Most people I know find in mathematics a harsh contender. Some even have trouble with elementary arithmetic. But, why? To answer this question, I had to think fundamentally about math. What is math? Math is another idiom. Just like the English language we speak, or the Portuguese as spoken here in Brazil, math is a complex system of symbols that represents reality from a specific point of view, explaining logical reasoning on a more observable way. When I see an obelus, I understand that it represents, in reality, a group of elements being equally distributed in a specific quantity; a times sign, then, means that there will be defined instances of one element or group of elements, and that examples are easily visualized on the real world, I've just used other system of symbols to describe them. The problem is that too many people don't know this principle, seeing math as indecipherable hieroglyphs, understanding its logic to some degree, but completely ignoring their real world meaning. I can teach you to perfectly pronounce and boldy utter: “Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin naal ok zin los vahriin", but it wouldn't be of any use, since you do not know the true meaning of these words, or even their translation to a language you know. And I won't tell you the meaning! Read the statement again. That's exactly what the poor joor feels trying to comprehend the “ancient mystical language” of the mathematicians, and will eternally be destined to fail. Krosis.
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