Math Is Fun Forum

NeoXx

Member

Registered: 2013-02-04

Posts: 8

Hello :)

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and I joined in order to seek advice.
I am a 17 year old A-level student in Cambridge, UK and I really enjoy mathematics.

However, school only teaches you what you will need for exam.
I want to teach myself maths, and explore much more in depth than the school can teach you.

How and where should I start?

Thank you.

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Hello :)

Hi NeoXx;

Welcome to the forum.

How and where should I start?

Forums like this one are a good place to start. Scour the internet for books that are designed not to have an instructor. Work on lots and lots of problems.

I want to teach myself maths, and explore much more in depth than the school can teach you.

Begin to specialize in what you like, the process of finding that will be an education in itself.

However, school only teaches you what you will need for exam.

It is true that schooling has lost sight of its purpose. The real purpose of an education is to teach you how to learn, how to educate yourself.

Caine: Will all this take me a very long time.

Master Po: Only a lifetime, perhaps a little longer.

Education continues long after school, it is a lifelong job.

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In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

NeoXx

Member

Registered: 2013-02-04

Posts: 8

Re: Hello :)

Thank you for your advice!

bobbym

bumpkin

From: Bumpkinland

Registered: 2009-04-12

Posts: 109,606

Re: Hello :)

Hi;

Your welcome.

---

In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.
Always satisfy the Prime Directive of getting the right answer above all else.

anonimnystefy

Real Member

From: Harlan's World

Registered: 2011-05-23

Posts: 16,049

Re: Hello :)

Hi NeoXx

Welcome to the forum!

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“Here lies the reader who will never open this book. He is forever dead.
“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
The knowledge of some things as a function of age is a delta function.

Bob

Administrator

Registered: 2010-06-20

Posts: 10,621

Re: Hello :)

hi NeoXx

Welcome to the forum.

However, school only teaches you what you will need for exam.

Sadly, years of Government interference in the education process has done that.  As a retired teacher I can tell you, teachers like it no more than you.  But all the pressure is to get measureable results and years of the National Curriculum and results analysis has taken the joy out of education.  But, well done, for wanting to learn for its own sake.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel”

Sounds like that has happened for you. 

There are plenty of free pages on the internet on maths topics.  Our own MathsIsFun site has lots.  But the more advanced pages are only just being added so you may want to go further afield.

(i) Decide what you want to find out about.

(ii) 'Google' to find resources.

You also live in a place that has one of the finest bookshops in the world.  It has comfortable carpets so spend an afternoon looking at the maths section and that'll help you decide.  (note to bookshop if you're reading this:  I'm not suggesting he reads the books for free ... just decides which one is interesting enough to buy.  )

Bob

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Children are not defined by school ...........The Fonz
You cannot teach a man anything;  you can only help him find it within himself..........Galileo Galilei
Sometimes I deliberately make mistakes, just to test you!  …………….Bob