Monday, September 13, 2010

Math Help From The Internet

My professor provided us this math homework hoping that by understanding this problem will help us in visualizing the greatness of mathematics:

A clown fish named Nemo met a school of fish and said: “hello there a hundred fishes!” The leader of the group answered: “If you count us, we can not reach to a hundred. However, if there were as many of us and there are as many more and half many more and quarter as many more and you, Nemo, also swam with us, then there will be a hundred of us.”

If you are asked how many fish are there in that school of fish, will you be able to give the correct answer? Well, if you know me a bit, I would rather read a book than bothering with this problem.

Mathematics. Every time I hear the word, it really gives me the chill. I mean, ever since I was a kid, I don’t like solving word problems. When the math teacher starts to write something on the board, I end up staring at it confused and perplexed. My classmates then immediately dive into looking for answers while I just wait for them to give me their answers.

I am not really sure how I got this fear of math, but I think it is partially caused by the environment that I am living with. My parents’ work did not really involve that much numbers. My mother is a sales representative and my father works in an advertising company as a photographer. Perhaps, the only mathematics involved with my mom’s profession was adding the sales while my father simply counts the number of pictures taken. And that’s all about it, nothing else. Thus, growing in such an environment where mathematics is not really discussed, my development and ability to solve mathematical problems were not really honed, hence, the fear of math.

Even when it is about math homework, I can not really rely for help from my parents especially if it comes to problems involving some higher math topics, including integral calculus. I am not saying that they do not know mathematics it is just that they have not used it that much all this time. Hence, I have to use other sources such as mentors, friends, classmates, and the good old library to get that math homework help I need.

Before, looking for these resources was tedious and sometimes expensive, especially if we are to consider hiring somebody to privately mentor us. However, with the information and resources offered by the internet, getting math homework help is no longer a big issue.

A big percentage of math homework websites offer several articles and tutorials which will really assist a struggling student in catching up with mathematical challenges. Some of the websites even offer live online tutorial, but at a certain fee. Just think of them as your virtual teachers. With the internet at hand, you really have countless possibilities. You might not be able to get help from your parents but you will surely find some from the internet. And by the way, the solution to the fish problem is thirty six. Obviously, I found the solution on the World Wide Web.

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