Im really frustrated with the fact that Im not getting an A in Calc II. IM A MATH MAJOR. Im starting to question my major because of the diffuculty. Am I not studying right? What should I do to understand to theorms better. HEEELLLPPPP! Id still prefer 8hours of math over 1 paper!!!!
2006-07-27 07:15:07 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
You're going to have a difficult time picking a "Best Answer" for this question, because so many people responding are right on the money, here. Integragirl and Phi D are right in saying Calc 2 is a tougher class than Calc 1 or 3. Most everyone else mentioning any subject gets more difficult the deeper you dig into them are right, too. Not that you should feel any more ease in your situation by knowing mine, but I had A's in every math class I ever took until Calc 2, too. (I got A's in all but two math classes after that... Abstract Algebra and Complex Variables kicked my butt!)
I think the main question you should ask yourself is not whether it's too difficult, but why you chose mathematics as your major in the first place. If it's for a love of the subject, stick with it. If it's because it's always been easy, stick with it, but also question what you're going to do with it. The fact that you'd rather work on eight hours of math than writing a paper in any other class should speak volumes to you. You're in the right field of study for you.
It's not a matter of not studying properly, I'm sure. A quick piece of advice: it helps in understanding some theorems or proofs to actually derive them yourself, rather than accepting them for naught because your teacher or the author of your textbook says so.
One other thing to think about regarding your studies is that once you make it past Calc 2, Probability and Stats, and Linear Algebra, the field of mathematics branches into so many classifications that are seemingly unrelated that you can take the classes that interest you, and you alone. (Combinatorics, Number Theory, Abstract Algebra, Group Theory, Topology, Differential Equations, Analysis, Mechanics, and Operations Research only touch the tip of the iceberg.) Your love of the subject will most likely grow into a passion, once you're studying the math that touches your mind and soul the most.
Hang in there and keep your spirit about you. It will get easier.
2006-07-27 08:09:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Of course it's hard! Hard is good. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it!
Did you become a Math major because you like Math or because everything you've done so far in Math has been easy?
It depends on how much time you have to work on something, but a subject being hard is usually a good thing. Sometimes it just amazes me how something like LaPlace Transforms can seem like the hardest thing in the world and then you take a later course where you're doing so many of them that they become easy and routine. Fourier Transforms, on the other hand ...... Since I'm taking a course that requires you to do tons of them, I guess we'll see if the same thing happens.
Just remember. Don't pray for some miracle to bail you out of a jam. Pray for enough strength and persistence to get you through. That way it's you that will be the miracle.
2006-07-27 14:40:16 · answer #2 · answered by Bob G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Math still isn't easy whether it is you major or not. If it's not hard it's not worth doing is always my motto. To understand some of the theorems better, you can try to take a calculus based physics class, that way you will see some of the applications of calculus as invisioned by Newton. Stick with it. If calculus was easy everyone would be math majors instead of english majors
2006-07-27 14:22:22 · answer #3 · answered by satanorsanta 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just because you majored in math doesn't mean it comes easy to you. If you really enjoy math, keep at it and you'll get it. That would be better than getting into something else that may not come easy and you don't enjoy so much.
As far as how you can improve your understanding perhaps study up in your free time. There are loads of calculus resources online. One of them may click with you better than what you have come across so far.
2006-07-27 14:20:59 · answer #4 · answered by LovingMother 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope, don't change you major, you love math and you know it, and you love it because its difficult. Calculus doesnt come easily to anyone. We all work hard to understand it, but as a fellow math lover i know you love that felling you get when youve been working on the same problem for two hours, and then it clicks and you get it right and you feel like you own the earth itself. Math is great because there is no end to it, theres always somthing harder one step further you can push yourself. you can master math like you can history because its unlimited. You just need to relax-There is nothing harder than trying to beat out the right answers of a math test while worrying about your grade.Forget about the grade...do math because you love it and the grade will work its self out.
2006-07-27 15:14:01 · answer #5 · answered by Don’t Tread On Me 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It could be that you're getting impatient with it. You're a math major because you like math (I hope) not just because you're good at it. Being good at something is kind of a consequence of liking something enough to spend a lot of time doing it. If you want to understand the stuff better, read textbooks and other materials whenever you have free time. Good luck!
2006-07-27 14:25:18 · answer #6 · answered by anonymous 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
calc 2 blows big time. But its all down hill from there. Calc 3 and the rest are alot easier. Calc2 is a weed out class so just hang in there.
2006-07-27 14:35:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might be running into your innate limitations. We all have them. We just have them at different levels of proficiency. I didn't have problems with differential or integral calculus, or with analytical geometry, or with numerical analysis. Some of the fancier ways to solve differential equations took me a while to understand though. Usually I can figure out a way to do something, bit I figure there are things too hard for me. Somewhere.
2006-07-27 14:22:32 · answer #8 · answered by David S 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Been there. I started out as a math major, and immediately found myself completely over my head. I tried as hard as I could, but it didn't work. Just before finals, the math professor asked me to stay after class one day and he told me that he had a proposition for me -- he would excuse me from the final and give me a "C" for the course if I would agree to abandon higher mathematics. I shook his hand, switched to being an English major, and everything turned out just fine. I hope you will be able to work it out as easily.
2006-07-27 14:18:04 · answer #9 · answered by Jack430 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
alot of people have trouble in calc 2, don't worry though cause calc 3 is easier than calc 2
2006-07-27 14:19:59 · answer #10 · answered by ~Perfectly Flawed~ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋