<p>I read these boards quite a bit and I see a lot of “self-study” math people. Today, I tried to self study a bit of Calculus for the first time, but I just couldn’t learn much. I wanted to get limits and finding the slope of a tangent line to a curve done today but I couldn’t. Is it really hard to learn something like Calculus or Physics without having a teacher there? Or am I just stupid and incapable? Or could it be that its my first day looking at it?</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>what are you having trouble with,
if you can explain your problem i’ll try to help you</p>
<p>Are you self-studying for a specific goal like the AP exam? I don’t think many people self-study calculus. It’s one of those courses where it’s really beneficial to have someone instruct you.</p>
<p>Anyways, you are not stupid or incapable. Try it again tomorrow and if it doesn’t work out, get outside help or quit and take a class. :)</p>
<p>It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re stupid at all. Everyone at my school thinks I’m a math god and last year I tried learning some calculus on my own while in precal. I barely understood any of it. Once I had some instruction the next year in AP calc, it was (for the most part), pretty straightforward. </p>
<p>Some subjects require more instruction than others. I think math is like this more than science, because with math you learn by doing problems first, and then the concepts click later. With science you learn concepts first and then you’re able to do problems. It’s much easier to learn concepts on your own than to work out problems with no instruction.</p>
<p>Anyway, don’t feel dumb :)</p>
<p>No your not stupid at all. Some kids just want to devote their HS life in getting into a good university, while others are not really trying to aim for high prestige universities like the Ivies.</p>
<p>Self-studying should be done if you have genuine interest, imo. </p>
<p>Oh god, self-studying physics is like killing myself ten fold. Even our teacher was terrible. None of our students even attempted to try anymore. Two tried to self-study for AP physics, but only received 2s.</p>
<p>Don’t get all anal over this. This IS CC after all, a place where over achievers, and some super achievers like to brag a bit.</p>
<p>The word “stupid” is so demeaning. I don’t like to use it at all.
And for calc: You just have to plunge into the problems every day and try to solve them, try to understand. It’s ONLY your first day. Unless you can find atleast a friend who’d help you out a bit. With calc, the more problems you TRY (You might not solve all of them, but that’s ok) to solve the better you get.<br>
I’m self-studying chem and physics. Killer.</p>
<p>Yeah, doing more and more calculus problems will make you better.</p>
<p>Self studying is difficult. Having a teacher or a tutor of some sort can be really helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks guys 
I’m self studying Calc AB because if I do well in that class I’ll get moved into Calc BC for junior year. I just need to show that I can handle the work of an advanced Calculus class.</p>
<p>Maybe it’s just the book’s way of explaining problems, does anyone ever have trouble with math textbook examples? My textbook just kinda gives a list of steps and expects you to know how the steps work. Is it supposed to be like that?</p>
<p>Yeah, all my text books for calculus were like that. They only show the important steps and leave out the step to step on how to get to that step. I would advise going to a bookstore and looking for a prep book and browse through them each to find a suitable one.</p>
<p>Yeah Calculus is a tough one, but with effort, it can be done. Don’t be scared to ask the Calculus teacher for help whenever your confused, I doubt the teacher will reject you need.</p>
<p>Part of the difficulty of learning Calc is that it’s an entirely new concept that needs to be tackled in a different way. It’s not like Algebra and Geometry, where you could just memorize equations and plug in variables.</p>
<p>You need to have some sort of acquired understanding of what’s going on.</p>
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<p>It sounds like you’re trying to learn a huge chunk of the course at once. Perhaps you should try to tailor your ambitions a bit more. If you focus on just understanding limits it’s not too complicated, and it will help you with the definition of the derivative.</p>
<p>Also, some textbooks are better with examples than others, and it does help to have experience with learning from textbook examples.</p>
<p>Limits are really easy, especially with L’Hopitals.</p>
<p>I think I struggled with slope of a tangent line. Isn’t that y prime? My memorize is discombobulated.</p>
<p>you can’t learn limits after L’Hopitals, since you need the former to learn derivatives which you need to learn the latter. L’H helps with memorizing rules, but it doesn’t substitute for knowing the definition of a limit.</p>
<p>slope of a tangent line is the [url=<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/2/e/1/2e182ba47dd0ff925c5b7a4acf0522a2.png]derivative[/url”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/2/e/1/2e182ba47dd0ff925c5b7a4acf0522a2.png]derivative[/url</a>]</p>
<p>people on CC always make you feel stupid, its okay, you’re not.</p>
<p>Trust me, I judge people as being stupid all the time, and you’re not. Anyone who self-studies Calc is not dumb, whether they succeed or not. I’m doing something similar for pre-calc and I just think you should keep working at it, you’ll get it through more practice. But if it does seem too hard, there’s no shame in not doing it. You’ve already accomplished a lot by coming this far this early in high school.</p>
<p>Calculus is a tough subject. Most people can’t learn it by themselves; I probably would struggle and I consider myself pretty smart.</p>
<p>It doesn’t mean you’re stupid at all.</p>
<p>I would’ve struggled immensely if I had self-studied AP Calculus. Sure, all the important information is in the textbook, but that doesn’t mean it’s in any sort of immediately recognizable form - it’s like you’re a kid trying to learn the alphabet, and the textbook will tell you everything except to sing along to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Awful simile, I know, but I guess the point is that it’s hard to understand all the concepts without a teacher there to make the clincher statement that causes you to go “OH I GET IT”.</p>
<p>Still, there are lot of math forums and websites online that make calculus actually kind of, you know, fun. I’d recommend using them alongside your textbook, since they can help … a lot.</p>
![http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/2/e/1/2e182ba47dd0ff925c5b7a4acf0522a2.png]derivative[/url](http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/2/e/1/2e182ba47dd0ff925c5b7a4acf0522a2.png%5Dderivative%5B/url){kind=link}
