[paradox_conqueror]

I am INFP, and I used to see myself as very good at math. Yet, I would struggle with the basics. I think I was actually quite good, but my tendency to over-complicate things made it harder for me than it should have been. For instance, I was a CS major, and I remember learning SQL (which is similar to math), and going over each algorithmic process again and again in my mind - maybe something like 5 to 10 times - until I could visualize it "perfectly." This is overdoing something really simple. Then something very complicated, like a difficult graph theory proof, I would "force out of me" until I could just "get it," when, in reality, it is something other people at my level of ability wouldn't even bother with - and I should have done the same. I even remember having imaginary arguments with "NTs" about how I "wasn't good enough," when the problem was not my level of ability, but really my psychological tendency to over-think and over-analyze the process - most of which is actually quite simple. Do any of you identify with this?

 

[Crowbo]

No

 

[ai.tran.75]

I’m from the Silicon Valley ( west Palo Alto) regardless of mbti type mass majority of people here are math whiz


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[AnnaG28]

yes and i love math so much 😍
but I'm not good at details ( i can easily Understand Difficult math topics but for example i can mechanically write 2+2=5 ,when i know its 4 )
also i just realize it's NF's Forum , so my ENFP friend is great at math

 

[BigApplePi]

Math seems to have two directions, applied and pure. I loved pure. But what is that?

 

[WraithOfNightmare]

Not at all, I struggled with math past a certain point in school, there was a time where I did somewhat better but that didn’t last long once it got more complex. I can do some calculations pretty quickly when it comes to stuff I’m interested in, but math in general? I’m not a math or a STEM person at all. I dreaded the breadth requirements in college, and barely managed to satisfy them by taking an astronomy course and Statistics 101 (which I failed once and passed the second time). So math and I don’t have the best relationship. Far from it.

 

[BigApplePi]

Like chess one doesn't get very far without handling the initial rules.

 

[Crowbo]

I'm too retarded to be any good at math.

 

[ImminentThunder]

I’m decent at it, and I do really enjoy it, but I have a lot of room for improvement.

For one thing, I barely know proofs. When I added the math minor, the advisor was kind of annoyed because I already had 75 credits or so, so she told me she would only add the minor if I skipped Fundamentals of Mathematics (the proofs course) and counted Discrete Structures (which I took for computer science) instead. However, the latter was a programming-heavy course and lighter on mathematical rigor. Linear algebra had some proofs but I honestly just memorized them and regurgitated them on exams. In retrospect, I would’ve just signed up for the proofs course anyway.

My grades were all over the place. A in calc 1, A in statistics, A- in discrete structures, B in calc 2, B- in linear algebra, C in multivariable calc (my all-time worst grade in school, the final killed me and I’m still kinda embarrassed about it lol ), and a B+ in differential equations. Oh and I got a C+ in Newtonian mechanics. In my defense it was a weeder for engineering majors. My CS grades were way better.

I had to drop control theory last winter because it was almost 100% writing proofs that included concepts from all my previous math classes. I was not prepared. I’m gonna take it again next winter as I finish up my MS, and until then I’m reviewing math from the very beginning.