Kirk Borne

If you have a fear of math, it is not organic. It was planted in your brain by another person who was afraid of math. Get over it. Learn the beauty, magic, and mystery of mathematics. Thank me later! True story: Among my various undergraduate and graduate courses, I taught an introductory computational & data sciences course at the University (GMU). Many of my students in the first day of class expressed strongly their fear of math and hoped that the course was only low-level math. I told them not to worry—I would teach them whatever math they needed to know. So, I taught them calculus (integral and differential) but I didn’t tell them it was calculus until after their first quiz and homework assignments involving calculus. When I finally told them that they had just learned calculus, they were stunned. Some had tears in their eyes. Some thanked me profusely saying it was best course they ever had and they wanted to learn more math. In fact, the one young man who was most adamant against math on the first day of class, by the end of the semester, was the most profoundly changed and grateful student that I ever taught. I still remember his handshake after the final exam and the excitement in his voice looking forward to taking more math courses—to make up for all that he missed previously due to misinformed fear. (This is a true story, not AI slop.) Mathematics, Magic and Mystery: http://amzn.to/43owzhp