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Ask HN: How to learn math from zero for adults?

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Re: Ask HN: How to learn math from zero for adults?

#25
I went a similar route. What did it for me was conceptual analysis. You know how to program already. Maybe you did object oriented analysis? Once I understood, that creating a sample space can be understood as creating a class of the samples you expect, and then putting the attributes on an axis of a space, it clicked. Depending on the space, you then can visualize the outcome probabilities as weight of a point or area in the space. A random variable is then a mapping of that space to R etc. Or that differentiation is basically a way to get the slope of a function’s tangents at any point (it is differentiation of a function!) and its converse, integration, helps you find the area under a function graph. The important point is here that many interesting points can be mapped to doing this (for example calculating the probability from A to B, if you decided to represent it as area). I had worked with UML, OPM (object process methodology) and BFO (basic fundamental ontology) before. Asking “what is it (attributes, parts) and what can I do with it helps me a lot. The most important trait however was coping with frustration, sometimes it took me months to understand a concept.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn math from zero for adults?

#26
What helped me get a grip on learning mathematics was learning to prove theorems.

Working through Daniel Velleman's book "How to Prove It" (the only pre requisite is that you can understand boolean logic, which programmers have no problem with), and then a Set Theory book (I used Enderton) set me up to tackle (proof based) Linear Algebra, Analysis etc.

Just my personal experience. Hope this helps.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn math from zero for adults?

#28
I was a C student in high school. I never took a math class beyond basic algebra. I started from Khan Academy's first exercise when I was 33 years old. It seems silly looking back that I was solving problems on the number line as an adult.

At that time, around 10 years ago, Khan Academy had excellent coverage through trigonometry and single variable calculus. Once I reached that point I went to my local community college and took all of their math classes. I transferred to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and continued onward to get a BS CS, BS EE, and MS EE. I finished at 41 years old and landed a dream job that I would have never thought possible when I started.

I guess my advice is to start from the beginning and see where it takes you.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn math from zero for adults?

#29
post #28

I was a C student in high school. I never took a math class beyond basic algebra. I started from Khan Academy's first exercise when I was 33 years old. It seems silly looking back that I was solving problems on the number line as an adult. At that time, around 10 years ago, Khan Academy had excellent coverage through trigonometry and single variable calculus. Once I reached that point I went to my local community col…

Above is not advice but I would echo it, with emphasis that higher education makes much more sense when you go there as an adult with other stuff to do outside of it so uou just focus on learning things.
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