Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted May 28, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 28, 2017 One of my biggest failing scholastically speaking was how terrible I was at Maths. Or at least, how terrible I thought I was. To this day, it basically terrifies me. Sure, I can add and subtract fine enough and I haven't really encountered any situations in life where my lack of mathematical knowledge has hindered me but it would be great to get a better handle on it. Did anybody else struggle with the subject and then do something about that later in life? What did you do? How did you find it? Any suggestions recommended. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nick Soapdish Posted May 28, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 28, 2017 Me too. My wife is even worse, only just about got her head around 10% reductions. Neither of us are otherwise academically dim though. also, fuck algebra. I told my teacher I'd never use it in everyday life because shops didn't advertise the price of something being X and I was right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted May 29, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 29, 2017 Yeah my brother is doing that now in his 20s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Tommy! Posted May 29, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 29, 2017 I was always better at maths than English, so always worked twice as hard at English. I quite enjoy the odd flutter into statistics I do know and then with work to bring some stuff I was adiment I'd never use flooding back. What I couldn't do was mental arithmetic. At school I could just work it out in the margin quicker. I never learned and, when playing darts or snooker and doing faily basic addition or multiplication I'll count on my fingers if it's not one of the few I've remembered by heart. Some people have laughed, 'but you're an accountant' they'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted May 29, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 29, 2017 I was okay at maths. In no way exceptional or impressive, but I was okay. I think there was an expectation at school that I'd be great at it as I picked up mental arithmetic and times tables very quickly when I was very young (when I was 9, the teacher would do me a separate quiz on the 12 or 13 times table, and then a mixed one when the rest of the class was doing their 6 or 7). Â I went to shit during the GCSE years because I have an attention span shorter than a Napalm Deth song and so have nothing higher than a C in any subject. I probably could have managed a B in maths, but I'd been put in for the intermediate exam so that's all I could have got. Â I have considered going back and getting something better than a GCSE to my name, but time, money, discipline, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted May 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 30, 2017 I still pretty much freeze up at the sight of numbers, still count on my fingers. Luckily, when my Grandad used to say, "you shouldn't use a calculator, you won't have a calculator in your pocket all the time" he had failed to predict the rise of the smartphone. Weirdly, I'm a little better at algebra and formulae - I do a lot of work with spreadsheets, and I don't tend to struggle with that. I think the idea of algebra appeals to me - balancing equations and whatnot - so I can construct a formula relatively easily, whereas just actual counting and numbers shut my brain down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kaz Hayashi Posted May 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 30, 2017 I bloody hate maths and had a very strange time at school, similar to surf I was expected to do well, entered the school with a level 3 but jumped to level 7 by year 9. Then I lost the plot a bit and fucked up years 10 & 11. I have no idea how my poor parents went taken to court because I just didn't go. I got an E in GCSE maths and only managed 4 A-C grades. I've made up for it since and went back to college at the age of 20, then on to Uni and somehow achieved a 1st. However, I still feel let down by my younger years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gallybagger Posted May 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 30, 2017 I teach at the local College, and we've just had the dreaded OFSTED come through and pick through us with a fine toothed comb. The fact across the country is maths and English is well below average and OFSTED are focussing solely on the delivery. Ive also got the pleasure of delivering what is called functional skills maths and English, and I had one student, 17 years old, compleltly freeze and say he didn't have a clue when I asked him what 12-9 was.  I'd say the biggest problem is the age old 'horse to water' shtick. They don't want to learn and you can't force them too. I didn't particularly enjoy maths at school, but I'd like to think I can handle my own with it. Algebra can suck one though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted May 30, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted May 30, 2017 https://www.citizenmaths.com/Â might be worth a look. It's free online courses for apps that cover the same skills as formal school maths, but with a much bigger emphasis on applying it to real world problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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