Mathematics can be a nightmare to some people. Why this thing called mathematics is disliked by so many people? Even children turn away from it. I used to ask myself the same question when I was growing up. I couldn’t understand why some of my friends hated to do addition, subtraction and etc. I have loved numbers since I knew how to write. Therefore it should be natural for me to love maths, I guess.
After I went through college and university, I think I have ideas why mathematics makes people sweat, worried and cannot sleep at night. (I’m exaggerating, I know, but there are some truths to it) One of the reasons can mainly be related to the way mathematics is taught. Some teachers really know how to bore you to death while there are teachers who can make something as dull as history and mathematics become interesting. I had my share of experiences with both types of teachers and yes, I could see that my grades were affected too. Even with your love for numbers, some teachers could really confuse you and left you wondering what those numbers and symbols meant.
Those who suffer anxiety over maths can do this as one of the strategies i.e. teach yourself or your brothers/sisters/children maths the interesting way. There are so many strategies introduced for learning and teaching maths nowadays. One of them is known as mental maths. Have you ever seen people doing complicated calculations without using any calculators? Have you ever felt like doing the same thing? Some people may think that it can only be done by weird, nerd and out-of-the-world people. Well, think again. Unconsciously, all of us have been using mental maths one way or the other. For ladies, how many times have you done some mental calculations on the total prices of goods to buy when you go shopping? For men, calculations on how much you have to pay for the shopping done by the ladies?
Mental maths is not that difficult to do. All we need to know is the method to do it. For example, let’s take a basic addition problem of 35 + 52. First, imagine the numbers 30 and 50 and add them together. The answer will be 80. Next, imagine the number 5 and 2 and add them to become 7. Finally, plus 80 with 7 to produce the result 87. Easy? Yes. Fun? I would think so. Practice with easy calculations first and soon you will be able to solve complicated ones without problems.
To know more, we can always find this method in the Internet or through books.
One of my best teachers once told me “Maths is beautiful” and I agree with him.
