Earlier quoted context omitted.
And betterexplained is one of the best sites on the web, too.
++ for betterexplained ... great website!!
@drhowarddrfine, @neovive: Thanks, it's nice hearing when people find it helpful :).
I suck at math, please divulge resources
21–30 of 39 posts
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#22http://zetamac.com/arithmetic/
ok, not really the math you want, but still fun!
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#23I learned DCT's without a good math background, so it can be done. I looked at sample code, and compared it to the equations. Eventually it started to make sense. I used Excel to work it all out graphically. Maybe I should post those spreadsheets...
BTW if you just want to write decoders, you're probably better off using a library and just think of it as magic. Why do you need to really understand it anyway? Is that some sort of fetish of yours?
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#24Shameless self-promotion, but I write about math in an intuitive way here: http://betterexplained.com I think the key is realizing that math is about manipulating a mental model of an idea. The wrong model can make certain tasks impossible -- for example, thinking that numbers must be 1-dimensional makes complex numbers a paradox. But when you see that they could represent items in 2 dimensions, you see how complex n…
I had never heard of this site before. All of these articles look really interesting! There goes my weekend.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#25Shameless self-promotion, but I write about math in an intuitive way here: http://betterexplained.com I think the key is realizing that math is about manipulating a mental model of an idea. The wrong model can make certain tasks impossible -- for example, thinking that numbers must be 1-dimensional makes complex numbers a paradox. But when you see that they could represent items in 2 dimensions, you see how complex n…
I have pointed many of my friends at your site; it's a wonderful resource.
Thanks for taking the time to make betterexplained - the world is a better place with it existing.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#26Assuming you've been coding for a while, I'd recommend taking a look at Concrete Mathematics ( http://www.amazon.com/Concrete-Mathematics-Foundation-Comput... ). It's a challenging book, but it's extremely well-written, and you should be able to get through it with a minimal amount of other resources. I was able to work my way through it, and I have no background in formal education past the high-school level, let alone a background in maths.
This is, in my opinion, required reading on the same level as SICP for people who are serious programmers - at least those with a weak math background.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#27Depending where you live, check with a local college about extension courses.
I'd been trying for ages to advance my math skills through solo-study, but I always ended up with too many unanswered questions. Very recently I finally bit the bullet and enrolled in some extension courses at UCLA, and I'm loving (almost) every second of it and learning leaps and bounds more than I was on my own, at a minimal cost. If you've got the time and the money, I give it my vote.
Everyone has a different style for learning, but like others have mentioned, study study study.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#28I would quote Stevey's Blog here. It says: "The right way to learn math is breadth-first, not depth-first. You need to survey the space, learn the names of things, figure out what's what."
It comes from his own experience. He decided to renew his math skills and declared plan "Math every day". After 15 months he posted another article about results of this experiment. You can read both articles as they are inspirating in many respects.
About his motivation: http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/math-every-day
and about his results: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/math-for-programmers...
I would add that you should really enjoy math. If you only want to quickly understand one particular thing and seek for some miraculous explanation, this approach will surely not work for you.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#29Shameless self-promotion, but I write about math in an intuitive way here: http://betterexplained.com I think the key is realizing that math is about manipulating a mental model of an idea. The wrong model can make certain tasks impossible -- for example, thinking that numbers must be 1-dimensional makes complex numbers a paradox. But when you see that they could represent items in 2 dimensions, you see how complex n…
This site is awesome. It helped me unscrew my understanding of complex numbers.
Re: I suck at math, please divulge resources
#30You're doing it wrong. It's like trying to clean up a messy warehouse - if you walk in and start picking up things, you'll despair very quickly, because the task seems to massive and complex. If however, you simply pick up a tiny corner, and clean it up only, then move to the next corner and so on, the task becomes manageable.
Address this problem the same way - start implementing, and deal with each problem individually. For example, you may want to start with loading a bitmap and breaking it up into a matrix. Make sure that works first, test it also. Then do the quant comparisons or whatever else.
Break the problem into chunks and then only face one chunk while ignoring the rest. Do this in the context of actually working on something with a result, and you'll find that things become way easier and more interesting.
Trying to start by learning several years of mathematical theory is an exercise in frustration.