Thread: Math

In mathematics, what are the qualities that you should have in order to be good?
Does one need to possess good mental calculation abilities? Can people without good mental calculation skills be very good at mathematics also??

what do you think about this?

Originally Posted by Heinsbergrelatz

In mathematics, what are the qualities that you should have in order to be good?
Does one need to possess good mental calculation abilities? Can people without good mental calculation skills be very good at mathematics also??

what do you think about this?

You need to be good at mathematics. It takes all typed. It is not easy to characterize.

If you are good enough it will show in theoretical classes and you will know it. Unless you are delusional like some participants in this forum.

You have not been exposed to enough real mathematics in order to tell yet. You are not a genius prodigy, but there are only a handful of those in the entire world.

IMO:

Mathematics involves all sorts of abstract thinking and "non-commonsense".

That's why so many people get suckered into playing lotteries, betting on horses, casinos, etc. The odds look great, but the [abstract] reality is far different. The odds are that more people -- rather than not -- will lose. Otherwise, lotteries, horse tracks, and casinos would go bankrupt. They also play on people's egos thinking that they can pick the right numbers, horses, etc or that their and their relatives' birthdays have some sort of mystical, numerological meaning. A lot of serious dishonesty goes into inventing new lotteries to make them look better than they really are, and they constantly come up with new games to keep the victims unfamiliar with how the games really work. Lottery commissions are like drug dealers.

Even with a bachelors in math, I'm terrible at mental calculations. I have trouble adding and subtracting in my head (though that's mainly because I have trouble remembering the number's I'm trying to work on). So yeah, mental calculations aren't that important to being a mathematician.

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Even with a bachelors in math, I'm terrible at mental calculations. I have trouble adding and subtracting in my head (though that's mainly because I have trouble remembering the number's I'm trying to work on). So yeah, mental calculations aren't that important to being a mathematician.

i agree with this, but i am actually capable of multiplying 4digits with a 4 to 1 digit number at will in my head fast. i actually could do this ever since i was primary 5, but ever since then i didn't improve on my mental calculation skills and now am only stuck with 4dits by 4 digits, cant go to 4 digits or higher when it comes to mental abilities. But i realized that this actually came to be really useful when I was doing the chapter "infinite series".

Originally Posted by Heinsbergrelatz

In mathematics, what are the qualities that you should have in order to be good?
Does one need to possess good mental calculation abilities? Can people without good mental calculation skills be very good at mathematics also??

what do you think about this?

I think your ability to reason logically is more important than how rapidly you can compute; consider, for example, how Leonardo da Vinci and Sofia Kovalevskaya were both bad at arithmetic, but were extraordinary mathematicians.

Is anyone else getting the feeling that the OP is frequently starting threads just so he can revert them back to how good he is (or how good he supposes he is) at maths?

For the record, being able to solve equations does not make you good at maths. Anyone can learn the methods for solving equations given enough practice.

If you want to be good at maths you have to understand the underlying concepts.

The bottom line is, if you really enjoy a subject, you will excell in it.

As DrRocket stated, you ahven't been exposed to enough mathematics to tell if you really like maths or not. There's a fair chance you'll go to uni and find halfway through your course you hate it.

sox, please check your PM Inbox

Is anyone else getting the feeling that the OP is frequently starting threads just so he can revert them back to how good he is (or how good he supposes he is) at maths?

hmmm i assumed someone will say this one day, and i agree it is very reasonable from other viewpoints. But the thing is its not like that at all. That day my maths teacher was telling us about this one student he taught before who used to fail in maths tests and things like that, but he had brilliant maths calculation abilities. i was curious from this, so i decided to ask in the forum in which there could be alot viewpoints from people who are interested in maths.