[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Why I hate math (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 2/14/2010 5:41:30 AM EDT
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If this shit I was learning (again, intemediate algebra) was relevent to any fucking thing I did in the last 10 years since HS I would of liked it. But since I have to learn shit like "simply by factoring" and "absoule value" I hate math BECAUSE THAT SHIT IS POINTLESS WORK. I tried to get Q1 on my math test for the last 90 minutes and I just gave up on the rest of the test when my wife tried to show me how to do the work. Fuck the work, show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! |
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Quoted: If this shit I was learning (again, intemediate algebra) was relevent to any fucking thing I did in the last 10 years since HS I would of liked it. But since I have to learn shit like "simply by factoring" and "absoule value" I hate math BECAUSE THAT SHIT IS POINTLESS WORK. I tried to get Q1 on my math test for the last 90 minutes and I just gave up on the rest of the test when my wife tried to show me how to do the work. Fuck the work, show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! Does success not depend on you passing this class? |
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Math is one of the few necessities taught in school. The sciences that teach our children how to apply mathematics (not the social sciences) are the other.
Computers can help with grammar, and spelling, but being able to think in and apply numbers to a task is essential. |
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If you haven't used it in a long time, start at page one in your text and skim until you start to hit the things you don't remember how to do. At that point, start reading it with a fine-tooth comb. That's what I had to do after several years away from it. Math is a lot of memory/repetition work, you have to pay the dues before you can start to recall it subconsciously. |
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A. Just because you don't use it, doesn't mean it's pointless. I've had a lot more math than you, and I use. And I mean a lot.
B. High School Curriculums aren't geared strictly to your interests. The class you hated, I needed to succeed in my field. C. There's more to learning than directly applying the lessons. A good understanding of the basics gives you the foundation to truly understand how things work. |
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Quoted: You do not know what will be relevant later in life. Well after 10 years in the Army Algebra has not been usefull one fucking time. I wish I could to something other than algebra but I have to go through 3 classes of this shit before I can move on. I didnt like it in HS and time has not changed anything. |
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So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices.
$2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. |
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Quoted:
If this shit I was learning (again, intemediate algebra) was relevent to any fucking thing I did in the last 10 years since HS I would of liked it. But since I have to learn shit like "simply by factoring" and "absoule value" I hate math BECAUSE THAT SHIT IS POINTLESS WORK. I tried to get Q1 on my math test for the last 90 minutes and I just gave up on the rest of the test when my wife tried to show me how to do the work. Fuck the work, show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! You're also learning to think and solve other problems. Open your mind to the joy of learning. Get help through the worst pot holes. And then... Don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff. |
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Quoted: So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00.  |
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Quoted: If this shit I was learning (again, intemediate algebra) was relevent to any fucking thing I did in the last 10 years since HS I would of liked it. But since I have to learn shit like "simply by factoring" and "absoule value" I hate math BECAUSE THAT SHIT IS POINTLESS WORK. I tried to get Q1 on my math test for the last 90 minutes and I just gave up on the rest of the test when my wife tried to show me how to do the work. Fuck the work, show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! Yeah, fuck english too! |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00. Odds are a person capable of closing a $25k deal would know algebra. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00. So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. I love it when people try to make arguments like that for why they don't need to know how to do something basic. How many people do you think get to be big shot executives without knowing basic math? How are you going to be able to calculate those "big deals" without the math skills to do so? FAIL |
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Quoted:
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I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! lol. I'm guessing you are not to keen on the other R's either. Hey man all that ef'in' grammar and english bs i were made to take ain't helped me not nairy a bit in the fourtee sumthin yeers since I left high school and I can tell you it aint harmmed me one bit because i've done very very very well in life and I am one of the smartest people I know. I'm not saying i'm the absolute smartest but according to all the people I resprect I am one of the smartest people they know. (Get the irony, Brother?) |
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Good math and language skills strengthen thinking skills. Decide if that's important to you. And sucking it up and doing what needs doing to achieve a goal is a measure of being a grown up. Decide if you want to be a grown up. If the degree isn't that important, quit. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00. So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. I love it when people try to make arguments like that for why they don't need to know how to do something basic. How many people do you think get to be big shot executives without knowing basic math? How are you going to be able to calculate those "big deals" without the math skills to do so? FAIL Depends on what you mean by "basic". Complex algebra is something VERY few people in the real world use, including people who make $25k deals. |
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School, in addition to teaching you things, shows a future employer how you will react when a question at work pops up, a question you do not know the answer to, and resolving the problem at work leads you to the point where your head starts to hurt because working out the complex correct answer is not easy.
If you can get good grades in your math class, an employer knows you will not wuss out when your head hurts, wuss out and fudge thru a sloppy answer, costing the company money with sloppy answers to difficult questions. If you wuss out when the questions are as simple and straightforward (by design, not accident) as those in your math book, you will wuss out on the much less clearly defined problems at work, and therefore you need to be placed away from critical thinking jobs, and away from the big buck salaries. Additionally, algebra IS largely useless for solving real world problems. It is not a solution in and of itself, just like a hammer and screwdriver are useless all by themselves. They might not tell you algebra is just a tool in school, just like the boss at work may not tell you WHY he wants you to gather the sales data from the past ten years. They want to know if you will follow orders, or if you will ignore the people who DO know why that info is important. Algebra is a TOOL, and without it, analytic geometry (a VERY useful approach to solving problems) and calculus, (more useful yet) are OUT OF YOUR REACH. NObody expects a bridge engineer to span a gorge with a hammer, the handle is too short. But using the hammer properly, along with other tools and materials, the gorge CAN be spanned, traffic takes the shorter path, and the entire organization benefits accordingly. Like ALL tools, you need to be able to employ algebra rapidly, almost without thinking, just like a 20 year carpenter handles a hammer. That's why they drill the exercises home repetitively. Calculus is the shit. It seperates those who can solve the really difficult problems, and those who solve the same simple, basic problem, over and over again, for their entire careers. Calculus seperates those who break new ground, leaders, and those who cannot control their minds long enough to work thru the pain, and have to stay at the back of the pack while others forge new ground. Front of the pack versus back of the pack largely decides salary, benefits, leadership, and advancement questions too. Calculus allows you to calculate the area under a curve, or the slope of a curve at a given point. One example, an aircraft flies at different speeds depending on how much weight it is carrying. Fuel is heavy. As you burn fuel the aircraft gets lighter, and flies further and faster on the next gallon of fuel. To precisely determine range and travel time, you have to work with curves, you have to use calculus. Calculating how big a motor to use in a water or oil well also requires work with curves, as the hoisting cable or chain gets lighter as it winds onto the hoisting drum. Without algebra you can't learn analytic geometry, and without analytic geometery, you can't understand calculus. It's real simple, hoss. EVERYbody's head hurts when facing difficult math problems. You either tough it out, and exercuse control over your mind, and are rewarded forit, or you do not, and end up stuck is a dead end place with the rest of the wimps who let pain and unpleasant tasks control THEM. Pick one. Live with the results forever. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Depends on what you mean by "basic".Quoted: I love it when people try to make arguments like that for why they don't need to know how to do something basic.Quoted: Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00. So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. How many people do you think get to be big shot executives without knowing basic math? How are you going to be able to calculate those "big deals" without the math skills to do so? FAIL Complex algebra is something VERY few people in the real world use, including people who make $25k deals. "Complex algebra"?  Unless you're referring to abstract algebra (a subject completely irrelevant to just about all but mathematicians) there really is no such thing. Algebra is BASIC and it is the foundation which all other math is built. |
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I hold a contrary opinion to the rest of the hive. Unless you're going into a field where higher math is useful, higher math is useless to the average person. Everybody told me that as I computer tech I'd be using math all the time. So I did well at math in highschool and college. 5 years later, I can't even remember the quadratic equation, the only thing I remember about sets comes from seeing that 4chan users fall outside the set of girls and just inside the set of pedophiles, and I haven't touched the sine button in years.
I've used a little bit of algebra and the four basic operations. That's it. YMMV, but higher math is pointless unless you're going into a career where you really need it. Same with most of the shit they teach in highschool/college. Foreign language, chemistry, biology, higher english. Pointless wastes of time. |
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Intermediate Algebra is incredibly easy. For anyone serious in school, it should be an easy A. The only explanation otherwise is an absolute lousy teacher. I'm taking Calculus III and Linear Algebra right now, believe me, Intermediate Algebra is CAKE. What was the first question of your math test? |
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Quoted:
If this shit I was learning (again, intemediate algebra) was relevent to any fucking thing I did in the last 10 years since HS I would of liked it. But since I have to learn shit like "simply by factoring" and "absoule value" I hate math BECAUSE THAT SHIT IS POINTLESS WORK. I tried to get Q1 on my math test for the last 90 minutes and I just gave up on the rest of the test when my wife tried to show me how to do the work. Fuck the work, show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. I like the math in my Finance class because it is REALEVENT. DAMMIT! I wish I could remember some of that stuff 
I live in a calculator and computer filled bubble where no math is ever done in your head. Learning and ultimately know things,even things you don't use everyday is still a good thing. |
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Quoted: show me how to suceed in life and I will pay attention and learn something. You succeed in life by learning how to do the hard things you don't like. If success was easy then everyone would be successful. Suck it up, show your work, and learn it. In real life you might not use lessons in math but you will use the lesson on working hard. Or you can just say screw it and be like every other job candidate that we just turned down because they hadn't worked hard and didn't want to work hard. We seriously had people interview and say "I don't like working with end users", "It will take me a couple months to learn my new schedule and get to work on time", "It might snow and I don't think I will be able to make my interview". Have fun in the unemployment lines with people like that. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Well, the world needs ditch-diggers too 
The rate at which you remove dirt from the ditch decreases steadily as you get more tired. How will you determine how much dirt is removed from the hole by the end of the day? OP said nothing about differential equations. |
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Quoted: Quoted: OP said nothing about differential equations.Quoted: The rate at which you remove dirt from the ditch decreases steadily as you get more tired.Well, the world needs ditch-diggers too How will you determine how much dirt is removed from the hole by the end of the day? True. I was just giving another example of how higher math can be useful.  |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Time is money too. He might have made a sales call and closed a $25k deal in the same time it took you to do the math to save $1.00. So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. I love it when people try to make arguments like that for why they don't need to know how to do something basic. How many people do you think get to be big shot executives without knowing basic math? How are you going to be able to calculate those "big deals" without the math skills to do so? FAIL I love it when people try to make their particular field seem like the core building block of everything. Your knowledge of sales = fail. I've seen guys that couldn't work a quadratic equation to save their lives pull in hefty 6 figure salaries because they know how to work people.
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Quoted: School, in addition to teaching you things, shows a future employer how you will react when a question at work pops up, a question you do not know the answer to, and resolving the problem at work leads you to the point where your head starts to hurt because working out the complex correct answer is not easy. If you can get good grades in your math class, an employer knows you will not wuss out when your head hurts, wuss out and fudge thru a sloppy answer, costing the company money with sloppy answers to difficult questions. If you wuss out when the questions are as simple and straightforward (by design, not accident) as those in your math book, you will wuss out on the much less clearly defined problems at work, and therefore you need to be placed away from critical thinking jobs, and away from the big buck salaries. Additionally, algebra IS largely useless for solving real world problems. It is not a solution in and of itself, just like a hammer and screwdriver are useless all by themselves. They might not tell you algebra is just a tool in school, just like the boss at work may not tell you WHY he wants you to gather the sales data from the past ten years. They want to know if you will follow orders, or if you will ignore the people who DO know why that info is important. Algebra is a TOOL, and without it, analytic geometry (a VERY useful approach to solving problems) and calculus, (more useful yet) are OUT OF YOUR REACH. NObody expects a bridge engineer to span a gorge with a hammer, the handle is too short. But using the hammer properly, along with other tools and materials, the gorge CAN be spanned, traffic takes the shorter path, and the entire organization benefits accordingly. Like ALL tools, you need to be able to employ algebra rapidly, almost without thinking, just like a 20 year carpenter handles a hammer. That's why they drill the exercises home repetitively. Calculus is the shit. It seperates those who can solve the really difficult problems, and those who solve the same simple, basic problem, over and over again, for their entire careers. Calculus seperates those who break new ground, leaders, and those who cannot control their minds long enough to work thru the pain, and have to stay at the back of the pack while others forge new ground. Front of the pack versus back of the pack largely decides salary, benefits, leadership, and advancement questions too. Calculus allows you to calculate the area under a curve, or the slope of a curve at a given point. One example, an aircraft flies at different speeds depending on how much weight it is carrying. Fuel is heavy. As you burn fuel the aircraft gets lighter, and flies further and faster on the next gallon of fuel. To precisely determine range and travel time, you have to work with curves, you have to use calculus. Calculating how big a motor to use in a water or oil well also requires work with curves, as the hoisting cable or chain gets lighter as it winds onto the hoisting drum. Without algebra you can't learn analytic geometry, and without analytic geometery, you can't understand calculus. It's real simple, hoss. EVERYbody's head hurts when facing difficult math problems. You either tough it out, and exercuse control over your mind, and are rewarded forit, or you do not, and end up stuck is a dead end place with the rest of the wimps who let pain and unpleasant tasks control THEM. Pick one. Live with the results forever. Excellent post. |
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Quoted: So the other day at the gas station, I'm pondering the prices. $2.45 for 10% ethanol. $2.55 for no alcohol. My car averages 34 miles per gallon I also know my car gets 3mpg better mileage on gas without alcohol. There is always a $0.10 difference in price between ethanol and no ethanol gas. What price does gas have to be for me to come out ahead buying the more expensive gas? Guess what. It takes algebra. And odds are, you are wasting money because you don't know algebra. If I cared about that you would be right. My 2008 BMW 335i runs best on the best gas I can find. Since AAFES only sells up to 93 octane with whatever shit in it, I get that. Oh yes, if I needed to worry about MPG, I would go liberal and buy a Pruis. Since I am a conservative repulican or tea party member I like my 20mpg, 160mph, rear wheel drive, red leather interior, twin turbo BMW. |