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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?

#111

Post by qsmi »

kypro wrote: post #24
josefrichter wrote: post #19

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 abi…

I suppose depending on how extreme we're going with unfocusing on math.

But one doesn't really get to ignore math in life because of money. You'll still need to figure some things out. I can say I'm a poor painter so I'm just going to ignore that and things will be fine. The cost of ignoring math can be quite high.

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

#112

Post by GuB-42 »

What kind of math can help a programmer in their career?

There are some fields that can make use of math, like computer graphics, machine learning and data science. Most of it being linear algebra. But although they interest me, I don't work in these fields. For actual, paid, work, I don't remember using math beyond middle school level (ex: solving linear equations), and even that is uncommon.

If you want to learn some math, maybe try playing with shaders (see: https://www.shadertoy.com/ ) or more generally, 3D graphics. There is lots of math in here, but that's awesome looking math, and you can actually see the results.

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

#114

Post by jostylr »

I recommend making sure you are good with Guesstimation to start (The book of that name by Weinstein and Adams). Be sure to create your own questions and attempt to answer them. Watch some TED talks and try to use mathematical skepticism to criticize them. Doing all this should make you comfortable using mathematics as a tool. Once you are in that frame of mind, you can explore and have fun with the other topics as ably listed in the other comments on this page. Think of math as a faithful toolkit to explore the world. Once you start to try to describe the world in mathematical language, the more proper tools of mathematics will make much more sense.

Also, keep in mind that pretending things are lines is really useful. See the secant method.

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

#116

Post by Jtsummers »

the_only_law wrote: post #102
josefrichter wrote: post #19

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

I am beginning to think “I suck at math” less and more of “I’ll never be good at it”, from the comments on this thread. I absolutely despise grinding and drilling uncontexualized and contrived problems and have never been able to maintain something stuff like that for very long. Which of course becomes problematic at I find myself interested in problems that require a decent grasp on some math.

The grinding is, by analogy, equivalent to the "reader" books in many languages. "See Spot. See Spot run. Run Spot, run!" level and then up. It's very hard (for most people) to jump from "I now know the English alphabet" to "I can read any article in a literary magazine." Many people forget that they went through that process because they did it so young, but also because language (written and spoken) is far more pervasive than mathematics. This pervasiveness means that you have less "grinding" to do, because you get to learn just by being in the environment the language is used in (if it's your native language, or if you can afford or are otherwise forced to move into an environment where it's the local native language).

Unless you're like me as a kid, you don't look around and start counting, adding, and multiplying based on the objects or scenes that you see, and "thinking in numbers". Thus the need for grinding, you need some math fluency (which takes practice to develop and maintain, like any other domain) before you can move on to more advanced topics (at least easily). If you lack fluency, even at a low level, then you have to do a refresher every time you try and get to something moderately advanced. Which is frustrating, at least, if not demotivating to the point of causing most people to stop. The more fluent you are, the easier it is to pick up an arbitrary advanced topic (at least to read, if not to apply or extend).

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

#117

Post by Py-o7 »

dls2016 wrote: post #13
upofadown wrote: post #7

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…

I second the grind. There's not really a shortcut... like lifting weights or practicing scales/rudiments. I returned to grad school at 27 for math and had trouble passing qualifying exams. I ended up using spaced-repetition to memorize large sections of books and old questions. I had previously shunned memorization... but coupled with focused practice it is a powerful tool. Memorizing forces you to distill the materi…

I am a big fan of the working out analogy. In all cases you need to have a decent plan then execute-- basically this means showing up and putting in the work. If you do it right it should be a bit painful at times.

And just like working out some people will progress more rapidly than you and have an easier time at it. So what? As long as your goal isn't to 'place' at the elite level, this is irrelevant. You really just need to show up and embrace the struggle. (For elite level tasks including grad school, its a bit more involved.)

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

#118

Post by randmeerkat »

upofadown wrote: post #7

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…

I’m curious, was getting the EE degree as part of a midlife crisis worth it? Or would you have done things differently looking back?

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

#119

Post by znpy »

upofadown wrote: post #7

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…

I'm no math genius however I just want to add this tiny bits:

- you don't really "learn" math, you just get used to it

- math is really mental gymnastics, and "learning math" actually is doing a lot of math exercises

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

#120

Post by maxgiraldo »

upofadown wrote: post #7

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…

If anyone is looking to brush up on their Algebra fundamentals, I built an app for that and it's free to use: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pensend/id1571322730. I had a similar problem where I didn't understand where my fundamental knowledge gaps were so I ended up starting from the beginning (pre-algebra). I hope this is helpful for people!

(sorry for the shameless plug)

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