I have to say, I actually loved this article. Especially “Understanding doesn’t build fluency; instead, fluency builds understanding.”
I love math and majored in it in college. The rest of my family is all scientifically inclined, but I think found/find math itself opaque and somewhat intimidating. I remember my brother asking me at one point how one would ever find, for example, the Pythagorean theorem intuitive. The author’s quote is the response I wish I had. The Pythagorean theorem becomes intuitively true not when you have some deep insight about Euclidean space, but when, on seeing a right triangle, three proofs of it spring instantly to mind. Which happens after a lot of practice.
FWIW I think it’s appropriate that the author talks about herself a lot. She’s trying to explain the subjective, cognitive experience of going from math-phobia to math mastery over her career. She can’t explain that without talking about her background and her perception of the process from inside her head.
I love math and majored in it in college. The rest of my family is all scientifically inclined, but I think found/find math itself opaque and somewhat intimidating. I remember my brother asking me at one point how one would ever find, for example, the Pythagorean theorem intuitive. The author’s quote is the response I wish I had. The Pythagorean theorem becomes intuitively true not when you have some deep insight about Euclidean space, but when, on seeing a right triangle, three proofs of it spring instantly to mind. Which happens after a lot of practice.
FWIW I think it’s appropriate that the author talks about herself a lot. She’s trying to explain the subjective, cognitive experience of going from math-phobia to math mastery over her career. She can’t explain that without talking about her background and her perception of the process from inside her head.