A Mind for Numbers Book Summary - A Mind for Numbers Book explained in key points

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A Mind for Numbers summary

Name: A Mind for Numbers
Rating: 4.3 (174 reviews)
Author: Barbara Oakley

Barbara Oakley

How to Excel at Math and Science (Even if You Flunked Algebra)

4.3 (174 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley is a practical guide that offers science-based techniques to help overcome learning difficulties and effectively learn math and science.

Topics

Mathematics Learning

Table of Contents

A Mind for Numbers
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Awaken your inner mathematician.

Do numbers make your head spin, and equations freak you out? Barbara Oakley hated and sometimes even failed her math and science courses throughout school, but after graduating, she found that she needed these skills to pursue her dream career. In A Mind for Numbers, Oakley, now a professor in engineering, shares easily applicable methods and fun tricks for excelling at math and science.

You’ll also learn

why napping and letting your mind wander facilitates learning;
that planning play time is as important as planning work time; and
why you wouldn’t necessarily want to be a genius.

The human brain has two ways of thinking: the focused and the diffuse modes.

Imagine a flashlight with two settings: it can intensely focus its beam on one small area, or it can spread its light less powerfully, but more broadly.

Our brains work in a similar way. They can switch between two kinds of networks or functions.

First, there’s the focused mode. This is when we concentrate on information that’s already tightly embedded in our minds. We usually use the focused mode for concepts we already find familiar or comfortable.

Focused mode thinking is essential for studying math and science. We use it to direct our attention to solving problems using rational and analytical thought.

For example, you use focused mode thinking when you multiply numbers (assuming you already know how to multiply). If you’re studying a language, you might use it to incorporate the verb conjugation you learned last week.

Our second way of thinking is diffuse mode thinking. Diffuse mode is what happens when you relax your attention and let your mind wander a bit. We use it to get a “big picture” understanding of something.

Diffuse mode is also important for learning math and science. It allows you to gain new insights into problems you’ve been struggling with.

When trying to understand something new, it’s better to not focus on one thing. Use your “big picture” diffuse mode of thinking instead.

Consider this sentence: Thiss sentence contains threee errors. The first two errors – in spelling – are easily noticeable when using a focused approach.

But the third error? The third error – that the sentence is untrue because there is no third error – only becomes clear when we use the diffuse approach to consider the sentence more abstractly. Focused and diffuse thinking both have their purposes.

Focused thinking, diffuse thinking and sleep are all fundamental for successful learning.

As we go through our daily activities, we switch back and forth between the focused and diffuse modes. We’re in one or the other, but we’re never consciously in both at the same time.

Switching between them is important for our learning process – it allows for understanding and problem solving.

Chunking and recalling learning material is necessary for gaining expertise.

The human mind has extraordinary capacities. Did you know you have an innate ability to see forests, so your mind doesn’t have to process each individual tree?

This mental ability is called chunking. It’s an important part of learning, and we use it in our first steps toward gaining expertise in math and science.

Focusing on the process instead of the product will help you defeat procrastination.

Imagine how much pain your calf muscles would be in if you didn’t practice for a big marathon until the night before. Similarly, if you procrastinate, you can’t compete in math and science, either.

Procrastination is tempting, and it’s important to prevent it. It’s something we can all easily succumb to, because it offers temporary relief from an unappealing present. We procrastinate on things that are boring, difficult, or make us feel uncomfortable.

Mental tricks are powerful tools that help you learn.

The management specialist David Allen once said, “To a great degree, the highest-performing people I know are those who have installed the best tricks in their lives.”

There are many simple but effective mental tricks you can use when learning.

Memorization techniques can make learning material meaningful, memorable and fun.

We learn and recall information much more easily when the information is meaningful to us. This means your memorization process can become an exercise in creativity.

Suppose you want to remember Newton’s second law: f = ma. This law relates force to mass and acceleration. The letter f could stand for flying, m for mule and a for whatever comes to your creative mind (apples?)! So if you want your mule to start flying faster, you have to feed it more apples.

Practice and persistence are often more important than intelligence.

It can be intimidating to work alongside other people, especially if they understand new concepts more quickly than you. However, “average” students sometimes have advantages when it comes to work ethic and creativity.

Gifted people often have their own set of challenges to face. For one, smarter people often have a longer working memory. This is the part of our memory that handles whatever we’re immediately and consciously processing in our mind.

Testing is a powerful learning experience in itself.

Testing isn’t just about measuring how much we know. It’s an extraordinarily powerful learning experience in itself. Studying and preparing for exams are highly important.

Testing improves our ability to retain what we’ve learned. It doesn’t merely assess learning, it facilitates it. This is called the testing effect.

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What is A Mind for Numbers about?

A Mind for Numbers offers insight into the way our brains take in and process information. It outlines strategies that can help you learn more effectively, especially when it comes to math and science. Even if mathematical or scientific concepts don’t come naturally to you, you can master them with the right kind of dedication and perseverance – and this book will teach you how.

Best quote from A Mind for Numbers

There are hidden meanings in equations, just as there are in poetry.

—Barbara Oakley

Who should read A Mind for Numbers?

Anyone interested in math
Anyone interested in science
Anyone who wants to get better at studying and retaining information

About the Author

Barbara Oakley is an engineering professor at Oakland University and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She’s written extensively about learning strategies, and her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.

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