FWIW you can learn how these algorithms work without a very deep understanding of calculus or linear algebra. I did it, although I'm trying to catch up on the m

FWIW you can learn how these algorithms work without a very deep understanding of calculus or linear algebra. I did it, although I'm trying to catch up on the math now. And really for the average ML user, you don't need to learn the exact math or calculations, just a general understanding of what it's doing. Above all have a good understanding of over fitting and best practices for test and validation sets. Then you can use algorithms as black boxes and at least know you aren't doing any harm.