
Ask HN: How did you improve your quantitative ability? - sadamznintern
I never took part in math competitions in middle or high school so I feel like I&#x27;m still pretty bad at problem solving, and it seems like a bottleneck to gaining better employment and compensation through technical interviews - how did you improve?
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You can either go the route:

1\. Discrete Math -> Algorithms

or

2\. Discrete Math -> Abstract Algebra

or

3\. Discrete Math -> Real Analysis

Discrete Math will put you in a mathematical state of mind whatever that
means. Discrete Math to Real Analysis (or Abstract Algebra) is like
weightlifting (and general body conditioning) to a sports discipline like
classical wrestling (or soccer).

Real analysis will teach you to be an opportunistic problem solver who rock-n-
rolls (street-fights) their way through problems.

Abstract algebra will turn you into a morosely formal, orderly and pedantic
systematizer and generalizer.

You want to be both a formalistic thinker and a flexible one.

For intro to math try [0] Infinite Decent Into Math by Clive Newstead / John
Mackey, [1] Book of Proof by Richard Hammack [2] Math Foundations of Computing
by Keith Schwarz (ALL LOOK TO BE FREELY AVAILABLE)

[0]
[http://www.math.cmu.edu/~jmackey/151_128/infdes.pdf](http://www.math.cmu.edu/~jmackey/151_128/infdes.pdf)

[1]
[https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/](https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/)

[2]
[https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103/notes/Mathematical%20Fo...](https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103/notes/Mathematical%20Foundations%20of%20Computing.pdf)

