A World Without Mathematics :: essays research papers

According to teachers for as long as any can remember, one cannot survive in this world without mathematics, yet thousands in the United States alone cannot grasp mathematics, cannot learn mathematics because of Dyscalculia (also called Dyscalcula). Dyscalculia is a term meaning "specific learning disability in mathematics." People who suffer with a poor retentiveness for all things mathematical have many other symptoms and characteristics. Taken as a whole, these coexisting conditions comprise what is termed as "the dyscalculia syndrome."Dyscalculia is an MLD (mathematics learning disability) that affects approximately ten share of the US population, yet almost no one (shy of those diagnosed with the MLD) knows that it even exists. People who suffer from Dyscalculia have severe anxiety attacks, as well as perfectly term memory loss associated with mathematics, numbers, rules, and retention. Other symptoms of Dyscalculia range from normal or accelerated language acquisition, poetic ability, good visual memory for the printed word, difficulty with the nobble concepts of time and direction, inability to keep track of time, and may be chronically late. The diagnosis of such a MLD is a simple test that ranges from a fewer hours to as long as a day. It is, however, difficult to recognize because it appears similar to math anxiety, lack of studying, and just simple mistakes. Doctors believe that there are thousands in the world who have Dyscalculia, but go undiagnosed. The test is also very expensive, costing too much for the average person or college student to comport for (ranging from five hundred dollars into the thousand or so range).As is typical in dyscalculia syndrome, students are usually gifted in most other donnish areas. They may be in Honors classes, achieve excellent grades, and be tenacious learners. Math, however, confounds them, because it defies their learning history. They can read, understand, work the problems, but instea d of remembering and mastering the material, it is mysteriously forgotten sometimes an hour later. To some, it seems like a lack of effort to those with Dyscalculia it is a nightmare.The typical response to this phenomenon is to try harder. Thus, students apply all of the strategies used for victor in other classes to the mathematics task. But success is temporary. The student willingly exerts extraordinary effort and invests unprecedented amounts of time, yet success eludes her. At this point, the student becomes frustrate by seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But she is further aggravated by the fact that she cannot identify and define the obstacles to her achievement.