teacher, rushing over to our place one day to have percentages explained to her so she could teach the kids the next day. It's a sort of learned helplessness and it's no wonder teachers who feel this way can't inspire youngsters to love maths.
(I myself am a geophysicist who feels I'm not as good at maths as I should be!)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! There are so many young people out there who need to see this talk of your's. I just wish there were more people like you who had the integrity and courage to tell it like it is. I graduated from high school convinced I was intrinsically bad at math. This gave me math anxiety and scared me away from college-level pure math (but not some statistics) courses. Many years later I decided to give math another try. On my own I studied probability statistics, with the help of learning resources on the internet. I steadily improved in that area of math to the point that I performed quite well on probability statistics tests that I took later. The problem was never with me. It was with my awful high school math teachers and the boring, misguided, poorly written math text books I was assigned in high school. Unfortunately this was a widespread problem in the school system when I was a high school kid. The internet is such a great resource for math students today. It was not available when I was in high school. Kids today don't know how lucky they have it.
I had a very similar experience in my high school years! Nearly failed first-year geometry and swore off math/science forever, only to be shown the beauty of math through my physics course in my third-year. Was also very into humanities at the time and was convinced I would major in History in undergraduate, but ended up doing a physics bachelor's and am now entering my final year of my PhD! There definitely needs to be more emphasis in schools that the ability to do mathematics is not some talent that only a gifted subset of students inherit, but a skill that can be developed, honed, and improved upon with the right mindset and patient educators.
Also, 11:20, I'd cry over missing complex numbers too because complex variables/analytic functions was one of my favorite courses in undergrad ;)
Math is not beautiful at all
@@quandal1633why so ?
@@kontoru22 I hate it with a passion
I'm not that good at math - I'm good enough, but it was probably my worst subject. I still needed to take tons of math in college for my engineering degree, and I got through it. The main problem is, I don't really like math that much. I like the idea of it, but actually doing the work, is too much work. I can be good at math when I need to be, but it's hard to be "good" at something you don't really care about. Sometimes it's not a question of skill or intelligence, it's just motivation.
An easy subscribe. I wish I had your teachers. But I can at least pass on your excellent message. I too was overlooked, but accepted the verdict. Wish I hadn't, but that's all history now. You are inspiring, in better ways than the average unsure teenager was in my day. STEM is the way of the future and your excellent videos would inspire young aspiring students. Keep up the inspirational work. Aussie here too ;)
I think this is one of the most important videos you've ever made! As a "bad at maths" person who is now doing a part time degree in mathematics, I couldn't agree more. I just wish I had known earlier that I could do this. BTW you should call yourself a mathematician because that way when you talk about mathematical physics you'll seem to be making mathematics more interesting instead of making physics more boring :😜
Good on you for going for that maths degree!! That's awesome, and I hope it goes well :)
Re calling myself a mathematician to make math seem more interesting: Rude, but hilarious. I'll allow it haha
For me, it was dyslexia and ADHD. I understand the concepts pretty well, but eventually gave up trying to do the work. I'd be 15 minutes into thinking "why is this problem so hard?" and then realize I'd dropped a sign or missed a decimal place. Too frustrating.
It really is… I’m sorry
Wow, great vid! When I was in highschool (the 80's) conventional wisdom was that math was a gift, like art/music...you've either got it or you don't. Who knew you could teach math to antbody?!? Keep up the good work!
I have had a lifelong interest in Science (especially Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology) and Technology but always felt I was bad at maths due to my schooling.
Your videos have inspired me to finally act on addressing this in 2023 and have also provided a road map for me to level up in Maths.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do these videos!
How have you been learning, self study? Hope it's going well
How is it going? Same situation here but I am working on getting better myself.
Wow, thank you for sharing your story. Great work for putting in the effort to learn something difficult in order to pursue something you were passionate for.
I feel rather annoyed at your school's decision to limit one's path based on subject proficiency at the age of twelve. I know quite a few people who shifted their study direction at the age of 17-18, and one who was locked out of STEM due to their performance at 13...
I hope there's a better reason for locking students' options early, but it really sounds like the school is just trying to make things easier for themselves by taking opportunities away...
Thank you so much for putting this video up, it has quite literally caused so much anxiety for me that I decided to take a career path completely away from numbers. Now I’m facing my math demons in a new job.
holy shit, I have a very similar experience to you during high school! I'm still in high school, but in my younger years, I've always been a good student in terms of languages, vocabulary, psychology, philosophy, art, etc. I'm not that good at math and the subject makes me cry. then I discovered chess and physics, and my mind lit up and said, "Fascinating!" I started loving math through chess and physics. My interest in science back in elementary sparked once again after years of having inefficient teachers. I would love to pursue an architecture course where I can use my passion for art and math :)
Thanks Mithuna, you made my day
I wish RUclips existed long before. Not only for the substance but also for the motivation. Thank you for sharing.
I just got into 10th grade and last year in 9th grade my performance went really down from a straight A student to B2 and it’s just painful to accept that and I got the lowest marks in maths from the other subjects and now I took high level math ‘cause only those students can take science and math after 10th and it’s only for my love for science specially physics and my dream to become a scientist ever since I was in 3rd grade and now I am really gonna work hard to get better at this and thank you so much for this video it gave me the hope that we can get better at this if we put our efforts and you did improved at it even though not perfect but with so much dedication and hard work still became a physicist.
Thank you for this video. I never had any issues with math until I reached Algebra II and had a teacher I could not connect with. I’d go for extra help and was told, “just keep looking at it.” Yikes. I ended up sticking with humanities thinking the math just escaped me. Fast forward about 20 years. I’m an artist and for some reason I have this gnawing inclination to study physics, which is how I found this channel. When I’m drawing I think about physics and when I’m learning physics I’m wondering how this connects to my art practice. At this point I know enough about art and science to know that I need to follow apparent tangents like this. Suddenly I’m practicing math again just for myself. Where it leads remains to be seen but I’m enjoying the process. Thanks again.
It’s true that you gotta practice math. I was able to do calculus in high school but my first engineering class after an associates degree 4 years later I couldn’t understand how to apply a single derivative in the real work. It took a whole year of classes and going back to retake calculus 2 for me to regain these skills. Approaching an engineering degree the math is intimidating but I’m more intimidated by the focus and organization it takes to create amazing big projects.
Hi Looking Glass. I am such a huge fan of your videos. I'm a former high school math teacher who quit to get back into research. I frequently referred students to your intuitive explanations and beautiful videos.
Anyway, I agree with so much of what you say here. Your story really resonates with me because I've seen so many students struggle with math, and I always encouraged them that math is a skill that can be practiced and improved as you say. But I want to push back about tracking development in young students. Are you very sure that your journey to where you are now would have been better if you had been put in top math classes because you desired to be? That's so amazing and awesome that you conquered Rudin and your math skills far surpass mine by now. (I took my B-, and quit at a MS and all parties agreed it was for the best.) But, like, for every one of *you* who just says that want to be in the top math class and probably had the grit to all-summer Rudin their way through it, there's probably about 50 who would try, fail, and decide not to return to it.
Your persistence got you to the top, but also not until you were ready. I'm honestly curious of your thoughts on this and would be so pleased to get a reply.
I so admire your work so I'm very open to the argument that you may have achieved even more with earlier placement in top math classes, but it's my feeling that you just needed *support* and *encouragement* from teachers. That part of your argument I totally agree with. The placement part of the argument seems disjointed from the rest.
As an elementary school (Finland) math teacher, this again made me think of how to implement more of the "point" of math instead of just the algorithmic calculation into the curriculum. Like we can teach applied math just fine but it's true that the true "math behind the world" as well as "math as a system of proof" kinda falls outside what we do - and it should definitely be included. "Math in the world" is probably one of the best ways to get people interested in math but yet, pulling a curriculum like that out of thin air is a LOT of work. I wish I had the books to make it happen but given that's not the case...hmm.
I have always loved math because I found it intuitive and helpful for finding out truths of the world but I have almost never liked any conventional schooling done on mathematical subjects in highschool because it was all about memorization and not about explaining how you got there. I found that in order to apply things I learned in school properly I had to derive them myself to understand the context in which they do and don't work and so most of my love for math came from actually having that mathematical creativity drive me to find out why something is true.
This is one of your best videos, I think. Been watching you almost since I first got interested in physics about 3 years ago, I think, and watching your videos has always given me a lot of inspiration. Seriously, thank you.
I agree with you, of course. My second job is tutoring math students at my University here in America, and our education system has always felt the same as yours. The math curriculum is robotic and uninspiring with the same emphasis you see there. We have wolfram alpha and other tools that you can show a new generation of young people how to use more effectively than I can do algebra and calculus by hand. Feeling more natural with more powerful tools like that would leave room for way more breakthroughs in a lot of fields as well as math itself, I think. But who am I lol
Ironically, I just had my first class session in abstract algebra today, we're only doing review and syllabus so far, but I'm excited. I already have a book that one of my physics professors recommended that covers some molecular physics using group theory, so i'm really interested to get more prepared to dive into that when I have time. It's cool to me that it's the subject that got you inspired, too
Aww, thank you so so much for this lovely comment!! I really appreciate it. I hope you have a wonderful time with Algebra! It has lots of nice connections to physics I think you’ll like!
Gosh, I relate so heavily to your story. I've always fallen behind in Maths because I grew up undiagnosed ADHD and Autistic. It makes me so, so upset that Maths is the only subject I can think of where the grade you get, determines how smart or dumb you are.
I can also relate to not being taught more difficult concepts because you were placed in a lower class. I just learned about quadratic equations and i'm 21.
Have you heard of Math anxiety? People say they don't know where it comes from, but it's not hard to look at our current education system and see why some people feel anxious doing Maths. The teachers who don't see your potential, parents who get angry at you for not understanding a concept that's being explained....your classmates who compare grades or look down on people who struggle to do "easy" Math questions. Why wouldn't you feel anxious doing Maths and not see the fun in it if its taught to you that way?
Thanks for sharing your experience
I have always done passably in math; never very good, but I could at least pass my classes. This astonished me because normally, I am the kind of person who really enjoys logic and the interplay of rules. When I had gone through all my formal education, I discovered RUclips channels like 3Blue1Brown and Numberphile that showed me that there is a lot to math besides just boring calculation. There really is a lot of interesting stuff out there that is just...interesting. It's not about simple examples made up for some veneer of practicality, nor is it really practical at all, it's just pure intrigue. It's exactly what I had been missing, and now, even though I am still not great at the actual work behind math, it's no longer something that I dread, but now I am working on a mathematical problem for fun, because I found something interesting and wanted to explore it. That sense of wonder is something I feel like formal education is sorely lacking, and it causes so many people so much frustration.
Yeah it was similar for me. I had a weird transition phase in highschool. Just got overwhelmed that first year. I didn't adapt well and sort of made things hard on myself. Not wearing glasses and sticking myself at the back didn't help me much.
And when I pulled out another "magic C" despite not knowing what I was doing and thinking I'll do it again next year, BOOM someone decides I'm irredeemable and sticks me in the "slow math" class. From which I never was able to claw out of and back into "normal math" despite now getting A's in it. That experience bugs me still. Really says a lot about how we slot kids in far too early and without much care into seeing what's going on in their lives and, well... minds!
Today I'm a self-employed software developer and have written all manners of complex systems based on cold hard logic. Made tons of creative projects from albums and businesses to video games. All by my lone grade-8-math-dullard self. Fancy that! And during the pandemic I decided "what the hell" and taught myself calculus and linear algebra just for the fun of it. I love what you can learn with a bit of effort on your own these days, but the lack of guidance from the outside world is still sad to see.
You just inspired me to work better for my math classes!
Thank you!!❤
I tell people this all the time. Not just for math though, but often for math. Thanks how new motivation.
Excellent video!!
I was "bad at maths" myself during a long time in high school and now I am about to finish a master's degree in theoretical physics.
I wish you success.
Amazing!!
Oh my god, the brutality of that summer with Rudin resonated with me so much. I think I have a better experience than most with self-studying that book, because I came to it after a master's course in topology. It is a brillinat, but not kind book
When you were struggeling in high school, did your parents hire a private teacher to help you out after school?
I'm so happy you made this video- Thank You So Much! As someone who did not do very well in high school math, I realize now that I'm not doomed for life to be bad at it!!🎉🎉🎉🎉
definitely true, i really want to understand math but the way school does it almost makes me cry everytime
So true. Best learning practices are mostly about providing a good environment to develop proper intuition about the subject and ones which focus on real-world tasks and inspire people on what could they do with that knowledge. People need to want to do something to truly focus on understanding it so discouraging someone based on some tests or blocking them from the access to knowledge is just dumb.
There is also no such thing as a 'talent', I hate this word because it attempts to define some people as better than others just by the fact of their existence... it is not only morally wrong, but also not true. Whether someone does better or worse at something depends on their previously gained knowledge and experience... what was their environment like, whether the parents gave them good examples on how to deal with problems, whether the kid was taught to think or taught to fulfill orders, whether they have proper environment at home to learn or their parents are screaming everyday and arguing about irrelevant stuff... etc.
The knowledge progress that we've achieved as a society mostly comes from communication between people which stimulates our experience in a way that allows us to transfer someone else's assumed logic to our own imagination in purpose to reproduce that logic without having to experience the same things as they did. It's about giving us the ability to accumulate and compare what we think so then we can define it in a language and pass it on.
Most people interpret "intelligence" as some ability of an individual that generates more truthful thoughts than some other "less intelligent" people would have, but it's wrong. All the things that we've achieved as a species which we attribute to "intelligence" are group phenomena that are enabled by communication and organization. We build upon knowledge of people that were before us and simply improve it, this is why we constantly keep on disproving things that were thought to be correct previously, because we're unable to generate some undenied logic of the universe... we simply progress towards being less wrong with time.
You are a great science enthusiastic 🙏
Congratulations on the doctorate. Any institution that has you for a teacher will be very fortunate. But I hope you'll also continue with research -- and with RUclips.
Brilliant. I'll be assigning this video to my middle school students. You've said so well what I try to tell my kids! To avoid some confusion, however, I will pick 1 small nit - at 10:50+, you said 'determinant' when you meant ''discriminant". In really listening to your message, it occurs to me that this might have been intentional - a little humor at my expense. If so, Bravo. If not, well I don't care much. Just brilliant!
I wish I could claim it was on purpose! Thanks for being a great teacher :)
I think i am going through the same thing right now, i am 2nd year applied physics student and although i have maths as a minor subject and got through my first year just by submitting assignments and quick solves of past papers, i feel lagging behind and since i have go through not only maths but more complex subjects(since maths is minorities ) like modern physics, solid state physics and more, the more i feel the need to catch up with that mindset
A nice addition to a course involving rigorous proofs would be an example of a statement that holds for the first 10 whole numbers but fails for some larger number. This would demonstrate the need for rigor when trying to prove things.
ooooh i'm feeling a video on the recent nobel prize is incoming
Oh dear, my my! I'm now 70+ and truly suffered under the tutelage of Mr Richardson - my Physics master - who made my favourite subject drier than the Atacama, now, quite apart from me being extremely fascinated by photosynthesis - I've found another entire level of interest!
And yes, anything to do with electrons or electro magnetism is curiouser and curiouser.
Your episode on texts to study quantum mechanics was wonderful- can you list the texts you’d recommend (starting with introductory calculus) to build a solid higher mathematics foundation?
Thanks very much! I actually think learning from videos for math is a good way to go. There are so many great online resources these days!
This video is so inspiring... and it might push me to learn maths again
I’m so excited for you!!
Math community appears to be remote, thank you for sharing your experience and drama. I particular, your supervisor told you at 09:50, 'Rigor is one of your weaknesses', which reminds me of a congress of mathematicians whose opinion is respected as much as that of priests centuries ago.
The "it works for ten numbers, like surely it's gonna keep working" is such a mood!
I always loved maths, and was very good at it (inflated ego levels of proudness here) but I do wish I had been shown the cool stuff more when I was 12/13, would have got me on the university maths train a lot sooner.
For sure!
The worst thing anyone told me was "anyone can do it! Anyone can be good at math!" and then when I couldn't I spent years thinking it was me who was stupider than everyone else, obviously something was wrong with me if everyone else could get it.
I think there are a couple other things that people struggle with. First is *learned helplessness*. If you internalize that you are "bad at math" then you're not going to try to be good, you're going to easily give up and shut down when things get difficult. So, when presented with a problem, you just throw up your hands and say you can't do it rather than even try. This is an extremely common outlook in many places.
The second thing is something that even I, somebody who was "good at math", ran into. Math is a tower, you need a solid foundation the higher you build. It's pretty easy to miss a concept or skill and then have it hamstring you going forward. You could be staring at a problem and feel like an idiot for being unable to solve it not knowing you're missing a vital tool from your toolbelt. This can then magnify as you lose more and more concepts and fall further behind.
Totally agree with both!
What I hate is when we tell people "no, it's hard for everyone" they simply *refuse* to believe it.
Like they think we gain something by maliciously tricking them into working hard at math
I agree with you on that we need to change how we teach and talk about maths. But you can be bad at maths if you have dyscalculia (like me. my brain and numbers don't work very well and I am bad at it even after trying very very hard). (Of course this varies from person to person, but don't beat yourself up if you try and work very hard and it never happens) Teaching in the right way can improve it a lot but it's okay if you never get good at it, or even average. I am very lucky I could drop maths after some time and after that I did really well in school. I like that I can now let it go and find it interesting without having to worry about getting good enough grades and being good at it.
Dyscalculia symptoms are normally distributed in the population, a diagnosis is given if you meet an arbitrary threshold of symptoms. As such, the population at whole differs in math ability.
I remember when I was in 5th class Primary school my older Brother running me through the Calculus he was learning at high school, and I understood what it was Aboutaleb it looked really interesting. By the time I got to do that 5 years later in High school (in Australia) I was highly distracted and disinterested so didn’t develop that skill.
I think the way maths is taught is torturous and kids much younger should be exposed to the concepts and aims of maths, then the details can be back filled. Rather than the get this one idea right then we can nudge along to the next micro achievement, approach.
I commented on your video after a lot of thinking. I had commented on a previous video only.
What speaks to me in your video is the fact that you did not imagine yourself as a scientist at all until relatively late in your schooling. There is like an analogy with my own experience, except that I actually really discovered mathematics when I was over 40 years old. I was a student invested in my studies of History (second cycle in medieval, in France), rather good (not exceptional either). And I continued to read history books after my studies, and regularly. But in fact it was not my way, I understood it somewhere around 35 years old. In fact, I've always been primarily interested in logical systems, games, puzzles, physical geography when I was a student, and going into the parent discipline of math would be a logical extension.
Today, at 44 years old since April, I hesitate to invest myself completely in mathematics. I have no obligation (I was pushed nicely with a disability pension out of the labor market (Asperger's syndrome)).
The idea appeals to me, but after having practiced a little mathematics, it is a magnificent discipline, but I do not have the impression that one can excel in it without being totally invested in it. It's videos like yours that make me want to choose to devote myself totally to it. In any case, seeing other videos of you that are more oriented towards both mathematics and a global vision of the discipline would make me happy, if that's your intention.
Thanks for this comment. I’m happy for you that you’ve found an interest in maths and you’re considering spending time learning it more deeply
I know it seems like it has to be a big commitment, but you can very much start small. An hour or so a day consistently will get you surprisingly far, especially since it’s more sustainable and less intimidating. In either case though, I hope you know that it’s not at all too late to learn!
@@LookingGlassUniverse I followed your advice, precisely by limiting myself to about an hour. It was useful, it allowed me a form of distancing.
When you tell me it's never too late to learn, that's exactly when I realize that I'm thinking about it, if only unconsciously. I really realize it now, a classic case of sharing with others that allows you to see more clearly about yourself. It's an idea that I have to put aside. Thank you in any case, you help me to see an important point.
How Wonderful. Simply WONDERFUL. So affirming. So correct. Applicable to all us "slow learners."
Haha I said the exact same thing (about Complex numbers) to one of my classes. Enjoyed that some had annoyed faces and even tried to ask a couple of questions about it!
I'm bookmarking this video. I tutor math (and physic) at a high school. This message needs to be the norm.
I learned math as an adult to get into an engineering degree (ee). One thing I wish teachers knew to tell us is what we were learning maths for. Instead of answering "Lots of things!". I've been using Pythagoras so much in different parts of engineering and in so many ways in EE that it's just crazy. They should teach teachers about this stuff, because it would have changed my life as someone who always had (and has) to know what something is for in order to learn it.
I'm 46. I was bad at math in school and after doing just enough to pass, I spent my entire life avoiding math and avidly watching "science" happen in the world around me from the bleachers, wishing I could get in the game and play along. I don't even know where to start.
If you're young and reading this. Don't waste time. Don't avoid it. Just get out there and try to learn.
Could you please make a video on how to self study QIT for people who are new to the topic? It would be really helpful.
I always felt the understanding part of math its just the way i think and why its always been my favorite and don’t get me started on physics its just like math but telling you why its more than just numbers and equations i knew for years id love physics and i was even more right than I could have ever believed
I just wish my brain liked English and history too those killed my gpa in hs
thank you ma'am
Awesome videos!!
Are these placement exams structured samely in all the countries or is it different from country to another?
Ironically, I always thought of myself as good at math... UNTIL I studied physics in college. Cornell kicked my butt until I switched majors. I graduated cum laude in philosophy, focusing on philosophy of math and physics. I went on to law school and now I'm a Constitutional lawyer.
Perhaps if I had been diagnosed with ADHD at that time, it would have neen easier. I had a lot of trouble getting my work done. I wasn't diagnosed until i had already passed the bar exam. I found the 3 day long bar exam fairly easy because I got myself into hyperfocus mode. But the LSAT (entrance exam) I couldn't do that (despite taking it several times) and never performed on it up to my level. I went to a good law school, but I would have been capable of going to a much better one if I were on Adderall at that time.
Waiting for your videos on Dirac notation and Time evolution
In defense of the substitute teacher's "You guys won't learn about complex numbers," comment, I also heard that in high school in the honors algebra classes. I think it was more of a "high schoolers won't learn about complex numbers," thing than a "stupid people won't learn about complex numbers," thing (replace high schoolers with whatever they're called in Europe), though clearly it could have been phased more delicately
this... all of this.
as someone currently studying astrophysics, who has always sucked at maths, this resonated so hard for me.
i often feel really, really alone when i get the inevitable responses of "oh... but why?" when i reveal that i am studying physics in spite of my mathematical deficits.
because physics is the only thing i can see myself doing as a career and feeling fulfilled. yes, i suck at maths. i failed first year calculus in university 3 times. but, unlike when i was younger, i don't hate maths. it is just a skill that I can learn, as a tool for physics. it is truly not the massive roadblock some make it out to be. you just need to be passionate, and/or in my case, stubborn as fuck.
Did u had a PhD in maths and quantum computing... 2 PhDs...Please tell How can i get PhD in Physics and maths.....
After completing phd in Physic..Do i wanna start studying maths from bsc, msc and Phd
Hey Mithuna, can you please make a video on the quantum experiments that won the 2022 Nobel Prize yesterday..
Professional mathematician here. I believe the thesis of this video is wrong. For a while I was taking a medication that disrupted my ability to concentrate, and I became really bad at math. This was temporary, fortunately, and it was also enlightening about the fragility of the mind. I have no reason to think that said ability to concentrate is a given for anyone. Thus, I strongly believe that there people that are genuinely bad at math.
The drug's name is oxcarbazepine. I would say, don't try this at home..
You obviously didn't listen to her, or that your ability to decipher what she was alluding to was lost in translation...
Maybe you need to concentrate more!
@@pearl-pf6xz Thanks for your reply. I wonder why precisely you think that I misunderstood. It would be helpful if you could explain please what your concrete issue with my comment is.
11:24 - Great Teachers make all the difference. :-)
Things must have changed a lot since I was in school. We started doing proofs in 10th grade geometry. We even did a couple of weeks or so at the beginning of the course on symbolic logic. I can't even imagine doing geometry without proofs. Of course, this was a long time ago; Euclid was a couple of years ahead of me.
Hey I really really want you to solve jee advanced mathematics and physics question that is for India's high school students for applying in a university, and it is super super tough. It comes in world's top 5 difficult exams 😥
11:24 same feeling, was n't able to learn a course in high school because the principal didnt deem me as fit for the course
This video assumes "good at math" = understanding and "bad at math" = not understanding. But there is also the case where a person understands but gets problems wrong anyway because of arithmetic errors. Solving a physics problem or calculus problem involves lots of arithmetic that has to be 100% accurate to arrive at the correct answer. People are just error prone. Even a professional mathematician, Matt Parker of the Stand-up Maths channel, makes arithmetic errors in his videos -- and judging from comments in those videos, he does it often. He has several videos about calculating π by hand. It never goes well.
My implication is not that there's something wrong with Matt Parker. My implication IS that there's something wrong with people who expect other people (math students) to not make mistakes.
In a real physics course, after introductory physics, you never do any but the most elementary arithmetic, such as 1 + 1 = 2. Outside of lab courses, I never once used a calculator. In physics courses, problems are always done symbolically. That way, you always get a more general answer.
@@michaelsommers2356 When I mentioned physics, I was referring to pulley problems from University Physics I. Many of my mistakes are with 1-digit addition and multiplication. If I do enough of them, I will occasionally get one wrong. 2 + 3 = 5, but if I'm in a hurry, I might write 6.
I am in the same situation as you were in your initial college days. I love physics but my math sucks😅
I love that background 🤌🏾🔥
Thank you it was a pain in the butt to design and install