S.O.S. Mathematics CyberBoard

About 40 years ago I tutored a 91-year old lady at a college from a math workshop in algebra. I was successful with her as she related to me the following year (and wished I was still with the workshop, she made the graduating class while making the Dean's List).

During November last year I tutored this person in beginning algebra (actually basic math, fractions and decimals) for her entrance exam to be a nurse. She passed her exam with a score of 84 (the passing grade was 75 so she did alright. I commented to her that when she becomes my nurse, I hope she can count my pills).

I asked her if she felt I was helpful to her passing and she said yes and may use me again somewheres down the road. In terms of study habits and along with practice, I've found from experience that usually an hour a day is sufficient (unless you have more challenging courses which may require more time), but at the same time you can overstudy and wear yourself down which defeats the purpose of studying so it's good to pace yourself.

A general tip to be successful in math is to develop alternative ways of solving problems. A good example of this, even at the level of basic math, is to solve the following problem:

x/4 = 6/12

For the starting step, I explained you can either multiply both sides of the equation by 12 (to clear out the denominators) or you can cross multiply, whichever you feel more comfortable with and the general idea of using alternate methods of solving math problems becomes even more important in higher branches of math such as calculus.

I'd like to hear your comments regarding studying and homework practice.

Happy New Year,
Math Explorer

Hello!

I find the two most useful studying/homework techniques are consistency and patience. Consistency is the key if you're trying to get to higher levels of math, such as calculus as you mentioned. Patience is also needed, because there are times when calculus problems are very difficult. I suggest working on math for 3 hours a day.

Hmmm....to me, 1st step here is : x/4 = 1/2
Btw, I'm a FANatic cross multiplier

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Do you mean "fantastic"?

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No...I mean I use cross multiplication EVERY time it's possible...

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For my pupil, I wanted to cover methods that work all the time in solving algebraic problems of the sort just mentioned as not all fractions are reducible (while convenient, at her stage, reducing fractions in algebraic problems can be confusing or distracting since the method of reducing fractions would be extraneous, btw I did go over reducing fractions with her in other nonalgebraic problems).