Searching for math serenity

Are you kidding me!?  I worked minutes on this question and the online math rejected my answer.  I failed to place parentheses.  Now I know.  Learn it the hard way.

Here are other examples of attempting to perform online math homework online.  And the frustrations as a result.

Reflections:  post Algebra class, 2019.

So, truthfully, if I was alive 100 years ago, I would not even have the opportunity to complain about the quirkiness of online math programs.

But, a point should be made.  For those of us who are math-“wannabe’s,” any minute snake in the road, any pea under the mattress is magnified majestically.

I was talking to a friend who also completed Algebra this semester in a land-based lecture class and this is her quote:  “I feel like completing Algebra was like giving birth to a baby!”  My response:  “or a kidney stone!”

I last took algebra in 1981.  Most of the content I just took, I did not recognize.  Limits, imaginary numbers, and the like.  I remember the quadratic equation, logarithms and solving for variables, but that is because I taught high school physics for years.

This all sounds pretty negative, I know.

But as a college advisor myself, I now have a real taste of what my student advisees must experience as one of our core classes:  algebra.

A in algebra:  You are a math beast!

B in algebra:  I tip my hat to you.

C in algebra:  You did it!  Good deal!

D in algebra:  My lack of fingernails due to nail-biting is my salute to you.

F in algebra:  A fellow math hand-wringer is looking at you with empathy.

Try it again with a different teacher or format.  Take the beginner classes before the class you are having difficulty mastering.  Take the class in the summer all by itself.  No other distractions.  Get tutoring help.  Watch YouTube math videos.  There are plenty.

Most of all, I, Brother Barnes am your cheerleader!  Attempting to find math peace in the numerical maze!

Keep up the good work!