Why do people hate math so much?

Question

What's the big mystery about math that makes it so hard to a lot of people. How the formualas are made should be no mystery. Theres a reason why the formulas are made the way they are. The reasons that I think that people hate class is
1) People sleep in math class
2) You are taught be a person other than a math teacher, ex. a football coach, that can add 2 and 2 together in the first place.
So if someone would tell me why they hate math then I would understand better. I'm giving the points to a really good explaination.

Answer 1

It's mostly how math is taught. Innumerate teachers create math-loathing students. If teachers took the time and real care to ensure that every single student mastered a few simple skills such as estimation, logical thought, and when to use addition instead of subtraction, multiplication, or division, students would have a stronger foundation on which to build the practical application of arithmetic and algebra in their daily lives.

In a rather dated book that miraculously rings true today (perhaps even moreso now than when it was published!), John Allen Paulos answers your question quite thoroughly. The book is called Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (NY: Hill and Wang, 1988), and the applicable chapter is called Whence Innumeracy, although he treats the issue of why people hate math on and off throughout the book. And it's also a very entertaining read!

Answer 2

2+2=4

Answer 3

Because math isn't necessary for a lot of things. It is nothing but a barrier in peoples way to get to the things that people are good at. I was a English major in college and had to take math up to college algebra. I did very well with my English courses. However, the math was crazy hard. I actually had to cheat in the math class to pass it for my "English" degree. I paid a math tutor to do my homework and then I wrote what he did in my own handwriting. I did fail all the test from not knowing anything. However, I was still able to pass because what I cheated on was worth the most percentage of my overall grade. I now have a great job and make lots of money. I don't do a lick of math at all. First, see if you can pass the math on your own. If you can't pass the math, just cheat but know what your doing. Otherwise youll get caught.

Answer 4

Usually math requires thinking. People have to actually think. I know it sounds surprising but if you think about other subjects like literature. Literature has may explanations of one thing that are correct, on the other hand math is a subjet where most of the times the answer is only one. If you don't reach that answer then everything, what you thought is wrong. So math requires lots of attention that people nowadays don't really like giving. My conclusion is that, math has some hard topics to understand and are not easy at all, ppl think it's boring to learn something that they think it's nonsense and that most of the topics won't help them to do anything of hat they are going to do with their future. Learn the formulas by hard, without knowing their meaning usually make people sleep. I used to hate math because I was bad at it, I didn't understand it, I got low grades, it was too hard and boring to learn all the formulas and at the same time think that I was reading japanese and really didn't see it helping me with my future career, last but not least the teacher. She talked so slow and explained so bad that that was the main reason why I hated math. Now with a new math teacher, a new way of learning and seeing math I'm one of the top sets and I'm actually thinking of competeing in the math olimpics.

Answer 5

I can't understand why people hate simple math or are unable to do it. I can understand if someone has a learning disability, but other than that you should be able to do basic math.

I liked math until I started taking classes in calculus! Even with the formulas it can be complicated. You have to know when to use certain formulas and the formulas can be very complicated.
I also disliked taking math in college because none of the professors seemed to care what kind of grade everyone got. It seemed like they wanted students to fail. So perhaps that is why some college graduates hate math.

Answer 6

people don't see it will apply to their daily lives; it's hard to see that when you are reading a complicated reading problem that seems to have no meaning in your life!- -- right brains and left brains-- i mean i don't know why people spell so poorly; i can't understand! But i do know many very otherwise intelligent people that cannot spell worth beans! -- Now that being said i have to say i really don't use algebra much less calculus ever and definitely don't like math! The way it is taught is usually boring; usually not always , but the math instructor is an engineer type non people person who just can't get through to children-- There are a few that make it interesting like that Hispanic actor did in the movie where the inner city kids get high AP scores--

Answer 7

For me math isn't that bad as long as it's being applied to something useful. Like in a Chemistry class, everything you're doing applies to the class, therefor it's logical that you should know it, if you took the class. When you're in an advanced Math class, most of what you're doing doesn't apply to anything you're interested in. If you're not a Physics major, then chances are you don't know the formula for trajectory, and even if someone tells it to you or you look it up, it just feels like a waist of brain power. You only learn it because you need to answer a math question that deals with it, not because it means anything to you. I honestly think that math should only be a subject up through Algebra. After that, you should only learn what you need to know for other classes that you're in, and it should be learned as part of those other classes. If I'm a Science major, then I shouldn't have to waist my time learning about marginal average revenue, and if I'm a Business major then I shouldn't have to waist my time learning how to convert joules of heat into temperature. I hate it because I hate wasting my time.

Answer 8

I thinks it's as simple as some people are just math people and some are english people. For example I am much more literate than logic. That's just the way my brain functions. I'm okay in math in that I was able to make it to an AP math class but I struggle. It's just hard for me to remember every single rule and every single exception and every single formula. It's that I'm lazy. For me to actually understand everything I need to be shown more than once so.

Answer 9

Because its a difficult, unnecessary subject that is never used in the real world and people know it. Its only an unfair way to take opportunity away from people who don t think analytically, which in my opinion is stupid. All the advance maths necessary to get a college education such as algebra and calculus is almost never used in the real world. My dad was a computer science major at USC and had to take calculus all the way up to level three. As a Cyber security analyst, he mentioned to me that he doesn t use any of those maths besides basic addition and subtraction and maybe a little trig to calculate security pockets related to his job. I consider myself to be very good with math and get mostly A s in it. However, I think its a waste of time to learn even if you are good at it if you ask me. I know people who couldn t graduate college because of a few math courses. Society is so messed up and cruel to the point where people get criticized for not getting through math courses. I ve seen it and its totally messed up because those people who struggle with math have no desire to go into a math related field where they will never need to pick up a math book and still make six figures.

Answer 10

I don't hate math now, but I regret that I am not very good at it. I did hate it in school, because it was hard for me to get my head around the abstractions. I managed with Algebra (basic) eventually because I could see more or less that x and y corresponded to numbers I could recognize if I did the problem right. But when it came to more advanced concepts, I lost all sense of what was being represented in the formulas. Essentially it was a language I couldn't understand and couldn't find the key to, either because of my own mental processes or because of not having terribly great teachers, or at least ones who had not had to struggle with the concepts or "language" as I did.

I would love to have someone come along who could help me "get it."

Answer 11

I used to like math until I got to high school and my teacher couldn't even add. Then once I struggled through that class I had another teacher who would never answer questions (because she didn't know how). Then the teacher after that didn't even teach the class. He wrote our homework assignment on the board after he showed up at class five minutes late every day and then left the room until class was done.

So basically I have no math skills higher than what I learned in junior high. Luckily I was taught a lot then so I did fine on my ACTs. But then when I needed my high school math in my science classes I really struggled and yeah... enough is enough!