[Nifty3929]

"other commenters mentioning the high price"

I understand that everybody has different financial circumstances, but personally I find it so odd how people prioritize their spending. $50/mo to level up your math game? Too much. 8x $6 lattes per month - totally worth it. $200k+ for a university education after which you STILL won't know basic math (or much else useful for most majors) - super totally worth it.

For me I'm just willing to pay a lot more than other folks are to learn interesting skills. Math, sailing, music, leatherworking, perfume making, whatever - to me that's such a good use of money.

[bost-ty]

Thanks for the reply, and I know I'm replying ~a day late to your comment.

The near-term costs vs. the long-term payoffs of learning the math skills I was learning were pretty clear (immediate costs, opaque long-term benefits other than being better at math in a general sense). I didn't have anywhere to apply the math, so I decided to spend my time learning more from sources like "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs", which is zero-cost to me.

I don't drink any $6 drinks of any sort; I also can't go back to change how much I did or didn't pay for a university education that did or didn't involve learning math for my major.

Other commenters I read who shared price concerns also didn't mention their latte habits or cost of their advanced degrees, so I didn't find this comment very helpful for making that comparison in my specific case.

[littlekey]

I agree with your overall point but I don't think those comparisons are very useful. Regardless of my monthly latte consumption, an extra 50/month is 50/month... the only real comparison imo is how much you'd be saving vs hiring a tutor or simply going through books yourself for free. I think it comes down to whether you have the drive to learn from books. If so then that's clearly the best move. But I'm willing to pay the 50 because this is the only approach that's worked for me so far. It's worth it but it still stings.

[Nifty3929]

Fair point. IOW, what you're saying is: If learning math is your goal, is this the best (or most cost effective) way to do it? Sure, for some it would be, but for others they'd be better off with books or some other alternative.