Ten Ways to Survive the Math Blues
Figure out the Big Picture: Find out why you are doing this math. How does it fit with your other courses (science, geography, English, engineering)? You could do some Internet searches on the math you are studying and include "application". Get a sense of where you are going and why you are doing this. Mathematics is compulsory in most of the world – there has to be a reason…- Get on top of it before it gets on top of you. Yep, mathematics is one of those things that builds on prior knowledge. Yet many students learn things only for an examination and then promptly forget it, setting themselves up for later difficulties. Learn for the future, not for tomorrow’s test.
- Read Ahead. It is strongly advised that you read over next week’s math right now. You won’t understand it all, but you will have a better sense of what is coming up and how it fits with what you are doing this week. Then, when your class goes through it later, your doubts and uncertainties will reduce – and you will understand and remember it better.
Use more than one resource. It often happens that you can’t follow the teacher’s explanation and your textbook is very confusing. Borrow 2 or 3 textbooks similar to your own from your library and read what they have to say about the topic. Often they will have a diagram, a picture or an explanation that gives you the "Ahhh – I get it!" that you desire.- Don’t join the Blame Game. Teaching mathematics is tough. Teachers really have to work hard to make math fun, interesting and engaging. It is easy to blame a teacher for a bad grade, but who is really responsible for your future?
- Practice makes Perfect. You don’t expect to be able to play guitar or drive a car without practice. Well, learning mathematics (unfortunately) involves some slogging away and doing exercises. Don’t get bogged down, though – use your other resources to help you through the homework.
Time Management. Start homework assignments as soon as you get them. There may be some things on there that you haven’t done in class yet (because maybe it is not due for a few weeks). That’s good – it helps to focus your thoughts so that when you are doing that section in class, you know that it is important and you’ll know what you don’t know. Nobody plans to fail – but many fail to plan…- Don’t fall into the trap of copying from a friend to survive. They probably have the wrong answer anyway. Besides, a lot of students resent being asked for their assignments for copying – they are too afraid of a ruined relationship to say no. Hey, you can do it – have the confidence in your own ability.
- Never, never give up. Math uses a different part of the brain than most other things in school. It can be stressful when you can’t figure out something. Work on something else for a while and come back to it later.
Keep a sense of humour! Don’t lose the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mistakes. Mistakes are not the end of the world – they are the beginning of real learning!
Go to 
Interactive Mathematics for free math lessons.
16 Feb 2007 at 3:10 am [Comment permalink]
[...] As for the mysterious (no ‘about’ link) SquareCircleZ, he (I’m guessing) also has an excellent article, How to Survive the Math Blues, which I am putting on my kids’s “must-read” list. We’ll probably be visiting this blog and the Interactive Math site on a regular basis from now on. [...]
13 Aug 2007 at 4:19 pm [Comment permalink]
[...] Ten Ways to Survive the Math Blues: General tips on how to learn as much as possible from any math course. [...]
13 Mar 2008 at 9:37 pm [Comment permalink]
[...] 10 ways to survive the Math blues Filed under: Senior Middle One (Science), Senior Middle Two (Art & commerce) — chtanmaths @ 1:37 pm  http://www.squarecirclez.com/blog/ten-ways-to-survive-the-math-blues [...]
16 Jun 2009 at 3:11 pm [Comment permalink]
DEAR SIR
I AM STUDENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGG. I DONT HAVE ANY IDEA OF FOURIER SERIES AND IT S USE . PLZ SEND ME A FEW HINTS AND SOMEWHAT EXPLANATION
18 Jun 2009 at 10:52 am [Comment permalink]
Hello Nadeem
You can find a chapter on Fourier Series over at Interactive Mathematics. Hope it helps!
23 Jun 2010 at 2:41 pm [Comment permalink]
God bless you throughout your life .Thank you!
24 Jun 2010 at 3:47 pm [Comment permalink]
[...] is a post I think is very useful for students studying mathematics: Ten Ways To Survive The Math Blues by experienced math educator Murray Bourne. He also owns a website, Interactive Mathematics. While [...]
24 Jul 2010 at 12:07 am [Comment permalink]
Math requires time and patience. Math is not a rushing game. You have to focus and be able to relate.
25 Aug 2010 at 9:53 pm [Comment permalink]
Thanks for the information. I read about these 10 ways and found them very interesting and really useful for students who are fond of mathematics. I wish you good luck and thank you one more for sharing this info.
22 Oct 2010 at 7:07 pm [Comment permalink]
Thank you for everything you’ve done to make us LOVE the math..I’m rather not confidence and stressful everytime I do my math homework or exam..but actually I’m an engineering student I have to deals with math everyday until the end of my life..thank you again for squarecirclez and intmath..you really do great job and make this world looks better for me..^_^
23 Oct 2010 at 8:20 am [Comment permalink]
You’re welcome, Laila! I’ve added your comments to the Testimonials section at http://www.intmath.com/help/site-info.php.
All the best with your studies.
26 Oct 2010 at 6:33 pm [Comment permalink]
i find that this is quite usefull – have been following it and things look auspicious for the coming exam…
22 Nov 2010 at 12:08 pm [Comment permalink]
woahh,, this is really a good help for me to improve my mathematics skills.. I’m an applied math student and well, we always deal with numbers..
but actually as we go on to higher mathematics, it seems to me that we don’t deal that much with numbers anymore but with LETTERS..
well, thanks to all the people who are behind this kind of learning site..=)
18 Feb 2011 at 11:29 am [Comment permalink]
This article highlights all the simple ways to do well in a math class because all math really takes is keeping up with the homework (this is extremely crucial with math) and by doing so, you’re effectively practicing the concepts. I think the most important thing it mentions is time management and not falling behind, that’s helped me in my math classes.
20 Feb 2011 at 3:14 pm [Comment permalink]
The article is quiet interesting. There are few materials on this theme. And here is Russian translation: http://hijos.ru/2011/02/20/??????-??????-?????????-???-????????/
23 Feb 2011 at 4:00 pm [Comment permalink]
Waaauuuuu! I really love these 10 ways of surviving maths blues and I find them very helpful. I tried following them, and they really helped me alot with my mathematics. Thanks alot for helping us to do the best we can do out of maths, thank you for caring. ” God, the almighty will reward you”!
23 Feb 2011 at 4:05 pm [Comment permalink]
As an engineering student, I reAlly would love to recommend other engineering students to use 10 ways of surviving maths blues to make maths easier to them. But these ways can apply to other subjets. TRY THEM, YOU WILL SEE THE DIFFERENCE!
11 Jun 2011 at 9:30 pm [Comment permalink]
As a long time maths teacher, i really appreciate the ten ways to survive the maths blues, i encourage all those young students who would like to succeed in maths to adopt them. They will see miracles happen. Thanks.
11 Sep 2011 at 3:28 pm [Comment permalink]
I particularly like the first point, “Figure out the Big Picture,” because as a tutor for trigonometry and pre-calculus, when I ask my tutees why they are taking their particular math courses, it allows me to see how commited they may be to learning the subject. For example, for someone who is taking the math course just to complete an elective, it allows me to anticipate how much of the information they just learned will be commited to memory. If a particularly complicated mathematical concept is to be covered in the course, I usually explain how making an effort to understand instead of memorizing this particular concept has helped me in my math career as a college student, and I also try to find a way to ease the process of learning the concept based on my past frustrations and difficulties that I overcame. If the tutee is taking the math course as a pre-requisite for a course pertaining to a major, I usually point out how the particular concept will be used in the higher math courses to emphasize the need to understand the concept rather than just memorizing it.
11 Sep 2011 at 3:51 pm [Comment permalink]
@Nisa: Thanks for the input.
Too many math courses exist in separate “boxes” – the teachers often don’t know how it is related to the rest of their course, or the math the students will do later. So how can we expect the students to connect the dots?
26 Sep 2011 at 10:37 pm [Comment permalink]
[...] http://www.squarecirclez.com/blog/ten-ways-to-survive-the-math-blues [...]
27 Oct 2011 at 10:07 pm [Comment permalink]
ur maths tips are beyond brilliant..,just got my maths spark back thnx 2 u…me like(-_-)
27 Oct 2011 at 10:21 pm [Comment permalink]
@lulu – great to hear the tips were useful for you! Good luck with your studies.
2 Nov 2011 at 8:54 am [Comment permalink]
: You are actually being used by God to help lives,”doing a good job”
4 Nov 2011 at 8:02 am [Comment permalink]
I really enjoy this site, it makes me refresh my memory. Secondly, i like the way mathematics is been solve in this site, i mean the steps. onlike others.
Thanks.
1 Dec 2011 at 10:33 pm [Comment permalink]
This is a brilliant site Murray, I’m a mathematician myself, yet still you’ve managed to bring back to memory things that i’ve forgotten! Excellent site.
2 Dec 2011 at 8:44 pm [Comment permalink]
@Matt: Thanks for your positive feedback. Always good on a Friday! I’ve added it to the other IntMath testimonials