/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.7112346]

>be me
>second calculus II test
>get completely rekt

How do I stop being retarded, /sci/? I study between 3 to 6 hours a day on fucking Calculus I. I'm sacrificing my linear algebra studying just so that I can pass Calculus II, yet I can only muster a fucking B. What should I do to get better at understanding Calculus II while also getting better at linear algebra? Both classes are like 10th grade high school, so I know this shit shouldn't be this hard.

[Anonymous No.7112405]

>>7112346
Honestly, if you're studying 3 to 6 hours and still getting shit grades than Math just isn't for you. There is nothing wrong with not being good at it. Learn to suck dick and become an engineer.

[Anonymous No.7112578]

Then you're not studying properly. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence who studies for 3-6 hours should ace a test. Stop sucking cocks, OP.

[Anonymous No.7112592]

>>7112405
>>7112578

That's why I'm posting this. What am I doing wrong? I do the problems in the book multiple times. I also learn with outside sources like youtube.

[Anonymous No.7112595]

>>7112405
>Learn to suck dick and become an engineer

Kek.

But most engineers at least need calc 2 for generally all degree programs.

[Anonymous No.7112604]

>>7112405
>calculus 2
>le edgy math

even engineers have harder math than that...

[Anonymous No.7112607]

>>7112592
>I also learn with outside sources like youtube.
Stop doing that.
"Alternative" learning methods are a cock of shit.

Make list type notes Of this form:

Definition name - Blah blah blah
Definition name - Blah blah blah
Definition name - Blah blah blah
Theorem name - blah
______________(proof here if needed)
Theorem name - blah
______________(proof here if needed)
Theorem name - blah
______________(proof here if needed)

Do the problems in the book. Do past papers. Do them again until you can do them all without looking at the answers. That doesn't mean memorise exactly what to do. It means understand what you need to do for each TYPE of problem. (Not each one individually.)

[Anonymous No.7112613]

>>7112607
Also don't put music on. Don't have your computer on. Don't have a calculator with you.

Have a desk a pad of paper and a pen and nothing else.

[Anonymous No.7112617]

It's a fucking B, faggot. Stop being autistic.

[Anonymous No.7112629]

>>7112604
Like? Most they will go through is Calculus III and differential equations which isn't that far above Calculus II. If OP passes, he'll be taking both those classes next semester.

[Anonymous No.7112643]

>>7112629
You usually need Calc 1-3 as prereqs for diff eq.

[Anonymous No.7112675]

>>7112643
Not necessarily, calc 3 is sometimes a coreq for differential equations

[Anonymous No.7112681]

>>7112346
what the fuck? In my country an 85% is an A, a 90% an A+. I didnt know countries differed like that

[Anonymous No.7112698]

>>7112405
>STEM but not an engineer
lol you're going to be sucking old men at the park to make a living.

[Anonymous No.7112704]

>>7112681
Americans have easy tests but they grade based on the standard deviation from the average.
Or so I think.

Here getting 90%+ is extraordinary.

[Anonymous No.7112713]

>>7112346
>85
>completely rekt
Shut the fuck up faggot

Just try harder next time and do more practice problems, if you have a decent prof, the exam questions are not going to be like any of the examples you did in class so you have to prepare harder, past that you are still doing bullshit math so the only way to really get better is to drill.

>>7112643
Nope, just calc 2.

>>7112681
imagine how surprised/confused you are going to be when you get to upper level classes and find that every class is curved and has different grade cutoffs from your other classes

[Anonymous No.7112717]

I'm in the same boat OP. Actually, a little worse than yours. I managed to get an 80 fucking percent on the first exam. Next is this coming week. My study pattern is about the same as yours, but for whatever reason I still have trouble. I suppose I need to modify my technique as well.

[Anonymous No.7112726]

>>7112713
I'm not sure what you are saying? Are you saying that the percentage to grade conversion is not static? I know that some classes have higher grade cut offs but I dont understand how that relates to what I said, especially because my university has a no-curve policy, and the conversation to letter grade does not change

[Anonymous No.7112742]

>>7112726
>I'm not sure what you are saying? Are you saying that the percentage to grade conversion is not static?
Not between universities in the US and not even within universities.

I was in an econ class once where a 95 was the cutoff for an A because the teacher was really good and his exams weren't that hard. I was also in a math class last semester where I got like a 40% and still got a B-, although that was a required grad school course where they only give out Cs to students who work for it because they don't want us to get kicked out of the program. But the point is once you get past freshman/sophomore level in classes outside the humanities where grading is less arbitrary pretty much every class has either different grade cutoffs established at the beginning or a different curve.

>my university has a no-curve policy,
That's really fucking weird, I've never heard of anything like that. I guess it's to combat grade inflation but it's a fucking stupid rule made by people who do not teach STEM. It just makes it harder on professors to predict what average scores on the tests are going to be and adjust how that converts to a percent scale in advance. That or they just can never give any hard tests.

[Anonymous No.7113550]

>>7112643

depends on the state and college. Here in California, you just need Calculus II.

[Anonymous No.7113849]

>>7112346
What the fuck go kill yourself people like you are the worst, 85%? What the fuck are you complaining about you clearly know it fine

[Anonymous No.7113863]

>>7112405
This guy is right that math isn't for you. Calc 2 is largely the reverse operation of what you learned in Calc 1.

Change your major to something that requires a lower level of math mastery.

[Anonymous No.7113878]

B in Calculus I-III is OK and ultimately won't mean much as you take higher based math courses.

[Anonymous No.7113892]

>>7112617
literally the only rational post in this thread
someone coasted through highschool

[Anonymous No.7115161]

>>7113892
A B in a high school level class isn't something to be proud of. At least OP knows this. If he can't get an A in a high school class, what chance does he have in a real math class.

[Anonymous No.7115168]

>>7112613
underrated

[Anonymous No.7115169]

My answer might be dickish, but don't fear proving theorems. Trying to prove a theorem, and getting little hints whenever you're completely stuck, is the greatest way to fully understand a concept, and compress it into your own visual language and cognitive processes.

[Anonymous No.7115182]

>>7112346

Isn't 12th grade calculus II? Only the nerds even get to that level in high school. Majority of pleb students stop by algebra.

[Contour Integration No.7115194]

>>7112405

>tfw math major asks me to do her hw for her
>tfw they don't put out
>tfw I get to suck all the dicks in the engineering department

[Anonymous No.7115199]

>>7115194
>doing shit for women
>ever
Fucking omegas. If they actually like you they won't even dare inconvenience you.

[Anonymous No.7115238]

>>7115199

[Anonymous No.7115262]

>>7115199

[Contour Integration No.7115271]

>>7115199

Honestly it's pretty ridiculous, the class she has right now is complex analysis (non-honors). I haven't even had a class in complex analysis, I only learned the basics of contour integration, but the question she has right now are pretty hard. I don't think she would've passed 4 of her upper year classes with me helping/doing her hw.

pic related: I got questions 1-4, but can't get #5.

[Anonymous No.7115276]

>>7115238
>>7115262
He's perfectly right about that last sentence.

[Anonymous No.7115284]

>>7115199

[Anonymous No.7115293]

>>7112346
it is impossible to study 3 hours per day for calculus
IMPOSSIBLE
how the hell are you studying? reading your notes over and over again?
you need to solve the problems in your book.
google "*name of the book* solution manual pdf"
if its solution manual does not exist, you have to find a good book that has a manual
don't trust any suggestion people might give you on /sci/, they want you to memorize proofs rather than have any ability to solve questions in an axam
you have to find a book that has a solution manual, do not be lazy about this
there is no other way to study, NEVER read the book itself, only read the end of the chapter problems and their solutions

***electrical engineer who graduated with practically every course A+, checking out***

[Anonymous No.7115296]

>>7115293
>engineer

I had my doubts at first but then this made everything clear for me.

[Anonymous No.7115300]

>>7115271
Absolutely plebeian.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2int%28cos%28x%29^8+*+sin%28x%29^2%2Cx%2C0%2Cpi%2F2%29

(Okay, I'm just using real-variable integration, but see Brown and Churchill for complex integration at infinity)

[Anonymous No.7115307]

>>7112346
>>7112592
Please don't listen to the elitists. Everyone on /sci/ lies about how smart they are. Do not give up. Just keep studying and thinking about the subject and it at a certain moment it will suddenly all click. It's an amazing high and you will get there.

Just remember, when you eventually get to that point: not to be a dick to undergrads on /sci/.

[Anonymous No.7115308]

>>7115293
>NEVER read the book itself, only read the end of the chapter problems and their solutions

kek

[Anonymous No.7115310]

>>7115296
I have no real accomplishments in real life (yet), but one thing you can count on is that I mastered how to succeed in exams. My advise is sound, pragmatic, and the best chance OP has.

[Anonymous No.7115314]

>>7115296
false flagging it up

[Anonymous No.7115317]

>>7115271

Shit on the paper and hand it to her, figuratively. She's doing nothing for you and won't suddenly fuck you when she passes the class, so just have fun m8.

[Anonymous No.7115331]

>>7115199

[Anonymous No.7115341]

>>7115271


write some erotic poetry on her paper with invisible ink that reappears after a few days

[Anonymous No.7115367]

>>7115271
holy shit I thought you were actually trolling about doing a girl's homework but you're serious.

and you're from my city as well. UofC is becoming a better and better research institution with each passing year -- you could be building your CV immensely by doing something else but instead you choose to contribute to degree inflation by attempting to curry favour with an average-looking woman?

Straight up pathetic.

[Charles Dickens No.7115417]

>>7115293
>they want you to memorize proofs
Now I understand how a product of modern corporate education actually thinks.
They have been taught that way since birth so they try to memorize everything, even goddamn technical proofs.
>NEVER read the book
>practically every course A+
It's like the city that tries to eradicate rats by putting bounties on rats, only to have people raise more rats. You might think you've beaten "the man", like most "clever" high school students. But it is simply that the education system has failed to incentivize understanding.

Maths is the language you use to work with scientists. Maths, like English, can be crammed for short bursts (see Chinese students that ace the SAT/GRE without even being able to hold an actual conversation in English). However, eventually the time you saved will be the time you lose trying to relearn the things you forget (assuming the things you learned matter).

It is an absolutely monstrous task trying to remember 30,000 advanced words in English, or keeping in your head all the fundamentals of complex analysis, functional analysis, Sobolev inequalities, Fourier analysis, differential geometry.... Just like London taxi drivers, you can't try to remember every house address. Human brains are not hard disks.There is only ever one way to learn the streets of London: to actually walk through them; to learn English: to actually read novels, listen and converse; to learn Maths: to walk through the whole logical chain of interdependence when you try to prove or solve something by yourself. Our neurons learn best through, you guess it, forming connections and association (see Method of loci for abusing it).

Nobody but Hilbert is going to wake up being able to prove Nullstellensatz without assistance or experience. But with each little step you brave forward yourself, the assistance you require becomes less and less. And that is the raw feeling of joy and progress which studying maths should bestow upon students.

[Anonymous No.7115418]

>>7115293
>it is impossible to study 3 hours per day for calculus
>IMPOSSIBLE

What the fuck are yo--
>***electrical engineer
>engineer

Oh, nevermind.

[Anonymous No.7115423]

>>7115367
This nigguh knows what's up.
>>7115194
Test out if she wants something else from you other than helping her. If test is negative, you are being USED. STOP HELPING HER. DON'T FEEL BAD FOR A MORON. STOP BEING USED. Use your time to better yourself or get another woman.

[Anonymous No.7115430]

>>7115293
>they want you to memorize proofs
>memorize
>proofs

Completely missing the point

[Anonymous No.7115431]

>>7115417
>complex analysis
>Fourier analysis
i still know those subjects, really well
fite me

[Anonymous No.7115442]

>>7115417
there is only 1 situation where my advise will be invalid, and that is if OP want to be a mathematician

[Anonymous No.7115642]

>>7112704
That sounds pretty retarded. What does it matter how others in your class/semester do? Especially in science and maths, an objective standard is easy to accomplish - you either get the answers right or you don't, with partial solutions for partial points.

[Anonymous No.7115886]

Daily reminder that no matter how much you try, there is someone who didn't even study and got 100%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz9ZMD9KFNg

[Anonymous No.7116197]

>>7112346

OP you pretty much nailed it: you're retarded for getting a B in a first year course. Change your major before it's too late.