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Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

math.cmu.edu

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Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#42
Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus?

This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#43
post #5

Judging by the URL, this book was used for CMU's 15-151 / 21-128, which is a first-semester course for CS and math undergrads. Nowadays, the course uses [0]. [0] https://infinitedescent.xyz/

Does this replace the OP? Or is "An Infinite Descent into Pure Mathematics" a complementary book?

Every chapter of the OP book has an introduction which has the following subchapters: Objectives, Segue from previous chapter, Motivation, Goals and Warnings for the Reader. Which I really appreciate and I think its a great way to teach stuff, especially mathematics, since all those chapters contextualize the coming topic in various ways. (E.g. I imagine ‘Motivation’ does this with respect to the history and origins of the idea and ‘Segue from previous chapters’ contextualizes it with reference to the stuff reader has learnt so far. I didn’t read anything yet but it looks promising

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#44
post #13
post #2

A finely written book for beginners. I like how it slowly explains stuff rather than doing in Theorem Proof style short books.

I wish there were such books for more advanced math topics.

I wish math had its version of Griffiths

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#45

Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus? This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

Check out Kahn Academy, they have a gamified course to guide you through the equivalent of a high school and early college math curriculum. AFAIK it's free?

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#46

Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus? This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

Check out Kahn Academy, they have a gamified course to guide you through the equivalent of a high school and early college math curriculum. AFAIK it's free?

https://www.khanacademy.org/math

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#47
As a CS major who went to CMU years ago, my favorite book from all of my professors was for my 15-213 class called Computer Systems: A Programmers Perspective

I remember at the time the book was in loose leaf paper so it warms my heart to see the book has a 3rd edition. It was used as a core part of teaching assembly, memory representations, and getting students ready for the operating systems class. When I help people learn to program, it's the only book I think is a must have:

https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-Programmers-Perspect...

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#48

Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus? This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

It's not one book, but for everything before calculus it would be difficult to beat the books in Israel Gelfand's High School Mathematics Correspondence Curriculum [0]. These are designed for self study and give a fresh perspective on topics they cover.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/series/318605-gelfand-corresponden...

Re: Everything you always wanted to know about mathematics (2013) [pdf]

#50

Does anyone know of an entry level book that could take someone through say, high school math to college alegbra / calculus? This is my singular biggest hurdle in going back to school to finish my degree and I'd love to fill the gaps I have around mathematics so I can not only finish my degree; I'd also like to participate in some more advanced computer science that rely heavily on underlying computation.

Curious if I could find another interesting way to learn math for someone who hasn't gone to college, I asked chatGPT to cluster 20 animal emojis by taxonomy and use them to explain Affinity Propagation like I'm 5 year old. (I'm an idiot.) More or less, the lion emoji wants to be friends with the tiger emoji more than the dog emoji with some explanation of the math and math symbols in between.

``` For example, when Scar wanted to be king, he sent a "responsibility" message to the other big cats, trying to convince them that he should be the leader. However, the "availability" message he received back was weak because most animals didn't trust him.

Meanwhile, Simba sent out a strong "responsibility" message showing he could be a good leader, and in return, he got a strong "availability" message back with many animals showing support. That's why Simba was a better leader for the Pride Lands, according to Affinity Propagation!

```

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