My Impression after Reading a Math Book

After reading “ Feeding The Mind” by Lewis Carroll my reaction was very shocked and amazed. One thing Lewis Carroll talked about was when an individual is studying new material or learning new knowledge, the brain needs proper intervals between mental food courses. The brain will retain data it is processing more easily with minutes of rest between topics, just like the body waits a couple hours in between meals.

I fully agree with all the points made in this article. I have always been told that cramming last minute will not help the brain remember information, but the analogy of food for the mind versus feeding the body makes logical sense. Therefore in this term I will not cram and procrastinate with assignments, as I usually do. When it comes to this core math class I will “feed my mind” how Lewis describes in the reading, being able to fully comprehend the material in class. This idea that Lewis Carroll describes will have a major impact on myself as a student and an individual with properly feeding my mind knowledge and being able to comprehend and analyze the material.

?My reaction after reading the Opening Thoughts in our textbook I was very confused but at the same time excited as well. My reason for these feelings is because I have never been taught math in this format. My prior math books I have used and read have regular math “things” you’d expect to see as in numbers and symbols. While this text book, is the complete opposite with it containing simply words and explanations of what math is and little to none numbers. ?On the first page the textbook showed me a new way math can be viewed, and it excites me but worries me as well. Burger and Starbird stated, “The incredible ideas of mathematics can tickle the imagination and open the mind.” In all my years of math course I have taken I have never heard math been talked about in this certain way and it made me have a mix of emotions with excitement and worried. My expectations for this class is too understand math in another way and being able to look at it from different perspectives.

Back to freshman year of high school I knew I was going to struggle with my math course because I have a hard time grasping math logical ideas and I often get frustrated if I’m unable to recall the previous steps regarding that certain problem. After getting back my first exam I was completely disappointed in myself with the grade I received, I told myself that I’m not going to struggle and let my past abilities define me now. I studied and went to after school tutoring and finally overcame my struggle with grasping math logical ideas. Not only did my grade greatly improve throughout the semester, my self esteem boosted with it as well.

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