Anyone still struggle with numbers?

Other than working out a quick percentage or basic addition I don't really come across maths. I'm never like "hmm what volume of cement will I need to perfectly fill this cylinder".
 
Too much work this day and age, so i just use a calc.

it will make you lazy cos you're reaching for a calc, but at the end of the day, you wouldn't use a manual screwdriver to screw in a hundred screws when you have a powertool sitting next to you either would you !
 
I find being out of practice is what causes the brain fade. When I was coming up to some exams I was worried because even just adding/subtracting large numbers would take me ages, but I picked up the brain training game on DS and found practicing every day sped me up a lot.

Of course at work I'll always just grab a calculator.
 
Theres plenty of free resources online to get you up to scratch. Even if you are past your sell by date, you should at least learn some basic principles for the sake of your children. You can use something like the following site to get yourself to a decent standard:

http://www.cimt.org.uk/ske/

Plenty of others out there, completely free.
 
new boy said:
For me, it's spelling. Luckily, spell check has got my back 99% of the time.
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Same here, my spelling is appalling. Maths however is very much one of my strong points, I can often work out things faster in my head than if I had a calculator (even very complex stuff)
 
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My language skills are good but my mathematics skills are garbage. In Canada, school goes from Junior Kindergarten to Senior Kindergarten then grades 1 to 13. Well, it's 1 to 12 now, as they have scrapped grade 13 to save money.

I made it to grade 9 for math, and I passed with about 51%. I was so bad at grade 10 math that my math teacher, of all people, suggested that I drop the course and stop taking math in school. This was after I came for extra help before and after school for months and months. I'm not sure if he thought I was a hopeless case or if he was just tired of putting in the extra time with me, or maybe a combination of both.

I excelled at computer science, English, Spanish, Geography, History... pretty much everything outside of the social sciences, which I found confusing... but that Maths was never something I could tackle. It didn't help that my mother, the only parent I lived with, had had similar problems and dropped out of Maths at an even younger age than me, so I couldn't get help with my homework. My father was good at maths but didn't see me very often and I didn't want to take up the precious little father-son time we had with hours of maths help.

It's sad really. I can't do even basic math in my head unless it's simple +/-. I can do simple multiplication in my head up to 12X12 (144. I'm proud that I know that. It is 144 right?) but that's about it.

I don't feel TERRIBLY bad about this as I frequently see people on the internet, particularly Americans, who don't know you're from your, or there from they're and their, or woman from women...

At least I don't suck at everything.

I've noticed that people tend to lean one way or another in terms of language skills vs maths skills. Few people excel at both.
 
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new boy said:
We all have out strengths and weaknesses, I guess maths just isn't your thing.

For me, it's spelling. Luckily, spell check has got my back 99% of the time.
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Yeah, i've always been pretty damn good at maths up until Uni (which i needed to learn some mental equations for my Physics degree, damn you quantum physics!)

But spelling is such a weak point i do wonder if i'm undiagnosed dyslexic, fortunately google chrome and word spelling takes care of 95% of the time and the rest i have to do a bit of googling to get a word right.

But being bad a spelling is much less a barrier than it used to be because of this, but there's nothing for bad maths :D
 
I was pretty good at maths and mental arithmetic when I was younger but lack of practice over the years have eroded my abilities.
 
My maths skills in general are quite poor when I'm doing everyday things, however I tend to have a bit more ability when it comes to programming so the knowledge is definitely somewhere in my head.
 
I am terrible at maths.

But I know it's a skill like any other and it just requires the same practice. Didn't the guy who went on to become the human calculator fail maths or something? or he dropped one.

One of the two I think.
 
Use of calculators and spellcheckers would probably see me fail GCSE maths/English if I were to re-take them :o

Saying that maths was never my strong point and a C at GCSE's was probably the last time I gave it much thought.
 
it's about learning tricks when it comes to maths.

Sometimes it is faster to multiply by 10 then figure out the difference and subtract it from the first answer.

Khan academy is ok for getting up to speed on maths, but also google 'mental math hacks'.

Although sometimes, I get a total brain fart and struggle with some basic maths, especially %'s.
 
I've never been great at maths. This hasn't stopped me from securing three finance systems analyst roles lol.
 
Jez said:
Doesnt this show why it is important to be taught maths to a good level at school.

Perhaps you should sit a maths GCSE/A-Level as a distance learning course or something?
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I was taught to a reasonable level at school, top of class etc for maths all the way up to and through GCSE. Never really needed the ability to do mental arithmetic outside of academia and it didn't take long to forget a lot of it. Continued practice is needed to keep these skills.
 
terrible at multiplication etc as well.

but i've got a calculator for that - i was still top of the class in university for quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, kinetics etc
 
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