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by phaus 2089 days ago
Coding and math books frequently list prerequisites by saying something like "only really trivial mathematics knowledge that any adult should be familiar with" and then you start working through the book and realize they meant any adult that took multiple years of calculus in high school and graduated with a BS in Comp Sci or mathematics.

As a high school drop out that only later on developed an interest in learning its pretty frustrating. My BS is in Information Systems so I've missed out on a lot of math that seems to make learning computer science and programming easier. I'll have to give this resource a try. I'm a big fan of his reverse engineering material already.
1 comments
nemosaltat 2089 days ago
I identify so hard with your comment! I’m proficient with a handful of programming languages, very comfortable with most Sys admin tasks on Unix-like OSes, and I’m almost always able to reverse engineer someone else’s similar solution to meet my needs. However, I’ve had any formal computer science education. Now, in my early 30s, I’ve found a successful career in a non-tech field but find it unfulfilling. I still love to program and I’d love to make a change, but my lack of a math and comp sci foundation gnaws at me.

I’ve tried to relearn Calc a handful times, but find myself frustrated when I have to go look up basic trig identities, and order of operations stuff just to get through practice problems. I’d love to relearn math from scratch if anyone has any recommendations.

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mypastself 2089 days ago
I’ve found https://betterexplained.com an excellent resource for developing an intuition for fundamental concepts in math.

For calculus itself, I’d recommend Thompson’s enlightening and witty 1910 textbook “Calculus Made Easy”. It’s available for free at:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/33283/33283-pdf.pdf

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unhingingdog 2089 days ago
This probably isn’t novel advice, but Khan Academy is great for learning the fundamentals.

I’m in a similar position. I’ve rebuilding my understanding of mathematics using Khan Academy and 3Blue1Brown videos. It’s going pretty well.

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