THE MOST COMMON ERRORS IN MATHEMATICS

-ERRORS IN COMMUNICATION
-ALGEBRA ERRORS
-CONFUSION ABOUT NOTATION
-ERRORS IN REASONING
and more...

A brief view of content.
Errors in Communication

If you're a student with a hostile teacher, then I'm afraid I don't know what advice to give you; transfer to a different section or drop the course altogether if that is feasible. The remarks on communication in the next few paragraphs are for students whose teachers are receptive to questions. For such students, a common error is that of not asking questions.
When your teacher says something that you don't understand, don't be shy about asking; that's why you're in class! If you've been listening but not understanding, then your question is not a "stupid question." Moreover, you probably aren't alone in your lack of understanding -- there are probably a dozen other students in your classroom who are confused about precisely the same point, and are even more shy and inarticulate than you. Think of yourself as their spokesperson; you'll be doing them all a favor if you ask your question. You'll also be doing your teacher a favor -- your teacher doesn't always know which points have been explained clearly enough and which points have not; your questions provide the feedback that your teacher needs.
If you think your teacher may have made a mistake on the chalkboard, you'd be doing the whole class a favor by asking about it. (To save face, just in case the error is your own, formulate it as a question rather than a statement. For instance, instead of saying "that 5 should be a 7", you can ask "should that 5 be a 7?")
And try to ask your question as soon as possible after it comes up. Don't wait until the very end of the example, or until the end of class. As a teacher, I hate it when class has ended and students are leaving the room and some student comes up to me and says "shouldn't that 5 have been a 7?" Then I say "Yes, you're right, but I wish you had asked about it out sooner. Now all your classmates have an error in the notes that they took in class, and they may have trouble deciphering their notes later."

Agreed points. (:

More Common errors can be found at: http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/commerrs/
(Its quite long. Might take you about 20 minutes to absorb, but its worth it.)

9/05/2009 07:12:00 PM