“Does the borrow in subtraction/Often drive you to distraction?”
– Short-Cut Math
I’ve decided to study math for twenty minutes every morning. When I wake up I pour myself a cup of coffee and get to work.
At the moment I’m trying to learn mental math. To do so I picked up a copy of Short-Cut Math
To my surprise, math isn’t as horrible as I grew up thinking it was. In fact it’s actually kind of fun, like learning card tricks.
Back when I was taking math classes nothing made much sense. I was lazy and didn’t like the subject. I thought it was stupid and would never put an effort in. Now I’m doing calculations for fun.
During my first few days of studying math, I’ve received some great advice for solving problems:
“Numbers and calculating are like the alphabet and reading.When you see a word, you don’t stop to spell out the letters that make it up; you recognize the word at once in its entirely. Nor do you stop to consider each word separate; you read words together and think of what they mean as a whole. Doing the same with numbers and calculations will enable you to solve problems faster and easier.”
Up until I read that paragraph, I’d never been able to “get” math. It was just a series of letters and numbers, alien and detached from all my other studies.
Now I have a basic understanding of how to read math problems. I can relate them to something I’m already familiar with.
It’s a start.