How to Prove It. It's cheap (paperback), highly rated, and insightful.
Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
21–30 of 88 posts
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#22Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#23I 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!
Coursera's Automata course is really good, but it's hard work. It's a six week course, and you'll spend around 10hrs per week if you do everything (and I'd recommend doing everything).
Udacity's introduction to statistics, so far, has been really easy.
From what I've seen so far, Udacity are aiming to be more inclusive "community college" level and Coursera are aiming for a true university level education.
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#24Khan Academy
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#25The freely available [1] is a nice supplement to some of the material in Concrete Mathematics, and this [2] is an approachable introduction to graph theory with side notes on both proof techniques and algorithms.
More generally, if you're not already comfortable with linear algebra (a couple college semesters "or equivalent experience"), I'd recommend both [3] and [4] for two entirely different perspectives. For modern algebra more generally, I'm a huge fan of [5].
If I could only take one introductory mathematics book to a desert island, I'd cheat a bit and take [6], [7], and [8]. While never directly involved in CS, Courant was very interested in the practical applications of theoretical mathematics, see, e.g., [9] and, well, most everything else he wrote.
I could go on and on, so I'll stop here.
[1] http://www.math.upenn.edu/~wilf/DownldGF.html [2] http://www.amazon.com/Graph-Theory-Graduate-Texts-Mathematic... [3] http://www.amazon.com/Linear-Algebra-Applications-Gilbert-St... [4] http://www.amazon.com/Finite-Dimensional-Vector-Spaces-P-R-H... [5] http://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Chelsea-Publishing-Saunders-La... [6] http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Calculus-Analysis-Classic... [7] http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Calculus-Analysis-Classic... [8] http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Calculus-Analysis-Classic... [9] http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1943-49-01/S0002-9904-1943-...
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#26I have a business background and use Project Euler to evolve my programming, math and problem solving skills. :) projecteuler.net
+1 for Project Euler! It totally rocks!
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#27Well you haven't mentioned how much math you're familiar with. But I'll assume that you know school level mathematics and are looking to learn more about the math mostly used in computer science.
Get Concrete Mathematics( http://www.amazon.com/Concrete-Mathematics-Foundation-Comput... ) by Graham, Knuth & Patashnik - It's based on the course taught at Stanford since 1970 & it's really really good.
Another book I think you should get is Meta Math: The quest for Omega( http://www.amazon.com/Meta-Math-Quest-Gregory-Chaitin/dp/140... ) by Gregory Chaitin. It's not really a math course book, and is mostly the authors take on his favorite topics in math, but if you want to improve your thinking process then this book will definitely give you a different perspective.
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#28Just 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 stati…
There is a number of really quite good applied maths courses on youtube (roughly in this order from each group):
MIT 18.06, 18.085, 18.086, 6.262, 6.450
Stanford EE263, EE364A, EE261
Profs Strang, Boyd and Gallager are quite a bit better with maths than the typical engineering lecturer, even though their courses are not exactly at the level of Rudin, Breiman et al.
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#29Just 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 stati…
While I love Rudin's Real and Complex Analysis and Functional Analysis, I've always thought Loomis and Sternberg's Advanced Calculus could serve as an interesting alternative to more conventional texts like Baby Rudin for introductory analysis. It also seems particularly suited to self-study: surprisingly self-contained, good exercises, a nice selection of applications, and available free from Sternberg's Web site [1].
Re: Ask HN: Learn Math the Hard Way
#30Just 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 stati…
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