# Why do math textbooks suck so much?



## InfiniteBlaze (Jan 27, 2011)

It's as if the only thing they're good for is looking at the homework problems you have to do. They are pure garbage at explaining things, which is why math is so hard with a bad teacher. If you teacher just sucks or relies *directly* on the terrible textbook you'll have to go to tutoring.


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## Twelve Keyz (Aug 28, 2011)

I agree, they're terrible. I could never learn math from a textbook. It's one of those things that you have to be taught. The worst part is that if you have a crappy teacher one year, you're going to struggle later since everything builds on prior knowledge. That's why I dropped math after first year calculus... I had a ****ty professor who told us to just read the book. He never even wrote notes. He would literally put the textbook pages on a projector and say "do these questions for homework." No lessons, hardly any examples, nothing. There was no structure whatsoever to his classes. I honestly don't know how some of these people are allowed to teach. Lazy mother****ers. We spend so much money on tuition and this is what we get?


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## Brasilia (Aug 23, 2012)

Quite simply, _because_ it's maths.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

I think it's because traditional math textbooks go through so many editors. They might be factually accurate, but you lose something if you don't have one narrative "voice," if that makes sense. They might include lengthy proofs, but most people don't actually talk about math that way in real life.

Not math, but I think this guy gets to the point of why most science textbooks suck: 



 (hope I embedded that correctly; first time using that feature)


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## FerociousFleur (Oct 30, 2012)

I agree. Honestly, when I've had to take math courses (or math-based randomness like statistics/physics), the internet was the best resource.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

Math textbooks are usually awful. For most math concepts I've had to learn, I've gone online to .edu sites to teach myself the concepts instead. The textbooks also tend to teach inconvenient ways of doing problems. I've always found shortcuts to eliminate the unnecessary steps.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

FerociousFleur said:


> I agree. Honestly, when I've had to take math courses (or math-based randomness like statistics/physics), the internet was the best resource.


Internet, definitely. Not only in terms of resources but just seeing all the different perspectives in math. When you are in the math classroom you typically only have that one teacher's perspective and there isn't a lot of room for argument. A lot of people don't get why this is a problem, but when you get into higher-level math where you have to do proofs, a lot of students just fall apart because they were never taught to challenge what a teacher says.


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

Brasilia said:


> Quite simply, _because_ it's maths.


Math is usually pretty easy to understand by reading the book. At least until you get to Calc-3/Differential Equations. Then it all goes to ****.


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## Milco (Dec 12, 2009)

arnie said:


> Math is usually pretty easy to understand by reading the book. At least until you get to Calc-3/Differential Equations. Then it all goes to ****.


I'm usually pretty good a maths, but then I got to Linear Algebra at university and I just..
The lecturer was talking about complicated transformations from vector space to vector space and different properties associated with that, but I was too busy panicking over how on Earth I'd pass the exam.
I love maths, but I'm really glad that was the last class I had to take, because that was so hard it stopped being fun (studied computer science).


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## Earl of Lemongrab (May 15, 2012)

Milco said:


> I'm usually pretty good a maths, but then I got to Linear Algebra at university and I just..
> The lecturer was talking about complicated transformations from vector space to vector space and different properties associated with that, but I was too busy panicking over how on Earth I'd pass the exam.
> I love maths, but I'm really glad that was the last class I had to take, because that was so hard it stopped being fun (studied computer science).


Really? I failed linear algebra last term, and am having to retake it this summer. When did you graduate?


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## Earl of Lemongrab (May 15, 2012)

arnie said:


> Math is usually pretty easy to understand by reading the book. At least until you get to Calc-3/Differential Equations. Then it all goes to ****.


I actually heard Calculus 2 was harder than Calc 3.


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## Milco (Dec 12, 2009)

trisquel said:


> Really? I failed linear algebra last term, and am having to retake it this summer. When did you graduate?


I took linear algebra like.. 7 years ago now :um
So I'm afraid I don't remember much.


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## Nono441 (May 14, 2012)

Yes. I pretty much learn all my math from the internet or from lecture slides/notes.

High school math is notorious for being more arithmetic than anything else. I find university of higher quality but I have never bought a single math textbook yet.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

When i first took precalculus and calculus 1 in college much of the textbooks were geared towards students who already had a good understanding of algebra. my algebra was weak coming out of high school and had to retake remedial courses. I think the authors of some textbooks assume the student is college ready and is very good at math..


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## Perkins (Dec 14, 2010)

Yes, exactly. All the math textbooks I've had that the school issues us, the explanations aren't very well-written or very thorough, and they tend to leave out a lot of other methods and tricks that would help you solve the problem. There's a lot it doesn't tell you. And for some odd reason the answer booklet only lists the odd numbers. Not all the problems. Basically the materials that they provide aren't sufficient enough in helping us learn or teach ourselves. That's why I tend to rely on the Internet or the teacher (provided they're actually good at teaching the material).


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## chiron (May 14, 2013)

For remedial and basic algebraic courses please visit websites such as: Khan Academy, and PurpleMath to at least build a foundation to work on. For more advanced courses look at youtube. Many courses have each lecture recorded and uploaded through UCBerkeley, MIT, Harvard, etc. I'm always going to urge anyone to speak with a tutor, even if you feel you don't need one. There are services available to students and you should always take advantage of them...


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

chiron said:


> For remedial and basic algebraic courses please visit websites such as: Khan Academy, and PurpleMath to at least build a foundation to work on. For more advanced courses look at youtube. Many courses have each lecture recorded and uploaded through UCBerkeley, MIT, Harvard, etc. I'm always going to urge anyone to speak with a tutor, even if you feel you don't need one. There are services available to students and you should always take advantage of them...


I second speaking with a tutor. Many states also have a free online tutoring service through the public library system so you should look to see if your state/county has that.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> When i first took precalculus and calculus 1 in college much of the textbooks were geared towards students who already had a good understanding of algebra. my algebra was weak coming out of high school and had to retake remedial courses. I think the authors of some textbooks assume the student is college ready and is very good at math..


I read a lot of math texts and most of the math texts seem geared at either end (either really basic or really advanced). We need more people writing intermediate math texts. Most people are sort-of good at math to start with, but no one talks about how to get from that middle level to that high level of performance. I don't think we have a math talent problem...it's more of a communication issue that leads to people to leave the quantitative fields.

When I was struggling with math, I didn't see people who represented my point of view. It's a really rare and underestimated thing to be able to explain math well. Ironically, it helps if you aren't a math genius. When you are learning math, you need to see people that you identify with who struggle to do math well. You need to see them fail and then bounce back. That's the only way you get good at it.


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