My Math Autobiography
Math has never had a large impact on my life. I’ve taken it since grade one, and been through good times and bad. But all in all, I’ve never really liked or disliked math in general.
I first remember taking math in grade two, back home, in Edmonton. The memories aren’t too clear, but I remember playing "Around the World" with flashcards, where the teacher would give a pair of student a flashcard, and whoever got it first got to advance to the next desk and take on the next challenger, and so on, and I also remember my mom’s Tupperware flashcards, which I can’t really explain, but they were funky! I was quite fast most of the time, doing good in the mental math department.
The next thing I remember was either in grade three or grade four (I don’t remember, all of elementary I was in split classes, one & two, three & four, and so on). We were doing basic fractions, ½ to be specific. My parents had already taught me some of those (I began cooking at a young age and learned ½, 1/3, ¼, and ¾ before I learned my multiplication tables). I spoke up and said "One over two is the same as one half". My teacher shot me down and yelled at me and called me a show off, which sort of embarrassed me. That certainly didn’t do much for my self esteem, I excelled in math and got in trouble for doing it. This incident made me sour towards math and my teacher for a while, but I didn’t hate it.
After that, I don’t remember much until grade six, where my teacher tried to teach us the concept of exponents, as well as basic algebra. I understood algebra right off the bat, but exponents took a little more work.
Grades seven, eight, and nine went by fast. I caught onto trigonometry before anyone else in my class. I tried to take grade ten math in Edmonton, but for personal reasons, I couldn’t finish the class and failed it. Eventually, I came to PEI (last semester) and took grade ten math with Mrs. S and did the best I ever had. Her methods of teaching helped me through and I passed with an 85%.
I plan on going to the Culinary school here after working for a year or two. I don’t see myself using much math in my future, but I’m not writing it off completely. I may or may not enjoy the world of Culinary Arts, and may very well go on to be a math teacher. But if I do, I’ll need the use of fractions and basic adding and subtracting when it comes to measurement and things like that.
The thing I enjoy doing most in math is Trig. I always caught onto it when no one else did. The one thing I always had trouble with was adding, subtracting, multiplying, and diving fractions. I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around what you do for each one.
I believe that to be good in math, all you need to do is be able to understand the concepts you are given, and be able to perform them when in need. I don’t believe that you need to memorize every formula from every chapter in math to be a good math student. I believe that you simply need to be able to work with them, if they are given to you.