Why Math Is Considered Very Hard by Many? 

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Mathematics is the name given to a set of great knowledge base, mankind gathered in thousands of years. No doubt this knowledge have done wonders in our lives, still this knowledge isn’t liked by a huge population of humanity. 

As a Math teacher background I witnessed the above on multiple occasions. This hate towards mathematics by many of our fellow humans made me to think about why do many of us feel math is useless, or not for them or very hard? 

I did my own little research on this and talked to about 80 persons I knew who hated math. I analyzed their background (as all of them are my classmates, friends or relatives) and their way to learn things. Then I draw the following conclusions based on my findings; 

1. Mathematics have developed over thousands of years, perhaps it is same old as humanity itself. It builds over the key basic concepts, and ignorance of any of these key concepts makes it harder to learn the higher concepts. 

For example; if we want to learn least common multiple, we have to have good knowledge of times, factors and even before that skip counting and addition. 

Once I realized that, I changed my way of teaching. Before it was “one size fits all” but after I changed it to individual basis. I saw kids in grade 5 struggling to grasp the concept of least common multiples or greatest common factors. Instead forcing them to learn these concepts as they done in grade 5 math textbook, I ask them to spend some extra time to learn skip counting, times and factors. 

Who listened got perfect on least common multiple, greatest common factor and even performed very well on fractions, later. So, if you miss any link (key concept) in mathematics, whole chain (your math skills) is weak and can break anytime. 

2. Second, other than Arithmetic there is very little direct application of mathematics in day to day life. Indirectly mathematics involve in every aspect of life from medicine (such as strength in mg) to air planes (how to fly, how to build). 

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We use math in our cell phones, cars, ovens, washing machines and clocks indirectly so never notice its importance just more than counting or simple addition and multiplication. 

3. Third one is very generic but very important while learning anything new. You guessed it right! This is the concentration of the mind while learning. 

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As mathematics is developed over thousands of years, there is huge brainwork behind its development. So the learner needs to pay full attention to grasp those concepts while being explained by the teachers. This was one of the big reasons for success and failure in all of the 80 persons I did my research with. 

So, while learning math full mind attendance, concentration and focus is needed, mere physical presence is not enough.   

Above are the three main reasons I found that many of us find mathematics hard or find it useless.   

Also I wrote an article on the same topic long ago, below is the link to that article;

Math is not HARD

If you know any other reasons please share in the comment section and that will increase my knowledge on this topic. 

If you don’t like math or find it hard please share your experience in the comment section. 

If you like my post, please leave your feedback doing a comment and please resteem it.