Change your math phobic, number hating “I am just not a math person“ self into a creative problem solving machine.

It’s not you, its the dysfunctional math inheritance passed down to you.

If you are taking Algebra in 9^th grade, you have had:

• 9 different math teachers
• 9 different books/curriculum
• Who knows how many different approaches
• At least a couple different schools

If you missed school or moved schools you may have gotten lost and never caught up

So here is another question:

• How many of your teachers really understood numbers?
• How many of them really LOVED math?
• How many of them LOVED TEACHING math?
• How many of them used math professionally outside of the classroom?

Here is the deal, math is everywhere and affects everything you do.

If you are not comfortable with numbers, you will be easily misled with numbers.

Algebra is where people get most tripped up because its the first time that numbers are not represented by things. 4O dollars or 75 tickets etc. All of a sudden there are letters flying around and people freak out.

Why? Well for starters, there is not a lick of context.

What is Algebra about? Who discovered Algebra? What did they use it for? What did they use before they discovered algebra? (spoiler: ratios) What is it used for now? How does it affect my life? Nope. Crickets.

The teacher usually starts with:

This is algebra, here are a bunch of rules, memorize these definitions like polynomials and inequalities and commutative properties, wait what?

They will show you an example and give you 20 problems for homework. You do them, because you have been trained to be obedient or risk a bad grade.

If you have the guts to ask the teacher why, the answer is usually one of two things:

1) Math teaches you to think

2) This will be on “the test”

But if you are smart you know it does not teach you how to think or problem solve, you are just following directions, repeatedly. Busy work.

When will I ever use this? You won’t, your parents probably never used it because they were never taught when and how it could be used, and the computer can do it better anyway. (Thank you AI and FastMath)

Even if your profession involves math, never will your boss ever hand you a list of polynomials with coefficients and tell you to solve for x, NEVER.

This is how you will actually have to use math in the real world:

You will have to figure out what answer you need, decide what tool you need to get it, translate that into a math sequence and solve it. Then you have to apply the answer correctly to the problem.

You will probably never do this in school. It would be very difficult to design a multiple choice test for that.

Parroting facts is not learning, and when you are faced with a real world problem, that is when you will start to learn math.

All math problems are word problems. Sorry. I cringe when people say they are good at math but can’t do word problems. No, you were not taught math.

There are many ways to get to the right answer, math is actually an art. The best problem solvers come at things from many angles. When you are told there is only one “right” way by a teacher, Run.

How is math learned at America’s top elite boarding school?

Students work the problems outside of class. They learn to start by drawing diagrams, they find ways to solve the problem, choose one, use whatever concept or formula they think works best and check their answer by working backwards. Then they go to class the next day and compare their methods and answers with the rest of the class and compare approaches. They are expected to use all the resources available to them including the internet, teachers and other students.

JUST. LIKE. THE. REAL. WORLD

Try putting that on a Scantron.

Did I mention that the 1000 questions are integrated? The rest of the world does not put math in disjointed categories, like Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 (the infamous Geometry sandwich), Trig, Calculus and statistics and data science. They are all integrated-learned at the same time, because they are all intertwined.

Every other country integrates all these maths into What is usually called Math 1, 2 , and 3 depending on the country. They not only learn how math is related to the real world, but how the math concepts are related to each other.

The disintegration embedded in American curriculum breeds confusion and ignores the connection of all the school “subjects” that we tear apart and isolate. You cannot have science without math and they both have a long and fascinating history. A parade of great minds made discoveries because their worldview (their philosophy) held that the world had a structure and that it could be understood through math.

Another huge difference is that instead of “covering” topics at a breakneck pace, other countries only cover about 9 topics to America’s 20. They learn them deeply. Students in most other countries continually smoke America in The PISA International math ranking. We are getting spanked by countries like Estonia and Finland and many others. We rank about 31^st in Math. But we are still cramming all the concepts in so nothing sticks. Thank Common Core or whatever current education fad is the law of the land. Insane.

Most American students will sadly never get past Algebra, and the world of math (and many high paying vocations) is closed off to them. They are taught to hate it. They will never experience beauty and wonder of math because it is used as a barrier instead of a gateway. If you are obedient enough to “get through” the math gauntlet in college you will realize math is not at all what you were taught it was. It is creative, logical, eternal. It is reflected in every atom of nature.

So what to do instead?

Resist worrying about what you did not learn. You can learn all of arithmetic in a couple months.

Play math games-games cement knowledge and facilitate understanding. Some great ideas are found in Math Games With Bad Drawings

Notice patterns: In nature, in math tables, in money, in art. If it has structure, it is built on math.

Get cozy with money math: Compounding interest, percentages, sales, etc.

Here are a few approaches to learning math that I love.

1) Singapore Math

Singapore has been #1 in the math rankings for years. The approach uses some amazing problem solving tools that will help you sort out those real life problems. Some of these are: Bar modeling, part-whole models, guess and check. They took care to make the books clear and logical. Based on the concrete -pictorial – abstract method that does not make an abrupt exit at algebra. It is also integrated with probability and data science and will get you from Algebra through high school geometry. It is designed to be taught by a teacher with collaboration in a group, but working through the books on your own will help you understand things in a whole new way.

2) Life of Fred

Math is taught from a real world perspective through the experiences of a 5 year old math professor. It is math in a story, and is also pretty funny. There is no drill and kill here. My only gripe is it is not integrated. There were many moments of understanding as an adult of the “Why” of math rules. Good stuff and funny enough to read for enjoyment. It goes from counting to Calculus and Math Analysis. It is designed for independent learning.

3) Self Directed learning

The older you get the more you realize that most learning happens after you are out of school. So in a sense, all learning is self-directed. There are so many great places to start.

Read Math with Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin – It is a hilarious way to begin to see math used in the real world.

Read The Joy of X by Strogatz. An enjoyable journey from counting to Calculus, not even a little painful.

The website Math better explained. https://betterexplained.com True to its name!

More great reads:

• How Not To Be Wrong By Ellenberg – It should have been called ” How not to be fooled by statistics”

• Math For Human Flourishing, The beauty and humanity of math, it may make you shed a tear – but more like a novel, not at all like a textbook.

Begin with what you need to know at the moment, like all things related to money. Every time a math issue comes up, dive in a figure it out. Keep a math journal of solved problems formulas, facts, resources. I use digital note taking for this.

If you would like those 1000 problems from the elite boarding school, shoot me an email! There is no answer key, but if you put in the work, you can problem solve your way through them and be much better for it!

You CAN discover real math and love it, I promise it will love you back!