Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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This is so strange, it is as if my position is diametrically opposite. I knew how to read before I ever went to school and I was very strong in math, but not algebra. I consider myself about 90% self educated. I didn't pay attention and one of the best things I leaned was how to cut any class I felt like, just don't go to homeroom, ever, especially the first day. Then any classes I didn't like, I never went, therefore wasn't even marked as absent.
In grade school I was a volunteer math tutor. I can tell you this much, math is the easiest subject if it is presented correctly. Solid, real world examples are required, whether it is those stupid magnets on the board or cars in a parking lot. Later, for the sheer ability to do it, when I was about 30, two 50 year old Men and I read, in the machinery handbook how to do square roots longhand. We taught ourselves how to do it, and there wasn't a highschool grad in the room. Learning how to do it had an unexpected side effect, see the process of calculating a square root was INVENTED. It follows that numbers were INVENTED, they are not some mystical force of nature.
Understanding math is NOT to understand numbers, it is the understanding of the concepts those numbers represent.
I am an electronics technician with vast experience, but this has required much self education. When I go for a job I get it. There have been a few I have turned down, because when I go to a job interview, I am interviewing them as well. If I deem the people to be a bunch of assholes I will politely say "Well, really, this doesn't look like it's for me". After all, even if they're a bunch of assholes they didn't do anything to me except give me a bit of their time.
My last job interview consisted of "You ever work on one of these ?", basically, talk money later. After the day was over money came up, I said "How's $20 an hour to start sound ?". I got it. We got drug testing too, "Hit this see what you think". I guess what I am saying here is it depends on what kind of company you try to go to work for. Although I have gotten jobs at bigger companies, I like to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Smaller companies, being more resourceful, will look at a person's real abilities rather than their credentials.
The guy I replaced, I was told, couldn't write worth a shit. They couldn't read it and the misspellings were incomprehensible. He did however produce $700-1000 worth of work per eight hour day. This is one of the most demanding parts of the electronics field, large/wide screen home theater repair. Strange thing is, that he and I sorta traded jobs. I did not want my old job anymore, I was tired of it and tired of driving 23 miles each way. Each of us now drives alot less (a good thing these days).
In this field, things are a bit different, there are so few people who can actually do this job that neither one of us was asked for any credentials, in fact we don't even fill out applications. One job I had years ago, Friday rolled around, I was called by the boss'es Wife and she said "Well, we would have a paycheck for you, but we don't know your last name".
What I am saying is there are options. For example politicians don't need math. (yes, there is a big dig in there). They are dumb as a post. That is not to say you should blow it off. I submit that math is easy, but applying numbers to it is what gives most people problems.
i.e.
XXXXX
XXXXX
or
XX
XX
XX
XX
XX
are the same thing, 5 times 2 or 2 times 5. If you can count, you can learn to mulptiply. If you can multiply, you can learn to divide, and much later, how to extract a square root longhand as well. I remember a buddy at work telling me he had gone to see Jeff Foxworthy, of the stupid people routine fame. (they even have a song now) He told me they were selling stupid signs for $2, or 2 for $5 and people were literally buying them 2 for $5 for the most part. It may well have been that people were in the spirit of the moment and didn't care about the extra dollar, but one wonders.
I have seen it in stores, where it is cheaper to buy multiple small packages of something than to buy the jumbo "economy" size. The manager in that store probably had a college degree, wouldn't you think, or was it an experiment ? I gotta wonder about that as well.
Again, math is :
XXXX
XXXX
XXXX
or
XXX
XXX
XXX
XXX
.
They both represent the same thing, now simply apply the numbers. You CAN do it. Learning the multiplication tables is a must, then to divide it is sort of a reverse process.
It is in you, you just need to make a sort of connection between the concept and the piece of paper. That is why I was a successful math tutor in grade school. It is all in the presentation. Others may grasp it no matter how clumsily taught, but I didn't. I had to think it out.
Let me give you another example (you are going to learn electronics here, whoopie !)
Ohm's law. I could give you the algebraic expression but I don't even have to bother. (yes, I really earned the nickname Terminator)
Your car has headlights. These headlights are 36 watts each. The car battery is 12 volts. The REASON they are 36 W is because they each present a 4 Ohm load when connected to the battery.
12 divided by 4 is 3
Ohm is merely a numerical representation of the ratio of the amps that will flow when the device is connected to a given voltage source. If you give it 24 V, it goes, not to double the watts, but to quadruple, see watts is volts times amps.
The other headlight is also connected the same way, so together they pull 72 watts, why ? Because each presents the 4 ohm load, and therefore together they present a two ohm load.
OK to the numbers.
12 V into 4 O pulls 3 A
12 V times 3 A is 36 W
Two of them are twice that much because there are two of them.
Anyway, you only need to know this to understand the concept, we have calculators now. You need to understand the concept, however, even to use the calculator. It will help you in daily life, such as managing your finances. Because people do not know, they have a tendency to buy houses they cannot afford, and or overextend their credit.
Best of luck. Try some GED study guides if nothing else. If that doesn't work try something else. Perhaps a friend who does know math. Wouldn't be the first time. If they look down on you for asking perhaps you should reevaluate their value as a friend.
A friend asked me for math help while going to trade school, remember I am a dropout and he graduated. Later, on the job he asked for electronics help. He now makes more money than me (prick).
The most ironic thing, which is true, you might possibly look for an even better job. Something that really fits your skills. Try your best not to be a telemarketer, but if you are a people person and speak well, answer phones if nothing else. Look at smaller companies. There are good and bad things about being in a small pond versus working for megabux corp. If a small company is well established job security can be just as solid. As long as you can make or save the company money you have value. That value is a bigger slice of the pie in a small pond. Sole proprietorships are the best to work for, especially if you can get to the point where you answer solely to the owner. This does not confer any authority in and of itself, but it is a step in the right direction. I will not answer to anyone but the owner of the company, and I can say that because of my extreme experience and my ability. No strawbosses. I get top buck wherever I go, and I didn't even finish the 10th grade. I have absolutely no certifications at all, I simply don't want that.
This might not be the path for you, but get the knowledge anyway, for the sake of knowing. You don't have the knowledge for one of two reasons, either it was not presented properly or you saw no need for it, how it would apply to life. That goes back to the presentation, a teacher is supposed to instill interest. One failed.
Thing is, when it comes to math, you have no idea how much of life it can apply to until you have the knowledge.
Again, best of luck.
T
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RE: no GED sorry no work - 
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