Oh God, I remember the fear as if it was yesterday...

JCP

I loved Algebra, and Calculus was even better :-)
Still remember our Maths teacher drumming it into our heads with the words "SOH CAH TOA Ya bast!rds!" lol.
Worked like a treat - can still do it today :-)

zaxdog

Don't know if it will help anyone these days but I was USELESS at maths at school, to the point where I needed help with my standard grade studies and my parents got me a tutor. After a long chat and the first lesson he started to put pound/dollar etc signs in front of the numbers and it all suddenly made sense as I could see the practical applications (and I ended up with a degree in design and........................economics :eek:

Tiglath

Physics stumped me. I never did understand the difference between amps, watts and volts.

Callie22

j.e.j. wrote: »

S=O/H T=O/A C=A/H

Silly Old Hippo Tried On A Coat At Harrods

I remember it from school days but have never actually needed to know or apply this, in real life! :rotfl:

We learnt 'Some Old Horses, Can Always Hide, Their Old Age'. I have to say that trig and algebra were the parts of maths I loved the most, mainly because they used letters instead of numbers. Numbers make me feel queasy, I'm much more at home with letters.

Johnmcl7

Toto wrote: »

I have never ever understood how a minus + a minus = a minus, but a minus X a minus = a plus.

Surely multiplication is just a quick way of adding up, so instead of saying 2+2+2 we say 3X2.

It is difficult to visualise multiplying a negative number by another negative number, you're effectively flipping the result:

3x2 = 2 + 2 + 2 = +6
3x-2 = -2 + -2 + -2 = -6
-3x2 = -(2+2+2) = -6
-3x-2 = -(-2 + -2 + -2) = -(-6) = 6

Rather than thinking of counting objects, it's easier to visualise if you think of something which has directions such as walking or debts/credits. So if I walk backwards (negative) in the opposite direction (negative) I will end up going forwards.

John

aliasojo

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

So if I walk backwards (negative) in the opposite direction (negative) I will end up going forwards.

John

I don't get that at all. :rotfl:

samtoby

Factorising Quadratics. Revolting.

nearlyrich

Should old Harry catch a herring trawling off America...

Six old horses curly and heavy trod on Albert

I was rubbish at maths at secondary school due in part to our school doing an experimental program (1970's) which took the pure maths out of the situation, when I did A levels in science we had to have a catch up class in maths alongside to cope with things the science syllabus assumed that GCE O levels covered...

jellyhead

some old highlanders carry a haggis til old age

Johnmcl7

aliasojo wrote: »

I don't get that at all. :rotfl:

Thinking of negative terms with quantities doesn't really work so it's easier to think of it in terms of directions - so three times two oranges is simple but if you bring in negatives it doesn't make any sense. If you scroll a little down this page it has a visual explanation of what I was meaning:

http://www.mathsisfun.com/multiplying-negatives.html

John