Hello, I am about to start my senior year of high school in August. I am planning on majoring in computer science but I suck at math. I know I sound delusional but I dream of being an astronaut at NASA the problem is I basically have no real knowledge in Math. I have never had an A or B in math, I usually get a C or C- and Ds. I鈥檝e had trouble with math for as long as I can remember but I find the subject interesting and fun. I used to go to a very underfunded school (4th to 8th grade) and had terrible teachers. I鈥檝e had to repeat Algebra twice and Geometry three times. I don鈥檛 have learning problems I鈥檓 just lazy, growing up with teachers who are not willing to help or give me confidence made me worse. I was kicked out of high school freshmen year because of my poor grades. I鈥檝e been stuck in online school since.
I鈥檝e been doing better with my grades and I really need help in math. I know I will struggle in college but I鈥檓 willing to but the effort and time to master math. I don鈥檛 know where to start tho. How can I improve my math and what topic do I start with? Does anyone know good programs, books, or YouTube channels that can help me?
Professor Leonard – VERY good at really explaining the concepts
https://openstax.org/subjects/math – free pdf textbooks, and they’re actually better than a lot of the textbooks that are offered via college classes
Colleges use undergrad math as weed out classes. Take calculus and other lower level maths courses at a community college and transfer it. It鈥檚 the same math taught by people that might actually give a shit about your success.
Also try taking a fun math. For me that was geometry and statistics. And set theory <3. You might enjoy a visually oriented language like P5.js which also has a really supportive learning community.
You need to start drilling and assigning yourself homework. The laziness will not go away unless you do so. I had a similar experience with getting bad grades because I was lazy, but they would be B/C I understood the concept. Once I got to jr year of my physics degree I was starting to fall behind because of my laziness. Drilling by yourself is the only way to get better, and if you get stuck email your teacher. They will love the initiative and go easier on you.
hmmm…… As someone who’s a professional software dev who studied Computer Science in University (Not in great country but still) let me tell you something. You don’t need to be good at math but do have to be good at problem solving (Engineering often revolves skirting around tough restrictions that you realistically can’t do anything about). The actual hard math your gonna need are Number theory, Probability theory, Statistics(But this is for DM/ML/AI mostly which your not really into). If you can understand what a formula does, where can it used and plug numbers in your generally ok.
>I don鈥檛 know where to start tho.
Well First you need to get one thing in your head. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.
Even skills like doing math can be trained into your being. So practice a lot.
Start from the basics, Go to algebra and basic geometry get a good book for each get solution manual and get busy. If you can’t do a math see how its done and try the same problem 2-3 days later keep on doing it.
There will come a point were these exercises and problems similar you will just casually do it in your head. That’s when you’ll know you mastered the basics.
And Again as a student of computer science I can tell your math ability will not be something that’s vitally important but your problem solving skill is what will be paramount.
I was lazy in high school as well. I got Bs and Cs in most (I got an A in one of them when my mom put a fire under my ass), and went to college for computer science.
Math is taught far better at colleges. You also mature more, so it鈥檚 easier to put time aside to really understand it. I鈥檝e since gotten only A鈥檚 in all courses, including all math courses. I truly believe that if you鈥檙e willing to struggle through solving problems ad nauseum, the topics become easy.