Last weekend I was trying to help my friend study for her College Algebra exam. The course is at the local community college and is the gatekeeper of the Associate’s Degree for all those lacking a mathematical prowess. Panicking at my kitchen table, she expressed her distaste for the subject and the bland nature of every course she’d taken:
“Math is so fucking stupid, I cannot imagine why I need to know this.”
I wanted to tell her how amazing math is, or plead how beautiful its ability to describe the natural world can be. Alas, if you can’t even factor a quadratic function, you cannot relate to the beauty inherent in mathematics.
The Problem
The blame falls on her textbook, dry and uninspiring, and on her lame professor. Crucial processes, the ones some of us take for granted as second nature, were ill-defined. And this class is not alone. This was the case in every math class from the day she entered elementary school.
This is the result of a lifetime of never internalizing the many concepts critical to being able to move forward in learning math.
The issue is, if you didn’t pick this stuff up at a young age, it is hard to learn as an adult. As is pretty much anything difficult. But unlike picking up a new language or learning to play instrument, learning math is straight up boring, tedious, and stressful.
The Solution
When teaching something that so many people cannot stand, we must take drastic measures to make the content more palatable. And what better way to cut the boredom than with ample reference to drugs, sex, violence, and profanity.
With the help of the Steemit community, I want to make learning math something that anyone with a sense of humor and a taste for HBO shows will be able to do. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be fun, and that’s a promise. I’ll post weekly explaining a new topic and at the end of each post I’ll include a link to a problem set. The hope is that you all can help each other in the comments in solving any hard problems I throw your way! And if you don’t understand something, explain exactly where you got lost.
Together, we will eradicate any aversion to mathematics you may have held in the past. It will be kind of like “The Elements of Fucking Style” but for Mathematics.
The Questions
My question to you is where should we start? If you are interested in this, let me know of the last math class you took and how you felt about it!
Math is Fucking Easy // Episode One … Coming Soon to Steemit.com
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