How do I raise my comprehension skills?

That's pretty much the point. Nothing else to type here.

Well, one suggestion is to ask a question more clearly.

What type of comprehension? Reading?

You have to keep focused, practice all the time and test yourself.
If it's reading comprehension, read the whole thing then write a summary about what you just read. Then go back and re-read comparing it to what you wrote to see if you missed much.
Taking Ginko Biloba wouldn't hurt either. It tends to clear your head and make it easier to stay focused on the task at hand.

No, not reading. I mean, I just took factoring polynomials in algebra, but I can't figure it out. How can I process it clearly? Ginko Biloba is unfamiliar to me.

Originally posted by Beer_Guy

Taking Ginko Biloba wouldn't hurt either. It tends to clear your head and make it easier to stay focused on the task at hand.

May I ALSO suggest:

Phosphatidyl Serene
Dimethyl amino ethanol DMAE
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Omega 3

All of these supplements are readily available from your local vitamin shop, and are reported to have EXCELLENT results aiding and enhancing brain function.

factoring polynomials in algebra

Oh God,,, I hated that!
I still think reading and rereading it might help.
You could put the instructions on a tape and play it while you sleep.
Just a thought....

I just bought algebra for assheads and I hope that it helps.

I'm glad you haven't given up! Yay! Sitting down with a tutor might be your best bet.

If that is not possible, try this. Go back to when you multiplied binomials, pick out an example, copy the problem, then work it out step by step. When you arrive at your answer, go backwards step by step until you see what's going on, trying to remember what your teacher said about factoring polynomials. Try this with another multiplication example until you get the hang of it.
Then go to a polynomial example and "work backward" to its factors.

There are no tutors here.

As for the multiplying binomials, that is funny. Our teacher doesn't even know what she is doing. School is out now. But I still want to learn all of this. She skipped the binomials. We tried to ask her how to do it, but she has a deformed palette, so it came out slurred and unintelligable. Sucks to be me.

To be honest, I'd need an example. Tried looking it up online, and got confused.

As for multiplying binomials.. check out this.


The best way I know of to 'understand' math is to try and re-explain it, preferably to someone else. If you cannot re-explain it, then you do not know it.

[edit on 3-6-2006 by Diseria]

To improve your reading comprehenssion there is nothing better than building your vocabulary by learning new words, and reading lots of stuff from all kinds of sources about all kinds of topcs. When you see a word you dont understand look it up, write it down and learn it for future use. Even if you only learn 1 new word per day you will be much smarter than most. Dictionary.com will email you a word per day for free so i recommend doing that to get started.

Originally posted by Arkham
Sucks to be me.

Don't despair. You just are still looking for the right teacher. Hope the book you bought can be of help. I think that's great you still want to learn.
Found this site for online help, although your book still might be the best resource.
www.freemathhelp.com...
You might want to rewrite the exponent notation to what you're used to.
For more sites, google "factoring polynomials" and go through till you find something that looks promising.
Oh, as you read through examples, you might find reading them aloud to yourself helpful.
You probably should go through multiplying polynomials first, if your classroom experience was not adequate.

The book is working great for me. Thanks for the sites, they will help me to further cement the memory of what I do. I think I already have a large vocab. for my age.

It took me two daggum years to get through Algebra 2 in high school.... boy, do I NOT miss that stuff!

But I always thought multiplying a binomial was the easiest thing in the world... was anyone else ever taught "FOIL" when solving those?

In addition to all the suggestions above, taking a summer class might help. Do some meditational stuff... practice, practice, practice!

Originally posted by firebat
But I always thought multiplying a binomial was the easiest thing in the world... was anyone else ever taught "FOIL" when solving those?

Yeah, actually I was. The other methods completely baffled me, to be honest. (then again, it's been 6, maybe 7 years since I've even looked at this stuff...

By the way, has anyone ever actually managed to use this stuff irl? I mean, I've used the 'measure the shadow to find the height of the tree' thing a few times, but past that it's all wasted.. (wonder if I regain those braincells back after I've forgotten the information...)

A lot of the math you learn beyond basic algebra and geometry isn't used directly. Some of it goes to help build skills you'll need if you want to pursue a math-heavy field like engineering, the hard sciences, or computers. For the rest, the real value shows up if your teacher made you, even if only briefly, learn how to do the calculations by hand. For that it's not so much the specific formulas that are important, but learning how to create and use a formula that will benefit you later in life. Figuring out ratios if you need to quickly adjust a recipe and don't have a calculator handy, for example, determining tips, even doing your taxes. It's not so much that you should be able to remember the quadratic equation (I'll admit that, 14 years out of high school that beloved formula is long gone from my memory), but that you should be at least reasonably comfortable with numbers.

That last is really important when you're looking into things like home or car loans. Compound interest is a tricky beast, and lenders will use all sorts of tricks to make their offers look good. If you're not comfortable enough with math to do a quick check of their numbers and see if it looks reasonably close to what it should be, you have to trust the lender's word that you're getting a good deal. And for every good lender out there, there's 3 or 4 predatory ones.

So, work on being comfortable with math, learn a few tricks you can use to impress people later (tips, for example: take 10% of the bill, halve it, then add the two numbers together to get your 15%. I can usually beat the people that have to dig their tip calculator out of their pocket to figure them. It's just a party trick, really, but I'm an IT guy and need all the tricks to impress girls I can get )

Interesting, my hopeful field is IT. As the world transpires to advancement, They require better computers, and we are the ones to do it. I just have one question, and this is if you're a programmer, is it a difficult job?

P.S. I really don't get the example