
Georgia Tech's free math textbook collective - ColinWright
http://people.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html
======
kaitai
There's a huge ecosystem of open textbooks, and two of my favorite math
sources the AIM textbook initiative and the UMN open texts library.

American Institute of Mathematics Open Textbook Initiative -- note that they
review the texts too and are a bit picky about what they list:
[https://aimath.org/textbooks/](https://aimath.org/textbooks/)

More than just math: University of Minnesota open textbook initiative. Stats,
CS, and humanities as well:
[https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/](https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/)

Not a repository, but an individual free/open math text under development --
comments and feedback desired:
[https://www.softcover.io/read/bf34ea25/math_for_finance](https://www.softcover.io/read/bf34ea25/math_for_finance)
It starts with elementary probability and then combines probability and stats
with linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and differential equations. Aimed
at folks who have seen the math before but need a refresher and a viewpoint
that unifies seemingly disparate topics. Note that it uses Softcover, a great
way to publish technical texts to several formats at once.

~~~
ipsum2
To add to this, there's also American Math Society's free notes, some of which
are basically full texts: [https://www.ams.org/open-math-
notes](https://www.ams.org/open-math-notes)

------
mindcrime
Sadly, it seems that Professor Cain (the editor of this page) passed away in
2015[1]. The page had disappeared from the gatech.edu servers at one point,
and I was afraid that without Professor Cain's presence, it might not ever be
restored. Happy to see that it's online again.

[1]: [http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-
memorial/obituary.a...](http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-
memorial/obituary.aspx?n=George-Cain&lc=4945&pid=175128935&mid=6490500)

~~~
elif
When I was at GT, I had professors in 3 different departments who wrote free
text books.

As a "budget" engineering/science school, I feel like it's part of the ethos.

~~~
zymhan
As an out-of-state student, it's hard to see the "budget" approach GT had.
However, I will say that many of my professors were well aware of the costs of
textbooks, and rarely did it feel like we were required to buy ridiculously
expensive books.

It also helps that the library checks out textbooks as well. I think they'll
even obtain a copy of a textbook they don't have at the professor's request.

EDIT: Also, the the University System of Georgia has an exchange program that
ships unique books between libraries in the state, though this isn't unique to
Georgia.

------
hesdeadjim
This is awesome. At some point in the next five years I plan on taking a
sabbatical and focusing almost exclusively on redoing my math education and
moving deeper into advanced topics than I did as an undergraduate.

Is there anyone who has done something similar who might share some
suggestions for success?

~~~
ivan_ah
I have quite a few adult readers using my book to refresh and re-learn basic
calculus and mechanics. You might consider checking it out[1]. It's not free,
but very affordable.

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0992001005/noBSguide](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0992001005/noBSguide)
preview:
[https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_previ...](https://minireference.com/static/excerpts/noBSguide_v5_preview.pdf)

~~~
hesdeadjim
Ha, this looks great, thanks. I have no problem paying for good content.

------
theCricketer
If you find it easier to keep at it and learn from lecture videos instead of
from textbooks, here's a math curriculum of lecture videos I've curated. This
covers calculus, linear algebra, probability, statistics, convex optimization
and a math for ML course thrown in for the HN audience:

Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus | MIT
[https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-
revisited-...](https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-
single-variable-calculus-fall-2010/index.htm)

Calculus Revisited: Multivariable Calculus | MIT
[https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-
revisited-...](https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-
multivariable-calculus-fall-2011/index.htm)

Complex Variables, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra | MIT
[https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-
revisited-...](https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-
complex-variables-differential-equations-and-linear-algebra-
fall-2011/index.htm)

Linear Algebra | MIT -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD9101...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010BC51F8)

Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems |Stanford
[https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263](https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263)

Probability | Harvard
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6ht66KWxbzTIo)

Intermediate Statistics | CMU
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVW...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVWq-7wr8ffRtHF)

Convex Optimization I | Stanford
[https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A](https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A)

Math Background for ML | CMU
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMW...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMWUaBRuLBvPBCg)

~~~
FlyingLawnmower
Thank you for collecting these resources together!

------
Zhenya
Where was this when I was an undergrad at GaTech?

I'll never forget how the math professors would switch from edition x to
edition x+1 with the only clearly visible difference being the homework
assignment questions.

I truly hope that this is not just a trove of books, but also a signaling of
the change in culture from opportunism at the expense of the students to
openness.

~~~
jimhefferon
> signaling of the change in culture

I am a free text author (one of mine is an entry on OP's page). If you want
change, here is something you can do.

When you are contacted by the alum reps at your school, GaTech or otherwise,
don't ask about the football team. Ask if the faculty are rewarded for writing
books that are Free.

People respond to rewards. Said less abstractly, I have been told a lot, often
by young folks starting out, that they have a good idea but cannot afford to
spend the time on a project that would not be recognized at their institution
when they come up for tenure or promotion.

(My institution had the foresight to recognized this kind of work, for which I
can only say how great that was of them.)

~~~
kaitai
Hallelujah and amen. Institutional support is crucial. I have found that
librarians are more likely to provide material and monetary support than
departments.

~~~
jimhefferon
Could you say more?

~~~
kaitai
Librarians across the US are heavily involved in efforts to promote free and
open textbooks. I don't really know what's happening, but university
librarians all over are promoting open texts, providing hosting for them,
working together to catalogue them, working with writers and instructors on
copyright issues, etc. Some of them are putting money into texts, too -- I'm
getting some funding to pay for a copyeditor, for instance. Departments have
not (in my admittedly limited) experience ponied up cash or other support,
although they seem to think open texts are nice.

------
cr0sh
Fellow HN readers, I humbly ask for some advice:

I'm currently working through Udacity's Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree;
if everything goes well, I should be heading into Term 3 soon.

What is painfully known to me, before I started this course and now in the
middle of it - is my lack of certain education in mathematics.

Particularly that of stats/probability - but lately understanding the basics
of calculus, namely that of derivatives and integrals. So I would like some
assistance - namely, what are your suggestions for me to remedy this, after I
finish the Nanodegree?

My thoughts have been to take a reprieve from coursework, then maybe next year
launch into something more. Maybe more MOOCs or other online course or
resources (like these books) geared toward learning this material. Or perhaps
taking a course or two at a local community college? Perhaps I could audit a
local (ASU West here in Arizona would be closest) mathematics course? Or maybe
do some other kind of formal online study (I have considered getting a BS then
an MS via an online school).

I seem to do alright with MOOCs "at my own pace" \- but I also do well in a
more structured system, with a set syllabus, schedule, and testing.

I just want to see what others think might be the best approach, in order to
assist my decision in the future. Thank you all for any suggestions and such.

~~~
pdm55
I learn a lot from Barabar Oakley's book "A Mind for Numbers".
[http://barbaraoakley.com/](http://barbaraoakley.com/)

I wrote about some of my take-home messages from that book here:
[https://www.quora.com/profile/David-
Lawrence-6](https://www.quora.com/profile/David-Lawrence-6) "How I study hard"

Abhishek Pillai wrote about what he learnt here: [https://medium.com/learn-
love-code/learnings-from-learning-h...](https://medium.com/learn-love-
code/learnings-from-learning-how-to-learn-19d149920dc4)

I have completed 3 MOOC courses. I was lucky that they tied in with my job.

------
gtani
There's a subreddit for locating more:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mathbooks/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mathbooks/)

___________________

This list's a couple years old, for machine learning, including basic lin.alg,
prob/stats:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/1jeawf/mac...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/1jeawf/machine_learning_books/)

Since then,

\- Deep learning book by Goodfellow et
al,[http://www.deeplearningbook.org/](http://www.deeplearningbook.org/) (the
one by Michael Nielsen is good as well)

\- Foundations, excellent text:
[http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~shais/UnderstandingMachineLearning...](http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~shais/UnderstandingMachineLearning/)
Shalev-Shwartz, Ben-David

\-
[https://www.cs.cornell.edu/jeh/bookMay2015.pdf](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/jeh/bookMay2015.pdf),
Blum, Hopcroft, Kannan, probably an older version

~~~
flor1s
Regarding the Blum, Hopcroft, Kannan book, this seems to be a more recent
version:
[https://www.cs.cornell.edu/jeh/book.pdf](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/jeh/book.pdf)

------
tzs
Some of these look pretty good, although the selection is rather limited. For
those willing to pay a little to get a bigger selection there is a nice
alternative between "free" and the insanity that is the pricing of most
textbooks today.

That alternative is the books published or republished by Dover publications.
They like to take older textbooks and purchase rights to republish them as
relatively inexpensive paperback editions. A very large fraction of their
books are under $20, with many under $12. A few are more expensive, but only
rarely more than $30.

The level ranges from suitable for high school students to graduate level and
beyond.

Here's their mathematics section: [http://store.doverpublications.com/by-
subject-mathematics.ht...](http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-
mathematics.html)

Don't overlook the "general" subcategory. They have some wonderful problem
books there, such as Yaglom and Yaglom's "Challenging Mathematical Problems
With Elementary Solutions" series.

They also do this for physics, chemistry, engineering, history, economics,
computer science, biology, earth science and more.

~~~
m-j-fox
This is reasonable. Grinds my gears that the IEEE hoards all computer research
and wants at-least $15 for a single paper no matter how interesting or inane.
[http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7942927/](http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7942927/)

Hey IEEE, you are doing the opposite of a service in a world created by your
members. Please cease to exist.

~~~
mindcrime
_Hey IEEE, you are doing the opposite of a service in a world created by your
members. Please cease to exist._

As an on-again, off-again IEEE member, I've often wondered what it would take
to stage a "revolt" of sort and get enough like minded people on the IEEE
board (or whatever they call their leadership group) to radically remake their
approach to monetizing content. In an ideal world, I'd love to see all
research papers made freely available and the organization funded solely by
membership fees and other means - conference fees, sales of dead-tree books,
probably other stuff. Maybe charitable donations?

But up to this point, I'm afraid I've never been motivated enough to really
pursue the issue. But if anybody wants to form an "open access caucus" (or if
there already is one!) feel free to give me a shout. I'd still like to help
with an effort of this nature.

------
gfredtech
I'm a high school graduate (2016, took a gap year) and I've been lurking on HN
for almost a year in my free time. All the folks on here have really piqued my
interest for math (I hear terms like category theory and abstract algebra
being thrown around) and CS theory. If there's anything I'm thankful for from
this community it's this thing. However I cannot bring myself to tackle such
topics(because I feel that I'm not armed enough to learn them). How do you
think I can overcome that?

~~~
ghufran_syed
I would first try to learn how to do proofs. I did no math since high school,
then started again a few years ago just for fun . All higher level math (upper
division and graduate school) is based on being able to read and write proofs.
However, you don't need anything above high school algebra to learn proofs, so
you don't have to wait, you can just get started now!

My favorite book, that I strongly recommend despite the high price of around
$100 in the US is "Mathematical Proofs" by Chartrand. You can get an
international copy off eBay for around $45.

If you're weak on basic algebra etc, then you should instead start with
"engineering mathematics" by Stroud, which has a foundations section that I
started with several years ago when I started relearning math. It's designed
for self-study.

I actually did find it helpful to do classes, I found most of the lower
division math classes available online (i.e. calculus 1,2,3 and linear
algebra). Sometimes, it helps to have deadlines, exams etc :)

Btw, if anyone out there already has a non math degree, but wants to study
upper division and graduate level math formally, it turns out the way that is
usually done on the US is to apply to a Math Masters program for "conditional
admission" to the masters programs. They admit you, and then you do the upper
division undergrad courses first, then move onto the masters programs. It's
also possible to sign up for one-off classes at various universities via some
kind of "open university" program, which is much easier to get into than
formal admission to a degree course- I'm actually starting an Analysis course
and a Linear algebra course at Berkeley tomorrow, as part of their "summer
session", and you basically just sign up, pay your money, and turn up :)

Feel free to get in touch if anyone has any questions (email in profile)

~~~
gfredtech
Great! Thank you so much.

------
BenTheElder
This is one I remember using that I didn't see on there:

Professors William T. Trotter [1] and Mitchel T. Keller [2] Applied
Combinatorics [3,4]

[1]
[http://people.math.gatech.edu/~trotter/](http://people.math.gatech.edu/~trotter/)

[2] [http://rellek.net/home/](http://rellek.net/home/)

[3] [http://rellek.net/book/app-comb.html](http://rellek.net/book/app-
comb.html)

[4]
[https://people.math.gatech.edu/~trotter/book.pdf](https://people.math.gatech.edu/~trotter/book.pdf)

~~~
csense
The last link gives a cert error, but http works. Maybe you should edit it.

~~~
mindcrime
FWIW, the https link works fine for me, using Chrome 58.0.3029.81 on Linux.

------
forkandwait
Not free but cheap and great, David Morin book on classical mechanics:
[https://www.physics.harvard.edu/node/386](https://www.physics.harvard.edu/node/386)

------
contingencies
Reminds me of Tom Henderson's so-called _Punk Mathematics_ [0], a USD$30k
vapourware kickstarter that I funded.

After that disappointment and Schuyler Towne's famously USD$90k vapourware
_Lockpicks by Open Locksport_ , I stopped supporting crowdfunding projects.

Good job guys, you ruined it for everyone else.

[0] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1541803748/punk-
mathema...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1541803748/punk-mathematics)

[1] [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-
by-o...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/schuyler/lockpicks-by-open-
locksport)

------
mhh__
This
([http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/errata.shtml](http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/errata.shtml))
is a free (As in Beer and also possibly speech) field theory textbook. So far
it's pretty good.

I can't comment on the deeper parts of the book, because I don't _get it_ yet
(I don't really have the time atm to slog through a 900 page book, as much as
I'd love to)

------
stablemap
The AMS is trying its hand at curation as well. The project shifts some of the
work onto authors and seems most useful for undergraduate subjects at the
moment, but the names behind it should help.

[https://www.ams.org/open-math-notes](https://www.ams.org/open-math-notes)

~~~
jimhefferon
Thaks for this link. I was unaware.

I note that slthough it mentions textbooks, it says this:

"They have not been published elsewhere, and, as works in progress, are
subject to significant revision."

So I understand the model behind these materials this to be that in the end
the goal is to publish with a publisher, not to offer the material for Free
download, and that these works are being developed, and welcoming feedback
during that process.

I don't believe OP's page has that model. I think OP's page is works that the
author considers finished.

~~~
stablemap
I should have described the differences, but I would have wanted to perform
some interpretation and did not feel comfortable doing so.

For example, one item [1] there that interests me is a set of student-taken
notes that has been on the lecturer's website [2] for seven years. My
prediction is that it will never be changed or fed to a publisher. I think
that in trying to avoid conflict with publishers and blame for unstable and
error-filled texts the sentence you quote saps the enthusiasm of the visitor.

[1] [https://www.ams.org/open-math-notes/omn-view-
listing?listing...](https://www.ams.org/open-math-notes/omn-view-
listing?listingId=110662)

[2]
[http://math.stanford.edu/~conrad/252Page/index.html](http://math.stanford.edu/~conrad/252Page/index.html)

------
aswanson
Why is it so hard to have everything in a single pdf?

~~~
mrkgnao
[http://stacks.math.columbia.edu](http://stacks.math.columbia.edu)

------
cat199
Another free e-texts initiative:
[https://openstax.org/](https://openstax.org/)

------
test6554
This would be a much better resource if it was in tabular format (Title,
Author, Description)

------
jeena
God damn it, every time I hear Georgia I thing of the country nearby Russia
and then after some time I remember that there is a state in th US which is
called the same too.

~~~
madcaptenor
Those of us who live in the US have the opposite problem.

(And Georgia the US state has a larger population than Georgia the country. So
perhaps this is one of the rare times when our parochialism about the rest of
the world is justified.)

------
ice109
[http://lib.ru/](http://lib.ru/)

~~~
partycoder
While I don't advocate for piracy, I also don't advocate for buying the wrong
books or hoarding books that you won't use. This is why sometimes having the
ability to look at a book before you buy it (same as you would do in an actual
book store) is useful.

The "look inside" feature of Amazon is sometimes very limited. Sometimes I've
taken a look at PDF or DjVu versions of books, not with the intention of
reading them but just looking at them before buying them.

Books approach subjects in varying levels of detail. Sometimes you are
interested in deep theory and proofs, sometimes you just want workable
formulas.

------
Entangled
I wish they were a single html file, with nice typography and plenty of
margins.

