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This is in regards to low-level math (the higher maths are beyond me), but I thought some of you might find my story inspiring:
I was never fond of math. I got through Calculus in HS, but literally spent most of my math classes sitting in the back coloring in rainbows on graph paper. After getting a BA in history though, I decided I actually wanted a useful degree, and decided to get a second one in engineering. Of course, first thing you had to do was take a Math Placement Test.
It had been over 8 years since I took my last math class, which had been "Math for Elementary Teachers", and I had pretty much forgotten everything past very basic algebra...I could remember the quadratic equation, because my teacher had taught it to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel", but I couldn't remember what it did, or what a,b, or c was supposed to represent.
Anyway, NOT being willing to pay thousands of dollars, and take a bunch of boring intro classes to work my way back up to mathematical literacy, I decided to spend a summer reviewing math on my own. I got a bunch of "For Dummies" and "Demystified" books from the library, and started with basic arithmetic and Algebra 1. Over the course of the summer I worked my way back through everything I learned in jr. high and high school, and managed to test into Calculus (as high as the math placement test would go), saving myself thousands of dollars.
I have never learned anything so well, as the I did during review work I did that summer. Those 3 months of self-motivated study are probably the best investment I ever made in my learning. In high school, I only ever understood one concept at a time, which I promptly forgot after the test. Studying them in one fell swoop allowed me to understand it all as a whole.
From then on, with a firm foundation from which to build, math seemed easy. (well, except for Calc 3, but that's a whole nother story...)
Basic-algebra-to-engineering-degree is a pretty inspiring story. I hope you write up the rest of it sometime. Math-phobics like myself would probably benefit from the example.
I'll admit that its more like algebra-to-half-an-engineering-degree. I got divorced a while back and don't have the resources to finish grad school.
Also, I would say that it's not so much that I was ever inherently bad at math. I never had to study at it or anything. I personally just think I was socialized to not like it.
I've read somewhere (but of course I can't find it now, as usual) that when males standardize test really high in math, they are more likely to be worse at language arts. However when females test really high in math, they are more likely to test even better at language arts.
I know this was the case for me. Math was what I was "bad" at. The argument went on to say that this was perhaps one reason why females were more likely to choose to go into liberal arts than STEM fields.