Khan Academy. Assuming "math" here is the sort used by programmers, engineers, and most scientists.
If you're talking "math" as used by mathematicians and some physicists (Proofs, disciplines that end in "theory") etc... no idea!
Ask HN: If you were to relearn math today, how would you approach it?
11–15 of 15 posts
Re: Ask HN: If you were to relearn math today, how would you approach it?
#12In retrospect, much of my struggle with later math can be traced back to the tedium of trigonometry. I've struggled with memorization for as long as I can recall. The emphasis on memorizing the trig identities and relationships between the functions is at odds with that. It affects other subjects as well, so I know it's not just math. Obviously trig is a fundamental subset of math. In any case, had trig been taught a…
Trig was actually one of the courses that helped me a lot in my later math degree, because I only had to memorize a few key facts and identities, and the rest were variations derivable from the key information. A lot of my earlier math courses "clicked" when I realized this. When I studied further areas of math I found that it was often the case that there was a large set of information to learn, but most of it could…
> Trig was actually one of the courses that helped me a lot in my later math degree, because I only had to memorize a few key facts and identities,
Yes! Trig is key for later math, and that's why I place learning it better as central to my retrospective. I struggle so much with memorization, though, that I was having to derive from first principles all the time.
Re: Ask HN: If you were to relearn math today, how would you approach it?
#13I learnt Math by being forced to, in the same way as CS. If I had to learn today or teach it I would start by motivating the subject.
Speak about how linear algebra is cool and the basis of ML algorithms. If I were to teach algorithms, I wouldn't start by theory I would start with a problem that would take minutes to compute an answer.
I was taught CS in an abysmal way. I was taught system deisgn by drawing retarded diagrams of entities and how long they leave instead of taking an example of some social network with millions of users and having a real world discussion of it before moving to theory. I think professors suck and are doing it just to teach the class and don't care about it.
Number theory - motivate the example with RSA. Linear algebra - motivate the teaching of the class with ML and autodiff. Functional programming - this was the worst. I had this class at 18, no one sat down to explain to me why it was just one class after the other of boring theory.
Re: Ask HN: If you were to relearn math today, how would you approach it?
#14The question and this comment[1] help me narrow down my real question which is
I want to learn enough mathematics that will help me to understand and learn about ML/AI and newer research and furthermore quantum computing.
Is that even possible? If so which topics I can target first? That will help me refactor and rebuild my foundational mathematical knowledge
Re: Ask HN: If you were to relearn math today, how would you approach it?
#15Doing Math Academy right now and I'd say it's working well. https://www.mathacademy.com/ I just started with Math Foundations 1 and relearning from the beginning :)
I kept at mathacademy for about 6-8 months and completed Foundations 1, which was mostly a review of things I'd forgotten. Once I got to Foundations 2 and started regularly failing quizzes, I had to let it go. In my opinion, the pedagogy of "learn this one method to deal with this one problem type, we'll teach you why it works later" is great for young learners and their sponge-like memory, but I'm well into middle age and my memory is shot. I failed quizzes because I forgot the rote method for the solutions, even though I mechanically understood the method and had completed several problems just like it. Taking copious notes might have helped, but there are only so many hours in the day and flipping through notes during timed quizzes is tough.
Not saying don't try it, definitely do (especially if your memory's still sharp), but if you start failing, don't be too hard on yourself.