Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#1

Post by etr71115 » Tue, May 16, 2017, 11:57 PM UTC

Recently, I've noticed my quantitative abilities slipping. I want to refresh myself on probability, statistics, linear algebra, and maybe calculus?

Piggybacking on the thread below, I'd be curious to hear any new sites/apps/books/practices the HN community recommends. This is more of a mental exercise than an application towards a particular problem. Thanks in advance!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3569761

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#2

Post by indescions_2017 » Wed, May 17, 2017, 12:33 AM UTC

Install Anaconda. Start playing with open science data sets. Gain superpowers. Solve big problems. Good luck!

https://www.continuum.io/downloads

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#3

Post by siegel » Wed, May 17, 2017, 2:13 AM UTC

Same boat. I was just going through boxes in my garage and came upon my old college math textbooks and some old exams/homework assignments. It was like gibberish.

My plan was just to take a textbook and see if I can just relearn. Probably are better options out there, but I'm clueless.

Probably will start with either linear algebra or maybe set theory?

Happy to hear other ideas of how people would do this. For me, there's no practical application. I just used to love this stuff and hate how much I've forgotten.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#4

Post by tkosan » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:59 AM UTC

I am the main developer of the MathPiper computer algebra system (http://mathpiper.org). I found that a great way to improve one's understanding of math is to learn how a computer algebra system works. I would be happy to teach the fundamentals of a CAS to anyone who is interested.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#5

Post by chauhankiran » Wed, May 17, 2017, 12:32 PM UTC

Few days ago HN user post a Calculus Made Easy as a pdf[0] book, I found that much interesting.

[0]. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14161876

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#6

Post by jason_slack » Wed, May 17, 2017, 12:40 PM UTC

I have started taking classes at my local community college to refresh my math skills again.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#7

Post by jason_slack » Wed, May 17, 2017, 12:46 PM UTC

indescions_2017 wrote: post #2

Install Anaconda. Start playing with open science data sets. Gain superpowers. Solve big problems. Good luck! https://www.continuum.io/downloads

This might be a slightly better page: https://www.continuum.io/anaconda-overview

But, they really don't give enough info about what, where, why. What data? Who is this intended for? Etc.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#8

Post by axonic » Wed, May 17, 2017, 1:00 PM UTC

For Algebra, if you need certain subjects in depth or need to take a test to assess your skills, try Khan Academy [1]. Also, Khan covers trigonometry and geometry. For Calculus, MIT did a series called Calculus Revisited which covers calc 1,2,3.[2] Calculus Revisited was designed for professionals who needed a refresher or first crash course. It's from 1968-72 but I thought they were great.

[1] https://khanacademy.org [2] https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/#Mathematics

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#9

Post by vaib » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:03 PM UTC

You can go through Khan Academy and I find MathematicalMonk's lectures on youtube very easy to follow.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best way to relearn math?

#10

Post by markhkim » Wed, May 17, 2017, 4:25 PM UTC

Even mental exercises could use a purpose. What are you interested in? Try to keep an end goal in mind. If you want to learn more about machine learning, it might be an idea to start with a mathematical preliminaries chapter in a typical machine learning textbook and look up difficult topics in a probability/statistics textbook. If you want to learn more about databases, perhaps you could pick up a book on relational algebra, and explore it in the context of abstract algebra. There are many ways to get the job done.