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Math: from hate to love

Arik on May 28, 2018

Photo Credit: Garden Programmers don't typically like to admit that they're bad at Math. Also, it doesn't help that most non-programmers have this ...
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Cat • Edited

most non-programmers have this idea that all programmers are some kind of Math geniuses

I'm so guilty of this.

You have given me hope. I'm starting up the entire math track on Khan Academy. Thank you for sharing your journey!

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Arik

This just made my day. Thank you!

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Jess Lee

Thinking about doing the same!!

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Darwin

I'm going to do that also

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Arik • Edited

Exactly. I totally agree that learning math is no different than any other practice-requiring activity: Be it Martial arts, piano or surfing. You work on it hard enough and long enough and you'll get it. But you'll have to work on it using the right approach. I think Khan academy's mastery based approach is brilliant.

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Gabby Mturi

Exactly

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David Shakhbazyan

This is astonishing!
I was able to see my recent thoughts in an elegantly written form in this article. I'm halfway to finishing the Algebra track on Khan Academy and, amazingly, Sal made me fall in love with math again. Your article is a pure proof that I'm on the right way.
Thank you for boosting my confidence exponentially!

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Arik • Edited

This is so cool. Thank you. And I totally agree. I'm a convert too. These days I find myself browsing on the Amazon math section, looking for math books for recreational purposes! 5 years ago you couldn't pay me to come near one of these books.

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Felice Forby

Great post! Actually, I used to be pretty good at math. Maybe I had good teachers and maybe I had a little bit of knack for it. I could even do some tricky calculus stuff, but after 15 years of not using it, I can barely remember how to do simple algebra! I'm now teaching myself to program and realize that I definitely need to brush up on my math, but had no idea where to start. Sounds like Khan Academy is perfect!

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Arik

Awesome! I guess they call them exercises for a reason. Because when you don't do them you get out of shape :-) Your comment inspired me to keep my daily dose of exercises routine. Thanks!

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Felice Forby

Yeah, I really want to kick myself for not keeping it up! It's like learning a foreign language... don't use it and you'll just forget it all.

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Dmitrii Pashutskii

Thanks, Arik!
I'm in the middle of my Computer Engineering Bachelor degree but I finished the high school a long time ago. So, I'm struggling with math (especially Calculus) and physics. Computer science and programming courses going well because I worked as a programmer already, but the maths and physics...
I've enrolled Khan Academy and I hope they will help me out.

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Arik

That's really awesome! Make sure you really grok Algebra I, Algebra II and precalc material or you will run into walls that are actually not with calc but with earlier material. Good luck!

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1214586

Math is the secret recipe of the world.

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Arik

Amen to that

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Arik

Love the quote you shared. It is so true. We were cheated of the best part in math. Anybody can memorize formulas. But where's the fun?!

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yunfan

i found we have many same in the early time, except i havnt keep on khan acadmy