A few days ago
N.E. Cycle rider

Learning advanced mathmatics for senior citizens?

I’m 59 years “young” and have been bothered by the thought that to a degree my career / goals in life have been hampered by my seeming inability to ” learn ” advanced math, e.g. algebra, trig., etc., etc. Of course having a “teacher” way back in 8th grade who couldn’t tolerate / understand a student that she couldn’t “teach such simple subjects” didn’t help matters.. I’m currently unemployed and the odds against finding a better than average paying job in my area, at my age, without strong math skills are astronomical.. Obviously there MUST be easy to understand / comprehend ways to learn these math skills at home at my pace, at my age.. Any advice / suggestions would be very much appreciated especially from “been there / done that” individuals.. Thanks in advance..

Top 3 Answers
A few days ago
fcas80

Favorite Answer

I sympathize with your experience of having bad experiences with math teachers. You are not alone.

Nevertheless, I appluad you on wanting to start again.

Someone mentioned taking community college classes, and that is a fine idea.

Are you considering self-study as well? Some people prefer self-study with a good book. If so, the best math books that are full of problems and don’t dwell too much on theory, are from Schaums. Here is a link to some of them.

Good luck – don’t get discouraged. And if you get stuck on a problem – ask fr help in Yahoo Answers!

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A few days ago
iSpeakTheTruth
You might want to consider attending a community college and take math classes ‘from scratch’. That is, take the remedial courses they offer (introductory algebra) and work your way up at a pace that is comfortable to you. In my experience, the reason people struggle with higher level math such as trig, calculus, and stats is because they are unable to do the basic algebra that the course assumes they already know how to do. Hence, there is no way to get to step #10 when you’re puzzled to what’s going on in step #1, but step #1 is not explained because it’s supposed to have been taught to you in previous math courses. The result is frustration and ultimately failure.

Community college is a good option because it’s a welcoming environment for older students with less pressure. Instructors there devote all their time to teaching classes and many community colleges have math labs set up too, so you can go in there to ask for additional help from tutors. I’d highly advise it.

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A few days ago
smilam
First of all, most of those topics aren’t advanced mathematics, and secondly you need to get a new grasp on appreciating all facets of education, not just math. Spelling mathematics incorrectly shows laziness and ineptitude.

With that being said, you have to understand that people understand math all of the time and you have to know that you can understand it in the same sense that they do. You have to be familiar with it and be able to communicate within the language of it. Then you have to compare what you would be like knowing math, and what you are now and figure out how to get from A to B.

I’d suggest using online tutorials to do so, there are 8 billion explanations of everything and becoming familiar with math will help loads.

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