I hate math!

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
actually, dividing both sides by x can cause you to lose solutions in problems.
Example: x^2 = x. Divide both sides by x and you end up with x = 1. You lose the possible solution of x = 0. It's a pretty big deal when you get to trig.

I know, I was just trying to show that dividing by zero gives you illogical results. Hopefully I didn't make the situation worse.

 

[Megadeth]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
For what it's worth, (before someone points out that for many problems, different methods lead more quickly to a solution, I'll acknowledge this, but if he's stuck at this point, he needs more general help)

#1 rule: what you do to one side of the equal sign, you do to the other.

Generally, try to get all the terms with variables on the same side of the equals sign.
In the case of 24x = 2x, subtract 2x from both sides. That makes it cancel out completely on the right hand side.
Then, you have 22x = 0. Now, divide both sides by 22 and you have x = 0.

that makes sense. thanks.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: Megadeth

Originally posted by: DrPizza
For what it's worth, (before someone points out that for many problems, different methods lead more quickly to a solution, I'll acknowledge this, but if he's stuck at this point, he needs more general help)

#1 rule: what you do to one side of the equal sign, you do to the other.

Generally, try to get all the terms with variables on the same side of the equals sign.
In the case of 24x = 2x, subtract 2x from both sides. That makes it cancel out completely on the right hand side.
Then, you have 22x = 0. Now, divide both sides by 22 and you have x = 0.

that makes sense. thanks.

seriously, just realize that its 24x= -2x which is 26x=0. Don't get your postives and negitives messed.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Leper Messiah

Originally posted by: DrPizza
For what it's worth, (before someone points out that for many problems, different methods lead more quickly to a solution, I'll acknowledge this, but if he's stuck at this point, he needs more general help)

#1 rule: what you do to one side of the equal sign, you do to the other.

Generally, try to get all the terms with variables on the same side of the equals sign.
In the case of 24x = 2x, subtract 2x from both sides. That makes it cancel out completely on the right hand side.
Then, you have 22x = 0. Now, divide both sides by 22 and you have x = 0.

but its -2x for each side. so its 26x=0. I made the same mistake. Just want to reinforce that, since in other problems it will matter.

huh????
Are you saying that 24 minus 2 is 26????
<--- teaches math, through calc II, can teach higher levels... knows that 24 - 2 = 22.

edit: oh, never mind... I see what you mean. I looked at a different post where it was 24x=2x, and didn't see your post where it was 24x=-2x.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: Leper Messiah

Originally posted by: DrPizza
For what it's worth, (before someone points out that for many problems, different methods lead more quickly to a solution, I'll acknowledge this, but if he's stuck at this point, he needs more general help)

#1 rule: what you do to one side of the equal sign, you do to the other.

Generally, try to get all the terms with variables on the same side of the equals sign.
In the case of 24x = 2x, subtract 2x from both sides. That makes it cancel out completely on the right hand side.
Then, you have 22x = 0. Now, divide both sides by 22 and you have x = 0.

but its -2x for each side. so its 26x=0. I made the same mistake. Just want to reinforce that, since in other problems it will matter.

huh????
Are you saying that 24 minus 2 is 26????
<--- teaches math, through calc II, can teach higher levels... knows that 24 - 2 = 22.

The simplifed equation is 24x= minus2x. you add 2x to both sides.

 

[JujuFish]

Originally posted by: Leper Messiah
24x= minus2x.

I prefer reading it as negative 2x

 

[DrPizza]

see my edit above...
Sorry! I never even looked at the problem...

I just saw "Am I even on the right track... I've gotten it down to 24x=2x" posted wayyyy up toward the top.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
see my edit above...
Sorry! I never even looked at the problem...

I just saw "Am I even on the right track... I've gotten it down to 24x=2x" posted wayyyy up toward the top.

np man. its always the little things. I had to go back and edit my original post too.

 

[Lemon law]

In short, I can prove the most wonderous of things if you only let me divide by zero.----which is why dividing by zero is undefined.

Also has some interesting implications in the computer age. Since computers make tiny errors approximating numbers-----when you divide by a number that should be zero---its often approximated by a number that isn't zero----and given the right set of numbers you can get huge errors.---or wierd results.

Learned that when I wrote some programs in the C language predicting where a line and circle intersect--------won't go into the boring math ------but if the line and circle intersect at 2 points, one point, or not all is given by solving a quadratic equation------if at two points, the square root term in the equation ( the square root of b squared -4ac ) is greater than zero, if at one point the square root term is exactly zero, and if at no points the square root term is negative.----and the square root of a negative number is impossible--at least as a counting number.

So as a test case I am making sure the program worked---using numbers easy to solve---and found
that in many one intersection cases the program crashed-----and even though I was using a long double in C, the culprit turned out to be that-----way out there some 19 places past the decimal base 10 the square root tem of the quadratic was computed as a very small negative number---instead of exactly zero.--------so any time you are dividing by a number which is close to zero--------don't trust a computer.

 

[yosuke188]

I love math. But then again, I am Asian.

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: yosuke188
I love math. But then again, I am Asian.

Stop reinforcing these stereotypes! Then again, I like math too, and I'm asian as well.

 

[dawnbug]

Originally posted by: clickynext

Originally posted by: yosuke188
I love math. But then again, I am Asian.

Stop reinforcing these stereotypes! Then again, I like math too, and I'm asian as well.

Lol

 

[yosuke188]

Originally posted by: clickynext

Originally posted by: yosuke188
I love math. But then again, I am Asian.

Stop reinforcing these stereotypes! Then again, I like math too, and I'm asian as well.

This is not a stereotype, this is the truth... Asians are more advanced in math than Americans.

 

[DVK916]

Originally posted by: dym
i think Math is easy until you get into 4xx level classes.

Every school is different, at my school we only use 0XX and 1XX numbers for classes.

 

[SaturnX]

I love math too... although I'm not Asian.

--Mark

 

[ijester]

I love math, and I am asian also.....actually not.

Not trying to stereotype at all, but I have known an awful lot of people from India that were very good mathematicians.

 

[EvilYoda]

but...but...if you remove the "egde" from your nick and you spell "math"!

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: dym
i think Math is easy until you get into 4xx level classes.

I've heard bad things about Intro to Topology. I get Modern Algebra and Advanced Calc I next semester, along with a few others.

 

[Muse]

Math was the first academic area I was good at. At that time it was just arithmetic, in grade school. With my background I felt it incumbent upon me to do reasonably well in school and somehow it was arithmetic where I first got on my feet. It was the logic of it. Apply your mind and you will comprehend. If you comprehend what's going on with math, you will get good scores on tests and good grades. Doing well in math is simply and absolutely a matter a comprehending it. This is not so in a lot of other fields. Comprehension of history does not guarantee that you will get a good grade on an examination or on an essay or paper/thesus. If you can apply your mind to mathematics, on the otherhand, to the point where you understand it, you can and will excel. I think that most people who have trouble with math just don't want to go to the trouble. They could do it, but they prefer to do something else. I won't put them down for that. Everybody makes personal choices.

 

[User1001]

When I took algebra, I found the most important thing to remember is that you can do any manipulations as long as its done to all terms on both sides of the equations. The exception is dividing by a variable because that causes a loss of solutions (then its either quadratics or factoring).

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: dym
i think Math is easy until you get into 4xx level classes.

I've heard bad things about Intro to Topology. I get Modern Algebra and Advanced Calc I next semester, along with a few others.

Funny you say that. I got no such warning, but I remember my Intro to Topology class at the university. It was absolutely my worst math class ever. I passed it but I was absolutely never comfortable that I had a grasp on what it was all about, what it meant, what it was good for, what it was, really! It was very frustrating. There were far too many people in the class, to begin with - a pretty big lecture hall. I believe that the professor was famous and distinguished, and he may have even written the textbook. I studied the textbook and its theorems until I could grasp the proofs, but I had little if any sense of the whys and wherefores for them. I was musing about this just the other day. I think my confusion might have been mainly due to a failure of the text to present a perspective on how and why the field of mathematical topology developed. I think that the coursework for practically all the other areas of the mathematical sciences that I studied was purposefully imbued with a perspective on how and why that area of knowledge evolved and grew. I think that is instrumental in giving the student an understanding of a scientific discipline and in awakening his/her curiosity. They failed to even attempt to give me a sense of why and how the theorems of introductory topology even existed That's my theory, anyway! I had to think about this because when I eventually did get my degree, it was in mathematics.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Muse
Funny you say that. I got no such warning, but I remember my Intro to Topology class at the university. It was absolutely my worst math class ever. I passed it but I was absolutely never comfortable that I had a grasp on what it was all about, what it meant, what it was good for, what it was, really! It was very frustrating. There were far too many people in the class, to begin with - a pretty big lecture hall. I believe that the professor was famous and distinguished, and he may have even written the textbook. I studied the textbook and its theorems until I could grasp the proofs, but I had little if any sense of the whys and wherefores for them. I was musing about this just the other day. I think my confusion might have been mainly due to a failure of the text to present a perspective on how and why the field of mathematical topology developed. I think that the coursework for practically all the other areas of the mathematical sciences that I studied was purposefully imbued with a perspective on how and why that area of knowledge evolved and grew. I think that is instrumental in giving the student an understanding of a scientific discipline and in awakening his/her curiosity. They failed to even attempt to give me a sense of why and how the theorems of introductory topology even existed That's my theory, anyway! I had to think about this because when I eventually did get my degree, it was in mathematics.

Which book did you use?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: yosuke188

Originally posted by: clickynext

Originally posted by: yosuke188
I love math. But then again, I am Asian.

Stop reinforcing these stereotypes! Then again, I like math too, and I'm asian as well.

This is not a stereotype, this is the truth... Asians are more advanced in math than Americans.

It's a generalization, and as such not categorically true, but generally true. I'm not making a pronouncement one way or another. I'm sure there are Asians who are terrible at math. However, obviously there are an awful lot of Asians who are very good at math or their economic revolutions of the last several decades could never have happened. Engineering, which is the bedrock of those economic revolutions is grounded in mathematics.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Muse
Funny you say that. I got no such warning, but I remember my Intro to Topology class at the university. It was absolutely my worst math class ever. I passed it but I was absolutely never comfortable that I had a grasp on what it was all about, what it meant, what it was good for, what it was, really! It was very frustrating. There were far too many people in the class, to begin with - a pretty big lecture hall. I believe that the professor was famous and distinguished, and he may have even written the textbook. I studied the textbook and its theorems until I could grasp the proofs, but I had little if any sense of the whys and wherefores for them. I was musing about this just the other day. I think my confusion might have been mainly due to a failure of the text to present a perspective on how and why the field of mathematical topology developed. I think that the coursework for practically all the other areas of the mathematical sciences that I studied was purposefully imbued with a perspective on how and why that area of knowledge evolved and grew. I think that is instrumental in giving the student an understanding of a scientific discipline and in awakening his/her curiosity. They failed to even attempt to give me a sense of why and how the theorems of introductory topology even existed That's my theory, anyway! I had to think about this because when I eventually did get my degree, it was in mathematics.

Which book did you use?

I don't remember, but I believe the professor's name was Chern, a really famous guy who was teaching/etc. at Cal. There's a fair chance I still have the book downstairs but I'm not going down there tonight to find out - I had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago and am still on crutches. If I remember, I'll look in the morning and post back here.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Beige
Im not too fond of math myself but it beats chemistry. er..yeah..hang in there and with enough effort you will get it.


"PHYSICS ROCKS!" I love that subject..xD

The only subjects I was better in even than math were chemistry and physics. I never imagined that I was the best at math in my high school class, far from it. I knew well some kids who excelled in those areas later at places like Harvard and Cal Tech. But I didn't meet anyone who was better than me in chemistry or physics. And, of course, I did love them. As I encountered them, they were perfectly comprehensible and obvious. When I got to the university I was equally good in them, and again, nobody was better. It was only when I got into upper division work and the classes got specialized that I began to lose interest.