MyMaths MyLife

You feel difficult when you are learning this type of maths specially at the age of 11 or 12 years. When i was studying my 6th class, i was first introduced this maths.

Business maths is one of the branches of mathematics just as algebra, geometry, statics. You can also call business maths as arithmetic.

Topics like simple interest, compound interest, percentages, distances will definitely create problems. Even though it is difficult it is useful in real life. When you are buying or selling some goods, you can not calculate your profit or loss if you don't know business mathematics. When it comes to money borrowing from others(generally persons who you don't know), you should know simple interest. otherwise they may cheat you. I too have seen many such cases.

In my experience, main reason is "The Fear Factor".

The first is, because the feelings of inferiority and outright fear that many, probably most, students feel when they confront mathematics, severely inhibit students’ natural intelligence and creativity. It is as though every mathematical subject, and every concept within a subject, is surrounded by a kind of “force field” that radiates, “Not for you!”, “You aren’t smart enough!”. The origin of this force field may be early experiences in a family in which, say, a father had always been good at mathematics, and had made it clear he expected his children to likewise be good at the subject. In the case of women, the origin might be subtle messages sent by teachers through out the primary and secondary school years — perhaps without conscious intention — that technical subjects are too hard for girls. Or, it might be the atmosphere that surrounds mathematics and indeed all technical subjects in the nation’s most schools.

I have been studying mathematics since my childhood, but i was never asked about "what is maths?". Even i too never tried.
Today my neighbor who is studying 9th standard has asked me the question. At that time i had no answer to tell.

Really, what is maths?

There doesn't seem to be a clear cut, definitive answer. I'm happy about that. At this stage I'm writing down some things I have discovered so far. Not definitive, rather preliminary, but a start.

Maths is NOT about formulas and cranking out computations - or rather that's a very small part of maths.

Maths is about perceiving and acting in the world in an enhanced way, about perceiving the world in a different way and being able to act more powerfully within it.