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[Vector]

I know this doesn't help, but it has to asked. Why the crap are you a math major if it scares you so much!?

I love math and I'm good at it.  It scares me because I used to be very bad at it.  Now I'm trying to just enjoy the subject without the fear.

It's a fairly simple situation.

[eerr]

Ok then,what would you do If you couldn't solve a problem?

[Vector]

Ok then,what would you do If you couldn't solve a problem?

Usually I sit down and draw a bunch of pictures.  Then I go look for related theorems.  This lasts for a while until I've solved the problem.

It's not the problem-solving that's a problem (>_>).  It's the anxiety that happens when I first realize I don't know what to do.  But, as I said, the answer is probably to inure myself... so, off to do that.


Edit: Well, the linear algebra doesn't seem to be causing trauma so far, so I guess I'd better look for some harder problems.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Ok then,what would you do If you couldn't solve a problem?

Usually I sit down and draw a bunch of pictures.  Then I go look for related theorems.  This lasts for a while until I've solved the problem.

It's not the problem-solving that's a problem (>_>).  It's the anxiety that happens when I first realize I don't know what to do.

It seems that you do know what to do when you get stuck. You look for what tools you have available. That's arguably the best action one could take.

[Frelock]

True, although it often isn't enough.  A lot of the more complicated proofs I've encountered (pure math major here too) have had some sort of trick behind them that makes perfect logical sense, but comes from a completely unseen direction(like using probabilities to get a lower bound on a Ramsey number, I would have never thought of that before my prof mentioned it).

My advice is to find someone else as interested in math as you are, preferably interested in the same fields as you.  I was consistently getting B's and B- in all my upper-division math courses until I met a guy who was in all of my classes.  We got together a few days a week, bounced ideas off of one another, solved theorems and reviewed proofs with one another, and suddenly I'm getting straight A's.  If you have someone else to rely on, suddenly prospects become a lot more bright.  Your friend can cover your gaps, and you'll cover theirs.  And if there's a problem that neither of you can solve after a lengthy period of time, go and ask other people.  Mathematicians don't have to be introverts, and there's too much mathematics for one person to know everything.  When you have the entire knowledge base of a sizable university, there's nothing you can't do with a little conversation(though don't except to be solving millennium prize problems right off the bat).

[eerr]

What is your focus for problem solving?

[Vector]

My problem is that people don't want to study with me.  Their cited reason is that I know the material, and they don't.  It could just be that I'm annoying, but I don't think so--they seem more than happy to talk about class/life/whatever (voluntarily sitting down to chat for a couple of hours when they see me), and don't avoid me or anything.  When it comes to study groups, though, things don't work out very well.

Again, the problem isn't the grades... before I left school, I was getting top grades on midterms/homeworks/everything without attending class.  The problem is anxiety when it comes to problem-solving, despite logic saying that I shouldn't worry at all.

What is your focus for problem solving?

My focus?  Finding the little tricks that turn an impossible problem into an easy one.  I don't find routine problems interesting, where you're just going from one definition to another or doing the obvious.

I actually rate problem-difficulty by the number of non-obvious tricks it takes to solve.  Most problems at an undergrad level take 0-1 tricks, with the Big Theorems we learn often taking 7-8.  Analysis is especially bad about this.

Right now, I think I'm good for 2 or 3 tricks with a lot of effort, while I find the 0-1 trick problems quite easy.

[Siquo]

Math is Peaceful? Don't make me laugh.

Vector, that math problem is nothing but a Dragon! Your adversary, your nemesis, and you must slay it at all costs! Only using your own knowledge and intelligence, and the cryptic advice of old seers (disguising as math professors) you must defeat this foul beast! You are clad in shining armor, your blade shines with the purity of thousands of years of accumulated insights, your shield make a perfect curve, and is emblazoned with the natural constants (and on the back side with some shortcut formulas, as a cheat sheet). You stand on a hill, the sun behind you, looking down into the valley of darkness, where the foul beast lives in his cave. Through tribulations, strife, tears and sweat, you WILL succeed!

[ToonyMan]

OK VECTOR YOU WILL DO IT

ANXIETY WITH PROBLEM SOLVING YOU SAY?  JUST DONT HAVE IT, WHY SHOULD YOU BE ANXIOUS WHEN OTHERS HAVE MORE REASON TO DO SO

I FORGET THAT MOST WOULD NOT TAKE SUCH DEDICATION IN SUCCESS AND WINNING AND THEY ARE LOSERS FOR THIS

YOU ARE WINNER VECTOR

[Vector]

... A math-berserker, you say?  I may have to try this.

[Siquo]

Yes! The Slayer of Problems, the Prover of Formulae, the Solver of ......running out of metaphor here... The One who will Conquer after some extremely cliched ups and downs and maybe a side-quest or two.

[ToonyMan]

Make sure it rhymes too or else we will need to find something new.

[Siquo]

Or alliterating. I wouldn't recommend berserk though, you sometimes need a long breath to get to that final Dragon Treasure. I was more thinking Knight or Paladin.

Solving math problems by smashing your head on the paper it was written on (and subsequently denting the desk beneath) only worked for me and is not recommendable unless you've got an 14th level of mathberserker class.

[ToonyMan]

Eraser pecs.

[Armok]

Math is Peaceful? Don't make me laugh.

Vector, that math problem is nothing but a Dragon! Your adversary, your nemesis, and you must slay it at all costs! Only using your own knowledge and intelligence, and the cryptic advice of old seers (disguising as math professors) you must defeat this foul beast! You are clad in shining armor, your blade shines with the purity of thousands of years of accumulated insights, your shield make a perfect curve, and is emblazoned with the natural constants (and on the back side with some shortcut formulas, as a cheat sheet). You stand on a hill, the sun behind you, looking down into the valley of darkness, where the foul beast lives in his cave. Through tribulations, strife, tears and sweat, you WILL succeed!

OH **** Thats was epic...