What is the best way to teach yourself math from the beginning?

Question

I am an adult who is terrible at math. Mathematically, I am like an adult who is totally illiterate. But strangely I am intelligent when it comes to other things. But for some reason I have always had almost a phobia when it comes to math. Anytime I even look at numbers I just go completely goofy and feel physically ill.

Do you know of a way to start from the beginning and totally re-teach yourself math? Is there some book that can fundamentally change the way you think about numbers, and even simple math, that can make math easier or at least more enjoyable?

It is really important I learn this too.. my dreams in life require that I learn it.

Answer 1

Hi
Unfortunatley there is no book that can teach you how to enjoy mathematics.
To enjoy maths i think you would need to understand what maths is, and what it can do for you and how you would use it in your life.
Maths is a great language and like any language may be used to describe emotions as well as ideas - truths and philosophies - facts and fiction. We must be very alert to distinguish what math is telling us. Math by itself is not fact!

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space and change. It developed, through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, from counting, calculation, measurement, and the study of the shapes and motions of physical objects.

As to the part about learning maths from the start, just go down to your local library and hire out some mathemtics books. First of all you would want to read books on Numbers, patterns and operations (multiplication, addition, subtraction and dividision) and then move onto Algebra, Functions, Geometry and Trigonometry.
And then if after learning those you feel confident to move onto some more advanced but not too advanced subjects, go to the library or book store and see if they have books titled Foundation Mathematics.
These books are probably the best to learn from and the most interesting.
If they dont have this book, ask for any that are related.

Good luck and remember...Its up to you to decided whether or not you enjoy, not the subject or book you are learning from!!
Bye for now
P.S. if you would like to talk more about mathematics my MSN is
[e-mail]

Answer 2

Teach Yourself Maths

Answer 3

The majority are not good at math because most math teachers are really bad (sorry, I know there are some decent teachers).

Best approach is to ask yourself why things are done a certain way. Example, why is it that when you add fractions, you must first ensure they have the same denominator. How and why do we represent numbers the way we do. Why is it that the product of two proper fractions is always smaller whilst the product of numbers greater than 1 is always greater than the multiplicands. There are millions of questions. One step at a time. You can take the next step ...

Books will not give you the real answers. You can only get ideas from books. Sure, you should study as many as you can. However, you need to ask yourself questions in order to understand the fundamentals.

Answer 4

Step 1:
Be able to count to 1000

Step 2:
Learn add, subtract, multiply.
For add and subtract: learn 0 - 9
For multiply and divide learn from 0x0 through 12x12.
This step is really borning and something that just has to be memorized.

Step 3:
Practice the rules for +-x/ for large numbers.
For example:
456 + 789, there is a rule to carry a 1 over to the next column because 9 and 6 are over 10.
I would get a 3 or 4th grade book to learn step 3.

Once you know step 1 - 3, then your ready for algebra which is exactly the same except that it uses rules to tell you when to add multiply subtract or divide.

I would just start with a 3rd grade book and work yourself up through to calculus, shouldn't take you too long. Your not stupid, you just never learned the rules for math, once you know those, it's not too bad.

Answer 5

you have 2 main choices
1
go to an adult education centre they are set up to deal with problems like yours or
2
you may feel disheartened but go to wh smith (england) or your local book store look for educational books for kids they will go right from the beginning recognising what number is what then on to adding etc maths works on building blocks ie multiplication is just a quicker way of adding there are many tricks and short cuts ie if you know 2+8=10 you also will know 8+2=10 10-2=8 10-8=2 they are called number facts
also once you get started check out the kiddy educational web sites they do it all through stories and games seems daft but with respect will be at your level
inlist a good friend that you trust to understand you and be paitent and supportive
onwards and upwards my friend the world will be your oyster
believe in the fact you are not the only one
i work as a teaching assistant in a primary school the first job they gave me was marking times tables !!!! i had to get an answer book! i am luck as i progress through the school i am learning everyhing i forgot as the kids learn it !! percentages and fractions yuk!
hope this helps

Answer 6

Hello,

I love studying math. To me, it is a delight. But this hasn't always been the case. I used to hate math. I am trying to answer your question because I think your case is a case that can make almost 90 of people feel identified!!! So we, 90 percent of people feel we're a minority. Think about it.
I am a teacher, actually I am a linguist and translator. People say I am very smart. I wanted to create some language-related software nobody has envioned as yet, and so I asked for help. Techy people would say: very good idea! Let me see If I find someone who might be interested...until I got tired. I decided to study programming but most programming inevitably turn to math in their explanations. So, I decided to also study math.

I discovered that you learn by doing. I had heard this a thousand times, but it is in the past 3 or 4 months that it really hit me. So let me tell you in short some of the things I have learned -so far- as this is a continous process:

1- One thing is to say I don't understand math at all and quite another thing is to say I can't get focused in a math classroom. These are different situations. For example, I found out that there's a bit of Attention Deficit Disorder running in my family. (Talk to a doctor, he/she can tell you who can do such a test on you)... And that prevented me from doing well up until I finished formal schooling. I discovered that I am a much better learner when I study on my own. The rest is a continuous series of discoveries.

2 When you read some directions as to how to perform an operation, and you simply can't get it, turn to the same explanation on another book, (I have 4 algebra books covering the same topics generally but I stick to only one of them). Read and read over, til you understand.
3 I do not do the odd-numbered exercises (the ones with an answer). Doing this I feel compelled to either looking at the answer before I have made reasonable efforts or worse, turning to the answers after this long serires of 60 plus exercises only to discovered I was wrong in 2 out 2 questions. How mediocre! I would say. No. You have to really give yourself a chance and time to learn. Instead I use such things as Microsoft Mathematics (it offers you ways to check if you are right) and check the answer right after I finish a single piece of exercise. One by one, so the stress of waiting till I finish a long series of exercises really decreases, plus, there is no teacher (not even at a distance, telling you: hey, you've another mistake!). There's also the stigma of failure, still alive in your mind. Do you understand this? Thousands of times a broken (but necessary and many times good) schooling system told you weren't worth an opportunity.
4 Take your stuff seriously, and do not talk about your studying math. Most people will think you're a freak. No. You are a good thining person. I would like to continue writing but I think there are lenghth rules in this forum so...Keep on trying...
3 Want to hear more? Well keep on writing on this thread! And

Answer 7

you are the total oppssite of me i get excited when i think of math
just start doing primary school books and in 3 or months you should be able to complete upto 12th grade my estimations might not be correct because i bont know the standard of school books in usa
then if you would like to give yourself an ultimate test i would recomend you to buy tata mcgraw hills course in mathmatics for iit jee it is a book many 11 and 12 graders use in india to prepare for iit jee which is a entence exam for indias most prestigious colleges
but i see you know a lot about physics but when they teach physices they also teach math right so why do you want to learn it again you probably know a lot already

Answer 8

2

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

It depends on how bad you are fundamentally. You can probably purchase childrens' workbooks for basic arithmetic.

If it works for kids, it can work for you (I taught myself how to play the piano like this). You'll want to have lots of practice and use a calculator only to check your answers. Once you get through the basics (addition, subtraction), move on to multiplication and long division. Just take them one subject at a time, in the order that children learn them. After multiplication and division, learn decimals and fractions (and how to multiply, divide, add, and subtract them). Then exponents and roots (and applying them to everything you learned before). Then algebra (once again, applied with everything you learned before), then geometry, then trigonometry, then logs, statistics, and calculus.

Everything in mathematics builds upon what was learned before. You can also enroll in basic courses at your local community college. There you can find people like youself to form study groups with and reinforce your desire to teach yourself this subject.

Remember, most people take 10 years to get through the subjects I listed (and many never even finish all of them), so don't expect to finish them all in 10 days.