Jeremy, been reading your blog for years. Just wanted to say thanks for the wealth of readable intros to interesting mathematics.
A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
31–40 of 223 posts
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#32Do the exercises have solutions? The most annoying things about math books is the lack of solutions. A beginner absolutely needs to know whether or not their solutions are correct. The “the reader should know if they are correct” logic doesn’t apply here. A beginner could easily have faulty logic and fool themselves into thinking their solutions are correct. I usually don’t buy math books without solutions if I’m sel…
Agree. Actually, studying a good solution even if you have one of your own is one of the best ways to learn mathematical tricks of the trade, so to speak - just as it's a great way to learn coding: one learns from the master (as one should) and not just "from the book."
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#33On a related note, I'm curious if anyone has taken the Mathematics for Machine Learning ( https://www.coursera.org/specializations/mathematics-machine... ) courses on Coursera, and whether it really covers enough to be comfortable with ML. The course bills itself as enough math knowledge for folks who barely remember high school math.
Looking at the courses, it doesn't cover calculus and probability. That's two topics that you should already know and that you might not have mastered in High School. Otherwise, you are good to go.
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#34The description got me excited, but looking at the table of contents, the level is ultra basic - appears to roughly correspond to first year of a cs degree.
Not all software developers have been through a CS curriculum. Not all CS curriculums teach rigorous math.
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#35I’ve found myself unable to do even elementary maths recently just because I’m sorely out of practice. Hasn’t really affected my performance as a programmer. Wondering, what kind of math I could learn that would benefit me in my job?
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#36This looks really nice, from the preview content---I really like the approach of explaining the background assumptions of reading mathematical definitions and such. Ordered!
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#37From the ToC, is the any reason there is no chapter covering probability/statistics? It has chapters for single/multivariable calculus and linear algebra, and all CS programs I know have all three, especially when there are some nice connections between them, not to mention how useful they are in other CS/engineering subjects.
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#38Do the exercises have solutions? The most annoying things about math books is the lack of solutions. A beginner absolutely needs to know whether or not their solutions are correct. The “the reader should know if they are correct” logic doesn’t apply here. A beginner could easily have faulty logic and fool themselves into thinking their solutions are correct. I usually don’t buy math books without solutions if I’m sel…
Looks like no:
"No solutions, sadly, but maybe that would be a good idea for a GitHub repo associated with the book…"
https://jeremykun.com/2018/12/01/a-programmers-introduction-...
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#39I’ve found myself unable to do even elementary maths recently just because I’m sorely out of practice. Hasn’t really affected my performance as a programmer. Wondering, what kind of math I could learn that would benefit me in my job?
What kind of work do you do? For some types of development, basic knowledge of mathematics will take you reasonably far. Knowing more math opens up possibilities. For example, I recently found myself wanting to add features to some flight control software for drones. I wanted a return-to-home feature, which involved implementing a PID controller for gps navigation. I studied control theory in college decades ago, and hadn't used it for anything professionally until this year. Also, autonomous navigation requires taking vectorial inputs from sensors that must be rotated to the frame of reference of the drone (e.g. the accelerometer). I could not have participated in this project if I didn't have enough knowledge of calculus and algebra.
Re: A Programmer's Introduction to Mathematics
#40On a related note, I'm curious if anyone has taken the Mathematics for Machine Learning ( https://www.coursera.org/specializations/mathematics-machine... ) courses on Coursera, and whether it really covers enough to be comfortable with ML. The course bills itself as enough math knowledge for folks who barely remember high school math.
I have. It’s great because it’s developed using geometric intuition (a la 3b1b).
Just missing probability/stats.