"Good at Math": What Counts?
Recently, I was asked “What does it mean to be ‘good at math’?” I thought it through, and here is an edited response. Even if you don't like mathematics, it is a good exercise to go through for anyone. What does it mean for someone to be good at what you do? There are a few points that I would address in being “good at math”: The proficiency of the student in the narrowest sense of mathematics , The student’s reasoning ability in dealing with philosophical arguments , and The religious motivation behind the student’s study. At the most superficial (disregard the negative connotation) level, being “good at math” is about knowing the language of mathematics. The student who is good at math will begin to have both a competency with the tools of mathematics and an intuitive understanding (a “gut feeling” if you prefer) of what will work. These appeal to those situations where the student sees a theoretical result developing from the material and where the student models mathematic...
Comments