[gdubs]

I brought a computer graphics textbook into my high-school math class and asked my teacher if he could help me figure it out. His response was that I needed to pay attention to the current lesson plan, and would need to get through trig, then calculus before we could approach the book.

What's amazing about this video series is that they have actually captured the elements that _can_ be taught to kids of various ages and skill levels. Man how I wish there were a resource like this when I was younger.

[Animats]

That reflects a high school math teacher view.

To understand basic 3D computer graphics, you need some linear algebra, matrices, some analytic geometry, and some trigonometry, but not much calculus. Once you learn what a 4x4 matrix multiply can do, you have most of the key ideas. You need that to use OpenGL effectively. Actually, you only need about 10% of each of those areas of math, but you do need that 10%. "Graphics Gems" has some good background.

(Physics engines, though... I used to work on that, and struggled through two-volume books on nonlinear differential equations.)

[dman]

You are younger than you will be two years from now.

[hueving]

Not relevant to what happened to him in high school.

[kragen]

Your teacher was a fucking idiot. What was his name, and what city does he live in?