As a researcher, solving math equations is my everyday job. I read complex research papers, understand underlying maths, decode the equations and reproduce them for my work. However, since my school days I never really enjoyed maths because I could never feel it. I remember, when I was in class 12th, physics was my favourite subject because I could relate it so much to my everyday activities. Fluid dynamics, work and motion, electromagnetism and optics made me so curious to explore simple experiments going on in nature. But gosh, maths! I could never understand why limits bother us or what is the real-world significance of rank of a matrix. And therefore, until now I struggled. One may argue here that physics is so closely related to maths, then how come I loved physics without enjoying maths? I think the reason is the diverse real-world analogies that physics can offer more than Maths. Our academic curriculum is so jargon-driven that we forget the real why and essence of a math concept while studying. During all the school and college years, we (at least I) just cram those heavy-math loaded equations, solve a couple of theoretical questions and pass the exams (that too with A+!). But, we never learn real-world problem solving!

Now, when my job requires extensive real-world problem solving, I had to figure out a way to learn maths in a more intuitive way so that I can use it as a tool in my research. So, after weeks of thinking, googling and brainstorming, I have found a really useful resource to teach me how to enjoy maths. I found a website called www.betterexplained.com that explains math concepts very intuitively. The purpose of this website is to actually feel a math concept, get its essence rather than long tedious proofs, and learn how to model real-world relationships using maths. This is exactly what I wanted! The website explains not only complicated concepts in a lucid manner but also teaches techniques to develop an intuitive mindset for learning maths. One technique which I found extremely awesome is ADEPT. It stands for:

A- Analogy

D- Diagram

E- Example

P- Plain English

T- Technical

If you are interested in learning ADEPT technique, I highly recommend you to read this article. The point is to relate a math equation with a real world phenomenon through an analogy, visualise it with a diagram, internalise it with a simple example, explain it in your own simple words and finally learn its standard technical form. I loved this concept of learning! And in my opinion, it is not just limited to maths but can be applied to any complex field like computer networks, accounting etc.

Now that I have learnt this technique, my next task is to apply this in my everyday math learning. I want to internalise different math concepts and their relationships, and use them creatively for my research. If you guys are also struggling learning maths and want to get rid of the yawning math moments, check out the website and feel free to connect with me for more learning tips!

Happy Learning!