[ColinWright]

I'm a strong believer in getting some basics under your belt, and then following a course. Don't read haphazardly, have a specific curriculum to follow so there's an over-arching arc to your learning.

Without knowing more about what you can already do I can't recommend anything, but actually taking courses is a way to give you structure. The fact that you're asking here shows that you haven't taken control of your own learning, so getting a pre-prepared course or two under your belt seems a good way to start. Then re-assess.

YMWV

[chaosinorder]

Thanks. You're right I haven't taken control of my own learning, which can really be summed up in the question: where do I start?

Part of the problem is I don't even know what I can already do, because I haven't done math in a long time. So part of all this is really my being a little scared of it still.

I will look for algebra resources online and see how I do and use that to see if I need to go further back, stay on that algebra track, or try higher-up math.

In the end, I really am partial to taking a course, because of the structure, as you say. So I just want to see what math I should start at, instead of throwing away money.

Thanks!

[ColinWright]

I have the same problem to some extent. I'm developing a web site that shows the connections between topics, and is intended to help structure such courses, but finding where to start, and where to go, and what's connected, is difficult.

It comes down to what you want to end up with. If you know that, and can prevent yourself from getting discouraged, draw a DAG of the topics you think you need. For example, do you want to understand why primes of the form 4k+1 are always the sum of two squares (which I call "Green Primes")? Here's a net of interconnected ideas:

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/images/PatternsFailProofsPreva...

These are things you need to understand to get to that proof.

Then pick another. Maybe we can help each other. Are you interested in just getting to USA High School graduate math? Or do you want to understand proofs?

Consider emailing me. My response time is slow, but I will answer.

[chaosinorder]

I had never heard of a Directed Acylcic Graph before. Let me read up on it and will try to do it. What you say makes sense, though.

I want to be able to take advanced CS courses and fulfil the math requirements. However, I am certain I am far from being prepared to take those math courses required to take anything above first-year CS courses.

I know this is going to sound lazy, but a quick Google search indicates it is recommended CS people know how to write proofs. So I guess the answer is yes. However, we are getting into extremely foreign territory for me.

And yes, I am in California. I don't really know how I can be of any help to you, to be honest, though.

[ColinWright]

What are the math requirements for advance CS courses? If you can find a concrete list of topics, then I can help you find the prerequisites. You will be helping me by finding topics I need on my site, and the connections between them. I'll help you by giving overviews of topics, and answering specific questions (usually with pointers to reading).

[chaosinorder]

I will email you tonight (my time).