Ode to Sorrow

Mathematics is beautiful to me because of the deep and meaningful ideas touched upon by it, the immensity of these ideas, the clearness and sophistication of their representation. Mathematics gives me the ability to apply knowledge by approaching things logically, and thinking clearly. Compared to any other fields of knowledge, mathematics is the only one where all that we know has been proven to be true. I believe in empirical knowledge, and that you can never truly understand something without having experienced it first. This is why I’m not only thinking, but moving.

Mathematics can, at times, be the single most frustrating subject I have ever studied, yet I love it. The euphoria of completing a particularly hard puzzle, or the sudden realization of a particular topic clicking into place, makes the challenge and the hard work all the more worthwhile. Eureka. But there are times that when I look at a Math problem, my mind goes completely blank. I just feel like glaring in the paper. I feel stupid, and I can’t remember how to do even the simplest things. In Math there’s always one right answer, and if you can’t find it you’ve failed. That makes me crazy. Math exams terrify me. My palms get sweaty, I breathe too fast, and often I can’t even make my eyes focus on the paper. It’s worse if I look around, because I’d see everybody else working, and know that I’m the only one who can’t do it. I’ve never been successful in any Math class I've ever taken. I never understand what the teacher is saying, so my mind just wanders. It feels like it is your worst nightmare ever happened in your life.

Some people can do Math�"not me!