3/18/2016

How to Learn Math (with Pictures) - wikiHow

HowtoLearnMath
SixParts:

KeystoBeingaGoodMathStudent

MathFundamentalsStrategiesforSubtraction

LearningMathinSchool

MathFundamentalsAceSomeAddition

MathFundamentalsMasterMultiplication

MathFundamentalsDiscoverDivision

Anyonecanlearnmathwhetherthey'reinhighermathatschoolorjustlookingtobrushuponthebasics.Afterdiscussing
waystobeagoodmathstudent,thisarticlewillteachyouthebasicprogressionofmathcoursesandwillgiveyouthebasic
elementsthatyou'llneedtolearnineachcourse.Then,thearticlewillgothroughthebasicsoflearningarithmetic,whichwill
helpbothkidsinelementaryschoolandanyoneelsewhoneedstobrushuponthefundamentals.

Part

KeystoBeingaGoodMathStudent
Showupforclass.Whenyoumissclass,youhavetolearntheconceptseitherfromaclassmateorfromyour
textbook.You'llnevergetasgoodofanoverviewfromyourfriendsorfromthetextasyouwillfromyourteacher.
Cometoclassontime.Infact,comealittleearlyandopenyournotebooktotherightplace,openyour
textbookandtakeoutyourcalculatorsothatyou'rereadytostartwhenyourteacherisreadytostart.
Onlyskipclassifyouaresick.Whenyoudomissclass,talktoaclassmatetofindoutwhattheteachertalked
aboutandwhathomeworkwasassigned.

Workalongwithyourteacher.Ifyourteacherworksproblemsatthefrontofyourclass,thenworkalongwith
theteacherinyournotebook.
Makesurethatyournotesareclearandeasytoread.Don'tjustwritedowntheproblems.Alsowritedown
anythingthattheteachersaysthatincreasesyourunderstandingoftheconcepts.
Workanysampleproblemsthatyourteacherpostsforyoutodo.Whentheteacherwalksaroundthe
classroomasyouwork,answerquestions.
Participatewhiletheteacherisworkingaproblem.Don'twaitforyourteachertocallonyou.Volunteerto
answerwhenyouknowtheanswer,andraiseyourhandtoaskquestionswhenyou'reunsureofwhat'sbeing
taught.

Doyourhomeworkthesamedayasit'sassigned.Whenyoudothehomeworkthesameday,theconcepts

arefreshonyourmind.Sometimes,finishingyourhomeworkthesamedayisn'tpossible.Justmakesurethatyour
homeworkiscompletebeforeyougotoclass.

Makeaneffortoutsideofclassifyouneedhelp.Gotoyourteacherduringhisorherfreeperiodorduring
officehours.
IfyouhaveaMathCenteratyourschool,thenfindoutthehoursthatit'sopenandgogetsomehelp.
Joinastudygroup.Goodstudygroupsusuallycontain4or5peopleatagoodmixofabilitylevels.Ifyou'rea
"C"studentinmath,thenjoinagroupthathas2or3"A"or"B"studentssothatyoucanraiseyourlevel.Avoid
joiningagroupfullofstudentswhosegradesarelowerthanyours.[1]

Part

LearningMathinSchool
Startwitharithmetic.Inmostschools,studentsworkonarithmeticduringtheelementarygrades.Arithmetic
includesthefundamentalsofaddition,subtraction,multiplicationanddivision.
Workondrills.Doingalotofarithmeticproblemsagainandagainisthebestwaytogetthefundamentalsdown
pat.Lookforsoftwarethatwillgiveyoulotsofdifferentmathproblemstoworkon.Also,lookfortimeddrillsto
increaseyourspeed.
Repetitionisthebasisofmath.Theconcepthastobenotonlylearned,butputtoworkforyoutorememberit!
Youcanalsofindarithmeticdrillsonline,andyoucandownloadarithmeticappsontoyourmobiledevice.

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Progresstoprealgebra.Thiscoursewillprovidethebuildingblocksthatyou'llneedtosolvealgebraproblems
lateron.
Learnaboutfractionsanddecimals.You'lllearntoadd,subtract,multiplyanddividebothfractionsand
decimals.Regardingfractions,you'lllearnhowtoreducefractionsandinterpretmixednumbers.Regarding
decimals,you'llunderstandplacevalue,andyou'llbeabletousedecimalsinwordproblems.
Studyratios,proportionsandpercentages.Theseconceptswillhelpyoutolearnaboutmakingcomparisons.
Solvesquaresandsquareroots.Whenyou'vemasteredthistopic,you'llhaveperfectsquaresofmany
numbersmemorized.You'llalsobeabletoworkwithequationscontainingsquareroots.
Introduceyourselftobasicgeometry.You'lllearnalloftheshapesaswellas3Dconcepts.You'llalsolearn
conceptslikearea,perimeter,volumeandsurfacearea,aswellasinformationaboutparallelandperpendicular
linesandangles.
Understandsomebasicstatistics.Inprealgebra,yourintroductiontostatisticsmostlyincludesvisualslike
graphs,scatterplots,stemandleafplotsandhistograms.
Learnalgebrabasics.Thesewillincludeconceptslikesolvingsimpleequationscontainingvariables,learning
aboutpropertieslikethedistributiveproperty,graphingsimpleequationsandsolvinginequalities.

AdvancetoAlgebraI.Inyourfirstyearofalgebra,youwilllearnaboutthebasicsymbolsinvolvedinalgebra.
You'llalsolearnto:
Solvelinearequationsandinequalitiesthatcontain12variables.You'lllearnhowtosolvetheseproblemsnot
onlyonpaper,butsometimesonacalculatoraswell.
Tacklewordproblems.You'llbesurprisedhowmanyeverydayproblemsthatyou'llfaceinyourfutureinvolve
theabilitytosolvealgebraicwordproblems.Forexample,you'llusealgebratofigureouttheinterestratethat
youearnonyourbankaccountoronyourinvestments.Youcanalsousealgebratofigureouthowlongyou'll
havetotravelbasedonthespeedofyourcar.
Workwithexponents.Whenyoustartsolvingequationswithpolynomials(expressionscontainingboth
numbersandvariables),you'llhavetounderstandhowtouseexponents.Thismayalsoincludeworkingwith
scientificnotation.Onceyouhaveexponentsdown,youcanlearntoadd,subtract,multiplyanddivide
polynomialexpressions.
Understandfunctionsandgraphs.Inalgebra,you'llreallygetintographicequations.You'lllearnhowto
calculatetheslopeofaline,howtoputequationsintopointslopeform,andhowtocalculatethexandy
interceptsofalineusingslopeinterceptform.
Figureoutsystemsofequations.Sometimes,you'regiven2separateequationswithbothxandyvariables,
andyouhavetosolveforxoryforbothequations.Fortunately,you'lllearnmanytricksforsolvingthese
equationincludinggraphing,substitutionandaddition.[2]

Getintogeometry.Ingeometry,you'lllearnaboutthepropertiesoflines,segments,anglesandshapes.[3]

TakeonAlgebraII.AlgebraIIbuildsontheconceptsthatyoulearnedinAlgebraIbutaddsmorecomplextopics
involvingmorecomplexnonlinearfunctionsandmatrices.

You'llmemorizeanumberoftheoremsandcorollariesthatwillhelpyoutounderstandtherulesofgeometry.
You'lllearnhowtocalculatetheareaofacircle,howtousethePythagoreantheoremandhowtofigureout
relationshipsbetweenanglesandsidesofspecialtriangles.
You'llseealotofgeometryonfuturestandardizedtestsliketheSAT,theACTandtheGRE.

Tackletrigonometry.Youknowthewordsoftrig:sine,cosine,tangent,etc.Trigonometrywillteachyoumany
practicalwaystocalculateanglesandlengthsoflines,andtheseskillswillbeinvaluableforpeoplewhogointo
construction,architecture,engineeringorsurveying.

Countonsomecalculus.Calculusmaysoundintimidating,butit'sanamazingtoolchestforunderstandingboth
thebehaviorofnumbersandtheworldaroundyou.
Calculuswillteachyouaboutfunctionsandaboutlimits.You'llseethebehaviororanumberofusefulfunctions
includinge^xandlogarithmicfunctions.
You'llalsolearnhowtocalculateandworkwithderivatives.Afirstderivativegivesyouinformationbasedon
theslopeofatangentlinetoanequation.Forinstance,aderivativetellsyoutherateatwhichsomethingis
changinginanonlinearsituation.Asecondderivativewilltellyouwhetherafunctionisincreasingor
decreasingalongacertainintervalsothatyoucandeterminetheconcavityofafunction.
Integralswillteachyouhowtocalculatetheareabeneathacurveaswellasvolume.
Highschoolcalculususuallyendswithsequencesandseries.Althoughstudentswon'tseemanyapplications

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forseries,theyareimportanttopeoplewhogoontostudydifferentialequations.
Calculusisstillonlythebeginningforsome.Ifyouareconsideringacareerwithahighinvolvementofmath
andscience,likeanengineer,trygoingabitfarther![4]

Part

MathFundamentalsAceSomeAddition

Startwith"+1"facts.Adding1toanumbertakesyoutothenexthighestnumberonthenumberline.For
example,2+1=3.

Understandzeroes.Anynumberaddedtozeroequalsthesamenumberbecause"zero"isthesameas
"nothing."

Learndoubles.Doublesareproblemsthatinvolveaddingtwoofthesamenumber.Forexample,3+3=6isan
exampleofanequationinvolvingdoubles.

Usemappingtolearnaboutotheradditionsolutions.Intheexamplebelow,youlearnthroughmappingwhat
happenswhenyouadd3to5,2and1.Trythe"add2"problemsonyourown.

Gobeyond10.Learntoadd3numberstogethertogetanumberlargerthan10.

Addlargernumbers.Learnaboutregrouping1sintothe10splace,10sintothe100splace,etc.

Part

Addthenumbersintherightcolumnfirst.8+4=12,whichmeansyouhave110and21s.Writedownthe2
underthe1scolumn.
Writethe1overthe10scolumn.
Addthe10scolumntogether.

MathFundamentalsStrategiesforSubtraction

Startwith"backwards1."Subtracting1fromanumbertakesyoubackwards1number.Forexample,41=3.

Learndoublessubtraction.Forinstance,youaddthedoubles5+5toget10.Justwritetheequationbackward
toget105=5.
If5+5=10,then105=5.
If2+2=4,then42=2.

Memorizefactfamilies.Forexample:

Findthemissingnumbers.Forexample,___+1=6(theansweris5).Thisalsosetsthefoundationforalgebra
andbeyond.

Memorizesubtractionfactsupto20.

Practicesubtracting1digitnumbersfrom2digitnumberswithoutborrowing.Subtractthenumbersinthe
1scolumnandbringdownthenumberinthe10scolumn.

Practiceplacevaluetoprepareforsubtractingwithborrowing.

3+1=4
1+3=4
41=3
43=1

32=310sand21s.
64=610sand41s.

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