Whenever someone asks a student or someone about their favorite subject at school or college, you usually only get one answer, the hardest being math, of course. However, there will be some people who believe that learning math quickly is not so difficult and is actually easier than expected.
Students, or anyone who believes that studying is harder than anything else in this world, is in for a crazy but important struggle.
That’s when a person starts solving math problems and learning topics, then he will definitely change his mind and even become fun.
Tips for Learning Mathematics Faster and More Effectively:
There are many who think that if someone finds mathematics to be more of a chore than anything else, those people will of course be declared intelligent people.
In order to combat this thought, one must try to understand their ability to cope with mathematics, to think differently, and then mathematics may be the easiest and most enjoyable subject.
Here are the steps to learn and facilitate math:
- Continue to practice and practice with each topic study:
Mathematics, as it is known, is one of the courses that can be solved by continuous practice and solving examples.
It will not always be easy to understand mathematics quickly, but if one is determined to solve cause and effect, mathematics will be a subject that can be solved in a short time.
There is also the famous saying of the sages that practice makes one perfect. And if a person strives to do something in their life, there is nothing to prevent them from achieving their dreams.
Similarly, when it comes to mathematics it is quite simple, it is very important to keep applying the solution of problems again and again in practice.
- Do not hesitate to identify and analyze your mistakes:
Sometimes, while solving a mathematical problem, there may be a possibility of not being able to find the answer to the related question. This can sometimes be due to minor mistakes and carelessness that are not immediately apparent.
If a person wants to get rid of the feeling that math is a difficult subject, then he has to give himself constant feedback, being aware of his own mistakes.
At some point while solving a math problem, things may go wrong in some ways, and in order to overcome this situation, one has to correct their mistakes and take lessons and take notes so that they have done an important job of not repeating such mistakes that they have made before.
- Define the concept of the problem well and understand the situation with its causes and consequences:
Many times a student or any person may fail to solve a difficult math problem because they do not understand the concept of the problem and what it is.
If someone misunderstood the question, then of course the answer and solution would also be wrong or incomplete.
Therefore, before jumping to the solution of a mathematical problem, one must first have a good understanding of what the problem is saying.
Most people make simple mistakes in some way or another and have a hard time understanding math questions.
- Go for comparison and support to fully clarify doubts:
Similarly, when executing a problem, if someone has doubts about the solution, it is best to get support and ideas from friends, students, and teachers to clear that person’s doubts.
- Concentration and Focus:
Concentration is an essential need when working carefully on any subject, especially when there are situations that require intense focus, such as a complex math problem.
While trying to understand the mathematical problem, it is very necessary in terms of concentration and focus, as it will contribute to defining the real problem to be solved, which is hidden in the problem and is not immediately understood.
Therefore, it is recommended that the person dealing with the solution be careful when understanding the problem so that he or she can resolve it as soon as possible.
- Create useful and effective activities:
In schools, it is often recommended for children to create a chart of all mathematical methods and formulas by preparing them with examples and to hang them on the walls of the study rooms and on the study tables, as it will always be visible and will increase memorability.
So they keep looking at the chart and formulas and try to figure out how to solve the problem.
- Persistence in innovative and creative ideas:
When it comes to mathematical topics and questions, it is very important for a person to maintain a calm and cool-headed approach when solving some mathematical questions.
In order to achieve this, one should take care to make math fun and to consider some extraordinary ideas.
Therefore, including some creative ideas can help you solve mathematical problems better, effectively and quickly.
For example, if a person has difficulty solving math problems, then it would be helpful to better understand the problem and use solution-oriented practical elements to get the answer.
Mathematics is still unfortunately one of the most disliked subjects all over the world. However, understanding Mathematics, grasping quickly and reaching conclusions, and solving every question is a critical issue that everyone can do and needs to some degree. Mathematics is of vital importance in all areas of life, even if it is not in your job, with many subjects such as calculating the amount for shopping, calculating taxes for paying for your car or home. The thing is, math deserves a bigger reputation. Calculating fast numbers, focusing on abstract problems also cause many people to think that math is boring or something they will never need in their life.
What’s the best way to learn math when you don’t have a lot of grounding in math topics? Yes, as you might think, it is a very, very difficult situation. In this case, we have a few useful tips and advice that can put you on the right track or improve.
You are much more likely to learn math faster if you stay relevant, apply what is discussed, and try to enjoy it as much as possible.
In fact, it can be more effective and practical to try to avoid situations that make people hate mathematics, instead of enjoying mathematics very much. A professor of mathematics education at Stanford, Dr. Jo Boaler writes that focusing on “quick math”, memorization, and testing under time constraints are the main barriers people face when trying to learn math, and sometimes get in the way of themselves.
More complex math topics can rely heavily on simpler and more practical explanations. Therefore, it is better to start with the basics, even if you feel you have a good grasp of the topics before continuing with a more complex solution. For example, if you’re hoping to learn calculus, you won’t get anywhere fast unless you have a good understanding of basic algebra and some trigonometry. You have to walk before you can run, and the same basic tip applies to learning math.
Feynmann Technique
Do you really understand a solution-focused creative idea or do you just know the definition? A nice way to test this is known as the Feynman Technique. One of the most important physicists of the 20th century, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman is an important genius known for his immense reputation for lifelong learning. Whether you're interested in physics or not, the techniques and methods Feynman has carefully and thoroughly found and recommended for learning can certainly help us learn and comprehend any subject at school, at work, or in our life.
There are two types of information. Knowledge about knowing the name and description of something, and knowledge based on knowing that thing. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman explains the difference between them in this striking anecdote: “See that bird? This is a brown-throated thrush called halzenfugel in Germany and chung ling in China. Even if you know all these names given to it, you still don't know anything about this bird. You only know about people, that is, what they call a bird. Now this bird sings, teaches its chicks to fly, and flies miles across the country in summer, and no one knows how it got its way.”
When and How Does the Feynman Technique Work?
You can use this technique as an effective and important study method when you want to understand the topics/ideas or problems that you don’t really understand before the exam, or when you want to remember the topics/ideas that you understood but forgot in the exams. This wonderful method not only facilitates learning and remembering, but also opens various windows to different and abstract ways of thinking, allowing us to reconstruct ideas from scratch. It makes it easier for us to understand ideas and topics more deeply. Above all, approaching problems in this way by applying methods allows us to understand those who have not the slightest idea what the subject is talking about.
Let’s take a look at the Feynman Technique:
Step 1: Define the Subject Exactly: Take a blank sheet of paper. First, write the title of the topic you want to learn at the top of the paper. Then, try to clearly write everything you have learned and know about the subject under the title.
Step 2: Describe a topic as if you were explaining it to someone who does not know: Write down what you have learned and studied on the rest of the paper as if you were explaining a topic to someone who has no knowledge of the topic, avoiding complex and detailed statements. When you use language that is as simple as possible for even a child to understand, you force yourself to understand the subject at a deeper level and to facilitate and simplify the relationships and connections between related subjects. At the same time, it will be much more effective to repeat what you have written aloud and to make preparations in the form of narration.
Step 3: Don’t be afraid to go back to the source whenever you get bored and need it: When you realize that there are places that you have trouble remembering or explaining in step 2, go back to the resources and studies you’ve been working on. Read and study over and over until you get what you’ve learned on paper. E.g; You have a biology background and have difficulty explaining evolution in simple sentences. Open your biology book and reread the part about evolution. Now close the book. Take a new blank sheet of paper and write down what you have learned. If you have successfully completed this step, you can return to your original worksheet and continue working.
Simplify and Create Similarities
Step 4: Simplify and Draw Similarities: We can now review what we have put down on paper. Einstein said, “If you can’t explain something or a subject to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it either.” As we understand from the word, simplifying our language and making analogies instead of using complex words will make it easier to understand. Different difficult jargon and confusing explanations will reduce understanding. Optional: Try to find someone around the age of 6 and tell them what you’ve learned. If he understands it smoothly, then you really do too.
These four steps represent a powerful and crucial technique for quickly learning any new concept or effectively reinforcing previously learned concepts.