Hi everyone,

I'm an engineering student in Greece, currently in a later year of my degree.

I have significant gaps in my high school math knowledge because I came from a vocational high school background. I'm now struggling with Calculus I and other engineering courses that require mathematics.

I recognize concepts like factoring and algebraic identities, but I often struggle to apply them when solving problems.

I want to rebuild my foundations through self-study, but I have limited time because I'm taking several university courses.

My questions are:

1. What are the essential math topics I should review before and while studying Calculus I?

2. Is it better to start with algebra exercises and review theory whenever I get stuck?

3. Can you recommend a structured textbook or course with plenty of exercises?

4. How would you organize your studying if you were in my situation?

I'm not looking for shortcuts. I just want a realistic starting point and a clear study path.

Thank you!

The details are mostly in the title, but I’m trying to graph the trajectory of a thrown object on Desmos and every time I adjust the angle the graph jumps around instead of increasing/decreasing gradually like it should.

Here’s the equation I’ve been using:
y = tan(a)x - (gx^2)/(2(u)^2)

a = angle (I’m testing between 0-90)

g = 9.81 m/s^2

u = initial velocity (30 m/s)

Desmos has an example equation for graphing the trajectory, but the equation looks nothing like mine and I can’t find anywhere else that uses/explains it either.

Let me know if I need to add any more info or if anyone has any tips!

I'm a high school junior in Algebra 2 and have been diagnosed with adhd since 3rd grade and am medicated. I feel dumb most of the time in that class because there's only a handful of juniors in it to begin with. All of my friends are above the regular math course and a lot of others around me are. I feel really dumb because it's supposed to be the easiest level and regular, but I still can't seem to grasp the concepts and can't calculate my problems as fast as everyone else. I was also the last person to turn in the test because I was really trying hard. I failed with a 40%. I haven't gotten a grade that bad in a long while. I also got an F on the quiz before. I did study for the test and am angry with myself for not understanding the problems.

I'll remember it while I'm working on classwork, but when it comes to the actual test, I always forget the most important rule that screws up all of my problems. I also wish I had more time to study and work on math, but I go to art class three times a week each 2 hrs and have no study halls due to a dual school thing for a specialty class that takes all my electives. I have tons of homework every day paired with an online Spanish course because I wasn't able to get in during the summer. They say it takes about 1 hour each day of the week, but really it's at least 2. It's extremely exhausting when I get home at 9pm at night to have to do homework and my Spanish stuff and still get a good night’s sleep.

I've realized over the years that the teachers and people in my math classes really matter to help me succeed. In freshman year, I had two friends in my class and a teacher who would personally work with wach student individually for corrections. This was extremely helpful to me with having people to ask for help. I'm a very shy person and am also diagnosed with social anxiety, which is also a struggle.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I also haven't had any time to study for the sat, which i really need to do. Understanding this class is important for those scores too.

I’ve tried 5, 20 first row and 20, 4000 second row and everything I literally can’t figure it out

https://imgur.com/gallery/so-annoying-5d7sOUS

Idk what this would count as.
Im 21, a college student, and I have been stuck in a lower math class level (lower than gen ed). This is my third year taking it and I dont understand a thing. I have a 77.2 which usually would be great, but I have two tests coming up and quizzes right before the school semester ends, plus a final thats cumulative.

The professor doesn't put any study guides up, no extra help, nothing. Im in a bare bones class, class meant for stupid people. But everyone seems to figure everything out in the matter of seconds. I cant.

All I wanna do is cry when I do the studying. Ive gone to tutors a few times but they aren't very helpful as they are math geniuses that dont rly under understand how to help people with dyslexia and possibly other problems. They just look at you like you're a dull rock.

Idk. I guess im just looking for someone that understands me.

Rn we are working on complex fractions, and simplifying, solving rational equations in looking for x, all of course have fractions (i swear my prof could marry fractions), solving for the specified variable which is rly long and complicated (no. We also dont have a book. Like I said, no study guides, no slides, nothing), applications of rational equations and proportions, and solving them from standard form and then turning them from standard form to completion of a quadratic formula.

Its all too much for my brain, it just wanna cry.
Can someone please help me.

Hi! There’s a concept that I just can’t quite grasp (dividing polynomials using the box / tabular method) and I was hoping that I could possibly get help on it? All I have is a setup and the first column done ( https://files.catbox.moe/a0fwjl.jpeg )

The teacher’s notes say for the next step “Complete the next cell in the column so that its diagonal completes the next term in the original polynomial” but I’m not too sure what it‘s trying to explain. It’s mostly just a conceptual understanding and the examples given in class didn’t help either.

Yes, I have emailed my teacher and classmates several days ago with no response whatsoever. My school is weird about emailing for help.

EDIT: I should also add that we were not taught any other way and we aren’t really allowed to do another method on this particular assignment.

Getting bad grades in math

I'm in uni. doing a math degree. took some gap years before starting it since i wasn't doing well mentally. but it was the only thing I was good at. I got super rusty. and now in uni, I'm doing everything. I work out all the questions, prepare a lot just to get 18/60 in my exam. I made so many mistakes that made the last answers bad for many questions. I'm so disappointed.

I seem to be messing up pretty badly and I don't know how to make things better.

before exams, I tend to revise like this:

1.open past papers and make different folders for each topics

2. work all the tutorials done in class

3 work on the questions for each folder(each topic)

and that's how I failed a module and got low marks on the others.

do I not try my best? do I not do enough? what am I doing wrong? math is different from just "understanding a concept". understanding is one thing, but working out the questions with zero mistakes while worrying about the questions you haven't started on yet... I'm just so done. I keep messing up.

I was studying for an algebra test earlier and I realized: how do you actually study for math? What do you guys like to do when it comes to studying it?

There is a right triangle with sides abc, and angles ABC along with d that spans from the exact middle of b to B, cutting both the side and angle in half (creating a smaller triangle in the bottom made of 1/2b,a,d, which we will label as fad for convenience with f=1/2b or f=6cm and angle F=1/2B). b=12cm. c is the hypotenuse of the larger triangle, d is the hypotenuse of the smaller triangle. a is the side that needs to be solved. This question is easiest when the triangle is drawn out but I can’t post pictures here. It’s hard to picture but I tried.

Using addition identities i.e cos(x+y), sin(x+y), etc, solve for a.

Is this even possible?

If not, try with f=6cm, b=18cm, and F=1/2B.

If neither are possible (which is likely), is there an explanation?

I’ve tried to isolate the unknown angle (theta) by setting the tan of theta and 2xtheta equal to each other but nothing worked.

edit: picture added below

https://imgur.com/a/EORaXiY

I am struggling with-

I have 3 cars, one used 126 days a year, one used 56 days a year, one used 147 days a year (used all day).

Assuming the car use is independent and random, I am trying to figure out the likelihood as a % chance that no car will be available on any given day of the year.

What I have been doing:

365-126= 239

365-56=309

365-147= 218

Then I do (239/365) * (309/365) * (218/365)*100= 33.1% chance all cars will be unavailable?

Am I overthinking this- Is it actually simpler? Is it actually just (126/365)*(56/365)*(147/365)*100=2.13%

Please help, this isn't homework, it is a real world thing I need to figure out and I am so very bad at math. https://imgur.com/9fUS3oc

Hi for short my name is Josh, i am a 17 year male in Ireland and i fucking love mathematics, i love it, im currently on the path to do applied mathematics at home and do it im my leaving cert, i love physics aswell( the math part of it ) i want to get into more calculus, i am currently doing pre calc as normal, and it is rlly light, and ever since the big mainstream ai came out, i got worried and im still fucking am. I love mathematics and i wanna pursue it in my career at least a branch like math and stat or fin math or anything not sure what but math and smth w it. And basically everyone uses ai for their hw, im one of the only ones who dont, not js bc i can do it, purely bc i love the struggle of finding the mistake through the questions, doesnt matter how long it takes 10mins 20mins an hour when i get it , i get this feeling of like a drug and i wanna do it again and again and again. But now as most people on earth watch tiktok and i keep seeing people making thousands, 10s and 100s of thousands of dollars not euros bc most people r from the usa on the fyp, and im getting considered if me goin on the path studying math is worth it, i hate this feeling of disappoint or is there a point of it. Ik education is such a powerful tool but it js keeps getting harder to believing i need college. I hate it. I love maths but fuck man idk what to do or think. Like ik ai is a good tool and i use it to see what it can do, ik it can make money, and i will prob see if i can make money but i still wanna do math in my career, like js 20mins ago i was doing hw and for the first 10mins i was js staring at my desk questioning whats the point, now js downloaded reddit, and joined the first math reddit that popped up. I need some guidance or help what i cud do bc im lost in life w this ai bs man.

Hi, I'm nineteen and due to ADD, I've struggled in school. I'm trying to get into QC, but math is a part of that (geometry, algebra, trigonometry, etc). I was studying with some friends, but I was having a hard time with paying attent and getting the more complex stuff to stick, so I'm wondering if there's any websites out there that can help me study in a way that I can be attentive with. Thanks :)

Help me 🫠

My exams are starting in 3 weeks and I cannot get myself to study maths. It's been my weakest subject since childhood ( I'm in 9th rn) I failed my last math exam and I don't know what to do there are 10 chapters and all of them are big. I have online resources and lectures I could study from, I think I'm procrastinating because of this syllabus and also because I'm just scared of maths (like physically scared when I see numbers) and I'm also bad in physics cause it requires calculation.

I don't know man I just want decent marks in my exams rn.

Hey Reddit community, I have a question: I’m currently in my first year of high school, in a math-physics track, and I’m feeling a bit confused about my performance in these subjects based on the grades I’m getting. I study consistently and generally feel like I understand the material, but when it comes down to it—compared to middle school, where I’d typically get a 4 (or a 5 if I put in extra effort)—now, even when I really apply myself, I end up with a 3 or, at best, a 4. I’d like to know how I might be able to improve these grades, what I can do to address this (if anything), and roughly how long this situation might last. Thanks in advance for any responses!

I just really dont know what to do. Whenever i have a maths exams i make so many stupid mistakes in normal maths and further. Making more in further as practice is less. But for normal maths i dont get why as i finished my exams 45 minutes before amd checked every calculation twice and still somehow let through mistakes. Its not becuase of practice cuz i have done alot questions for normal but not for further which i get why in further i make mistakes.

Someone please help!!

The problem: What does the rate need to be for you to deposit 7,000 in an account that compounds monthly over the next 6 years to have 21,000 in the end?

I’m not positive which formula this is. I operated as if it’s a compound interest problem, but that may have been incorrect.

I set it up like 21000=7000(1+r/12)^72
Then, I divided both sides by 7000 and wound up with 3= (1+r/n)^72.
I took the 72nd root to get 1.015375509=(1+r/12)

1.015375509 - 1=0.0154

0.0154 • 12 = 0.1848 • 100 = 18.48%
(Update: I could’ve swore I got 18.45% earlier… maybe I typed something wrong)

Is that right? Or am I completely off?

I did really poorly on my first midterm in calculus 1 due to being behind because of a sickness and not being prepared to take the exam. I really want to work hard to change my habits and do well on the remaining exams, but i’m overwhelmed with not knowing where to start. My next midterm is november 18th, so I need to be studying the new material now, but i’m not sure how to also study the old material at the same time. I’d appreciate any advice

I'm going through an Algebra 1 textbook from Art FO Problem solving. Some of these problems require simple.math but are very very hard. I'd say 10-11% of all the problems are so hard I can't solve them after 3 tries. When I get it wrong, I circle it. If I get it right the next time I check it. It's been several months since my last try and I'm going at it again and I'm getting nearly all of the circles wrong even if I got them right the second time.

So what I try now is I go through the answer book and visually understand each step and where I went wrong. In a notebook I write out the question and underneath I point out cues that I think should tip me off on how to perform the problem correctly the next time then wait a few days or a week or more then go back and try again. I'm also going through a workbook on how to identify common themes in word problems so I can write the equations correctly this time. How else should I go about learning from these problems? I started by just working it out but I think I wanted to learn how to do it without solving it first. What's the best way to go about learning from mistakes? Will this method work?

I am going to start linear algebra , but I don't how and from where i start learning it.

I was trying to solve $y=\frac{\sin x}{1+\cos x}$. However when I input it to photomath it showed that you can simplify $y=\frac{\sin x}{1+\cos x}$ to $y'=\frac{dy}{dx}(\tan{\left( \frac{x}{2} \right)})$? I was under the impression that you couldn't simplify it to tangent due to 1+ being applied to cos x making it not being able to be simplified. My attempt and photomath image here https://imgur.com/a/LSNxDbD

This is a question in one of the H&H textbooks which I have for homework and it's the only place so far where I have been stuck at.

In the triangle OAB (where O is the origin), Q is the midpoint of OB, P is the midpoint of BA, and R is the midpoint of AO. Point A has coordinates x=2a, y=0; Point B has coordinates x=2b, y=2c.

Show that line AQ has equation cx + by = -2ac.

I was able to find Q, find the slope, and express as point-slope form with ease, but no matter how I approached it I always ended up with an extra 2ay term when transforming, while every other term was identical to the target equation in the problem (cx also had the wrong sign too). Maybe I'm missing something, here's my working out:

Q = ((2b + 0)/2, (2c + 0)/2)
Q = (b, c)

m = (0 - c)/(2a - b)
m = -c/(2a - b)

Using point Q for the point-slope form (x0 = b, y0 = c)
y - c = (-c/(2a - b))(x - b)
(y - c)(2a - b) = -c(x - b)
2ay - by - 2ac + bc = -cx + bc
2ay - by - 2ac = -cx
-cx + by = -2ac + 2ay

Here's the provided diagram as I'm not allowed to upload images: https://imgur.com/a/I8oIoBG

Same thing as above

Can anyone explain the process for finding the solution for y = 65° in this graphic? I originally tried 40° as the answer because I thought maybe they were corresponding angles since they share a line segment, but that was incorrect. I don’t see how the rule of alternate interiors is applicable since it’s not an interior angle. I’m assuming there is an existing angle that needs to be subtracted from 180°, but I cannot figure it out.

[https://imgur.com/a/fpfr0DL](https://imgur.com/a/fpfr0DL)

Hey yall, so im a grade 12 Senior high student in the philippines, i didnt get to move to stem for grade 12 so i got stuck in HUMSS but im gonna be taking industrial engineering for college, is there anywhere you guys can reccomend where i can properly learn precal so that i atleast have an idea of what ill be tackling for the bridging programs ill be taking during the summer?