Algebra vs Geometry: The Debate of Natural Talent in High School

[Nikitin]

Is it just me or are some people just more talented with algebra than with geometry and vice versa? I seem to have observed that the opinions on geometry are divided in my senior high school class. Typically the geometry geek doesn't like algebra while the algebra geek doesn't like geometry.I myself don't like Geometry.. The kind where you have the prove things. I just can't seem to think of the big picture. I over complicate things and when I learn of the very obvious solution I just facepalm. I really love algebra though.

Is this observation shameful rubbish or is there some truth to this?

EDIT: Thinking about it, it just seems that my situation is that I simply get stuck in a "train-of-thought" and have difficulty getting out.. Guess I got to sleep more :-/

 

[miniradman]

I'd have to go with algerbra

Mainly because I think that its a lot easier to grasp concepts and it's easy to practise.

I don't like geometry for numerous reasons that are hard to explain. But put it this way, geometric functions make me rage :p

 

[Nikitin]

hmm well I find it kind of funny that people can typically be divided into 2 groups (hate one of them and love the other) when it comes to algebra & geometry. I'm wondering if it has something to do with how the brain is built up and works..

I too like algebra btw :) I am struggling with geometry.. sometimes it takes lots of times to solve a problem, while in reality the solution is idiotically simple and obvious!

 

[lisab]

I've noticed this too, that generally people are algebra geeks or geometry geeks. I used to think I was horrible at math until I took geometry. No one was more shocked than me that I fell in love with it :!).

 

[HeLiXe]

When I was in middle school I had to go to the high school in the morning to take geometry. I was putting forth more effort to get to the class than the teacher who was absent literally 120 days out of the school year :/ The substitute teachers would just give assignments from her lesson plan, but there was no one there to really "teach." Thus your observation really applied to me because I was teaching myself something I was totally unacquainted with lol. Calculus with analytic geometry cleared that up for me though, I like geometry where calc is concerned :D and I think that proving things (geometry or otherwise) is really an important art. I'm actually going to review geometry in a couple of weeks in hopes that I will have a better appreciation for it.

 

[khemist]

I hate geometry, but its extremely important for any field involving math, which sucks.

 

[Nikitin]

No but seriously any neuro-scientists here? :P Could this be an indicator to how people's brains are built up and/or how they work?

Like, people who like geometry are better able to imagine figures and think spatially and so on? Does this mean that girls, who typically are spatial thinkers, usually prefer geometry?

 

[Evo]

Algebra & geometry were both easy for me, but I really loved geometry.

 

[micromass]

I really have no preference right now.
I high school I sucked in geometry, but I blame the teacher for that. But right now I like topology and algebraic geometry, which are more geometric subjects. But college mathematics is much more algebraic than the high school mathematics, anyway...

Also, don't think you don't need to prove things in algebra

 

[Nikitin]

Oh of course stuff needs to be proven in algebra, but that is pure numbers (well, the proof-equations are made up of letters symbolizing numbers but whatever).

I think it is much better solving integrals, finding unkowns and deriving functions than proving all these damn ancient Greek theorems !

Anyway,

No but seriously any neuro-scientists here? :P Could this be an indicator to how people's brains are built up and/or how they work?

Like, people who like geometry are better able to imagine figures and think spatially and so on? Does this mean that girls, who typically are spatial thinkers, usually prefer geometry?

 

[Char. Limit]

I also deeply prefer algebra to geometry. I hated geometry as a student. I loved algebra.

 

[FrancisZ]

Geometry is older; and for that reason, maybe slightly more relative to ordinary human experiences (of which we've forgone a lot in recent centuries, I think, in exchange for more virtual concepts). Algebra, I would say, is more relative to life as we know it NOW: what with bank accounts, gas mileage; and in projecting data.

If you have trouble at all, this is an EXCELLENT book to learn Geometry from; or to even use as just a really good reference...

There are a lot of theorems, postulates, and properties in Geometry. It is a subject of LOGIC, that in most instances, you cannot simply get by on, being on "autopilot" so to speak; like I think you can in say something like solving equations in Algebra.

That having been said: you CAN make this knowledge your own. And the way that you go about doing that, I have found, is by initially limiting yourself to just one particular type of problem for a long enough time.

This textbook is very nicely organized that way: you stick with just triangles for a while; or you practice only circles for 5 sections. Sadly, some books ARE NOT in fact as clearly outlined as you might expect (which, if you ask me, is a sign of the disorganized mind of the author).

Anyway, in response to the original post: I think I was more inclined toward Geometry as a kid; but I have had more experience in my life since, actually using Algebra. So for that reason: I think I'm probably better at Algebra.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Typically the geometry geek doesn't like algebra while the algebra geek doesn't like geometry.

It's been like that since the time of the ancient Geeks. When they found out that the square root of two was not rational, they took it personally. They relegated algebra to the Arabs and took up geometry. That's why nobody likes algebraic geometry. It's also why we use the Geek letter $\pi$ for the ratio of diameter to circumference in a circle, a geometric concept. And the Arabic letter x for the unknown in equations, an algebraic concept.

 

[Proton Soup]

It's been like that since the time of the ancient Geeks. When they found out that the square root of two was not rational, they took it personally. They relegated algebra to the Arabs and took up geometry. That's why nobody likes algebraic geometry. It's also why we use the Geek letter $\pi$ for the ratio of diameter to circumference in a circle, a geometric concept. And the Arabic letter x for the unknown in equations, an algebraic concept.

kind of ironic then that the algebraic arabs would end up having to use only geometric patterns in their art. maybe god's way of forcing them to eat their spinach?

 

[lisab]

kind of ironic then that the algebraic arabs would end up having to use only geometric patterns in their art. maybe god's way of forcing them to eat their spinach?

That doesn't make sense - both spinach and geometry are delicious :!)

 

[micromass]

That doesn't make sense - both spinach and geometry are delicious :!)

Hmm, my algebra textbook tastes better...

 

[Proton Soup]

That doesn't make sense - both spinach and geometry are delicious :!)

i would agree, but then I'm not arab, either

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

kind of ironic then that the algebraic arabs would end up having to use only geometric patterns in their art. maybe god's way of forcing them to eat their spinach?

Even more ironic when you consider that it was the Greeks who invented irony. However, it's a myth that spinach contains large amounts of irony.

 

[rootX]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13469925

"Tests given to an Amazonian tribe called the Mundurucu suggest that our intuitions about geometry are innate.

Researchers examined how the Mundurucu think about lines, points and angles, comparing the results with equivalent tests on French and US schoolchildren."

related.

 

[HeLiXe]

hmmm maybe more people do like algebra...and that is why we use Arabic numbers