Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?

news.ycombinator.com

21–30 of 97 posts

Re: Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?

#23
post #6

I'm working my way through Ivan Savov's "No bullshit guide to math & physics" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22876442-no-bullshit-gui... Would recommend it to anyone whose maths needs a bit of a brush up, or anyone who's interested in basic mechanics! Oh and I'm using Khan Academy for extra practice, which I can warmly recommend as well.

Great book, too bad it's got such an offensive title. The book could be used more widely without it.

How is it offensive? Because of the word bullshit?

Re: Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?

#24

Some math topics I like to read about / play with: - Measure theory / lebesque/daniell integration / stochastic calculus -- super useful but very beautiful. I have a background in mathematical finance. - Combinatorial topology -- Simplicial complexes, polytopes. A more finite/computational flavor of algebraic topology. - Dynamical systems: Highly interdisciplinary. Brings together physics, fractals, calculus, and com…

“History of Mathematics"

Anyone have good book recommendations?

Re: Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?

#27
Not sure if it counts as "free time" as I study math for a living :) but optimization theory is always on my list.

If you like Strang's new book, I think you'll be quite partial to Boyd's VMLS [0] which is (in my admittedly horrible opinion) even more clear and practical and serves as an incredibly good and basic introduction to both linear algebra and basic optimization (via least squares). It assumes nothing more than pre-calculus level math and some slight familiarity with derivatives.

Honestly, I really, truly highly recommend reading it, even if you're already familiar with linear algebra. It's a joy to flip through the pages and do some of the problems (both theoretical and practical!).

-----

[0] http://vmls-book.stanford.edu

Re: Ask HN: What kind of math do you study in your free time?

#28
post #24

Some math topics I like to read about / play with: - Measure theory / lebesque/daniell integration / stochastic calculus -- super useful but very beautiful. I have a background in mathematical finance. - Combinatorial topology -- Simplicial complexes, polytopes. A more finite/computational flavor of algebraic topology. - Dynamical systems: Highly interdisciplinary. Brings together physics, fractals, calculus, and com…

“History of Mathematics" Anyone have good book recommendations?

The World of Mathematics by James R. Newman is a classic, filled with great biographies and short essays about various parts of math.
Post reply on HN