[outlace]

Try finding a cool research paper that contains a lot of math you don’t understand. Then spend a few months learning the math in that one paper until you get it. That is a highly motivating and enjoyable way to learn. Far better than textbooks. I did this to learn algebraic topology.

[james_s_tayler]

I think this is an awesome idea.

Im sort of taking the approach of learning the definitions of things via Anki in a real exploratory way. Just read about something that takes my fancy then I keep finding I run into definitions I've learned before and this time something that was previously gibberish made more and more sense.

Recently I read the paper posted here about how an optimal regulator needs to model what it's trying to regulate. I was amazed at how much more of it I had access to due to learning some definitions here and there.

I've picked up a Rubik's cube lately and am learning group theoretic concepts to help me solve it. I'm finding it a neat way to engage with the maths in a practical way too!

[banachtarski]

I've been trying to penetrate algebraic topology for a bit now (learning barcodes and such). Any suggestions on papers you think are particularly good?

[outlace]

I was obsessed with topological data analysis which is basically applied algebraic topology, so I read every paper I could find on TDA. All of them were mostly incomprehensible to me at first, but by working backward, e.g. "What's a homology group?" Oh I need to learn some basic group theory first. Oh what's a Cayley graph? I kept working backward and forward until I could piece it all together. Working backward from a specific goal was very motivating compared to just working through a textbook aimlessly.