What I Learned In Mathematics Class

Mathematics is not for one type of person: not only for the nerdy and weird outcasts, not only for the white male, not only for those who are not targeted by the stereotypes prevalent in the field. Mathematics is not dry, nor boring, nor focused on inane solutions never to be used after the discovery. Mathematics is not what people think it is; it is not one field, one theme, one subject. Mathematics is everything. Look around, with clear eyes, and you will see the art of mathematics everywhere. Dr. Diana Gu, the founder of MTY Academy, an extremely successful institute in the Austin community, and long-time, inspirational professor at the Texas State University, looks at the world and sees numbers. She sees passion and dedication and motivation. She sees intensity and zeal and excitement. Explaining that mathematics is essential for everyone, she emphasizes an idea: innate skill matters little, while practice is what defines you.

The general belief around the country (or perhaps even the world) is that math classes will be beneficial to a well rounded student. In some cases, such as the author argued, this might be true as a recent high school graduate who hasn't had the life experiences that someone later in their life might have. The author continues to explain that in their line of previous work and general experience, they already have the general math knowledge that their degree will need.

As those who love physics or chemistry, or biology, are most likely to understand difficult and complex concepts and be successful in their respective subjects, I became more successful at understanding mathematical concepts as my junior year progressed and as my senior year began. Calculus became an infinitely easier subject and one that I could comprehend with relative ease, even easier than traditionally “easy” subjects for me such as history or language arts. I learned that I could fly through problem sets and enjoy it, and for the first time in my school life, I was the one answering my peers’ questions instead of being the designated clueless classmate. Learning to love something that is so essential to life made me enjoy myself and my life more than I had previously, and I no longer felt the self-doubt of not being “gifted” in mathematics in a group of mathematically “gifted” students. I feel markedly more confident in my mathematical abilities, both presently and in the future as a student majoring in

The benefits and opportunities to embrace engineering far outweigh the difficulties in the process, but despite this, my pure love for mathematics has been the major contributor to my ambitions. From a young age, I found math incredibly enjoyable. The order and consistency found through something as simple as the order of operations served as a driving force to my curiosity and dedication to the subject. As the mathematical concepts intensified, I was able to adequately keep up and enjoy the journey along the way. While signing up for my senior year classes, the decision to take calculus was made easily. While speaking with the instructor, Yvonne Sebastian, I discovered that her love for math was derived from similar feelings. In an interview with Sebastian, she stated, “Math is a beautiful thing. Numbers are incredibly simple, but they can be used to calculate very complex scenarios. No matter how difficult a problem may seem, there is always a solution, an answer that can be found and understood through the power of math” (Y. Sebastian, personal communication, February 14, 2017). Interacting with a teacher who understood to a great level of degree my similar feelings regarding math has been an incredible motivator in my desire to pursue a career which incorporates mathematics frequently. For any individual to be happy with their occupation, I would argue that they must experience a desire to progress

Since I can remember, math has always been easy and exciting to me. In high school, the only classes I looked forward to involved math – other than sports. Upon entering college at Eastern Oklahoma State College on an academic and cheerleading scholarship, I chose mathematics as my major. When I came to Oklahoma State University in 2011, I was extremely unsure of what I wanted to study. I started out in architectural engineering because I knew that I loved math and numbers, as well as drawing and designing things. After a semester or so, I realized that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would and didn’t think I could build a career with it. I pursued another direction and changed my major to applied mathematics. I still wasn’t happy with my decision but was unsure on what to do next. During my second year at Oklahoma State, I joined the Cowboy Baseball Diamond Dolls. After getting to know some of the girls, I learned that some of them were in the sports management program. They all

Studying Maths has extremely engaged me as it gives me an insight to mathematical theories. Maths uses its own language of numbers, formulas and rules to communicate across ideas through mathematical models. Moreover, Maths has enabled me to understand the mathematics that reinforce many aspects of our lives. It has assisted me to apply a range of Maths skills to real world situations and have the ability to interpret and analyse information. These are the skills that I have developed which I hope to express in my undergraduate degree.

Since elementary school, I have always found myself fully engaged in math classes. In third grade, I began to speed up my education by completing two courses in one year. I repeated this in fourth grade to get even further ahead of my classmates. Due to my passion for math, I continued to pursue the subject throughout middle school and ended up at the very top of my class in math upon graduation. I also continued along this path in high school and by my senior year I will have taken every math course that has ever been offered to me. I enjoy the subject because it fosters inventiveness and challenges me to find new ways to solve problems. Math has allowed me to think in a logical manner in all situations and is the reason for my success in

I have always been interested and achieved at math. I push myself to experience all types of math like calculus and statistics

Personally, the term “Algebra” intimidates me and making it a required course in my degree program seemed a little discouraging when I first enrolled in college. However, I understand the necessity for students to study, understand and retain advance levels of math. This will not only advance them at a personal level but might set them apart from future career competitors.

When thinking about my experiences with math, I compare them to a rollercoaster. There are some days where I love math and there are some days where math and I just don't get along. My past experience stems from poor teachings but, also great teachings. I can remember back to elementary school and absolutely loving math, but when it came to high school, I didn't find I suited it. I think this may be because I didn't have teachers who made me interested in math. Even though I came from really enjoying math, high school teachers turned me away from it. Recently, I found myself working in the Simcoe school board teaching STEAM to grades 3-9 and absolutely loved everything about it. I think I enjoyed it so much because it was so different from

I’m not a math kind of person. In fact, it was the subject that I struggled the most with when I was in high school. But looking back I know that algebra does matter, it will improve my life today and it will improve my future. I believe that if I don’t give up and take algebra and give hundred percent, I can become a millionaire. Algebra will make me a smarter human not only becoming more proficient in math. Algebra ignites a different part of our brain that most subjects don’t force us to see patterns and what ends up happening is that it stimulates these things called dendrites. Dendrites, which are tiny hairlike channels that carry information to different parts of our brain, so in essence when you study algebra you’re allowing your

As a student from grade school to high school math has been my favorite and strongest subject. Thought out the year’s math has been easy A and never had to study for. Over the 12 years in school all my teacher have taught the same way the will work on a problem and we do similar as she/he did, then we it came to test you just had to memorize the steps to pass.

I love to solve math equations because it makes me feel great joy to know that I got the correct answer. I get frustrated when I do not get the correct answer because that means that I did not comprehend the process that I have to take to get the correct answer. I also like math because some of the equations that I have to solve are long and makes me exercise my brain. Math is like a puzzle sometimes because you have to put the correct numbers in the correct spots or the equation will not work. Just like in some puzzles you have to put the correct piece in the correct spot or the puzzle will not work. This subject has shown me not to give up with things even if they are complicated. I do not quit trying until I get the correct answer for the problem. This subject has shown me that things can be complicated but I will be able to overcome them if I do not stop trying. This subject has always been fun to me and has always been interesting to me. This subject has made me think about becoming a math teacher in some occasions. I feel like I would do a great job at teaching how math is done. I am always helping other classmates in math class and explaining how to do the equation. My classmates have told me that I am good at math and at explaining how it is done and that makes me feel good about myself. Math is my favorite subject because it makes me feel good about myself, I get to exercise my brain, it teaches me not to give up and because I get to help

My favorite academic subject would be history because there are so many historical events to learn about and I’m always curious on how the U.S functioned in the past. It has influenced me because every unit we go through in history class it gets me interested and want to learn more about it. The thing I hate is when we are learning something and the bell rings. Everyday I walk through the door and I am ready to learn something new. And what I like about that class is that I never get bored. Moreover, It's exciting because the events and historical people we get to learn about are inspiring. Like for example in history class I learn about Martin Luther King an African American who fought for their Civil Rights for his own race. He fought for their liberty and no matter what the other race did to him and the people around him, he still kept fighting for his and the others rights. For some reason he didn't just get the civil rights for him, but it also helped other races. After all, I love history because I get to learn how societies functioned, how people interacted with each other, how governments were run, and about the cultures of countries I usually have never been to before. Another reason why I love history is that it answers a lot more questions than I originally thought it would. For me, it's like exploring a world I've never been to, or can't go to. This are the things that make me want to learn more about because the people in our history book are historic and they

Math was always a subject that I struggled with throughout all of my years in school. This was actually brought to my attention when I was getting ready for my high school graduation party a few years ago. I was putting together an album of various pictures and other documents of things I had collected throughout my life, from Prekindergarten to my senior year of high school. Some of these documents included school projects, documentation from my school of how much I 'd grown in a year, and most importantly my report cards. While looking at them, I realized, how consistently average, or in some cases below average, I was in math.