11–20 of 75 posts
I'm in my late twenties, and even though I did comm systems as a EE undergrad (lots of math), I still don't feel like I really have a deep understanding on probability/stochastic processes, differential equations, and complex analysis. www.betterexplained.com has some good tidbits for math. I've found MIT's opencourseware to be a pretty good help: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#Math... Only t…
From your description, its not clear what level you are at, or what level you want to be at. What do you know now? And what do you want to achieve with math? If you are going for the roots of it, after Arithmetic then basic Algebra in a prerequisite for all further math learning - manipulating and solving equations using variables. Be very comfy with that before proceeding. Then try geometry, basic stats, and underst…
There are just so many sub-branches? Can you please specify one, e.g. Number Theory, Graph Theory, and etc? Are you looking for resources to learn theoretical computer science?
Simplegeek, thanks for the reply. I believe I am not at a level where I can go depth-first into a certain sub-branch. I want to start with the basics.
I think Martin Gardner did the same for Mathematics that Jon Bentley did for computer programming (or vice versa :o)). His books are fun to read. Some of the puzzles will be difficult for you, at first, but once you get the ball rolling you will be hooked. There are couple of usenet groups that you will find helpful while finding for hints for the solutions(notice that I didn't say ask for solutions on those usenets). Please also read the following
- "How to solve it" by George Polya.
- "How to prove it" --hmmm, cannot recall the author name.
As others suggested, learn Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, Discrete Mathematics and etc. After that, try to settle on a sub-field and focus on that for at least 10 years. Another thing that you can do is to try to talk to some professors at a university nearby and tell them you can do some research as a volunteer (10-15 hours/week). I think you will find at least one professor interested in this idea out of 100. Don't give up, this can work. There was this Nobel Laureate at University of Utrecht and he has a very good collection of pointers on background information that a theoretical physicist should possess. I'm sorry I cannot recall his name. So good luck. I know if you will persist you will have a lot of fun doing it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Simplegeek, thanks for the reply. I believe I am not at a level where I can go depth-first into a certain sub-branch. I want to start with the basics.
Alright. Well, I would suggest you to take a look at Martin Gardner's work( http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/102-4845988-2776161?url... ). I think Martin Gardner did the same for Mathematics that Jon Bentley did for computer programming (or vice versa :o)). His books are fun to read. Some of the puzzles will be difficult for you, at first, but once you get the ball rolling you will be hooked. There are couple of…
Search for a topic you are interested in, like Calculus. Start there. Spend a few hours reading and clicking through links, finding books that are cited, etc. If you don't understand something, usually some link will have the background information you need.
Do this every week or so.
In the same way that SICP transforms you from a high-schooler into a wise adult when it comes to programming, so too does Calculus when it comes to maths. If you find the book to be heavy going, then read whatever preliminary material you need, and go back to it.
Edit: I should also stress that maths requires a fair amount of discipline (a lot more than programming), so it's really hard to study maths while also having a day job.
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers...
To give you an idea of the flavour of it, here's the opening sentence:
"Pure Mathematics is the class of all propositions of the form p implies q, where p and q are propositions containing one or more variables, the same in the two propositions, and neither p nor q contains any constants except logical constants."
It's way out of copyright, so there's an online version:
http://fair-use.org/bertrand-russell/the-principles-of-mathe...