Ask HN: How do I get good at math as a 42yo with kids?

If your goal is literally to get good at math through Calculus, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra... I feel like the best approach is working through good books (reading, taking notes, and doing problems out of the book then checking answers/solutions) and hitting Youtube and Khan Academy for help with certain topics.

Fortunately, there are a lot of great older-edition, cheap used books on Pre-Algebra, Geometry, College Algebra, Pre-Calc, Calculus, DiffEq and Linear Algebra, etc.

It will take some time to master all the math you want... but if you structure your studying so that are you actual enjoy studying (i.e. enjoy the process), you will 100% get there.

I'd be happy to list out of some book recommendations.

I will echo the sentiment of others that you don't need to be a math expert to use machine learning libraries effectively in many cases. The problem is, without the math expertise you won't always be able to identify the cases when you are using the wrong approach, etc. And you'll have a harder time applying cutting edge ML to new problems.

https://www.mathacademy.com/ is probably the most popular HN response.

It's expensive at $50 per month, but it seems highly thought of if you look at Algolia (https://hn.algolia.com/?q=math+academy).

I haven't used it myself, but I am evaluating it for my kids to use.

It's too early to give feedback on that front, though.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

The same way you become good at anything at any point in your life: decide you want to and then put in the deliberate/consistent practice to make it happen. Set aside 15-20 minutes per day, work through Khan Academy, Math Academy, or a precalculus textbook, and then (the hard part) keep doing that.

> holding me back

Just read the damn papers, and take notes, not because you’re going to want to review them later, because the mechanical process of writing things down burns them in.

The math will come through your persistence, I’m sure you’ll try and not finish dozens of YouTube lists and online courses. Build that store of PDFs on everything math related.

In the end it is merely making yourself do it that will make you that man.

btw, I was mathless for much of my life. Only later (also a self student of the many other things) did I have epiphanies of math that clicked it together.

A lifelong programmer, equations are like miniature procedural logic scripts or constraint definitions, one must spend the time learning every reference, and when you’ve had enough of that you will be able to “read” the math. It’s really not a large language, most people probably take years learning about sets and recursion and things that a programmer should get right away.

Like base conversion. A lot of complicated looking math is really just base conversion between different metrical scales.

Build a game or two on the side. I'm still not where I want to be i.r.t. math, but building a game in Unity, and another in Bevy, has helped me hit hard problems that have to be solved using math I don't know, which helps push me to learn. ime, 3D games require more advanced math, but could just be that I haven't done 2D enough. As far as teaching material, Khan Academy is great.

I'm not sure that you need math Math. As far as fundamentals go CS uses just a fraction of what The Math has to offer.

I'd focus on digging some good CS foundations course if I were in your shoes. To avoid overwhelming myself with redundant info.

Khan Academy until Calculus is perfect to recover the foundations

Text books and problem sets. Sometimes the old ways are the best

I'm in a similar situation but a decade older. My "aha" moment came with Ivan Savov's "No Bullshit Guide to Math & Physics". For some reason working through this book "sticks" in a way that Khan Academy and similar online tools haven't. That, combined with randomly reading entries in "Mathematics 1001" have gotten me to where I can read through audio acoustics/DSP and information theory papers (my main area of interest) and understand what's going on.

https://minireference.com/

https://books.google.com/books/about/Mathematics_1001.html?i...

“Mathematical Preliminaries” is Chapter One, Section 2 of The Art of Computer Programming. The rest of the book is also relevant to programming. And an adequate challenge for lifetime learning.

I'd recommend Gilbert Strang's Introduction to Linear Algebra and 3B1B's calculus and linear algebra series. They focus on the intuition part of math, which makes it fun and interesting. After that do some problem sets, that should give you a solid foundation to understand ML papers with the help of things like ChatGPT.

This is a great resource for self-learning mathematics: https://www.susanrigetti.com/math

Start here: No BS guide to Linear Algebra https://a.co/d/6em7tXE . There’s also a No BS guide to Math/Physics which goes through calculus and geometry. This is freshman level content. I read this on the couch next to my wife act age 37 for about 20-30 minutes a night, a few times per week and got through it in six months. You will need to work some of the exercises, i used a lap desk and clipboard which I store next to my spot on the couch.

Through most of my life, I believed that I was utterly incapable of doing math and mostly just kind got by in high school, didn't really think I would need it that much. Then I took a reality check the first time I attempted the equivalent of my country's SAT test. At the time, I got in my head that I wanted to be a computer engineer and that required at least above average grades in math and physics so that I could have a chance. There really isn't much I can offer in advice, besides: diligent study. That was what got me by. Sitting my ass at the desk everyday for hours on end, starting from first principles (and I mean first principles, like basic arithmetic first principles) and doing as many practice problems as I could. I probably did too many of them, but getting them right was the only thing that brought me any confidence that I was learning. I did that for about a year and, while it didn't turn me from math illiterate to math genius, it gave me enough of a foundation to get into college and have a easier time than my peers on subjects like calculus. In your case, you can take a lighter approach, since it isn't urgent by any means, and you probably won't have as much time as I did. I recommend setting a time whenever you can to study, ideally it would be around two hours, but I find it more important be consistent about it. If you are anything like I was, you may have some knowledge on math, but its akin to Swiss cheese: full of holes. That being the case, start from the earliest point it makes sense to you. I was very paranoid at the time, so I started from basic arithmetic and, although that may not have been necessary, starting from scratch gave me the confidence that I wasn't missing anything going forward. Mathematics is a cohesive structure, where the higher elements are build upon the lower foundations, you cannot get very far without having a good grasp on the basics. As to learning resources, there are many online for free (Khan Academy[1], Paul's Math Notes[2], many introductory books at the Open Textbook Library[3])

Lastly, try to have fun with it. Back when I started the journey, I was to focused on what I could get from learning math (that is, getting into college and then, hopefully, a job), that took out of the experience a bit and the only thing that kept me going, though I didn't recognize at the time, was the joy of learning something that I believed my whole life to be unapproachable, at least by me. So be patient, if you bang your head enough times against this wall, I can attest that it eventually starts to show cracks.

Good luck on your learning journey.

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[1] https://www.khanacademy.org/ [2] https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/ [3] https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects