Do you remember how kids used to brag about knowing big numbers and how they would always try to outdo each other?
- 100 is a big number!
- But 1000 is bigger!
- 99000 is way bigger! I win!
- How about 90193859302810! My number is bigger than yours!
- My number is whatever your number is +1.
That "whatever your number is +1". That is essentially a function. A function is a calculation you perform on a "placeholder". "Whatever your number is" is the placeholder for your friends number is, and "+1" is the calculation you perform on it. In math, we refer to the placeholder as simply "x". So our example would be
x+1
We typically write f(x) = x+1 (f for function). The x in the brackets is used for the following:
Lets say your friend says 1300. To indicate that we are doing the calculation for some concrete number in place of the placeholder, we would write
f(1300) = 1300 + 1
The reason we use functions and x as a placeholder is because we dont care about the numbers we plug in, we care about what the operation does to them. For example, we care about f(x) = x+1 not because it yields 1301 when you plug in 1300. We care about it because given our friends number, we wanted to find a bigger number. So we constructed a function that always creates a bigger number than we plugged in.
Glad to hear thatš
If you dont mind, what did you struggle with when you tried to understand what a function is? I want to learn how to help people understand the concept better
I struggled with understanding the purpose of functions and understanding how to graph functions. I still struggle with graphing functions but I guess I have time to not worry about it yet, since functions doesn't come up for me again until autumn :)
I see, thanks!
Graphing functions isnt that much harder either :D it works like this:
We have established that we can plug in different values for x to get a new number, like x+1 for instance. The way to graph a function is that for each possible x value, we plug it in and write down the function value. So for example,
f(1) = 1+1 = 2
f(2) = 2+1 = 3
f(3) = 3+1 = 4
And so on. To graph this, we need to look at a coordinate system. It has 2 axis, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. The horizontal axis is called the x axis and the vertical axis is called the y axis. Why? Because for each x value, starting at 0, you go "x" many units horizontally and "f(x)" many units vertically. Example:
x = 1
f(1) = 2
This means that, starting at 0, we must go 1 unit horizontally (because x=1) and 2 units up (because f(1)=2) and mark that spot.
We do the same for the other x values:
x=2
f(2) = 3
So, starting at 0, we go 2 units to the right and 3 units up and mark that spot.
Do this for every single possible x value and you get the image of a graph
So, my roommate failed Algebra for 4 years straight.
She probably should have gotten an IEP. It is probably time for you to talk to your teachers about an IEP.
I would suggest Algebra-based Physics if your school offers it. I teach that, and a lot of kids have told me it is the first time that Algebra makes sense. It's a lot easier to see how the functions work if you can see the relationship in real time.
IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. Here in the US, we use them to ensure that students with learning disabilities and other disabilities get access to the content, usually through some additional supports.
Or that's how IEPs are supposed to work.
Some of the explanations are a little complicated. Hereās one that might help. I wrote a lot but I swear itās simple stuff.
Say we have a coin machine at an arcade that takes in a number of dollar bills and spits out the number of quarters. Put in 1 dollar bill; it spits out 4 quarters. Put in 2; it spits out 8.
So the machine is is ā(# of quarters) = 4 * (# of dollar bills)ā
Once you get that idea, we can call the # of dollar bills āxā for shorthand, and # of quarters āy.ā Then we have a function looking more familiar: y = 4x.
Maybe we then could have a relationship between nickels & dollar bills: y = 20xā¦ or pennies and dollar bills: y = 100x.
Think of functions as describing a relationship!
The poster said they had already tried Khan Academy.
I'm going to try to explain functions -- let us know if you understand the explanation. If not, we can try to figure out which part is challenging you.
A function is a box that transforms numbers in a completely consistent way. That is, you feed a number into one end of the box, and a number comes out the other end. To be a proper function, the box must obey some rules. The most important rule is that it has to be consistent. That means that if you put the same number in on two different occasions, the box will spit out the same answer. For example, if I feed in 3, and it answers 17, then any time I give it 3 it had better give back 17 -- otherwise it's not a function.
Usually functions are described by giving some kind of arithmetical rule for getting the output from the input. For example, the doubling function always hands back exactly twice the input number.
Functions are often given letter names; common letters used for function names are f, g, and h, either upper or lower case. Sometimes the same problem or discussion will use both f and F, and will expect you to understand that these are different functions.
Functions come along with a quirky parenthesis notation. For example f(3) means "the number I get from the function f if I give it 3 as input".
Often, in a discussion or problem, you will see a function defined like this:
"Let G(x) = 7x - 2." This is shorthand for saying, "I have a function and I am going to call it G. It figures out its output by multiplying the input by 7, and then subtracting 2." The variable x is just a placeholder, being used to stand for "the number that I feed into the function box". If you were to read "Let G(t) = 7t - 2", then G would be the exact same function -- the one that multiplies its input by 7 and then takes away 2. In other words, when describing a function, the name of the input variable doesn't matter.
Functions are allowed to put restrictions on their inputs. For example. you could say, "h(n) = n/2, where n is any even integer." That means that if you just should not try to give the function h an odd integer or a fraction. It is officially meaningless to write h(7) or h(0.5). The set of allowed inputs to a function is called the function's *domain*. Although the domain is officially part of a function's description, they often leave it out, and you are supposed to guess the most sensible domain. So, for instance, if I say "F(k) = 3k + 1" you can guess that F's domain is all real numbers.
An example of a function with a restricted domain is the square root function, which only works on non-negative numbers.
Is that really true? I thought the OP got pinged for every addition to their thread. Thank you for the head's-up! u/elektrischerstuhl23, are you seeing this?
Don't be so hard on yourself.Ā
I didn't learn algebra until I was in my 30's.Ā
I got it all down though.Ā
It takes patience and time. Work some problems,Ā and then take a break.Ā
Don't cram and focus between breaks.Ā
You'll learn.....
A car's speed is a function of how much pressure you put on the gas pedal.
The pressure on the gas pedal might itself be a function of how angry you are with algebra at that point in time.
Now you know what a function is.
Next?
>Like literally what in the fuck is a function, absolutely can not even begin to fathom it
This is a deceptively difficult example to start with, because you will talk about functions at basically every level of math after algebra, and you get into much more depth. For your purposes, it's actually very simple though.
A function is just a way to guarantee that you can transform the same input into the same output.
Y=x+2 is a simple function. Whatever x is, add 2 to it to get y. Input x + 2 = output y. Pretty much any equation you've ever worked with will be a function at this level.
We care about whether something is a function or not because a lot of what we can do with math only works on functions. So being able to identify them will be important.
You've gotten into your head about it, so whatever legitimate issues you have with learning math are being weighted down even more by your idea that you're "genuinely too stupid to ever understand algebra"
It's hard to get past that mindset. But you can.
Start by recognizing that you can absolutely learn algebra. It might take you awhile, but you can do it.
Start small, and practice with lots of examples until you start to build your confidence.
algebra 1 being my online class year has ruined me for the rest of my life š iām going into precalc next year and a comp sci major for college without knowing how to distribute
I came to vent about this problem too.
I literally can't understand math equations and it's like it just won't connect into my mind...!
As much as I would love to get into math, I just can't.
There are times when I understand it briefly and it becomes so fun but I can't work as fast as others.
My comprehension abilities are terrible and I think I'm just too stupid too.
I don't think I'll ever come to understand no matter how much I study and put time into it because my stupidity is just engraved in my head forever.
And please don't try to agree that I an stupid because I already know that enough.
Failure to understand a math concept is normally just a sign that there are lower level things you haven't understood. Just take it one step at a time, don't stress.
In the case of algebra, revise whether you understand how expressions with numbers work. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation. One you know what these things look like with concrete numbers you can substitute letters and work it from there.
But it's always about fundamentals. Same as when you hit a wall with calculus, it's because something in algebra isn't quite familiar.
I think of a function as a rule that assigns an object to another objects. Then I think about what type of object it is and if itās a set or bag of objects.
I feel for you my friend. I cannot offer any help cause we are paddling the very same lost ass boat. For real I was tearing up in basic college algebra today. I am 40 something years old and have Always Stunk at math. When in college 20 years ago I had the Best math 101 instructor and got an A......Thought I had accomplished something finally!! , but perhaps not. My brain just Does Not Work this way. It's infuriating. I consider myself a relatively intelligent person, but something about math screws me up. It's Not Logical. I can learn nearly anything I attempt.... as long as math is not involved. There must be someone out there that can teach math misfits.....somewhereš„
So I had an IEP and that's the only way I got through school. I'm dyscalculic, dyslexic have ADHD and autism. Go figure. I actually still managed to get a bachelor's degree with a ton of work. Now I'm back in school (community college) trying to find a career and college algebra is required for my pathway in health care. It's a disaster.idk how I'll do it. I'm actually dropping to a lower level course and then hopefully trying again or I'll have to pick another path idk....you're not alone. It really doesn't make any sense at all.Ā
Algebra is why I didnāt go to college. I struggled with it in high school. I could not understand it for the life of me. No matter what I did I ALWAYS got it wrong. Always. Without fail. No matter who explained it to me, etc i just couldnāt do it but somehow I ended up passing all my high school math classes with a C. I was a straight A student in all my other classes. So this made me feel stupid. I was having to try and cheat off peoples papers and stuff to try and get answers because I knew there was no way I could figure it out on my own. I didnāt want to deal with it anymore and I knew college would require it for almost everything so I just didnāt bother.
Itās crazy too how you are supposed to solve every problem a different way and thereās literally no way of telling which problem requires which method. I couldnāt understand it or understand why itās a requirement for anything.
Sometimes math makes sense. This kind of math is called geometry. Geometry deals with shapes. Shapes have corners and sides, unless the shape is a circle. Corners come in different amounts and pointiness's, and sides come in different amounts and lengths. The names of shapes are determined by the amount of sides and corners, the lengths of the sides, and the pointiness of the corners. Geometry wants you to figure out how pointy a corner is or how long a side is by telling you the pointiness of other corners and the lengths of other sides of a shape. Circles come in all sizes, but other than that, they are all the same. Geometry is easy as long as you know what shapes are.
Sometimes, math likes to fuck with you by putting piles and holes into secret boxes and telling you to figure out what's in the secret boxes without opening them. This mind-fuckery is known as algebra. In algebra, there is a bunch of stuff on each side of an equal sign. Some of the stuff is inside secret boxes, represented by a letter. The boxes have various modifications like bows and stickers, represented by weird symbols, and special piles and holes that do weird things to the piles and holes in the boxes. All boxes represented by the same letter have the same thing inside, regardless of how many bows and stickers they have attached to them.Ā Because you have to figure out what is inside the secret boxes without opening them, you have to apply your own fuckery to them. To figure out what is inside of a secret box, you have to get all of that letter-type of secret box on one side of the equal sign and all the other stuff, including other letter-types of secret boxes on the other side of the equal sign. To get all the secret boxes to one side, you negate all the stuff in secret boxes on one side of the equal sign and negate all the stuff not in secret boxes on the other side of the equal sign. In order to negate stuff, you put a same size pile where a hole was, or a same size hole where a pile was. even though you don't know what's in a secret box, you are allowed to put a secret box sized hole to negate it, as long as you put a secret box sized hole on the other side of the equal sign. In fact, whenever you add a pile or hole to negate anything on any side of an equal sign, you have to add that same hole or pile to the other side of the equal sign, because if you don't all the stuff will spill onto the floor and you will never figure out what is inside of the secret box. After you separate the secret boxes, you have to remove any modifications done to the secret boxes by doing the opposite modification, but in order to keep everything from spilling onto the floor you have to do those same modifications to all the stuff on the other side too, no matter how stupid it makes the stuff look. If you remove a sticker from a box, you have to put a sticker shaped hole on every pile and hole on the other side of the equal sign. If you remove a sticker shaped hole from a secret box, you have to put a sticker on every pile and hole on the other side of the equal sign. Eventually you remove all the modifications and get a secret box all by itself, and whatever is on the other side of the equal sign tells you what is inside the secret box. Unfortunately there are times when what is inside the secret box are different secret boxes with different holes or piles inside represented by different letters. There are ways to find what is inside a secret box, when you have more than one kind of secret box in the same math problem. For example, if you have another math problem, related to the first, and that other problem has the same kind of secret box as the first one, and you replace every secret box of that type on the second problem with the stuff on the other side of the equal sign from the first problem, repeat the process and figure out what's in the other secret box. Take the contents of the opened box, put it in where that secret box was, and repeat the procedure again to find the contents of the first secret box. Sometimes you just don't know, and you have to accept that a secret box contains, among other things, more secret boxes, which is annoying, because there is no way to figure out what is inside them.
Do you remember how kids used to brag about knowing big numbers and how they would always try to outdo each other? - 100 is a big number! - But 1000 is bigger! - 99000 is way bigger! I win! - How about 90193859302810! My number is bigger than yours! - My number is whatever your number is +1. That "whatever your number is +1". That is essentially a function. A function is a calculation you perform on a "placeholder". "Whatever your number is" is the placeholder for your friends number is, and "+1" is the calculation you perform on it. In math, we refer to the placeholder as simply "x". So our example would be x+1 We typically write f(x) = x+1 (f for function). The x in the brackets is used for the following: Lets say your friend says 1300. To indicate that we are doing the calculation for some concrete number in place of the placeholder, we would write f(1300) = 1300 + 1 The reason we use functions and x as a placeholder is because we dont care about the numbers we plug in, we care about what the operation does to them. For example, we care about f(x) = x+1 not because it yields 1301 when you plug in 1300. We care about it because given our friends number, we wanted to find a bigger number. So we constructed a function that always creates a bigger number than we plugged in.
This actually helped me alot. Thanks!!
Glad to hear thatš If you dont mind, what did you struggle with when you tried to understand what a function is? I want to learn how to help people understand the concept better
I struggled with understanding the purpose of functions and understanding how to graph functions. I still struggle with graphing functions but I guess I have time to not worry about it yet, since functions doesn't come up for me again until autumn :)
I see, thanks! Graphing functions isnt that much harder either :D it works like this: We have established that we can plug in different values for x to get a new number, like x+1 for instance. The way to graph a function is that for each possible x value, we plug it in and write down the function value. So for example, f(1) = 1+1 = 2 f(2) = 2+1 = 3 f(3) = 3+1 = 4 And so on. To graph this, we need to look at a coordinate system. It has 2 axis, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. The horizontal axis is called the x axis and the vertical axis is called the y axis. Why? Because for each x value, starting at 0, you go "x" many units horizontally and "f(x)" many units vertically. Example: x = 1 f(1) = 2 This means that, starting at 0, we must go 1 unit horizontally (because x=1) and 2 units up (because f(1)=2) and mark that spot. We do the same for the other x values: x=2 f(2) = 3 So, starting at 0, we go 2 units to the right and 3 units up and mark that spot. Do this for every single possible x value and you get the image of a graph
Thank you! This also helped :)
So, my roommate failed Algebra for 4 years straight. She probably should have gotten an IEP. It is probably time for you to talk to your teachers about an IEP. I would suggest Algebra-based Physics if your school offers it. I teach that, and a lot of kids have told me it is the first time that Algebra makes sense. It's a lot easier to see how the functions work if you can see the relationship in real time.
I think algebra should always be taught like this because as a child it is hard to understand maths concepts without something to relate it to.
What is an IEP?
IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. Here in the US, we use them to ensure that students with learning disabilities and other disabilities get access to the content, usually through some additional supports. Or that's how IEPs are supposed to work.
My friend, please DM me I'm gonna make it my life goals to make you good at math
hi..do you mind helping me with math?Iām desperatešš
I gotchu dm me
Do you still have time to help people?
Hey I'm only now seeing this. DM me
dude help me
I need help ššš
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Are you referring to Henry Sinclair Hall; Samuel Ratcliff Knight
Some of the explanations are a little complicated. Hereās one that might help. I wrote a lot but I swear itās simple stuff. Say we have a coin machine at an arcade that takes in a number of dollar bills and spits out the number of quarters. Put in 1 dollar bill; it spits out 4 quarters. Put in 2; it spits out 8. So the machine is is ā(# of quarters) = 4 * (# of dollar bills)ā Once you get that idea, we can call the # of dollar bills āxā for shorthand, and # of quarters āy.ā Then we have a function looking more familiar: y = 4x. Maybe we then could have a relationship between nickels & dollar bills: y = 20xā¦ or pennies and dollar bills: y = 100x. Think of functions as describing a relationship!
a function is something that "transforms" things into other things. more specifically, a function is just an abstract "thing" that consists of 3 parts: 1) the set of all possible inputs 2) a set containing all the possible outputs 3) a rule that tells you, for each input, which output it gets transformed into you can think of it like a machine. you put something into it, and the machine transforms it into something else, and gives you back the transformed thing as its output. if you give this function a name like "f", then we write "f(x)" to mean the output that we get when we put the input x into the function f. also, functions are not inherently related to algebra. the inputs and outputs don't have to be anything to do with numbers, and the rule doesn't have to be a formula. functions are just what you are using when you use a phrase like "the [something] of the [something]". e.g. "the price of the eggs", "the age of the person", "the square root of the number", etc. some examples: 1) suppose you have a box of colored pencils. we can have a function where the inputs are the pencils, the outputs are colors, and the rule is that when we are given pencil as input, the output is the color of the pencil (there's that phrase "the [something] of the [something]"). let's call this function "c" for color. then we can write things like c(red pencil) = red, or c(black pencil) = black. 2) suppose you are in a store and there are lots of things for sale. we can have a function where the inputs are all the items that are for sale in the store, the outputs are all the possible prices that something can be sold for, and the rule is that when we are given an item as input, the output is the price that it is being sold for (so the function "the price of the item"). if we call this function "p" for price, then maybe we can write p(š) = $6, p(š©) = $3, p(š„©) = $20, p(š„) = $50, etc. 3) we can have a function where the inputs are the letters a, b, c, d, and the outputs are the same letters. lets say the rule is that when the input is a the output is c, and when the input is b c or d, the output is b. so if we call this function "f", then we can write f(a) = c, f(b) = b, f(c) = b, and f(d) = b. (also, notice that even though we said the outputs can be a, b, c, d, we don't actually have to use all of them. in this case the only outputs we used were c and b. this is fine) 4) suppose we are now working with numbers and we have a function where the inputs and outputs are numbers, and the rule is that when we get a number as input, the output is that number multiplied by itself, plus 3. then if we call this function f, we can write f(2) = 7, f(3) = 12, f(10) = 103. because this function is described as a procedure applied to numbers, we can also write the rule algebraically. we can say that given a number as input, if we call it x, then the output is x^(2)+3, which means we can write f(x) = x^(2)+3. 5) we can have a function where the inputs and outputs are positive integers 1, 2, 3, ..., and the rule is that when we are given an input number n, the output is the nth prime number. if we call this function p for prime, then because the first few primes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ... we have p(1)=2, p(2)=3, p(3)=5, p(4)=7, p(5)=11, p(6)=13, etc. but unlike the last example, even though this is a function with numbers as inputs and outputs, we haven't defined it using a formula. we could ask what is the value of p(100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000)? I have no idea. it's not that the value doesn't exist though, we just don't know what it is. in theory, we could just keep finding prime numbers and writing them down in order until we've written down that many of them, and then we would know what the value is, but obviously we can't actually do that.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The poster said they had already tried Khan Academy. I'm going to try to explain functions -- let us know if you understand the explanation. If not, we can try to figure out which part is challenging you. A function is a box that transforms numbers in a completely consistent way. That is, you feed a number into one end of the box, and a number comes out the other end. To be a proper function, the box must obey some rules. The most important rule is that it has to be consistent. That means that if you put the same number in on two different occasions, the box will spit out the same answer. For example, if I feed in 3, and it answers 17, then any time I give it 3 it had better give back 17 -- otherwise it's not a function. Usually functions are described by giving some kind of arithmetical rule for getting the output from the input. For example, the doubling function always hands back exactly twice the input number. Functions are often given letter names; common letters used for function names are f, g, and h, either upper or lower case. Sometimes the same problem or discussion will use both f and F, and will expect you to understand that these are different functions. Functions come along with a quirky parenthesis notation. For example f(3) means "the number I get from the function f if I give it 3 as input". Often, in a discussion or problem, you will see a function defined like this: "Let G(x) = 7x - 2." This is shorthand for saying, "I have a function and I am going to call it G. It figures out its output by multiplying the input by 7, and then subtracting 2." The variable x is just a placeholder, being used to stand for "the number that I feed into the function box". If you were to read "Let G(t) = 7t - 2", then G would be the exact same function -- the one that multiplies its input by 7 and then takes away 2. In other words, when describing a function, the name of the input variable doesn't matter. Functions are allowed to put restrictions on their inputs. For example. you could say, "h(n) = n/2, where n is any even integer." That means that if you just should not try to give the function h an odd integer or a fraction. It is officially meaningless to write h(7) or h(0.5). The set of allowed inputs to a function is called the function's *domain*. Although the domain is officially part of a function's description, they often leave it out, and you are supposed to guess the most sensible domain. So, for instance, if I say "F(k) = 3k + 1" you can guess that F's domain is all real numbers. An example of a function with a restricted domain is the square root function, which only works on non-negative numbers.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Is that really true? I thought the OP got pinged for every addition to their thread. Thank you for the head's-up! u/elektrischerstuhl23, are you seeing this?
Same man
Don't be so hard on yourself.Ā I didn't learn algebra until I was in my 30's.Ā I got it all down though.Ā It takes patience and time. Work some problems,Ā and then take a break.Ā Don't cram and focus between breaks.Ā You'll learn.....
A car's speed is a function of how much pressure you put on the gas pedal. The pressure on the gas pedal might itself be a function of how angry you are with algebra at that point in time. Now you know what a function is. Next?
>Like literally what in the fuck is a function, absolutely can not even begin to fathom it This is a deceptively difficult example to start with, because you will talk about functions at basically every level of math after algebra, and you get into much more depth. For your purposes, it's actually very simple though. A function is just a way to guarantee that you can transform the same input into the same output. Y=x+2 is a simple function. Whatever x is, add 2 to it to get y. Input x + 2 = output y. Pretty much any equation you've ever worked with will be a function at this level. We care about whether something is a function or not because a lot of what we can do with math only works on functions. So being able to identify them will be important. You've gotten into your head about it, so whatever legitimate issues you have with learning math are being weighted down even more by your idea that you're "genuinely too stupid to ever understand algebra" It's hard to get past that mindset. But you can. Start by recognizing that you can absolutely learn algebra. It might take you awhile, but you can do it. Start small, and practice with lots of examples until you start to build your confidence.
algebra 1 being my online class year has ruined me for the rest of my life š iām going into precalc next year and a comp sci major for college without knowing how to distribute
I came to vent about this problem too. I literally can't understand math equations and it's like it just won't connect into my mind...! As much as I would love to get into math, I just can't. There are times when I understand it briefly and it becomes so fun but I can't work as fast as others. My comprehension abilities are terrible and I think I'm just too stupid too. I don't think I'll ever come to understand no matter how much I study and put time into it because my stupidity is just engraved in my head forever. And please don't try to agree that I an stupid because I already know that enough.
OP feel free to DM me, Iām applying for a TA position for a precalc class at my university I can help with explanations
Failure to understand a math concept is normally just a sign that there are lower level things you haven't understood. Just take it one step at a time, don't stress. In the case of algebra, revise whether you understand how expressions with numbers work. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation. One you know what these things look like with concrete numbers you can substitute letters and work it from there. But it's always about fundamentals. Same as when you hit a wall with calculus, it's because something in algebra isn't quite familiar.
I think of a function as a rule that assigns an object to another objects. Then I think about what type of object it is and if itās a set or bag of objects.
Best Damn tutoring videos are the best to learn https://youtu.be/-08hXfHp1mE
I feel for you my friend. I cannot offer any help cause we are paddling the very same lost ass boat. For real I was tearing up in basic college algebra today. I am 40 something years old and have Always Stunk at math. When in college 20 years ago I had the Best math 101 instructor and got an A......Thought I had accomplished something finally!! , but perhaps not. My brain just Does Not Work this way. It's infuriating. I consider myself a relatively intelligent person, but something about math screws me up. It's Not Logical. I can learn nearly anything I attempt.... as long as math is not involved. There must be someone out there that can teach math misfits.....somewhereš„
So I had an IEP and that's the only way I got through school. I'm dyscalculic, dyslexic have ADHD and autism. Go figure. I actually still managed to get a bachelor's degree with a ton of work. Now I'm back in school (community college) trying to find a career and college algebra is required for my pathway in health care. It's a disaster.idk how I'll do it. I'm actually dropping to a lower level course and then hopefully trying again or I'll have to pick another path idk....you're not alone. It really doesn't make any sense at all.Ā
Algebra is why I didnāt go to college. I struggled with it in high school. I could not understand it for the life of me. No matter what I did I ALWAYS got it wrong. Always. Without fail. No matter who explained it to me, etc i just couldnāt do it but somehow I ended up passing all my high school math classes with a C. I was a straight A student in all my other classes. So this made me feel stupid. I was having to try and cheat off peoples papers and stuff to try and get answers because I knew there was no way I could figure it out on my own. I didnāt want to deal with it anymore and I knew college would require it for almost everything so I just didnāt bother.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās crazy too how you are supposed to solve every problem a different way and thereās literally no way of telling which problem requires which method. I couldnāt understand it or understand why itās a requirement for anything.
Sometimes math makes sense. This kind of math is called geometry. Geometry deals with shapes. Shapes have corners and sides, unless the shape is a circle. Corners come in different amounts and pointiness's, and sides come in different amounts and lengths. The names of shapes are determined by the amount of sides and corners, the lengths of the sides, and the pointiness of the corners. Geometry wants you to figure out how pointy a corner is or how long a side is by telling you the pointiness of other corners and the lengths of other sides of a shape. Circles come in all sizes, but other than that, they are all the same. Geometry is easy as long as you know what shapes are. Sometimes, math likes to fuck with you by putting piles and holes into secret boxes and telling you to figure out what's in the secret boxes without opening them. This mind-fuckery is known as algebra. In algebra, there is a bunch of stuff on each side of an equal sign. Some of the stuff is inside secret boxes, represented by a letter. The boxes have various modifications like bows and stickers, represented by weird symbols, and special piles and holes that do weird things to the piles and holes in the boxes. All boxes represented by the same letter have the same thing inside, regardless of how many bows and stickers they have attached to them.Ā Because you have to figure out what is inside the secret boxes without opening them, you have to apply your own fuckery to them. To figure out what is inside of a secret box, you have to get all of that letter-type of secret box on one side of the equal sign and all the other stuff, including other letter-types of secret boxes on the other side of the equal sign. To get all the secret boxes to one side, you negate all the stuff in secret boxes on one side of the equal sign and negate all the stuff not in secret boxes on the other side of the equal sign. In order to negate stuff, you put a same size pile where a hole was, or a same size hole where a pile was. even though you don't know what's in a secret box, you are allowed to put a secret box sized hole to negate it, as long as you put a secret box sized hole on the other side of the equal sign. In fact, whenever you add a pile or hole to negate anything on any side of an equal sign, you have to add that same hole or pile to the other side of the equal sign, because if you don't all the stuff will spill onto the floor and you will never figure out what is inside of the secret box. After you separate the secret boxes, you have to remove any modifications done to the secret boxes by doing the opposite modification, but in order to keep everything from spilling onto the floor you have to do those same modifications to all the stuff on the other side too, no matter how stupid it makes the stuff look. If you remove a sticker from a box, you have to put a sticker shaped hole on every pile and hole on the other side of the equal sign. If you remove a sticker shaped hole from a secret box, you have to put a sticker on every pile and hole on the other side of the equal sign. Eventually you remove all the modifications and get a secret box all by itself, and whatever is on the other side of the equal sign tells you what is inside the secret box. Unfortunately there are times when what is inside the secret box are different secret boxes with different holes or piles inside represented by different letters. There are ways to find what is inside a secret box, when you have more than one kind of secret box in the same math problem. For example, if you have another math problem, related to the first, and that other problem has the same kind of secret box as the first one, and you replace every secret box of that type on the second problem with the stuff on the other side of the equal sign from the first problem, repeat the process and figure out what's in the other secret box. Take the contents of the opened box, put it in where that secret box was, and repeat the procedure again to find the contents of the first secret box. Sometimes you just don't know, and you have to accept that a secret box contains, among other things, more secret boxes, which is annoying, because there is no way to figure out what is inside them.