Unless you lack aptitude for math (did you do well in high school?), it looks like you just need to fill the gaps in your basic math education and practice what you learn enough to achieve fluency. Consider walking into your nearest Kumon center and getting an evaluation, then taking your time working through their worksheets, starting from the assessed level. Their program is very instrumental, it is designed to fill the gaps and to build fluency.
As for physics, in my experience most of the trouble people have with freshman physics is due to insufficient math training, though there is an occasional person who just "doesn't get" physics.
Ok, thank you.
Hi everyone,
I am graduating as a philosophy student shortly, and want to pursue computer science / programming/ something-of-that-sort.
I am currently taking some basic math (calculus) and physics (mechanics) courses in order to obtain pre-requesits, and to develop a basic framework. My problem is that I can grasp concepts and ideas, but when it comes to solving specific problems with actual numbers, I seem to shut down. Specifically, it takes me much more time (read "hours") to solve problems that ought to take 10 minutes. This is a particularly bad thing on tests and exams.
I believe that the difficulty I am having stems from so little exposure to symbolic reasoning in the past 5-6 years. I am looking for resources, techniques and advice to "turbocharge" (to use CFAR terminology) my ability to absorb and deeply comprehend technical material, so that solving problems becomes second nature.
Thank you so much for your time,
Jeremy