Besides sex ed, mathematics is typically the subject in school that most students think of as “Ew Gross.”

As a former “math hater,” I completely understand why many feel no emotional attachment to subject. Unlike other aspects of subjects such as history, English and art, a function such as f(x)=2x^2+5x+4 hold little value to most people. However, after challenging myself, I began to see its beauty.

When I was first exposed to addition and subtraction in my early years, I found myself utterly confused and stressed. It seemed too cumbersome to count numbers that exceeded the 10 digits on one’s hand and memorization didn’t help me learn why certain numbers added or subtracted equaled other numbers. The confusion continued when I began to learn multiplication tables.

However, the worst were algebra word problems. I remember not understanding how words and stories could translate to mathematics and struggling to figure out how to organize all the numbers.

After realizing I was struggling, I took it upon myself to practice on my own time in order to improve. So I went out and got a few practice books. Slowly but surely, I started understanding how to problem-solve better.

By the time I graduated middle school, I was better at math, however, I still didn’t really enjoy it.

When I entered high school, I was overwhelmed with much harder work than I had ever encountered. However, unlike before, I began thinking in a new way.

I recall taking my time on every math problem until I finally got to the right answer. Sometimes it would take me hours to complete just a few problems, but when I finally got the answer, I understood the concept behind it.

I came to realize that I was more successful at working through the problems using previous knowledge and reason than simply memorizing steps. Although it was much harder to do such, in the long run I became better at solving word problems that varied in procedure but were essentially the same concept.

As I progressed through high school, I found my method costly, but somewhat successful and rewarding. In a way by simply memorizing those simple addition problems such as 1+1=2, one could derive a seemingly endless concepts, equations and rules.

This year I am one of the captains of the math team, and I have finally come to realize the value in mathematics is relief gained after overcoming the challenges of a concept and finally understanding its simplistic and perfect system of reason.