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I've mentioned this on HN before but I think its still relevant to people interested in learning ML who feel they are behind on the math. If, like me, you can't

I've mentioned this on HN before but I think its still relevant to people interested in learning ML who feel they are behind on the math. If, like me, you can't sit thru lots of pages of mathematics text and instead prefer that a human explains it to you via videos that you can replay, here is a list of courses that take you from basic algebra and pre-calculus math all the way to the concepts you need to understand the principles behind the most advanced ML algorithms. All explained by very energetic people who are experts in their fields, and starting from the very basics. This covers calculus, linear algebra, probability, statistics, convex optimization and a math for ML course thrown in for the HN audience: (The first two are "MOOCs" recorded in the 1970s! probably the first ever recorded MOOC, even before the internet, and the lecturer is absolute gold) Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-.. https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-.... Calculus Revisited: Multivariable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-.. https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-.... Complex Variables, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-.. https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-.... Linear Algebra | MIT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD9101.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD9101.... Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems |Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 Probability | Harvard https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6.. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6.... Intermediate Statistics | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVW.. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVW.... Convex Optimization I | Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A Math Background for ML | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMW.. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMW....

nagarc 9y ago
Many of the links are not working
- thomanq 9y ago
  Links as per the original comment [0] Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-single-variable-calculus-fall-2010/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-... Calculus Revisited: Multivariable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-multivariable-calculus-fall-2011/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-... Complex Variables, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-complex-variables-differential-equations-and-linear-algebra-fall-2011/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-... Linear Algebra | MIT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010BC51F8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD9101... Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems |Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 Probability | Harvard https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6ht66KWxbzTIo https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6... Intermediate Statistics | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVWq-7wr8ffRtHF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVW... Convex Optimization I | Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A Math Background for ML | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMWUaBRuLBvPBCg https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMW... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14581962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14581962
  - nagarc 9y ago
    Thank you
vecter 9y ago
These are great resources, but the ultimate approach is wrong. In order to truly learn math, you must be willing to invest the time and "sit through lots of pages of mathematics text" and also do a ton of problems, many of which will take hours and some which will require days of thinking. I you aren't willing to invest the energy and effort to do that, all the video watching won't do anything for you. It will get you 5% of the way at best. The true learning comes from staring at a problem for hours, trying 100 dead ends, and then finally having an insight two days later while taking a shower that suddenly make that intractable problem seem trivial.
- mindcrime 9y ago
  These are great resources, but the ultimate approach is wrong. In order to truly learn math, you must be willing to invest the time and "sit through lots of pages of mathematics text" and also do a ton of problems, many of which will take hours and some which will require days of thinking. These things aren't mutually exclusive. I don't know about anybody else, but I'd rather watch a video of a human explaining the subject, then sit down with a textbook and start working through problems.
  - vecter 9y ago
    Of course they're not, but OP kind of implied that it wasn't necessary to read a lot of pages of mathematics when he said > you can't sit thru lots of pages of mathematics text Even if you watch those videos, you still need to sit through lots of pages of mathematics if you want to master the subject.

nagarc 9y ago

Many of the links are not working

thomanq 9y ago
Links as per the original comment [0] Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-single-variable-calculus-fall-2010/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-... Calculus Revisited: Multivariable Calculus | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-multivariable-calculus-fall-2011/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-007-calculus-revisited-... Complex Variables, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra | MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-complex-variables-differential-equations-and-linear-algebra-fall-2011/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-008-calculus-revisited-... Linear Algebra | MIT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD91010BC51F8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK3O402wf1c&list=PLE7DDD9101... Introduction to Linear Dynamical Systems |Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE263 Probability | Harvard https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6ht66KWxbzTIo https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2SOU6wwxB0uwwH80KTQ6... Intermediate Statistics | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVWq-7wr8ffRtHF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcW8xNfZoh7eI7KSWneVW... Convex Optimization I | Stanford https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A https://see.stanford.edu/Course/EE364A Math Background for ML | CMU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMWUaBRuLBvPBCg https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7y-1rk2cCsA339crwXMW... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14581962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14581962
- nagarc 9y ago
  Thank you

vecter 9y ago

These are great resources, but the ultimate approach is wrong. In order to truly learn math, you must be willing to invest the time and "sit through lots of pages of mathematics text" and also do a ton of problems, many of which will take hours and some which will require days of thinking. I you aren't willing to invest the energy and effort to do that, all the video watching won't do anything for you. It will get you 5% of the way at best. The true learning comes from staring at a problem for hours, trying 100 dead ends, and then finally having an insight two days later while taking a shower that suddenly make that intractable problem seem trivial.

mindcrime 9y ago
These are great resources, but the ultimate approach is wrong. In order to truly learn math, you must be willing to invest the time and "sit through lots of pages of mathematics text" and also do a ton of problems, many of which will take hours and some which will require days of thinking. These things aren't mutually exclusive. I don't know about anybody else, but I'd rather watch a video of a human explaining the subject, then sit down with a textbook and start working through problems.
- vecter 9y ago
  Of course they're not, but OP kind of implied that it wasn't necessary to read a lot of pages of mathematics when he said > you can't sit thru lots of pages of mathematics text Even if you watch those videos, you still need to sit through lots of pages of mathematics if you want to master the subject.