Being an occasional math tutor and math major, I'm somewhat coerced into studying and doing math on a daily basis. I spend the better time of my day working on math. And on the weekends, I spend even more time working on math.

Now, we all probably know that math is a subject that concerns a lot of people to the point of giving some nightmares and actual anxiety, but there's no surprise questions or quizzes here. I'm just going to be talking about the process of going through school studying math, and all the unexpected things that I've come across getting to where I am today.

For starters, one of the craziest things that I've learned is that people aren't as different as you might think, and this applies for everyone studying any subject, not just math. What I mean is, that no matter how different someone might talk or look, their mental processes and experiences are never that much different than your own. Everyone has a different background, with some having gone to fancy schools and being super engaged in clubs and studying abroad while others have never left their hometown. In the end, all these differences can translate to being not much of a difference at all, while two people with very similar backgrounds can be very, very different.

The other thing is that even though we really are similar, there are plenty of differences to divide us, as paradoxically as that might seem. Speaking only in terms of math this time, I've learned that some people have difficulty not with algebra or calculus, but with elementary school arithmetic and pre-algebra. This by no means that the student is slow, as many of them hold steady positions in their own and challenging, highly competitive, yet still successful careers, but rather that they never had the opportunity to learn math. While most students feel disappointed in themselves for doing poorly in calculus, they aren't aware that there are other students around them of the same age that can't even perform as well on so called "basic" math exams as they can. It certainly brings a lot of perspective into play!

This brings me to the final point for now; some people, despite not being very good at it, love math, but never had the chance to study it in school.

Several of the people that I have tutored are full grown adults, some even with their own families; but they still hold an interest and passion for math from when they were young and going to primary school. Many older adults today actually had to leave school to work in their youth, and many never had the opportunity to return to school. It's an interesting idea, that while some are begging to get out of their math class, others are dreaming of getting into one. There's an entire culture behind not liking math or being bad at math, but the truth is that there's an entire group of people dreaming of getting back into one.

Certainly brings a lot of perspective, doesn't it?