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Ask HN: Get over math anxiety in CS degree

1 points by fratlas ↗ HN
Bit of back-story: I have always been a little slower at maths, and have always wanted to get better. I struggled my way through discrete mathematics but already forget a lot of the notation. I'm doing a university course which is proof-heavy and uses a lot of mathematical notation which scares the shit out of me. My question is; was anyone here in a similar situation? How did you get better? Books, practice, tutoring, videos? I feel extremely stupid when I can't get the simplest proofs down.

5 comments

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arethuza
Practice and actually asking for help when I was stuck worked for me.

I remember having a complete block over lambda calculus - I pretty much locked myself in my room over an Easter break and worked through loads of examples - eventually it clicked and I ended up being really interested in all things functional.

a3n
> actually asking for help when I was stuck worked for me.

This is larger than math. Successful people ask for help.

arethuza
One of my first jobs was for a Professor of Control Engineering - fantastically bright chap. He was also the first person to admit "sorry, I didn't understand that, could you explain that again" and do it in a way that made it clear he thought it has his problem not the person providing the explanation.

[NB The fact I ended up doing research with a bunch of control engineers rather demonstrates that I did manage to get over my fear of maths!].

fratlas
I agree that asking for help is necessary, I always wonder at what point it is acceptable to decide you're "stuck" and give up.
kup0
I was in a similar situation years back and made a huge mistake: giving up and switching majors due to the amount of math in CS (and the very poor instruction I was receiving was part of it too, so YMMV).

Now, 8+ years later, I wish I had stuck with it or found better instructors or a better school or something.

To throw that opportunity away in exchange for a much less interesting or useful degree is something I still regret but am trying to move on from... can't change the past.

The times I was successful in tough math classes was when I asked for help, so my experience mirrors what others are saying here. The problem was having instructors that sometimes couldn't help much when asked.