Running head: MATHEMATICS 1

My Life with Mathematics

Nathaniel Miller

Wilmington University
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My Life with Mathematics

My name is Nathaniel Miller and, like everybody in the world, I am unique. I was born

in New London, CT. However, I was raised in Dover most of my life. I graduated high school

from Campus Community High School, when it was still around, in 2007. I spent a few years

working for a bakery then decided to join the United States Army. I spent two years in Camp

Casey, South Korea and afterwards spent a year in Fort Stewart, Georgia. When I got out of

active duty, my wife and I decided to come back to Dover where I started school at Wilmington

University. Among the many reasons I chose Wilmington University are the class hours, majors

available, and the G.I. Bill. I started as a Computer and Network Security major for my first

semester. I then quickly realized that it was not what I wanted to be doing. I then changed

majors to Middle Level Education 6-8 Mathematics and Science. I did this because I believe

there is nothing more valuable than educating the future and I wanted to help others who did not

love nor understand mathematics as well as I.

Mathematics is, and always has been, my favorite subject. Furthermore, it is an area in

which I usually excel and has often times through my young school years has gotten me praise

and attention. I have always caught onto the process and concepts of math very quickly. In

eighth grade, I earned high praises from my math teacher at Holy Cross Elementary for being

able to quickly grasp the concepts and then turn around and use them, even help some of my

classmates better understand them. My freshman year at St. Thomas More Academy, while my

Language Arts grades were failing, my physics and mathematics grades were perfection. Before

I had learned that I would be leaving that high school my mathematics teacher wanted to put me

in additional math classes for the following year. While attending Campus Community, I

participated in the Math League. Something about the challenging questions posed at the
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practices and competitions really peaked my interests. I also excelled within my math courses at

this school that I, along with a few others, was selected for placement in a Pre-Calculus class

given by a Wesley College professor. This was one of the more difficult classes for me. To this

date, I am still not sure if it was the professor or the material which made it hard. It wasnt for

many years later, until I started attending Wilmington University which I saw my next

mathematics course.

Of all of the courses required for me, Geometry may have been my favorite and Calculus

1 may have been my least favorite. I think that Calculus 1 was hard for me because it had been

close to eight years since I had Pre-Calculus and therefore many of the concepts that may have

been fresh in the other students minds were not in mine. I think we use math outside of school

all the time. Simple math is what keeps societies, communities, and countries moving forward.

Currency, Travel, Time, and Infrastructure are all concepts that are laden with mathematical

principles. I find myself doing mini-calculations in my head at all times during the day, for the

littlest of things. I feel as though I utilize 98% of all math that I have learned. How I learned

these things is interesting too.

When learning mathematical concepts, I really do not have a preferred method over any

others. What is strange about this is that, each concept I have learned may have been learned in

a completely different style. Some things I can be told how to do and immediately use them.

Others I need to be shown, while some I may even have to do a few times to grasp them. I find

that working on mathematic projects is better done alone for myself. However, that does not

mean that I do not benefit from having group work to bounce questions off other people when

trying to learn new concepts. When I am having difficulties understanding a concept, I am not

afraid to ask others.

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I usually have a progression of learning, when it comes to difficult concepts.

First, I attempt a few different problems when dealing with that new concept by myself

and check the answers. If I am not understanding it, then I will consult the text book and

try to utilize example problems to understand. My third step, if I am still having issues, is

to get on the internet. I look for problems with step by step guides online. Individuals

who put work like this online may have a different way of explaining that may be easier

to understand than the textbook. Lastly, I will reach out to someone. In my Calculus 1

class, I was having confidence issues dealing with certain concepts. I called a good

friend of mine who was very knowledgeable with Calculus and told her my steps. She

would stop me if she heard anything suspicious, ask me to double check, and if I still

didnt see it she would take me through my mistakes step by step. My math study habits

are not very good. Usually once I have a concept I am good to go with it, so I do not

really look at it until it is time to use that concept. However, if I am having problems

with one I will do practice problems in order to increase my skills with the concept.

All this leads to this class, the History of Mathematics. I expect this class to

encompass many different concepts within the math world, probably almost all. I think it

will be one of the more difficult math courses I have had in the sense that I may be

required to remember how to do a bigger variety of problems by the end. With that said,

I think it is my responsibility to learn what I must, and ask questions when that is not

happening. I expect that my instructor answers these questions in a timely manner with

consideration to their life outside of this course. I do not expect them to know every

answer right off the top of their head, however, I imagine they can at least point me in the

right direction. My goal in this class and my education is to be successful. I want to

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achieve my degree and teach high school mathematics. It is obvious that in order to teach

mathematics, I must be well versed in math and participate in many courses over my path

to obtaining my goal.