Five Pitfalls That Make It Difficult to Understand Math

Mathematics is considered by many to be the most challenging subject in school, which is most evident when you get to college and need to take advanced math classes like differential geometry, calculus, and linear algebra. If you’ve been struggling with math and don’t understand how to overcome this hurdle, there are many reasons why students typically have issues with understanding math. Once you know what these pitfalls are and how to mitigate them, you should start to see improvements with your test scores and knowledge of the subject.

Difficulties With Paying Attention

Math is a very complicated subject that typically comes with problems that take multiple steps to solve. Finding a solution is rarely easy and will require a significant amount of thought, which means that students who have difficulty paying attention will find that math is likely the most difficult subject to properly understand. When students are learning complex math problems, it’s common for them to become disinterested at some point, which could lead to them missing several steps within the process of solving the problem. Once it’s time to take a test or do some math homework, the students who have had issues paying attention likely won’t be able to answer the questions correctly.

Lack of Patience

Many students don’t have the patience to practice the math concepts and problems that they’re told to learn. It’s also common to believe that you understand a math problem only to have difficulties solving it when attempting to answer the problem on your own. If you want to better understand math, you’ll need to put in the time to practice.

Concepts Are Difficult to Understand

As touched upon previously, math concepts can be very difficult to understand and become even more confusing when studying calculus or advanced algebra. Many students focus solely on learning the math problem through repetitive memorization techniques. The main issue with with this approach is that you may not understand the meaning behind the math concept, which can lead to issues if future math problems are derived from these concepts. Because each person learns differently, obtaining help from a tutor who can provide personalized assistance may be the best option if you want to truly understand math.

Math Builds Upon Prior Concepts

Math is a subject that is constantly built upon simpler concepts that you will have learned in the past. If you don’t know division, you won’t be able to effectively reduce fractions. In the event that some complicated math problems are proving too difficult for you to solve, you may want to go back and study the foundation of these math concepts.

Students Fail to Believe That Math Will Be Relevant

Many students grow up believing that math won’t have real-world applications. While this belief is not as strongly held as it once was because of the continuous growth of technological industries, it can still prove to be a pitfall when trying to learn and understand math. If you feel that the subject won’t be helpful for your career, it may be difficult for you to be motivated enough to understand the subject. Even if math isn’t wholly relevant to the career you expect to have once you finish school, understanding it will allow you to get good grades, which can only be beneficial for your future career and the opportunities that you have.

Likely the simplest method for understanding math is to use visualization techniques that break the numbers and equations down into words and images that represent the numbers. Once you’ve identified why you’re having trouble understanding math, you should be able to take the steps towards eliminating these pitfalls. For instance, if you don’t find math relevant and believe that the subject is unimportant, keep in mind that any career in engineering, science, or technology will require a strong base of math. If you need further help, you could always seek assistance from an online tutor.