Ask HN: Where did you top out in math classes?

Re:Ask HN: Where did you top out in math classes? by mnemonicsloth on Monday June 02, 2008 @12:12AM (#206433)

With one notable exception, math seems very easy to me. I open the book, write down verbatim anything labeled Definition, Theorem, or Lemma, and trace through anything labeled Proof. There's nothing particularly hard about it -- you just have to make sure you actually do every step listed inside your head.

It is a little slower than reading for pleasure, but with practice, I'd say only by about half.

I think the primary reason I do well, though, is that I take adderall for ADHD. Stimulants make it trivially easy to maintain the necessary level of focus, but whenever I forget to take them before a lecture or study session, I'm gnashing my teeth and tearing my hair out by the end.

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Re:Ask HN: Where did you top out in math classes? by jfarmer on Monday June 02, 2008 @01:44PM (#206973)

As with most subjects there are levels of understanding.

One level is the ability to understand what other people are saying or doing. Another is the ability to do it yourself.

Once you get to higher level classes, at least where I went to school, the reading is relatively light but the work is relatively hard.

I don't think most people had trouble understanding the proofs -- they had trouble applying the lessons in a novel way to exercises and problems they'd never seen before.

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Re:Ask HN: Where did you top out in math classes? by muriithi on Monday June 02, 2008 @03:53AM (#206548)

Do you take adderal because you suffer from ADHD or you take it get focused?

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