[gabemart]

Gah, this reminds me so strongly of undergraduate Economics, where all the textual information and explanation was completely clear to me and all the manipulation of formulae was completely impenetrable to me. I deeply regret not studying maths to a higher level. There is an entire language of symbols and notation that I don't understand, and it's frustrating because I imagine the symbols and notation are trivial in difficulty to learn compared to the underlying logic of the operations.

[zackmorris]

I feel the same way whenever I think about quantum mechanics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, medical terminology, probability/statistics, functional programming, APL, and internal combustion engine repair manuals. For me, the biggest barrier to grokking something is almost always terminology.

I'm not sure if not knowing is better or worse than forgetting. I used to really excel at multivariable calculus and now I have to ask people on physics forums or wolfram alpha to solve basic integrations. I really, really wish they made Cliffs Notes for people who already learned something. For example I think every college course should have on the order of a one hour review video that covers everything. Maybe a hybrid of spaced interval learning and Khan Academy.