When faced with a math problem how do you think it? Do you visualize? Jot down important points and try to visualize it after? What do you do?
i'm very visual. i jot some things down and then kind try to picture it. things also usually come to me in spurts.
Shapes. I see shapes. or maybe the right wording is "feel" shapes. Shapes that relate to a physical geometric construction. The closest thing to describe it is a 3d wireframe cad drawing. I "see" digits as representations of "values" that make up the pieces of the puzzle witch make a shape.If I don't understand the puzzle there is no shape. But It doesn't work the other way for me.(I can't ....look at a shape and visualize the math...... unless it's a primitive)
What I try to do is something similiar to shapes but real life objects...Sometimes I run a real time movie in my head of the situation and try to solve the problem but sometimes reality in my head differs from the real reality so sometimes its kind of hard to get all the forces working together
(this is an old message I am replying to...) That depends on the problem. Usually with calculus problems I visualize everything. I have been getting better at it because I am too lazy to write things down... Other times I usually do not even think, I just "see the method" of solving it. When both fail, I ask myself what is known about the problem. Once I know all of that, I try to find a pattern. If I cannot think of one, I just stop doing the problem, do some other math, then come back. About 90% of the time my subconscious has come up with a solution. To exercise my creativity in math I like to figure out how I would do the problem... then I try to find a witty solution to it. I want to get away from my left-brained approach to doing math. James Sibley
Dunno why but my ability to visualize hasn't helped me much with mathematics, especially not more complex such. For me I think it's actually a trap feeling that I somehow have to be able to visualize a large problem inside my head and then solve it. Sometimes I think that when doing mathematics I shouldn't interpret or try visualize anything at all. Just focus on logic. After a while maybe I learn to visualize the logic? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! To answer the question. I think one should focus on the logic and that kind of thinking which IMO can be very different from other thinking.
Thanks, 4D! I *think* I know how I do math now. I recognize patterns. How I learn to do math is different -- I think that is something that I cannot explain, and if I could then I could probably get lots of $ by programming AIs -- but when solving a problem, I try to think of how it is similar to the methods I am familiar with. As in, this variable changes in this way, BUT that one is remaining constant for a certain value of this one, so it's simply a quadratic problem with a nonzero constant... which means the graph would look like this. Visualizing graphs might help; it does for me. It also helps if you take calculus and can think about the derivatives and integrations for certain variables. For physical-type problems, taking physics helps a lot (of course). Remember conservation of energy. Take note of what the starting and ending conditions are, and how they change during the course of the event; if they don't change it might be so much algebra. List what you know and what you need to know, the knowns and the unknowns, though I usually just skip that step.
There are two ways of doing math. The first is just the ability to solve math problems. The harder way is to see past the problems, ask questions, and answer the questions. That way is the one that opened up new types of math. This is what I am working on. If you see me in the math/physics section trying to solve problems, I try to find a neat way of doing it. Usually it is not the easiest way but this way I learn a hell of a lot more about math. To get better at math, you cannot really just read math. You have to question how you do it... find a neat problem that is not too easy and not too hard... right in the middle. These are the problems you usually think about to solve but you do not get irritated because it is easy or hard. Once you find that problem, make conscious notes of how you are approaching the problem. Asking yourself "how have I done this type of problem before" will not get you anywhere. What happens when you are given a problem for which you know nothing of established approaches? You do not know how to solve the problem. This is where the right-brain comes in; you try finding a pattern. Physics is fun. It requires you to know about what is going on. You have the equations but you have to know how to fit them to the problem. I hpoe this helps! James Sibley
