[tiler]

On where to start => I'd start by getting a very solid grasp of graph theory. It is the bedrock of many algorithms and along the way you'll learn all kinds of useful mathematical notation, but in a way that should be easier for you to pick up than plain old 'pure-math.' I've found the following series of videos presented by Donald Knuth, aka The Christmas Tree Lectures, to be incredibly informative and inspirational [1].

Another area of math that you need to know for C.S. related activities is linear algebra. To get started I'd recommend reading 'Coding the Matrix' by Phillip Klein.

[1] => https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rNMsVRnSJ44...

[jeffasinger]

If he's looking for a more of an actual first principles approach to linear algebra, I could not recommend starting with Linear Algebra Done Right by Sheldon Axler enough.

It starts from a few basics which most people would be comfortable with post calculus, and builds up to the most important theorems in linear algebra. It's probably not the book for you if you are actually interested in linear algebra algorithms.