Hi all! I'd really like to learn "higher level than highschool" math as a (long time ago) college drop out, but I find it really hard to read anything because of the math notations and zero explanation of it in the context. I didn't find on the web any good resource on the topic, do you any advice / link? Thanks!
Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
1–10 of 258 posts
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#2I think a real problem in this area is the belief that there is "one true notation" and that everything is unambiguous and clearly defined.
Yes, conventions have emerged, people tend to use the same sort of notation in a given context, but in the main, the notation should be regarded as an aide memoire, something to guide you.
You say that you're struggling because of "the math notations and zero explanation of it in the context." Can you give us some examples? Maybe getting a start on it with a careful discussion of a few examples will unblock the difficulty you're having.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#3You might be better picking an area, and trying to work out the notation relating to that area e.g. vectors / matrices / calculus etc. As Colin says below there are often multiple equivalent ways of representing things across different fields and timeframes. I seem to remember maths I studies in Elec Eng looking different but equivalent to the way it was represented in other disciplines
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#4Practice, just like you learned programming.
"The Context" gives you the meaning for the notation, sadly. You have to kind of know it to understand the notation properly.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#5Practice, just like you learned programming. "The Context" gives you the meaning for the notation, sadly. You have to kind of know it to understand the notation properly.
You can also get sufficiently angry and just write out linear algebra books and what not in Agda / Coq / Lean if it pisses you off so much (I've done a bunch of exercises in Coq)
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#6Related question, does anyone know of any websites/books that have mathematical notation vs the computer code representing the same formula side by side? I find that seeing it in code helps me grasp it very quickly.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#7I think the problem is that there is no authoritative text, that I know of, and as ColinWright says, the same ideas can be notated differently by different fields or sometimes by different authors in the same field (though often they converge if they are in the same community).
Wikipedia has been helpful sometimes but otherwise I have found reading a lot of papers on the same topic has been useful. However, this is kind of an "organic" and slow way of learning notation common to a specific field.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#899% of the time it's not needed in software.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#9Related question, does anyone know of any websites/books that have mathematical notation vs the computer code representing the same formula side by side? I find that seeing it in code helps me grasp it very quickly.
Re: Ask HN: How did you learn math notation?
#10Could it be that you are trying to read things that are a bit too advanced? Maybe look for some first year university lecture notes? In general, if you cannot follow something, try to find some other materials on the same subject, preferably more basic ones.