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Ask HN: How did you improve your quantitative ability?
I never took part in math competitions in middle or high school so I feel like I'm still pretty bad at problem solving, and it seems like a bottleneck to gaining better employment and compensation through technical interviews - how did you improve?
- maxofnitems 8y agoYou can either go the route: 1. Discrete Math -> Algorithms or 2. Discrete Math -> Abstract Algebra or 3. Discrete Math -> Real Analysis Discrete Math will put you in a mathematical state of mind whatever that means. Discrete Math to Real Analysis (or Abstract Algebra) is like weightlifting (and general body conditioning) to a sports discipline like classical wrestling (or soccer). Real analysis will teach you to be an opportunistic problem solver who rock-n-rolls (street-fights) their way through problems. Abstract algebra will turn you into a morosely formal, orderly and pedantic systematizer and generalizer. You want to be both a formalistic thinker and a flexible one. For intro to math try [0] Infinite Decent Into Math by Clive Newstead / John Mackey, [1] Book of Proof by Richard Hammack [2] Math Foundations of Computing by Keith Schwarz (ALL LOOK TO BE FREELY AVAILABLE) [0] http://www.math.cmu.edu/~jmackey/151_128/infdes.pdf http://www.math.cmu.edu/~jmackey/151_128/infdes.pdf [1] https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ https://www.people.vcu.edu/~rhammack/BookOfProof/ [2] https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103/notes/Mathematical%20Foundations%20of%20Computing.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs103/notes/Mathematical%20Fo...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]