Why Is It Hard For Us To Learn Math?

If we were to do a survey asking about the most hated subject in school, a large majority would say that it is mathematics. What during school years was a nightmare in adulthood, becomes a great detachment for everything that has to do with numerical operations.

“I’m bad with accounts” or “this is not for me, I’m more of letters” are very common phrases. In most cases, behind these sentences are unpleasant memories with the numerical operations that seem to have dictated said sentence on us.

Mathematics develops the mind

Although when we are little, we begin to add without realizing it using different everyday objects (for example, if I have two apples and buy three, how many do I have?) Over the years and the study of mathematics at school, some of us begin to feel an antipathy towards mathematics that we will no longer give up.

What is the reason for our apprehension in this area? Experts indicate that it is because human beings have serious problems with the capacity for abstraction and that makes it difficult for us to work with symbolic elements.

Jean Piaget, a psychologist known for his theory of cognitive development in children, already established that the capacity for abstraction was an important element in learning. In fact, in his theory, this ability did not use to be mastered until around the age of 11, the age at which, according to Piaget, we could begin to master logical-mathematical knowledge.

On the other hand, in many cases poor teaching organization contributes to boredom for numbers appearing. On the one hand, it is not uncommon for the teacher in a class to adapt to the rhythm of the more advanced students, forgetting about the progression of the rest.

For retarded students, in other subjects in which comprehension may not play such an important role, bridging this gap is not so difficult. However, if mathematics is characterized by something , it is because knowledge is necessarily cumulative. You have to know how to multiply well to be able to understand other more complex operations.

The hostile world of mathematics

What is (-4) + (-2)? No idea! Let’s quickly find a calculator that will solve this problem for us. But if we get to reason, negative numbers can be translated into “debts.” In this case, if we owe 4 euros and then 2 more, we will be accumulating a debt of 6 euros.

This example is simple and can be easily understood. But the real problem arises when we add fractions, formulas, square roots, or powers. Now, to find the calculator! We can do it and we will get a result, but we will take away the possibility of understanding the logic behind these operations.

You ask, what the hell do I want this logic for? Logic saves us space in our memory, because in reality to know mathematics we need to know two formulas and some clues for the way: with them we can build the rest in a few moments without having to memorize them all.

The abstract power of mathematics

The other areas of teaching, such as literature or history, allow us to visualize what we are learning or reading. If for example the book says “The Battle of Waterloo was a confrontation commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte”, we can imagine a war scene with a man and his hat on top of a horse.

Now, if the exercise indicates solving “4x – 3y = 16” it is a bit difficult for us to visualize it with something tangible. In fact, in order to solve the equation, even if it comes from a real problem, we have to go out into a parallel and abstract world, find the solution there and then adopt it in the problem itself.

Mathematical motivation

Let’s go back to our lost students in the class that we described earlier. What is their motivation for math going to be if every day they have to listen to a lesson they don’t understand? They have to sit for an hour, listening to knowledge that they are not capable of assimilating because the link that connects it with what they already know simply does not exist.

This is undoubtedly the best breeding ground for mathematics to be strongly linked to helplessness and frustration. See how some of your colleagues understand what seems impossible to you, generates a feeling of inferiority and the great logical fallacy appears. If I have the same teacher, I go to the same classes and I do not understand it, it will be that “I am not made for this” even something more difficult and complicated to overcome: “I am clumsy”.

The tricks of mathematics

Although we have believed that the numbers and the accounts “are difficult”, the truth is that the glass matters a lot from the moment we look at them. That it costs us is another song. To stop hating math, maybe we should know what its goal is. Nothing more and nothing less than “solving real problems. “

We constantly look for tricks so that the sums and any equation “come out” and for this reason the math books with secrets of this type are very successful. Here we also have a drawback: readers memorize the steps but do not reason them. The best way then to learn, enjoy and even come to love mathematics is to look for its playful and attractive side.