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Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

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Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#21

It also helps not to tell yourself "I suck at math", that's a very common self-fulfilling prophecy.

Agree! I’ve seen many a mathematics professor struggle with math. It’s not innate to any of us. But certain of us have spent more time with it and seen more of it. The time and familiarity eventually goes a long way - to a phd, even.

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#24

It also helps not to tell yourself "I suck at math", that's a very common self-fulfilling prophecy.

Agreed, although it's good to recognise what your strengths and weaknesses are. I would argue it's often better to focus on being great at the things you're good at than trying to be decent at stuff you really struggle with. If OP struggles with math they may be better off focusing on something else, at least if they're optimising for career success. If you're optimising for happiness and enjoy math problems then ability doesn't really matter.

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#25
post #8

First Khan Academy, then if you want to go further: Bill Shillito | Introduction to Higher Mathematics (YouTube lecture course) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZzHxk_TPOStgPtqRZ6Kz... Richard Hammack | Book of Proof (pdf book) - https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ Taylor Dupuy | Fundamentals of Mathematics (YouTube lecture course) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJmfLfPx1OedcIUn5nSCZ.…

Saving this for later by commenting it. Many thanks for curating this!

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#26
Are you sure you suck at math? I used to think I sucked at math (now I think I'm merly bad at it). Turns out I suck at numbers. I can't get a feel for them. Manipulating equations and such though I found quite easy back when all that was fresh in school.

As for career advise, depends on what you want to do: There is not much use in learning calculus if you end up in astatistics-heavy field like data science. I'd say figure out what kind of computing you want to work with and see if there is a specific part of math that are useful there, if there even is one.

I've done work for finance and never had to go much deeper than simple multiplication.

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#27

Chances are you actually suck at algebra. I went through this issue when I started electrical engineering as part of an overly elaborate midlife crisis. I got the book in the bookstore that was supposed to bring you up to high school level and just did all of the exercises. Then I did a whole lot of exercises for the introductory university math courses. Basically it is something you have to grind at. Once you do eno…

This is so true. I sucked at arithmetic but was quite good at Higher secondary maths.

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#28
post #8

First Khan Academy, then if you want to go further: Bill Shillito | Introduction to Higher Mathematics (YouTube lecture course) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZzHxk_TPOStgPtqRZ6Kz... Richard Hammack | Book of Proof (pdf book) - https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ Taylor Dupuy | Fundamentals of Mathematics (YouTube lecture course) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJmfLfPx1OedcIUn5nSCZ.…

This is an incredibly detailed set of recommendations! Thank you for this :-)

Re: Ask HN: I suck at math, where to start?

#29
post #26

Are you sure you suck at math? I used to think I sucked at math (now I think I'm merly bad at it). Turns out I suck at numbers . I can't get a feel for them. Manipulating equations and such though I found quite easy back when all that was fresh in school. As for career advise, depends on what you want to do: There is not much use in learning calculus if you end up in astatistics-heavy field like data science. I'd say…

I thought I sucked at math for a long time, reinforced because my math teachers in school believed it too.

Turns out I suck at spatial thinking. I can’t manipulate things like plots and curves in my head and they don’t help me understand mathematical principles. Algebra and logic though come easy to me. So learning math became an exercise in translation.

That is to say, please don’t think you suck at math and definitely look at different ways to learn the same concepts if something is not clicking.

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