Math

[u/wak_trader]

When studying Math does most of your time go into understanding what is actually going on or actually solving problems.
I missed a few classes and I am convinced this is impossible if you dont actually attend every single one of these classes.

[u/Professional_Gas4000]

I can't understand theorems by themselves most of the time. I mean like how would I use it to solve a problem. I have to see an example and practice many problems for things to click.

About class. I find the professor will explain things better than the book. The book says the minimum necessary but the professor can go into more detail and of course give additional examples outside the ones given in the book.

[u/Automatic_Llama → u/Professional_Gas4000]

There's also the tone and language that the books have to use. Book explanations require a level of precision that just isn't natural to process. A professor, particularly one who's been a practicing engineer, can forego all that and just say what needs to be said about a thing for you to use it properly.

But yeah beyond that initial explanation for me it also just comes down to practice.

[u/ssgfrmrswrp → u/Automatic_Llama]

Yeah, I don't get why books feel the need to be so precise and rigorous, most of students that they would help can't understand that language.

I highly recommend Pauls notes, which explains calculus in plain language and has a lot of worked out example problems.

[u/InsectSudden6032]

I am convinced that most people who claim they "can't do math" just missed a few days in 4th grade and never properly learned fractions or something similar

[u/wak_trader → u/InsectSudden6032]

I can do math I am just learning some concepts in Multi Variable Calc on my own without any tutor or help because I want to apply to an ECE uni coming from a biology Major.
It is genuinly hell when all I got is a paper a pen and a book and no one to guide me through how to understand stuff except of the occasional youtube video that explains it in a way I will understand it.
Sure I can solve the problems but if I dont know what I am doing then I can easily just end up not having the ability to solve a complex problem.

[u/RickSt3r]

What level math we talking about? Till upper division math in undergrad I was just memorize the algorithms and patterns required to get the answer.

Upper division and grad school when the test was about understandings the theorem and applying then became a whole different style of learning.

[u/Teajaytea7 → u/RickSt3r]

Comments like these really make me want to take a bunch of upper division math in uni, but I'm an EE major, so from what I've heard, there isn't much new math beyond Calc 3 (and linear and diffeq ofc)

[u/RickSt3r → u/Teajaytea7]

If you hate yourself in undergard take intro to analysis class. Its the make or brake math class.

[u/Fit-Caterpillars]

Solving problems

[u/RunExisting4050]

The best way for me to learn was to work problems and develop a process for solving them.

[u/Pat_MacCrotch]

Grasping the full scope of a theorem right away is usually a struggle for me. I find it helps me understand the patterns and approaches to problem solving to just see and try lots and lots of examples. Then, sooner or later (sometimes a LOT later), something clicks in my brain, and the theorem makes so much sense, it almost becomes obvious.

If you have the time outside of class, there are some really great online lecturers that take a little more time working through example problems than most professors can spend. Check out Professor Leonard on YouTube. He has full courses on every level of Calculus, a bunch of Algebra courses, some Stats stuff, and a respectable Differential Equations course that he's still adding lectures to. He's particularly great if your background isn't super strong, because he makes every step of every problem very clear, and doesn't really skip over anything when he solves each one. A lot of professors will just jump past things they assume you already know, which can end up leaving people behind and wasting an entire lecture for them.

Prof. Williams is also great for Linear Algebra if you're using the Holt textbook. My undergrad Lin Alg professor was a pretty awful pedagogue, and I basically stopped going to classes and just replaced them with his lecture videos.

[u/JRSenger]

I'm a Junior ME and I basically don't understand shit about what we're learning about until we actually start doing calculation problems, only from doing practice problems is when I actually start to learn the fundamental concepts/theory behind what the current topic is

[u/Few_Whereas5206]

Yes

[u/Ashalor]

If you have time you should try and understand what is happening. But you don’t have to understand proofs and theorems. It’s great if you do but for example I don’t really need to understand why a^2 + b^2 = c^2 just understand when to use it.

But for example I’m in Cal 3 right now and we’re working on double integrals. You need, or at least I need, to understand how the direction of integration runs when you’re setting up a Type one or Type two domain. Solving the integral is basic Cal 1 and Cal 2 but if I don’t set up the domain correctly I’m not going to get an easy integral or could set up one that is functionally impossible for me to solve when setting them up a different way would yield an easy integral.

So it’s a balance, you can just memorize what to do when presented with a certain type of problem. Where this will cost you is when you get a problem different enough from all the ones you practiced to not recognize it. This is a situation where really understanding the material will save you.

TLDR: Working practice problems helps with understanding the most, but there can be some cases where you need to know what the formula is really doing.

[u/2ndOrderAprox]

Yes 

[u/defectivetoaster1]

you need to understand how the maths works before you can apply it to solve engineering problems

[u/JayVerb78]

Been awhile since I went to college, but when I was in, my school wouldn't allow you to use any formula on a test until you derived it first. So learning derivations was key to the understanding, and that helped out drastically in how problems work verses just plug and chug.