You Suck At Math: Guide On Ending Your Arithmophobia
— written by Francis on Dec. 12, 2024, 8:19 p.m.
Let’s face it—math is hard for most of you. It’s that subject you’ve avoided, sidestepped, or outright pretended didn’t exist ever since you realized someone was sadistic enough to add letters to it. And who needs that kind of stress in their life? If you are dreaming of pursuing engineering or computer science and you’ve ever muttered the words “I’m just not a math person,” then you are very delusional. But you’re not alone. However, there’s hope. You can stop sucking at math. Let’s see how.
1. Embrace Your Inner "Math-Less" Hero
First things first: Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. You’ve probably convinced yourself that math is the intellectual equivalent of a rock wall you’ll never climb. You look at numbers the way you probably look at your worst nightmare. But let’s be clear—math is not a terrifying monster(unless you’re looking at a gamma distribution in the exam room with 10 minutes left. In that case then you're cooked bro).
Realize this: Math is a learnable skill. Yes, that’s right. It’s not some mystical, magical power reserved for the nerds like me in the corner (sorry nerds). You’re just one step away from being “math-enlightened,” and that first step is believing it’s possible.
2. Quit Blaming the Calculator for Your Mistakes
Listen, calculators are amazing. But they’re not magical. They won’t solve all your problems. You can’t just punch random numbers in and expect math to do your bidding. The calculator doesn’t know your deepest desires. It can’t solve your existential crisis. And it certainly can’t help you with that word problem about Kamau who always seems to buy 60 watermelons every time he goes shopping.
The calculator is as good as the person using it. Now, I'm not saying you are stupid..., but I'm saying you need to understand what you are doing to get the right values from a calculator. You don’t have to be perfect at math, but you do need to understand how the numbers work. Think of math as a recipe. If you don’t know what each ingredient is doing, the cake might fall flat. But if you mix the right ingredients, voila—math success!
3. Math Teachers Aren't Plotting Against You (Mostly)
It’s easy to feel like your math teacher has a personal vendetta against you. I'm sure the, "Mwalimu wa math, Hapa ni wapi?" gang begs to differ but hear me out. You look at the homework, and it feels like they wrote it just to mess with you. You sit there, staring at the page, trying to figure out why you have 17 variables and no idea what the equation even means.
Guess what? Your teacher isn’t out to get you. They’re probably just excited to share their passion for math. They might not always explain things in a way you “get,” but trust us—they want you to succeed. Try asking for help, even if it’s over a cup of tea where you can pretend you understand the difference between “mean” and “median” (it's all about averages).
4. Practice
Don’t be intimidated. Practice makes perfect—or at least it makes you way better than the version of yourself who couldn’t even remember the order of operations (BODMAS). You don’t need to be a math genius, but practicing for just 10 minutes a day will move you farther than you think.
Start by re-doing simple problems, and then try some new ones. It’s like playing a video game: you suck at first, then you level up and eventually feel like a superhero when you finally defeat that final boss (Calculus). And if you make a mistake? Good! You’ve learned something. Just don’t do it 50 times in a row, and remember, even math geniuses were beginners once.
5. Change Your Mentality: Math is Like a Puzzle, Not a Torture Device
Think of math as a big, nerdy puzzle. You’re Michael Scoffield, and your job is to find the best way to break out of prison. The difference between math problems and real-life puzzles is that, in math, there’s always a solution. You might just need a few extra clues to figure it out.
When you stop seeing math as a torture device and start seeing it as a challenge, it gets a whole lot easier. Plus, you get to feel that sweet satisfaction when you solve something that looked impossible five minutes ago.
6. Stop Saying "I Can't Do Math"
Let’s take a moment to debunk a common myth: “I’m just not good at math.” That’s nonsense. Sure, there might be math geniuses who can do complex calculations in their sleep, but the truth is that math is a learned skill. You weren’t born knowing how to ride a bike, right? Well, you’re not born knowing how to factor polynomials either. It’s okay if it takes a little practice (and many tears sometimes). You can get there.
Next time you find yourself about to say, “I can’t do math,” stop. Instead, say: “I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m working on it!” Positive self-talk is just as important as knowing the formula for the area of a circle.
Bottomline
You don't have to suck at Math. Sure, it’s hard, but you can do it. By practicing, changing your mindset, and maybe even pretending math problems are secret codes you’re cracking, you’ll go from “Math is my enemy” to "I really love math."
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