#I Math Ask You a Question

Look, can we quit it with the conflation of arithmetic and higher mathematics?

I have dyscalculia. My teachers gave up on teaching me to perform basic arithmetic in tenth grade. I struggle with anything below trigonometry, and even trig is hard for me.

I have a bachelor s in pure math and a master s in statistics. Calculus? I can do that. Abstract algebra? I m there. Topology and probability theory? Awesome. (Don t ask me to do combinatorics, though. Don t know why, but my brain nopes out on that one.)

I am SICK AND TIRED of reassuring kids I teach who come into our intro stats or calc courses going I m bad at math and expecting to fail. A good three quarters of the time I probe further and discover they failed or nearly failed algebra because they struggle with arithmetic, and now they re convinced they re going to fail anything that even looks like it might possibly be adjacent to math.

WE HAVE CALCULATORS NOW, PEOPLE. Inability to do arithmetic is not even close to the end of your mathematics career. So can we please quit discouraging kids now?

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thanks for the helpful commentary