Thread: New here, but math is really hard.

I'll be up front and honest: I don't like math. I hated having to endure math from start to finish, which most people find interesting considering I was a computer science major in university. :-/ I do occasionally get stuck with something and need a place to ask questions.

What you DONT LIKE MATH? CRUCIFY HIM. But nah, everyone has different times at which they begin to appreciate math, if that time comes at all. It took me till sophmore year of college to find an interest, It was my first proof class, before that class for my entire life i did math mechanically, memorized processes, and pretty much had no understanding/no appreciation (since math builds on each other till a certain point in college, if your didn't pay attention in say that algebra class, you were pretty much lost for a number of years).It was as if before this proof class, i thought of math as word of god (it just comes from somewhere) and i had no freedom to explore, and after this class, i began look at math as approachable by anyone with logic and reason, once my mindset changed i started enjoying math much more because i found freedom to rediscover it.

Long story short, you only enjoy activities where your attitude towards the activity is one of freedom and exploration, and you cant excel or engage without this mindset.

I hear what you're saying. And I don't disagree, either. One thing's for sure, though.... when you start inventing random things just to make the math work then there's something seriously wrong. The square root of negative numbers is just such a thing to me. The "number" i just completely breaks the rules. It's like dividing by zero.

These are some of the things that I don't understand, so my venture through mathematics was difficult because it didn't make sense in those areas. It's hard to appreciate things you don't understand sometimes. But you know, I never stopped trying to understand i. I don't think I'll ever figure it out, but I still ponder (and occasionally lose sleep over) it.

I think at times its better to stop trying to philosophize mathematical constructs, (Does this really exist in reality or is it a construction of the mind) type of questions and just do mathematics. I forgot what this line of thinking is called, (There is definately a name for it)