IS MATH REALLY CHALLENGING?

Hello everyone, 

Can we manage without MATH or does it have any relevance in our day to day life? This is one of the questions frequently asked by some of my students.  Well I am a MATH tutor handling  junior grades as well as senior grades for the past many years. Do you want to know how MATH makes an entry in our life even without our knowledge or consent? 

Every individual has different desires and ideas. We tend to improve tremendously and perform extraordinarily if we choose to do something that we are passionate about. Here, I am going to talk about the subject that I am passionate about. It is MATH. 

Again, it is an individual's choice to like a subject but in our educational system, we need to compulsorily learn Math till a certain grade or class for which there are valid reasons.  Beyond class 10,  it is optional. Once we are into class 11, we can choose subjects that are of interest to us. How to handle Math if we are one among those who do not have much interest in the subject, or find it more challenging, or are passionate about some other subject.

Well, there are two main reasons for a student to dislike the subject.

1. Generally slow in learning : This generally happens at the junior grade itself. Students who take some extra time in learning tend to lag behind in the subject. As a result, they will not be in a position to get along with the class they are in as regards to Math. This invokes in them  a fear for Math and they move far away from the subject. 

2. Expectations vs Experiences: Students who somehow or the other miss to see a connect between real life and  the subject, gradually tend to avoid the subject.  As a result, their experiences with the subject turn out to be  totally different from their expectations.

This generally happens in the middle grade and continues to grow more and more in the senior grade. More to say, we can relate Physics to Electricals and Electronics, Chemistry to Food and Medicines, Biology to plants, animals and humans, History to past events, Civics to rights and duties, Economics to business, Geography to Nature and so on. But the one not explicitly seen in this is that MATH is present in some form or the other in all the above. 

On the contrary, the variables and identities in Algebra, the theorems and riders in Geometry, the ratios and identities in Trigonometry, the list of formulae and methods in Calculus and above all , the complex calculations in some of the chapters drive them to the extent of getting exhausted by the subject and ultimately deciding to forego the subject in the future and forever.

Let us discuss how to handle the first situation.

Theorem 1: I am a student at the junior grade having all the four basic operations - Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division in my syllabus. I understand the concepts taught at the school and at times practice it at home. Prove that I can do well in Math and hence score well.

Given: I am a junior grade student understanding the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division taught at school and at times practice it at home.

To Prove: I can do well in Math and hence score well.

Proof: Let us assume that I am one of those students at the junior grade in the first situation mentioned above and that I am not good at Math

So, I find counting of numbers difficult, addition - I am  nearest to wrong answers, subtraction - I am not comfortable as it involves borrowing, multiplication -sometimes looks too many times, and division - highly divisive quotients and remainders.

One day I went to a shop nearby. I got a pack of biscuits and a pack of chips priced at 18 each. I gave fifty rupees to the shopkeeper and immediately in return, I got fourteen rupees as the balance. In the meanwhile, I was already half way trying to add the price of biscuits and chips. I missed the numbers while trying to carry it forward. 

Suddenly a thought came to me. Oh! multiplication is repeated addition. I have heard one of my teachers say this quite often. Why not try multiplying?  I started multiplying and this time I missed the method itself. 

Understanding my miserable condition with the biscuit pack in one hand and the chips pack on the other (where was the possibility to count with the fingers?), the shopkeeper was kind enough asking me to go home and take a piece of paper and do the calculation and bring it the next day.  His tone was so encouraging that I came home, did not even open the favourite packs, took a piece of paper and a pencil and started calculating. 

Yes I got 36 when I tried adding 18 and 18. But I was curious to know what answer I will get if I try to multiply. So I multiplied 18 with 2 and got the same 36. Yes, convincing to say my answer was right as I got the same 36. 

But before I could even feel the joy of having got the same answer, a question arose in my mind.  The shopkeeper gave me 14 rupees as the balance. How he got it? I was thinking what method was to be used to get it.  That single word 'balance' made me recall just the name of the method and that was subtraction.

So I started to subtract 36 from 50 to see what I got. I got 26 as the answer but the  shopkeeper   gave only 14. Was he not good at  Math? I started  feeling  like a genius. But not sure of myself (whether a genius or not) and suppose that the shopkeeper was great at Math,   I tried to find out how he got 14 and whether he was right. 

A shortcut came through my way - the total I got was 36 and the balance the shopkeeper gave was 14. I decided to  add and see what I got. I added 36 and 14 and I got 50. I was talking to myself  - what this means what this means it was shocking - the shopkeeper was right. That was the shop which I visited regularly and was duty bound to tell him that I was able to calculate correctly.

Now I tried to subtract 36 from 50 in such a way that I got 14 as the answer. I referred to my school notes which had  many sums on subtraction taught by my teacher. The sums that I have done under the topic subtraction had many cancellations and slashes like thing, striking out the existing digit and sometimes writing a two digit number on top of it or sometimes writing a one digit number one less than it. 

When I went through my notes, I was able to understand it quite a bit and tried to do the same thing with the zero and six that I had in 50 and 36. I followed  exactly the same method that I did in my note. So, I put a slash on zero and wrote 10 on top of it. Now I tried to subtract 6 from 10 and believe me I got 4. But I could not believe myself. This 4 was the same as that in 14. Excited about having got one of the digits in the balance, I took the brave step of subtracting the other digits also. I referred to my notes once again. Following it inch by inch, I put a slash on 5 and this time I wrote 4 on top of it. Something told me that I was somewhat nearer to the next digit in the balance.  Yes I subtracted 3 from 4 and got 1 in the tens place. THAT'S GREAT 'I GOT 14'.

My parents looking at my unusual kind of activity that is first of all, the chips and biscuits were not even opened, the second thing that I was doing some Math calculations, the third that I referred to my notes as well, and above all, I was sitting in one place for quite a long time absolutely no idea how many minutes or hours, were eager to know what made me do it? Even though they did not know the reason behind this hard work of mine, they were extremely happy and appreciated my work, offering me the biscuits and chips to break my fasting which I had unknowingly followed due to the compounding power of Math.

So, this proves that I have got the correct answer following the concepts and methods that I have in my syllabus. The only thing is that I took more time. This is a contradiction to our assumption that I was not good at Math. So our assumption is wrong.

This proves that I am good at Math

                         HENCE THE PROOF.

NOTE: But, only I know that it was the encouragement given by the shopkeeper that I can do it myself and also the time he offered to me which I really needed to get it right. In no time I ran to the shop with gratitude and also with some pride to show him that I was able to calculate and that I got the same value that he got. I was able to notice the happiness and satisfaction in the eyes of the shopkeeper when he complimented me for having got the right answer.

The underlying truth here is, every student understands the concepts to the best of his/her ability. How best is the question and how fast the student will be able to apply it also matters. 

COROLLARY: This leads to the result that it is the encouragement and support given by the elders be it parents, teachers, relatives or friends that paves the way for the younger generation not only to learn the Math basics right but also to work consistently and put in their best effort to get familiar with the subject to the extent that is required for their present level.  

Even though the time taken to learn varies from individual to individual,  the determination to achieve the desired result depends entirely on the continued effort and confident approach of the student. Every student is unique when it comes to  thoughts and talents and remember there is always a bright future for the one who is firm and focused.

Now that you have come to the end of the article, I thank you for having spent your valuable time reading this and hope the article was worth doing so. Kindly give me some time as I am on the way to get promoted to the middle grade. 

Meet you in my next article on the middle grade.

ONCE AGAIN MY THANKS TO ONE AND ALL

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