How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math

I found the article rambling and mostly pointless...

However, if you have a weak background in math and want to get up to speed before going into calculus and beyond, I have 2 suggestions.

1) Lial's Basic College Math[1] is adequate and will get you up to speed. 2) Serge Lang's "Basic Mathematics" is great and will cover all you need to go into a rigorous theory based college math class.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=lials%20basic... The editions basically the same... pick the cheapest

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Mathematics-Serge-Lang/dp/038796...

I come from a very similar background as the writer. As a young man, I showed high potential for languages. So when I went to college, I loaded up on languages, graduating with 6 different languages at at least the 200-level and fluency in 3 of those languages. Unlike the writer, I chose neither military nor government work upon graduation, but instead worked as an ATA-certified translator for 10+ years, primarily translating pharmaceutical documentation and medical studies.

I've since moved into professional software development and am now rusty in the spoken languages I used to be fluent in. I work with a number of different programming languages, primarily doing web development since that's where the money is in remote work (although I also have a strong interest in embedded programming). In between, I also finished graduate school in public health (don't ask!), taking multiple upper-level biostats and epidemiology courses.

Anyway, people were always interested in how I learned so many languages. As it turned out, I used similar techniques as what the writer describes to not only learn languages, but also learn graduate-level quantitative coursework, and now programming languages, algorithms, and data structures (an ongoing task!). People are taking exception to her description of the technique as "rote learning". Perhaps a better emphasis would be on repetition, drilling, and fluency. But for me at least, this did entail things like flash cards -- Quizlet is a godsend -- and repeated, focused practice of short problems.

I have found that the technique doesn't seem to work as well for complex algorithms as it did for math and languages. Maybe because it's difficult to break down some algorithms into small parts, perhaps because I just haven't figured out how to do so yet, or maybe I'm just getting older.

But I am in total agreement with the writer that modern education does a grave disservice to young learners by discarding rote learning and repetition.

I could hardly stomach the self-congratulatory tone of the introduction. Jeez.

This is a good point. It's important not to overgeneralize. At the same time, for those students who learn best by memorizing, it's best not to completely discard rote learning.

Did you even read the article, or did you read the subheading, which I will admit is a stretch, and immediately cast judgement? You used the strawman of a k-12/college student who learns something and quickly by practicing a particular method then forgets it. What about those who actually do learn this way? There are most certainly visual learners who can see concepts in their head -- a trait I admire personally.

>So many students in other cultures

Do you know every student? Every culture? Again, nothing but over-generalizations here. The article actually referenced the afterschool programs in Japan that had success.

Yes at some point you have to back and understand the why and the how, but solving equations and crafting proofs are actually two different skills in my opinion and I have met mathematicians that were stronger in either or both.

In any case, I think you are missing the point of this author. I think the authors strongest argument which is building that foundation, or "innate ability" and he argues that comes through memorization and rote learning. Quoting, "building well-ingrained chunks of expertise through practice and repetition was absolutely vital to their success" I don't think he just pulled that out of his butt. If you take the time to practice like the author did where it becomes engrained into your mind, you are in fact learning effectively.

Besides all this, what is mathematics anyways? Is it not a language? Does it not have "letters" (variables, operators, symbols), does it not have a grammar? Does it not have "parts of speech?" (an equation must have a left side, and a right side), Is it not used to communicate to others?

In any case, certainly not a terrible read in any way.