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No. 183
I've experienced similar, albeit drawn out issues I think. I didn't seem to have problems mindlessly grinding the content up until around the latter portion of highschool. At that point for whatever reason I developed a consuming interest in various gadfly philosophical persuasions and quickly lost confidence in mathematics as an infallible axiomatic system. Certain epistemological and mereological premises sort of espoused many spheres of mathematics to me as nothing more than perceptual hallucination, as the ideal geometric structures simply do not exist as isolated, non-dynamic physical entities. Choosing to isolate some perceived object from the dynamic flux which is external reality and just pretending that it isn't actively interacting at imperceptible levels with said environment, even going so far to regard it as an "object"; that is, crudely separating a manifestation of fundamental elements and properties and constructing some arbitrary, fictional boundary to isolate this portion of matter from the mire. Notions of "quantity" and the existence of a formal mathematical object was to me at this point mere social consensus.
My entry into some of my engineering program's advanced calculus content actively discouraging as the curriculum's integration of math seemed to orient towards problem solving for its own sake. A governing formula or theory is thrown at us within the context of some arbitrary puzzle and we solve its 2-3 possible permutations using a strict process. No theoretical background, historical context or possible flaws or fallibility are ever provided. I completely neglected the material at that point in light of my edgy philosophical insights and subsequently performed quite substandardly in the course. I was outperformed by peasants who don't seem even aware of quite what math is and are obviously grinding out success a la my pre-pubescant highschool methodology.
I guess my point here is that when you deal with the material in an academic setting you just have to play along with certain systems and axioms the courses dispense and set aside any philosophical grievances. It's symbolic logic; very arid and linear but extremely simple if you put forth a focused, systematic effort. Our, but possibly just my problem is that I prefer an analysis with a bit more undisclosed ambiguity; to blindly accept the as absolute truth the sheer volume of theories and conjecture which were being shat out at me was very difficult until I accepted this.
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