When I first took linear algebra, the class bored me to tears. It was presented in a dry, unimaginative way. I got an A, but basically rote-memorized everythi

When I first took linear algebra, the class bored me to tears. It was presented in a dry, unimaginative way. I got an A, but basically rote-memorized everything and then promptly forgot it after the final exam. Later on, when I started learning quantum mechanics, optimization, and machine learning, linear algebra suddenly became fascinating, and I signed up for a bunch of courses in it. The abstraction isn't what made me dislike the field the first time around; it was the unenthusiastic manner in which it was taught (largely by TAs).