You’re not bad at math: What I learned after 7500 hours of studying math

Summary

The 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

00:00

😊 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.

05:02

😤 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.

Keywords

💡math

Math is one of the core themes of the video. The speaker discusses her personal journey with studying math, including initially disliking it as a kid, struggling with it at times, majoring in it college, and ultimately learning to understand and appreciate it. She argues that math IQ and being naturally gifted at math are not as important as obsessively working hard at understanding math concepts.

💡questions

The speaker emphasizes the importance of deeply focusing on understanding every relevant math question encountered. She advises not accepting not knowing how to solve a question and explains this obsession with getting to the bottom of questions is a trait of good math students.

💡understand

A key piece of advice from the speaker is to not stop working on a math question until you completely understand it at every step. She describes the good feeling when you finally figure out and understand a difficult math concept.

💡logic

The speaker discusses how studying math has helped her develop logic and problem solving skills. Math builds critical thinking through its logical frameworks.

💡opportunity

The speaker cites increased career opportunities and earning potential as one reason she chose to major in math. Quantitative and logic skills from math prepare students for high-income jobs.

💡ask

The speaker encourages students to ask lots of specific questions when struggling with math concepts. Asking questions and getting personalized explanations is key for clarifying confusion.

💡patient

When facing difficulty, the speaker advocates being patient and calmly trying to learn step-by-step rather than getting overly frustrated.

💡smart

The speaker shares that one reason she pursued math was a desire to be treated as smart and competent after previously feeling underestimated. Math skills are often equated with intelligence.

💡struggling

The speaker normalizes struggling with math questions and concepts, even for advanced students. Patience and breaking problems down is key when struggling.

💡satisfaction

Solving a difficult math problem brings immense satisfaction, according to the speaker. The feeling of finally understanding something challenging is very rewarding.

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