How to Learn Math

I was talking with one of my friends recently about math. When you're in elementary school, some teachers do a really good job at helping you to understand math, but are we learning how to learn math? Every one has their own way of learning, but math is something different. In my opinion, it requires a different kind of mind. It requires you to think about the problem at hand and to find the solution that fits it. For every math problem, there is a solution. Some people will tell you that there are multiple solutions, but that is only true for proof work. In the end, for most of the problems that people other than math majors will work on are problems which have a unique solution.

So one of the things that I believe people need most in learning math are examples. I think that people need to see how the method applies to what you are doing. As you browse throughout the internet for help with math, normally people help you discover the answer, but that's if you're lucky enough to have someone there with you. People try to offer suggestions about what to do, but most of the times it's the steps that you are having difficulty with. Visualization is the key. Though this will be harder when you get to advanced math courses in college, but generally things can be visualized by simple means. The problem is, in my opinion and the opinion of my friends, is that math books or teachers don't take the time to offer a large variety of examples and when the test comes, it's something that you've never seen.

Another thing that people struggle with is thinking about the problem. If you don't love math, you just want to be done with the problem and move on to the next homework assignment. This seems to be why math teachers prefer to try to force you to think about the problem. There have been many times in my math career that teachers have been little to no help. But it is true, sometimes you just aren't applying yourself to the problem. Math has many benefits in life. It is an ability that not a lot of people have, but there seem to be countless uses and it pervades just about every science in one manner or another.

Therefore, I have decided that I am going to try to do what many people do not. I am going to try to go through and solve math problems with the steps and demonstrate the methods that you have to use to find the answers. I don't have a webcam to create videos, but I will try my best to make things easy to follow without losing people. This includes using every step and process which is described. I will also categorize these math problems into a list which can be divided by topic, but I am going to start with Algebra and progress from there. Because there is also a specific need for Pre-Calculus right now, I will also be diving into this. To find the blog, click here.

Other useful resources which I have suggested to friends and family are:
Wolfram Alpha, Khan Academy and PatrickJMT (thanks to Bianco)