>assigned homework problems in prep for the test >go through

Grind, grind, grind.
I didn't do that and now I suck a dick. If you feel being "cucked", then it's definetely something wrong out there.

>>17661599
At my Uni, every professor ever has told me that looking at an answer key will never be enough. You need to be able to set up a question and do all the work to finish it.

If you are "unable" to do the number crunching now dont expect to be able to magically do it at the exam.

>>17661599
This is my problem with math related stuff, hate grinding when I already know it, but it builds speed and helps troubleshoot small things you might be missing

>>17661599
>"Mathematics consists of proving the most obvious thing in the least obvious way."
- George Polya

>>17661599
If it is (and it sounds like) a low level math class and you have worked hard for it all semester then I think it's ok, last minutes grinding isn't gonna help much

>>17662971
Polya said that in the context of "doing mathematics", which means at the very least solving mathematical problems. Solving routine exercises isn't doing mathematics. For most cases in university courses, calculate an integral, calculate a derivative, solve an ODE, etc. are exercises, while, starting from the field axioms show that you can place parentheses anywhere in a sum of numbers and get the same result is a problem, and this is what Polya meant by obvious and non trivial, e.g. see a + (b + (c + d) ) + e = (a + b) + c + (d + e)

>>17661599
>Underestimating arithmetic

If you ever want to to be a good math student (which you should if you're doing anything stem related) you need to master arithmatic. You need to be precise, organized, and correct. This can only be done by hours of brute force.

Theory is the easy part, actually doing it is what stumps students, and even professors. You might realize there were intricacies to a problem you never would have imagined.

>>17663531
>Theory is the easy part, actually doing it is what stumps students, and even professors

This might sound coherent if you are talking about physical science, however just one sentence before you were talking about math student, so it doesn't make any sense. The whole mathematics is theory, yes even when you are doing calculation with big numbers and the result is something like 32.3465 kgm/s^2, it is all theoretical unless you are actually measuring some quantities, includes computational experiments with say, Matlab or statistical experiments, but it's definitely laughable to consider "calculating integral of e^1/x sin(x) using Laplace transform" to be anything other than theory. And to learn this theory students need to solve mathematical problems where the connections are not obvious, and exercises (like the one mentioned) where routines exists. My whole point can be condensed in the fact that the exercises you are doing are always highly idealized, in this case, homework exercises are designed to have a specific well defined solutions. They will not live up to the expectation of being illuminating unless you are really bad at this topic, and I am sure arithmetic exercises will certainly not reveal anything for decent students and above that level. The hundred integrals you do about (x+1)e^x, (x^2+x+1) e^x, (x^3+2)e^x will not be as illuminating as a 2 lines proof about simple property of p(x)e^x

> even professors
nope. Unless by stumped you meant making errors like missing a minus sign, forgot a zero while doing arithmetic calculation on the black board etc.

>You might realize there were intricacies to a problem you never would have imagined
from arithmetic ? perhaps for number theory, algebraic structures, or CS's floating point arithmetic, however they are all theoretical.


Anyway it's not about underestimating anything, it's about whether OP should start grinding one problem or go over multiple problems when the next day is the test.

>>17664050
Your whole post is meaningless. I specifically said
>If you ever want to be a good msth student (which you should if you're doing anything stem related)

From there I just assumed OP was doing engineering or some other physical science. Small errors, especially when they are logical, can transform a problem which is what I meant by
>stumps students, and even professors

You're also confusing theory with calculation.