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Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

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Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#11
You may not come from the same culture that I came from, but the early significant milestones in my mathematical education were:

    1. Reading the "aha!" books by Martin Gardner, as a child.
    2. Reading Lockhart's "A Mathematician's Lament" [1]
    3. Linear algebra, calculus, and complex analysis classes. I was taught
    these at Cornell; you might look for them via MIT's OpenCourseWare [2]. 
    4. A bunch of combinatorics, from Cornell's classes in probability.
The most key thing I can tell you about mathematics is, always go back and read the definitions. Always. I have sometimes helped out math students on topics which were way out of my depth, simply because I picked up their textbooks, flipped several pages back, and said "hm, what does this word mean? what does that word mean?", building up connections all the while.

You may also want to start in a completely different direction, since you're interested more in CS-based topics (I am interested more in physics-based topics) by starting with number theory and modular arithmetic, and of course MIT has a Comp Sci section [3] which also produces lectures on OpenCourseWare; you may wish to watch those lectures.

[1] http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

[2] http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/

[3] http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#12
For getting to know what is a proof in Mathematics, I recommend Proofs and Refutations by Imre Lakatos. It will not teach you many theorems (in fact, 80% of it only proofs one, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_characteristic again and again and again), and it will almost certainly not be applicable to writing programs but it will give insight into how mathematicians in the last century have made mathematics much more rigorous (and abstract).

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#13
Start with these topics. Work your way through them, and make sure you understand everything you have read so far before progressing. Do the exercises, or it will be a waste of time.

0) Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus

Make sure you have a decent grasp over high school level math topics. You might not need to use these topics frequently (though trig comes up a surprising amount), but they are necessary to establish a base level of mathematical maturity.

1) Linear Algebra

Obviously very important if you want to do any 3d work, but it comes up in later topics like graph theory.

Suggested book: Linear Algebra and Its Application - Strang

2) Discrete Math

You need an understanding of proofs and logic before you can get to the real algorithms material. Counting and probability is also very important.

Suggested book: Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications - Kenneth Rosen

This looks like a good free option, but there are no exercises: http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/fall10/mcs-ftl.pdf

3) Algorithms

Enough said.

Suggested book: CLRS, but here's a free option: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~vazirani/algorithms.html

This should take you some time as each of these topics usually corresponds to a college class. When you finish with those, start reading about CS Theory, Combinatorics, or pick up a graduate Algorithms text.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#15
post #13

Start with these topics. Work your way through them, and make sure you understand everything you have read so far before progressing. Do the exercises, or it will be a waste of time. 0) Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus Make sure you have a decent grasp over high school level math topics. You might not need to use these topics frequently (though trig comes up a surprising amount), but they are necessary to establish a…

Another Linear Algebra book that also has a good introduction to proofs is Sheldon Axler's Linear Algebra Done Right.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#16
I am in the ship, I have signed in the statistics 101 class [1] at udacity. Its very basic, but it's a good starting point. Coursera have also several math related courses [2] (calculus, autmata, logic, ...).

I have also signed in a class in nearest community college in my area.

[1] http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/st101/CourseRev/1

[2] https://www.coursera.org/category/math

Happy logarithmic!

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#17

The Khan academy (www.khanacademy.org) has plenty of videos and exercises, and if you're looking more at the CS side of things udacity.com runs a few online courses looking at algorithms, discrete maths and the like.

This was going to be my suggestion. Excellent resource.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#18
As mentioned probabilities is something you want to get into very early. Its easy to understand at the start and its practical uses in many different computing areas along with many other things in life is priceless.

Good place to start would be to go through khan academy's probability videos.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#19
When I was in early university, I went through Introduction to Algorithms and chapter by chapter, I implemented nearly every algorithm presented in the book. At the time, I had no idea why I was doing it (fun? ACM practice?), but in hindsight it was incredibly important. I learn by doing, not by reading (at least doing cements what I read), so I make sure that I incorporate a lot of practice into my plans.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way

#20
Just follow the usual path for education in relatively applied math.

Here is a nutshell description:

The standard high school level subjects are algebra, plane geometry, second year algebra, trigonometry, and solid geometry.

The standard college level subjects are calculus, abstract algebra, linear algebra, advanced calculus, ordinary differential equations. Might also take elementary courses in probability and statistics.

Standard graduate school topics are point set topology, measure theory, functional analysis.

For more in applications, can do (1) optimization -- linear, network linear, linear integer, quadratic, non-linear, and dynamic programming -- and (2) probability, statistics, and stochastic processes based on measure theory.

Here is an overview:

The course in abstract algebra will make you familiar with a long list of topics that come up in computing including sets, Boolean algebra, logic, relations, mappings, integers, prime numbers, modular arithmetic, rational numbers, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, the fundamental theorem of algebra, elementary number theory, and the Euclidean greatest common divisor algorithm. You will also see finite field theory which has long been important in algebraic coding theory. You may touch on the question of P versus NP. You may see some of the work of Goedel, etc. and model theory. You will get good with math based on definitions, theorems, and proofs and develop 'mathematical maturity', i.e., ability to read, understand, and do abstract mathematics. Your ability to describe logical material in writing will improve.

Famous authors in abstract algebra include Birkhoff, MacLane, Herstein, Lang. More recent authors likely touch on algebraic geometry.

Linear algebra, mostly about 'vectors' and linear transformations, is the core of an ocean of applications in multivariate statistics (regression, factor analysis, analysis of variance, discriminate analysis, and more and, thus, applications in ad targeting, machine learning, data mining, anomaly detection, recommendation engines, etc.), optimization, group representation theory as in molecular spectroscopy, Shannon's information theory, and more. E.g., linear algebra is the place to learn about solving systems of linear equations, e.g., by Gauss elimination, and, thus, the place to get started with matrix inversion and the simplex algorithm of linear programming (optimization) and network linear programming.

A good first text in linear algebra is by Ben Noble. The crown jewel is by Paul Halmos, 'Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces', written when Halmos was an assistant to von Neumann; the book approaches linear algebra much like it was functional analysis and, thus, is a baby version of Hilbert space theory and, thus, sometimes used to teach Hilbert space theory to physicists for quantum mechanics. Richard Bellman wrote tons. See also Roger Horn's books. Evar Nering is a good first book (although his treatment of linear programming is not good); so is Hoffman and Kunze (apparently now available on the Internet in PDF for free). For numerical linear algebra, see Forsythe and Moler.

The standard advanced calculus text to teach the theorems and proofs of calculus is Walter Rudin's 'Principles of Mathematical Analysis'. After that book, notation such as O( n ln(n) ) as in Knuth's TACP will be child's play.

Note: At one time the Halmos 'Finite Dimensional Vector Spaces' and Rudin's 'Principles' were used in Harvard's Math 55 with a colorful description in

     http://www.american.com/archive/2008/march-april-magazine-contents/why-can2019t-a-woman-be-more-like-a-man/?searchterm=Sommers
A course in trigonometry, the use of trigonometry in calculus, and Rudin's treatment of Fourier series will help in data compression (e.g., JPG), time-invariant linear systems, digital filtering, and Shannon's information theory.

Also good coverage of the binomial theorem in high school or abstract algebra and an elementary course in probability will be a help in following Knuth's TACP.

Measure theory will take a huge load off your back: Calculus, that is, Riemann integration theory as taught through Rudin's 'Principles', has some rough edges, understood back to at least 1900, and Lebesgue and Borel and measure theory (heavily due to Lebesgue) provide a clean solution. As from Kolmogorov, the solution also makes a clean foundation for probability, stochastic processes, and statistics.

Likely the nicest first text in measure theory is Royden's 'Real Analysis'. Also good is the first, real, half of Rudin's 'Real and Complex Analysis' where he also gives nice introductions to both Hilbert and Banach spaces and a nice treatment of the Fourier transform.

My favorite authors in probability based on measure theory are J. Neveu (long in Paris) and L. Breiman (long at Berkeley). Or just read from their teacher, M. Loeve (long at Berkeley but with a writing style that looks like some cross between English and French).

This background will also let you do much more in both pure and applied math in many directions and for many applications.

For learning math, it is "not a spectator sport". Most of the work is between your ears as you think about the material. A good teacher in abstract algebra is likely necessary to get you started. Also without at least occasional contact with a solid university department it is too easy to get off track. Still, nearly all the work is to be done alone in a quiet room, and there a book is fine. In principle videos could help, but so far I've never seen even one that I would recommend for any utility at all in learning math.

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