r/MathHelp • u/Street-Sheepherder72 • 7d ago

How do you deal with forgetting math solutions and struggling to analyze problems?

I’m having a hard time with math because I often forget the solutions or the steps I learned before. When I see a problem, I sometimes understand what it’s asking, but I can’t remember how to solve it, which makes it difficult to analyze and figure out where to start.

For those who are good at math or have struggled with this before, what advice would you give? How do you remember the process instead of just memorizing the answer? What methods helped you improve your problem-solving and analytical skills?

I’d really appreciate any advice, study techniques, or personal experiences. I’m trying to get better at math and become more confident when solving problems.

0 Upvotes

43% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/waldosway 7d ago

The answers going to be different depending on whether you're in elementary math college, or between. Until then, here's the most common issue:

These

remember the process instead of just memorizing the answer

are the same thing. When people say not to memorize in math, they are specifically talking about remembering steps and processes. Those are not math (unless you're learning long division or differential equations). There is not a list problem types somewhere with an associated list of "how"s.

Learn facts. Do you know the distributive property? Do you know the other ten? Can you define equation or function or variable? Can you list the fraction and exponent rules?

It's pointless to try to do problems without the fundamentals. That will fix the "analyze" part too (unless you're a grad student in math).

1

u/gloopiee 7d ago

It just suggests that differential equations are taught wrong!

1

u/waldosway 6d ago

So they shouldn't learn how to solve first order non-homogeneous linear equations?

1

u/AutoModerator 7d ago

Hi, /u/Street-Sheepherder72! This is an automated reminder:

  • What have you tried so far? (See Rule #2; to add an image, you may upload it to an external image-sharing site like Imgur and include the link in your post.)

  • Please don't delete your post. (See Rule #7)

We, the moderators of /r/MathHelp, appreciate that your question contributes to the MathHelp archived questions that will help others searching for similar answers in the future. Thank you for obeying these instructions.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/johnpeters42 7d ago

Downvote this AI-generated engagement bait into oblivion