Consumerism Commentary - Latest Comments in Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

What_Tha — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:14:30 -0000

Listening to Jim Cramer in the background is probably not going to relax anyone about anything.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

Free From Broke — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:35:13 -0000

Maybe we don't all need calculus be we need to have a solid grasp of math. Imagine all the trouble that could be saved on all the sub-prime mortgages if more people understand what was really going on with their interest rates. I need to understand compound interest calculations better. I'll be taking calculus again after ten years this spring (it will help me better understand my major - economics).

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

vh — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:15:25 -0000

Quicken. The answer is Quicken, or one of the other programs like it.

I couldn't balance my checkbook without Quicken, because (despite a Ph.D. in English) I can't add, subtract, multiply, or divide without counting on my fingers.

Once the computation bugaboo is out of your face, you discover that a lot of math is just plain logic, and logic is something anyone (even an English major) can do.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

plonkee — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:23:49 -0000

I think that asking for help can be good. I'm not the maths phobe amongst my friends and family, and I'm always willing to explain things to people where I can.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

fathersez — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:50:15 -0000

This reminds me of the time when we used to classify people as dy/dx comfortable and dy/dx phobic.

But what Brian say's is true. We don't really need to know calculus to be financially savvy or at least careful.

My mother and also my wife's unschooled grandmother are good examples.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

John Wedding — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:39:02 -0000

Trig? C'mon, that's child's play! ;)

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

Sasha — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:56:48 -0000

@ Heidi - I'm with you on this 100%. I've been in your position with debt as well! Thanks for sharing.

@ Brian - The photo does illustrate how frightening math can be, yes? I was looking for numbers with devil horns but there were none to be found, sadly.

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

Brian — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:15:06 -0000

I agree with your points, but having a picture of trigonometric memorization tables is just mean!
The odds of someone needing to memorize that (sin x - cos x)^2 = 1 - sin 2x to do their budget is very low. :)

Re: Math Anxiety Could Hurt Your Finances: 5 Ways to Get Over It

Heidi — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:14:00 -0000

This is totally me! I changed my undergrad major from Marketing to Communications in order to avoid having to take stats and accounting!

I really started taking control of my finances when I started teaching Financial Management at a local college (the irony is not lost on me).

Another thing that is scary is owning up to how much debt you actually have. It's fun to manage finances when you have a postive net worth - but I used to go months without looking at my credit cards statements because I preferred to be in denial about how much debt I had acquired.