Math Anxiety

I have it whenever I have to calculate the radius of a circle, multiply by the square root of the number, do the cosign, vector in the trig, then add 598.

It totally freaks me out.

Sorry I couldn't be of any use, but I'm there in spirit.

Kaferico, Welcome to A2K. I don't know what kind of Math is creating anxiety, but I can tell you a brief story that may help.

When I was in high school, I was good enough in Math to take double-years at an advanced level; I was also dumb and conceited enough to think that I could solve just about anything mathematical. Well, along came probabilities, and they simply would not compute in my mind. My teacher spent hours of one-on-one time with me, even kindly bringing out glass jars with differentedly-colored marbles for me to draw from, hoping that hands-on might inspire some useful synapses in my brain. No luck at all. I remained clueless, and I was getting really down on myself for being so out of it while my classmates zoomed through the problems like hot knives through soft butter.

Mr. Smith, my Math teacher, suddenly lit up during another grueling afternoon with the marbles. I thought he had a new angle--and he did, only it was more general, and it's still useful to me today, a LONG time later.

"M," he said, "you are a very bright boy, but that does NOT mean that you will be able to understand everything that comes your way. Everyone, myself included, has gaps in ability. Probabilities is clearly a gap for you. This may change some day, or it may always be a gap. Don't let this natural phenomenon get you down. Next week, we start another topic, and I fully expect you'll have no problems--although one of your classmates may. It's the natural order of things."

I felt immense relief! Years later, I could finally do probabilities, but I still am hopeless with Symbolic Logic and, according to my wife, a few other things.

Don't psych yourself out, if you happen to have stepped into Math at an area that, despite your best efforts, remains unknown territory for you. And, on a larger scale, don't become discouraged by any problem that refuses to yield. Turn to another that you can solve; then, return to the first one--maybe, much later!