TITLE: How to effectively study math?
QUESTION [66 upvotes]: Maybe this is too general for here, but I am having a lot of difficulty studying math. Just got out of the military and I guess I am not use to this yet but when I run into a problem I have trouble with and I just can't get it I get extremely frustrated, I will try and look at the solution but it usually doesn't help and just makes me even angrier than I was before.
Obviously I just can't stop working on the math otherwise it would never get done, and I also can't get stop getting mad, otherwise I would have already. What do I do? I just can't seem to ever remember anything from math even though I study all the time.

REPLY [3 votes]: Some background information about me: I'm an undergrad student, maths major.
I'll expand on this answer a bit (later) but for now, a very short piece of advice: Get yourself the book "Thinking Mathematically". You might think that reading a book about how to think might be a waste of time (that's what I thought) but it's not. Read it cover to cover and read it attentively with a pencil and paper at hand to do all the (short) exercises. This will make your frustration go away.
I'm sorry that there is no shorter, magical "cure" to the anger and frustration.