# What "simple" academic concepts have you never been able to grasp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355 "2009-03-30T21:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/61 "2009-03-31T14:00:31Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > I like to think I’ve got a pretty decent vocabulary, but for some reason I can_not_ remember the definition of the word “tautology.” People explain it to me, I look it up in the dictionary, I get it…until next time I encounter it and then I’ve forgotten it again. Think of Ayn Rand. A equals A. That’s a tautology. It’s inherently true. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/62 "2009-03-31T14:02:02Z")
Syllables I get, but I can’t grasp the idea of the emphasis on the right syllable. What does that mean? I come from a long line of people who cannot figure out directions. If there is a gene for that, it’s been bred out of us. I finally learned how, but it was a bitch of a battle. This from someone who does long division in her brain and can even figure out days & dates into the future pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/63 "2009-03-31T15:44:09Z")
It isn’t exactly academic, but I cannot handle directions at all. I cannot draw a map or tell someone how to get somewhere, even if I have been there a million times before. I can read a map without a problem and navigate by street names and stuff, but if you tell me to go north that doesn’t help me and I will get lost. Living in NYC has helped tremendously because it is a big grid and easy to navigate, but put me back in Dallas where 635=LBJ=Route 12 and it is a big circle around the city I might as well be trying to drive to China for all of my ability to find my way somewhere. I used to end up in Oklahoma before I realized I was lost. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/64 "2009-03-31T17:13:51Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > There’s no contradiction. The bit about alternating describes the stations and is superfluous. All that matters is that Jill’s sequence is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and Jody’s sequence is 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Therefore, after six steps, they’ll be at the same machine. You can set up equations and do it that way, but this is much simpler. You are a thing of beauty and a joy forever. (and thanks to **matt** and **indistinguishable** , too) I would have tried to solve the problem (which I just made up on the spur of the moment) like this: Jody moves twice as fast as Jill, so Jody is 2x, if x is movement. 2x= and then I’m lost. The odd thing is that I manipulate numbers in my head all the time in real life–we all do. I do so by estimating (and I’m damned good at it). I get the answer, but have no idea how I did so (except the estimation bit). This has always been true, so “show your work” was useless to me. And then, math got more complicated and my “intuition” was hopeless. Having to help my kids with math has honed a lot of my skills and (seriously) many shoes have dropped–like the one about regrouping. NEVER got that as a kid, but now it all makes sense… To figure a tip, I figure out 10% in my head and then double that. I cannot just figure out 20%. I cannot describe what I do to get 10%–that is, I cannot describe the correct function used, but I do it in my head. Do I divide? I DUNNO. But I do know how to divide. It’s weird. I’m weird. But most spelling and grammar came to me as second nature. I may not know the terminology, but I know correct usage. Words and their manipulation make sense to me. I can see the beauty of numbers and I envy those to whom numbers are my words. I wish I understood physics in the mathematical sense. I understand plumbing (likening it to circulation in my head), but electricity makes no freaking sense–I read the bit above and it made me dizzy. Here’s the stupidest question in the world: when astronomers study other planets and stars and galaxies, why does that involve so much higher math? I would think that describing such things would involve more words than equations, but I am wrong. \ ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/65 "2009-03-31T18:07:50Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Here’s the stupidest question in the world: when astronomers study other planets and stars and galaxies, why does that involve so much higher math? I would think that describing such things would involve more words than equations, but I am wrong. It involves a lot of words too, it’s just that “it goes around the star in a big orbit” and “this planet has a slightly BIGGER orbit” isn’t very good to work with. As wonderful as language is, it sucks at precision. There’s a huge difference in the way two people can interpret “big” but there’s not much room for mistakenly thinking two things are going to hit each other when someone uses “5\*10^7” rather than “a really big orbit, I swear!” Also, there are only so many words for “curvy” and that doesn’t begin to differentiate some of the… lovely motions things can make. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/66 "2009-03-31T18:13:16Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Think of Ayn Rand. A equals A. That’s a tautology. It’s inherently true. There’s also the meaning in rhetoric, which is, in effect, “saying the same thing twice.” There’s a bit more to it, I guess, it involves doing it accidentally and using different sounding and mostly unrelated words, but the laymans “you’re repeating yourself” definition works just as well for most purposes. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/67 "2009-03-31T18:18:21Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > It involves a lot of words too, it’s just that “it goes around the star in a big orbit” and “this planet has a slightly BIGGER orbit” isn’t very good to work with. As wonderful as language is, it sucks at precision. There’s a huge difference in the way two people can interpret “big” but there’s not much room for mistakenly thinking two things are going to hit each other when someone uses “5\*10^7” rather than “a really big orbit, I swear!” > > Also, there are only so many words for “curvy” and that doesn’t begin to differentiate some of the… lovely motions things can make. True. It just seems that there isn’t that much description (Saturn has rings) in relation to numbers and equations. I used to not get infinity until I thought of it like this (please let me keep my delusion): as hard as it is to imagine something going on forever and never, ever ending, think of something that goes on for a very long, long time and distance and then that stopping/ending. What is beyond that? There has to be something, if only space. For me, it’s easier to imagine endlessness than it is to imagine something ending and there being nothing past that. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/68 "2009-03-31T18:23:49Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > True. It just seems that there isn’t that much description (Saturn has rings) in relation to numbers and equations. I think the issue is that in astronomy, the number of things you can see and describe, like rings, is very small compared to the number of things you can’t, like movement, and output of energy. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/69 "2009-03-31T19:06:26Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Volts are like water pressure. [nitpicking asshole] Volt is the unit of measurement for electromotive force. Electromotive force is like water pressure. [/npa] I had to take one Electrical Engineering class as a Mechanical Engineer. That is pretty much all I learned. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/70 "2009-03-31T19:15:12Z")
Structural Equation Modeling. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/71 "2009-03-31T19:35:21Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > To figure a tip, I figure out 10% in my head and then double that. I cannot just figure out 20%. I cannot describe what I do to get 10%–that is, I cannot describe the correct function used, but I do it in my head. Do I divide? I DUNNO. But I do know how to divide. It’s weird. I’m weird. Yeah, you’re dividing by ten. Since we use a base-10 system, each decimal place represents a multiplication by ten; so it’s simple to multiply or divide by ten by moving the decimal place. If you have a cheque of $45.73, I assume what you’re doing is moving the decimal point one over to get $4.57. Then it’s easy to double that to get $9.14. That’s pretty much what I do to figure out tips. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/72 "2009-03-31T19:47:08Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Yeah, you’re dividing by ten. Since we use a base-10 system, each decimal place represents a multiplication by ten; so it’s simple to multiply or divide by ten by moving the decimal place. If you have a cheque of $45.73, I assume what you’re doing is moving the decimal point one over to get $4.57. Then it’s easy to double that to get $9.14. That’s pretty much what I do to figure out tips. It never occurred to me to just move the decimal point… Now it will be much easier! Another thing I’ve never gotten is music. I like lots of different music, but I struggled to read music (never really did get the left hand down on the piano. I mean the bass cleft–whatever). I also cannot sight read music in that I understand that this note is a quarter note, but I cannot demonstrate just how long that note should last. Then again, if I hear a piece of music once, I “get” how it goes and can then (once I struggle through the note reading and practice) play it. I cannot just up and play a new piece of music. It’s like a foreign language to me–I cannot tell where the emphasis should be, the pauses etc. I know it’s all written in front of me, but I have to hear it first. I think my music issues are similar to some posters’ issues with syllables and stresses on syllables. Isn’t it weird how we’re all wired? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/73 "2009-03-31T19:56:13Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Now it will be much easier! Another thing I’ve never gotten is music. I like lots of different music, but I struggled to read music (never really did get the left hand down on the piano. I mean the bass cleft–whatever). Reading two or more lines of music is something that takes years of practice, I think. I don’t think it’s a disability to find it difficult. > [@](#): > > I also cannot sight read music I can read music, but I can’t sight read it. I need to play through it a few times before it sounds like music. > [@](#): > > in that I understand that this note is a quarter note, but I cannot demonstrate just how long that note should last. That’s relative, though, isn’t it? There’s no absolute value. You decide how fast you are going to play and your quarter note is the length of one beat. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/74 "2009-03-31T20:14:47Z")
I don’t get poetry without rhyme and meter. Meter alone can work (Paradise Lost); rhyme alone might suffice for giggles (Ogden Nash). Strip both (and any semblance of sonic devices) and it becomes pretentious and painful - may as well be bad prose. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/75 "2009-03-31T20:20:44Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > That’s relative, though, isn’t it? There’s no absolute value. You decide how fast you are going to play and your quarter note is the length of one beat. But other people get it–including the person who wrote the song to begin with! I have to hear it. I cannot glean the info required from sheet music, even though I understand that each symbol and scribble stands for something. I think the line between prose and poetry can be somewhat blurry. I tend to like poetry that has rhyme and meter (with meter being more important than rhyme for me). It’s interesting that no one has brought up nomenclature or geological strata. It’s all language and math (for the most part). This is the kind of stuff I wish neuroscientists would study: how we learn; how we retain info and how we retrieve it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/76 "2009-03-31T20:21:54Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > [nitpicking asshole] > Volt is the unit of measurement for electromotive force. > Electromotive force is like water pressure. > [/npa] Well, yeah, but I was trying to simplify while keeping the analogy clear. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/77 "2009-03-31T20:28:57Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > True. It just seems that there isn’t that much description (Saturn has rings) in relation to numbers and equations. It’s interesting to know that Saturn has rings, and to look at the rings. But if you want to ask questions like why does Saturn have rings, or why is there a gap in Saturn’s rings, you can’t get an answer to those questions without physics. And physics involves higher math, lots of it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/78 "2009-03-31T20:37:31Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > But other people get it–including the person who wrote the song to begin with! I have to hear it. I cannot glean the info required from sheet music, even though I understand that each symbol and scribble stands for something. That particular piece of information (how long a quarter note should last) is determined by the tempo, which is listed at the beginning of the score (and may be modified by dynamic changes during the piece, such as _accelerando_ and _ritardando_). For example, an allegro is considered to be around 120 to 168 beats per minute, which you can measure with a metronome. Largo would be 60 to 80 bpm, and so for the various other tempo terms. Sometimes you’ll have a notation like [quarter note] = 120, meaning 120 beats per minute. However, apart from what’s written on the score, part of it is your own artistic expression - what sounds right. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/79 "2009-03-31T21:37:17Z")
For all the math haters : [![](https://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c169/alienoar/be-rational-get-real.gif) ](https://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c169/alienoar/be-rational-get-real.gif) * * * Can I just state here, that I don’t get why people fail to use apostrophes, question marks, and plurals correctly? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355/80 "2009-03-31T21:39:39Z")
> [@placebo](#): > > Infinity. Don’t feel bad. Infinity is not a simple concept. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-simple-academic-concepts-have-you-never-been-able-to-grasp/491355.md?page=5)