Math Hurts

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   Brooke18posted 9 years ago

   Apparently an experiment was done where people were given math problems to do and were passed through a machine that analyzed which part of the brain doing math affects. The results: the same part that controls your pain receptors. The conclusion: math is supposed to hurt.
   
   This information is courtesy of my Calculus professor and the unknown psychologist conducting the experiment.
   
   Does this surprise you?

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   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   Not quite right.  Anticipation of maths hurts if you are mathphobic, actually doing maths does not.
   
   http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … ce-health/

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3. 77

   Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years ago

   ...what hurts is doing something when you don't know why you are doing it (usually forced to learn it) and it is not for a purpose you can apply it to.

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      Brooke18posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly! Most of the stuff we learn in high school and college we won't use in real life. They claim we need to know it regardless, but I think school wouldn't have much to teach us if they only stuck to the things we will need. Then again, this is coming from a college student so I am biased.

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         psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         That assumes we will all need the same stuff.  I use advanced statistics daily and calculus on a regular basis.  I would have been very disadvantaged if I never learned anything about it in high school or as an undergraduate. In fact I probably wouldn't have this job.

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            no pain no gain…?
            There are ways to teach math which incorporate its need and application.
                 Those who understand math usually don't teach it very well… why?
            Perhaps, because they learned the concrete aspects a long time ago. They have put aside the concrete foundation and only teach the abstract steps.
                 A good math teacher introduces the concrete before the abstract.
            For instance, Algebra is based on the number line. Many teachers don't use it to illustrate.

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               Brooke18posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               A real problem occurs when some teachers don't explain the material well or teachers' ways of going about a problem are slightly different. For me, that causes major problems. In my Pre-Calculus class (which I just finished), the teacher reviewed Algebra and trigonometry. That's when I realized just how confused I had become over the years.
               
               I prefer to learn instead of re-learn.

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   Jodahposted 9 years ago

   Math has changed so much since I went to school,but that aside I do find it painful to do anything other than addition, subtraction and multiplication. Geometry even gives me a migraine let alone calculus.

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      Brooke18posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yep! I used to love math, but now it's just confusing.

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      wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Actually, math has seen very little change since Newton invented calculus.

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         Brooke18posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Well then I have Newton to thank for my class! Calculus is horrible.

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            wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Horrible, yes - out of 50 students, only 4 made it through in my class.  But a very useful tool nonetheless.

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               Brooke18posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Wow. It's a requirement for me, as is physics. No one told me Calculus was necessary for Physics so I am now taking both Calculus and Physics at the same time.

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                  wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  LOL  As a chemistry major I took chemistry, physics, calculus and, because I didn't know it was a pre-requisite for calc, trigonometry all at the same time.  An interesting year for sure!  On the plus side the calc was really a year early and that came in very handy in future physics/chemistry classes.

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         Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Wilderness, it isn't the actual math that has changed but the way the working out and setting out of the process to obtain the answers has changed. At least with my grand kids.

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            wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            No it hasn't; it's the same algebra we used.  It hasn't changed.
            
            What HAS changed is the method of teaching.  It seems that more and more it is by rote memorization instead of actually understanding what is going on and why.  My kids, for instance, learned none of the theorems we not only learned but had to prove were always true.  They simply learned what is supposed to happen when you do THIS to numbers.  As a result they never truly learn math; just how to (sometimes) manipulate numbers if they fit the exact problem they memorized.

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               Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Exactly.

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   wrenchBiscuitposted 9 years ago

   This is an interesting fact that I was not aware of. If this is true, then it follows that the emotion of love must be centered at the same location to an even greater degree, since Americans seem to find loving each other, or Palestinians, to be even more painful.

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