You’re not bad at math: What I learned after 7500 hours of studying math
Summary
TLDRThe video takes a motivational approach to math, claiming IQ and 'being smart' are not reliable determinants for success. Anyone can improve in math through persistence, obsessiveness, and deeper understanding of concepts and logic. The creator shares how over 7,500 hours of studying math, she realized that struggling does not equate to stupidity; we must acknowledge confusion in order to address gaps in comprehension. She explains tangible personal benefits of pursuing math including mobility, future opportunities, salary, and improved logic. Overall, the video aims to encourage students to embrace the lifelong, problem-solving benefits of deeper math study.
Takeaways
- 😊 You can catch up and excel in math even if you're currently struggling
- 😎 IQ and "being smart" are not accurate determinants of math performance
- 🔥 Becoming obsessive about understanding every question is key to success
- 😣 It's normal to find math confusing if you're missing foundational knowledge
- ❓ Asking good questions is critical to overcoming confusion
- 😥 Struggling with math is common, don't beat yourself up
- 🤓 Math builds valuable logic and problem solving skills
- 😏 Studying math can make you look smart
- 💰 Strong math skills open up high-paying career opportunities
- 💡 Math is an essential foundation for logical thinking
Q & A
What does the speaker say is the reason why some students find math difficult?
-The speaker says students find math difficult because math builds on previous foundations that students may have forgotten or not properly learned. Without that base knowledge, the logic in more advanced math does not make sense.
What does the speaker recommend doing when you are confused about a math concept?
-The speaker recommends identifying exactly which step you are confused on and figuring out what base knowledge you are missing that is causing your confusion. She recommends Googling specifics or asking someone for help.
What is the speaker's advice for overcoming struggles with math?
-The speaker advises not beating yourself up when you can't figure something out. She recommends taking deep breaths, calming down, and patiently trying to learn each step to see where you went wrong. She says to not let a question defeat you.
What does the speaker say is not a good reason to give up on a math question?
-The speaker says you should not give up just because you think someone else is smarter than you or has stricter parents. She says most students have similar IQs and being smart is a scam.
What does the speaker say is the key to being good at math?
-The speaker says being obsessive about understanding every step of every relevant math question is key. Good math students won't rest until they fully understand something.
How does the speaker say you can catch up in a math class?
-The speaker says you can catch up and get an A in a math class within 2 weeks by relentlessly focusing on fully understanding all relevant homework and textbook questions.
What personal reasons does the speaker give for studying math?
-The speaker studied math to look smart, for higher salary potential, and to build logic/problem-solving skills.
What happened when the speaker was studying for an exam?
-The speaker cried at 2am in the library because she couldn't understand an important question, but eventually calmed herself and kept trying.
What advice does the speaker have around asking questions?
-The speaker advises asking very specific rather than generic questions, even providing examples of good questions to ask. She says don't let fear of looking stupid stop you.
What does the speaker say math has changed about her life?
-The speaker says studying math has changed her life by improving her problem-solving abilities and logical thinking, which are now huge parts of her personality.
Outlines
😊 Overcoming struggles with math through perseverance and asking questions
The first paragraph discusses the author's personal journey with math. She initially hated it but through 7,500 hours of diligent studying, she gained an appreciation and cracked difficult problems. She emphasizes actively trying to understand every relevant question through an obsessive mindset. The author then plugs an online therapy sponsor to help with math struggles.
😤 Using math to open up opportunities and develop logical thinking
The second paragraph advises not to beat oneself up over struggles with math. The author shares an example of crying before an exam but persevering anyway. She then discusses motivations for learning math, like wanting to appear smart, accessing more career opportunities, and developing foundational logical thinking skills. The author concludes that studying math has changed her life.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡math
💡questions
💡understand
💡logic
💡opportunity
💡ask
💡patient
💡smart
💡struggling
💡satisfaction
Highlights
I have personally done this so many times of catching up and getting an A in math in just 2 weeks
I think IQ and being smart are just a scam; most people have very similar IQs
The people who are good at math are extremely obsessive about math questions
From now on, you need to understand every relevant question and be able to answer it independently
When you're confused, target the exact step and find out what you're missing or confused about
Don't let the fear of looking stupid stop you from asking questions
When asking questions, be as specific as possible about what you understand and don't understand
Framing specific questions also helps you understand the logic better
Don't beat yourself up when you can't figure something out; be patient and keep trying
I wanted to look smart and be treated like I was smart
Math skills lead to higher salaries and more career opportunities
Math is the foundation of logic and a lifelong skill
Studying math, especially problem solving, has changed my life
Target the exact step you are confused about and find out what you are missing
Ask specific questions about what you understand and what you don't
Transcripts
I hated math when I was a kid but after
a lot of studying
[Music]
math sometimes I get cocky because I
finally cracked the problem sometimes I
cry because I just couldn't understand
the theorem I went to Columbia
University and majored in math and
operations research so after
7,500 hours of studying math here's what
I
learned so I watched this video and the
professor talking about how if you're
currently filing behind or you're
struggling in your math class he says
that you can catch up and be at the top
of your class or getting an A in Just 2
weeks and I believe him because I have
personally done this so many times I
think IQ and being smart are just a scam
so our IQs follow a normal distribution
which means that most people have very
similar IQs and that little IQ
difference is not going to determine our
performance at the high school or
college level the people who have
extremely high IQs are very rare and are
probably not going to be in your class
they're probably already in some genius
or gifted to school so you may think
jich chin from your math class is way
smarter than you but he is not he
probably just has more strict parents
than
you so all the people that I know are
good at math are extremely obsessive
about math questions they won't feel
comfortable if they don't understand
something or they cannot figure out
something it's like a ear warm in their
head but the earworm is Whispering about
numbers so I have this friend who's
doing a PhD in math she won't be able to
talk or think about anything else if she
is working on some MTH questions in her
head personally I'm not as Extreme as
her maybe that's why I'm not doing a PhD
in math but I love the feeling of trying
to understand something and the
satisfaction of finally cracked it and
finally figuring it out so from now on
every question you see you need to get
to the bottom of it from now on you just
won't accept that you don't know how to
do a question or you don't understand a
question that's just not an option of
course the questions should be related
to your class or content you're
currently studying it can be questions
from your homework your exam or
textbooks while there's no reason to
study some random super advanced math
questions that you see online so every
single question that is relevant to you
and you already started working on it
you need to understand how it works at
every single step and make sure that you
can answer the question yourself
independently if there is another
question that's exactly the same but
different numbers you should also be
able to do
that so sometimes we felt math was so
hard and felt like it didn't make any
sense how come it jumps from one step to
the other and in class sometimes we just
feel like what is the teacher talking
about I'm just so lost how come everyone
else else seems like they get it and
first of all that is very common and I
still experience that all the time when
you have those feelings it doesn't mean
you're stupid or anything like that the
reason for that is all the math you're
learning right now is built on some
foundations that were taught before and
you probably forgot about it or just
didn't learn it simple example for
questions 7 * 8 - 5 * 3 the answer shows
it equal to 56 - 15 = to 41 but in order
to get that you actually need to know
the order of operations which is
multiplication and division come before
addition and subtraction then you will
also need to know 7 * 8 equals to 56 and
5 * 3 = to 15 for someone who doesn't
know or forget any of those three things
this explanation just doesn't make sense
so when you're confused about something
Target which exact step and find out
what are the things that you're missing
or confused about you can either just
Google that or ask someone I want to
take a moment to thank the sponsor of
this video better help I have been
having online therapy with better help
for about 4 months now and it has been
really really helpful because it gives
me so many tools to just live my life
better for example I kept
procrastinating on a recent project and
I didn't know why so I started to beat
myself up and wonder why I was so lazy
and unproductive and my therapist helped
me realize that my resistance to this
project came from feeling in a similar
project before and by acknowledging this
I understood why I was struggling so
much and started working immediately if
you are having a tough relationship with
math therapy can help you overcome it if
you are a student under lots of stress
or if you're dealing with mental health
issues such as depression and anxiety
you can get help through better help in
just 48 hours in most cases to get
started with better help you fill out a
questionnaire and they will match you
with a license the therapist based on
your specific needs if the therapist you
initially matched with does not feel
like the right fit you can easily switch
to a new therapist I personally changed
my therapist twice before I found the
right one so if you think you might
benefit from therapy I highly recommend
betterhelp click the link in the
description or visit betterhelp.com hun
jungo to get 10% off of your first month
of better
help and ask questions don't be afraid
to ask questions don't let the fear of
looking stupid holding your back I
guarantee you most people would love to
help you okay if occasionally someone
doesn't want to answer your question or
the way they explain it is simply just
not for you just to try a different
person and when you ask questions try to
be as specific as possible it's going to
be very hard for them to help you if you
just ask a very general or generic
questions like oh I don't know how to do
this question or like I'm just confused
I don't know what's going on start with
the things that you already understand
say like I understand here but this step
I don't understand why it turned into
this or say something like Oh I thought
it was something something but I don't
understand why is the answer shows this
this way you will get exactly what you
needed and help the people to help you
and just the process of framing a
question is also very helpful for you to
understand the logic
[Music]
better math is hard don't beat yourself
up when you can figure something out
just last year before my modern analysis
exam I was crying in the library at 2:00
a.m. because I just couldn't understand
a very important but heart question no
matter what but after I cried I still
have exam the next morning so I took a
couple deep breaths and ComEd myself
down I knew what I needed was to be
patient and trying to learn each step
and figure out where I went wrong
because I told myself that I would never
let some stupid question defeat me I am
going to own their
ass so let's talk a little bit more
about what is a good reason to learn
math and I also want to share a little
bit about my personal motivations and
why I chose to study math in college the
first one is actually super shallow I
just want to look smart I was done with
people treating me like I was not smart
and the second reason is more
opportunity and higher salary so there
are lots of high income skills are
directly needed
math and math is a very competitive
Advantage as a very useful skill as it's
transferable for a lot of things when I
was a freshman I was interested in
financial engineering and math was very
important I didn't end up studying that
but that's a story for another time and
reason number three is that math is the
foundation of logic and that's a
lifelong skill I can comfortably say
that studying math has has changed my
life because I got so much from learning
mess especially the problem solving
skills and just being logical as huge
part of my
personality well thank you so much for
watching I hope you had a wonderful day
like And subscribe I will see you next
time
[Music]
bye
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Becoming good at math is easy, actually
Why you understand the math but CAN'T solve problems
The HACK to ACE MATH no matter what - Caltech study tip
Insπre: Rethinking the Purpose of Math Education | Tisha Jones | TEDxGeorgiaStateU
Five Principles of Extraordinary Math Teaching | Dan Finkel | TEDxRainier
The way math should be taught
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)