
Ask HN: How to Learn Math - theshire
I&#x27;ve taken up to Calculus 1 in college but that was a few years ago and haven&#x27;t touched math since I still remember things but not as good as it was when I was taking classes a while back.<p>I want to learn and understand math everything from Fractions, ratios to Algebra being able to make sense of the world and understand math the big picture. I wanna know how to use variables to solve for unknowns in word problems any word problem understand the concept of math.<p>How would you go about this? books, videos or websites much appreciated.
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hugja
Found [1]this while browsing /r/learnmath, it might be of some help.

1\. [https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/micromass-insights-
on-...](https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/micromass-insights-on-how-to-
self-study-mathematics.868968/)

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espeed
How much math have you had in school? What classes have you taken? Are you
still in school, and if so, what is your major?

~~~
theshire
thanks I edited my story.

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espeed
Start with a refresher on calculus -- MIT's "Big Picture Calculus" video
series is designed precisely for this:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13634476](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13634476)

To develop your visual intuition, watch 3Blue1Brown's YouTube channel (he also
has an "Elements of Calculus" series coming soon):
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw)

Try to find the geometrical underpinning for each topic you learn. This will
not only help you visualize what you're learning, but it will also help keep a
red thread going as you traverse from topic to topic.

After calc, I would study Linear Algebra next since it's at the heart of
numerical computing today, see:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13620871](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13620871)
(note the comments, they also include many good pointers and references, e.g.
here's a list of video's that help you visualize
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13623711](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13623711)).

The Numberphile channel is always good to keep your mind thinking in numbers:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile](https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile)

Also, you can go through my HN stories profile -- there are a ton of math-
related links and discussions in there, such as this one:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13631213](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13631213)

Explore math topics on WikiPedia, YouTube and online lectures from
MIT/Stanford/Caltech/Berkeley etc.

Group theory comes up often:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_theory)

Set theory is at the root of everything:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(mathematics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_\(mathematics\))

Pay close attention to the concept of intervals:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(mathematics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_\(mathematics\))

Practice reading journal articles until you can start to understand the
notation (this may take a while but persevere, the continual exposure will
start building fluency).

Practice implementing the concepts you're learning in Python.

Ask questions on MathOverflow
[http://mathoverflow.net](http://mathoverflow.net). Quora is also good:
[https://www.quora.com/](https://www.quora.com/)

Get and read SICP and do the material for the online MIT SICP course (it's the
all-time classic CS course, with a math bent):
[https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-
compu...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-
science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/)

...the SICP videos are on YouTube too
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047)

Explore and have fun!

