A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra)

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Now, a lot of you may ask some questions related to getting better at Math, so here are some of my answers to those. What does being good at math mean? In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively—secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions—you just need the creativity to see them. For example, there are more than three hundred different known proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. In short, studying a problem in a laser-focused way until you reach a solution is not an effective way to learn. Rather, it involves taking the time to step away from a problem and allow the more relaxed and creative part of the brain to take over. The learning strategies in this book apply not only to math and science, but to any subject in which we struggle. We all have what it takes to excel in areas that don't seem to come naturally to us at first, and learning them does not have to be as painful as we might think.

Extremely smart people are more likely to procrastinate than people of normal intelligence. Because procrastinating always worked when they were growing up. This means they are less likely to learn critical life skills early on. Chunking Versus Choking: How to Increase Your Expertise and Reduce Anxiety” is the seventh chapter. Finally, we get to a chapter about mathematics, namely how to read mathematical symbols and decipher the stories that equations tell. “There are hidden meanings in equations, just as there are in poetry,” Oakley says (203). Oakley describes two tactics for uncovering and comprehending those underlying meanings: simplifying and personifying the topic of study, and recognizing when and how to apply what has been learnt in one context to another. Now that I’ve decided to read 100 books in 100 days, I have to make sure that I’m reading books across multiple disciplines. I have close to 17,500 books in my Kindle app, so I have many options. While experiencing the read 100 books in 100 days I don’t want to hear myself saying, haven’t I read a book like that already? What is A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science by Barbara Oakley About? If you liked what you saw. Here are 3 titles that I recommend based on what was discussed in A Mind for Numbers.One of the best things you can do to remember and understand concepts in math and science is to create a metaphor or analogy for them. Unlike some books which are very narrow and specific to a particular technique in a “one size fits all” fashion, this book gives techniques we could all use in daily life to be more efficient in our work. It focuses on switching between the “focused” and “diffuse” thinking states, practising “chunking” to ease the load of learning a big amount of information and firmly imprint the knowledge in long-term memory. The book covers other such techniques which are very easy to integrate into daily learning. The book contains anecdotes from scientists, educators, and students which help the book to be more engaging and relatable.

Space your repetition. Spread out your learning in any subject a little every day, just like an athlete. Your brain is like a muscle—it can handle only a limited amount of exercise on one subject at a time. A good teacher will leave you educated. But a great teacher will leave you curious. Well, Barbara Oakley is a great teacher. Not only does she have a mind for numbers, she has a way with words, and she makes every one of them count.” Oakley uses good teaching/learning approaches in this book. It is peppered with stories and even pictures that bring lessons to life. The stories are from very successful scientists – many of whom struggled to learn or were even wr A Mind for Numbers is written for students of math and science, but Barbara Oakley’s perspective, interviews, and recommendations are very useful for everybody who wants to be a SMART 21st Century lifelong learner. It is a practical book that reflects the best knowledge about how our brains process things – both logically and creatively, from the details up AND from the ideas down. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn better – or who wants to help a scholar who wants to excel and LEARN in school. Mathematics is not just about how fast you can accurately calculate something in your head. It’s a common misconception that students have. Getting good at math also means that you can use previously learned concepts to make rational, sequential, and analytical approaches to gain new insights for solving a problem. Can I become better at math?

How to Excel at Math and Science

Learning involves 2 key memory systems: your short-term and long-term memory. These are like your computer’s random-access memory (RAM) and hard-drive.