Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mathie Crisis

I forgot all my math. Help!

The unfortunate side effect of taking lots of chemistry courses and working in chemistry is that I start to forget math. Not calculus/linear algebra 1, but general problem solving, proofs, and the like. I can appreciate existing proofs, but it's as though I can't think them up any more!

I'm staring helplessly at my first (i.e. should be easy) assignment. If you give this to me in one year ago, I can probably solve the problems without looking at any notes whatsoever (as can everyone else in my class). Now, my mind is blank - I don't know what to do!

Help! What to do, what to do?

I don't think this is an age thing - it's more of a cultural problem. Maintaining mathie skills require doing math, thinking math, hanging out with fellow mathies, constantly. I've been most remiss in this regard, but *now* what can I do?

Paradoxically, I also don't know what things from previous courses can I assume in my assignments! (My previous courses are heavily proof-based. Most other students in my current classes would've taken the *cough less rigorous cough* "normal" or "engineering/physics" versions, and they cover things very differently.)

By the way, dropping my math major is not an option. It's not just being stubborn - there are lots of math courses I want to take and I can't do that with just a chemistry major.

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