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I have a tangential question. I'd love to be able to get into stuff like this, but when I see the pages of equations.... my eyes just glaze over and I lose tra

I have a tangential question. I'd love to be able to get into stuff like this, but when I see the pages of equations.... my eyes just glaze over and I lose track of what's what. I get that it's a skill I lack and I'd love to improve on it. I'm wondering if anyone knows any good resources specifically for this? Something that takes you through _how_ to read equations, preferably something that starts off simple and gradually gets more complex? Intuitively I can watch something like a 3Blue1Brown video and get it (or at least feel like I understand it on some level). I'm just not sure where to find practice material for reading equations that doesn't start right at the deep end, or even if I'm looking at this in the correct way. For reference I have no trouble jumping into a new programming language; I immerse myself in the culture and idioms of the language, learn what the reasoning behind the design of the language is, learn the syntax, etc. I just can't seem to find a way to do this with written math and equations.

gone35 8y ago
My two cents (as someone a bit more familiar with this stuff): I don't think there is a single universal skill at play. Much like reading code, I think it depends on your familiarity with the specific 'programming language' in which the code/argument is written: show, say, Lisp to a Javascript-only programmer, and they would likely get stuck as well. In this particular case, I happen to be familiar with this particular dialect of mathematical physics (and its style of argumentation), so I was able to follow along. But show me, say, some crazy algebraic number theory stuff, and I would be totally lost. Going back to your question, then, I suggest getting familiar with the particular mathematical 'dialect' (and, I cannot emphasize more, style of argumentation) you are interested in. For example, in this particular case, I would read up on --and, ideally, develop some 'muscle memory' for-- (some) differential equations and multivariate differential calculus using, say, Khan Academy. (A bit of familiarity with the somewhat non-constructive style of argument of 'modern' classical mechanics wouldn't hurt either.)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Fr0styMatt88 8y ago
  Thanks for these pointers.

gone35 8y ago

My two cents (as someone a bit more familiar with this stuff): I don't think there is a single universal skill at play. Much like reading code, I think it depends on your familiarity with the specific 'programming language' in which the code/argument is written: show, say, Lisp to a Javascript-only programmer, and they would likely get stuck as well. In this particular case, I happen to be familiar with this particular dialect of mathematical physics (and its style of argumentation), so I was able to follow along. But show me, say, some crazy algebraic number theory stuff, and I would be totally lost. Going back to your question, then, I suggest getting familiar with the particular mathematical 'dialect' (and, I cannot emphasize more, style of argumentation) you are interested in. For example, in this particular case, I would read up on --and, ideally, develop some 'muscle memory' for-- (some) differential equations and multivariate differential calculus using, say, Khan Academy. (A bit of familiarity with the somewhat non-constructive style of argument of 'modern' classical mechanics wouldn't hurt either.)

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Fr0styMatt88 8y ago
Thanks for these pointers.