[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).