Q&A for How to Understand Math

Don't be afraid to ask your teacher questions. You can also ask your peers for help or organize a study group together. If you're still having trouble, consider getting a private tutor. A tutor can answer any questions you have and will work with you to build a solid foundation in math.

Ask someone to tutor you in the basics and do practice problems on your own.

Read all of the rules and go over your notes. Then do questions from each concept to check that you understand how to do each type of problem.

Spend only a little bit each day rather than a large amount at once. Often it's good to do frequent short bursts of 15 minutes for each of your subjects, maths included! A tutor might also help you by both teaching you the material and providing tips on efficient studying.

Decide what your priorities are. If good grades are important to you, you will have to buckle down and do the work.

Ask for help from your teacher, another student, a friend or relative, or a tutor.

Hire a tutor, even if it's just another student who understands the subject.

Review all the basic multiplication facts, and you'll master basic multiplication, and can move on to advanced ones. You can get more information on that at How to Multiply .

Pay attention in class and ask questions if you don’t understand something. Find a tutor if you need extra help.

It sounds like you need to start at the beginning, which may mean you need to hire a professional tutor. Either that or find someone you know who's willing to spend some time with you reviewing the basics.

See the wikiHow article How to Add Integers for this math question.

Remind yourself that mathematics isn't that bad. It's just like a series of puzzles that you've solved for.

If this wikiHow article isn't helpful, then you should ask for help from your teacher or get a tutor.

Try your best to pay attention in class and take notes. Look over these notes daily in the weeks leading up to these tests. You'll also want to ask your teacher for help well before the exam if you're confused about a concept.

Ask for help from your teacher, a classmate, a friend, a family member or a tutor. Lots of people struggle with math. It's quite common for someone to ask others for help.

Review all the areas you think will be on the test. Work some sample problems, and be sure you understand the processes involved. If not, ask for help from someone who does.

As you've written it, that equation is not solvable, nor does it have a meaning. Perhaps you're referring to the Pythagorean Theorem, a² + b² = c². That's the relationship between the lengths of the three sides of a right triangle, where c is the hypotenuse.

Ask for help from someone who does understand (perhaps a tutor).

The best way is to use the number line. It's a straight line with zero at the "center." Positive numbers lie to the right of zero, negative numbers to the left. In the Alice analogy, the looking glass would be at the zero point, and the positive and negative numbers would be the mirror image of each other.