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I've been doing Khan academy most days (like, 28 of 30) for the last year. It's been super friendly and I've moved through the algebra, geometry, trig, precalc

I've been doing Khan academy most days (like, 28 of 30) for the last year. It's been super friendly and I've moved through the algebra, geometry, trig, precalc, and differential material... I'm currently working through some integral calc stuff. I'm planning on doing the stats and linear parts of kahn before trying to take some of the online college-level courses; Sal Kahn is super great as a teacher but I am starting to feel like I can now benefit from some more difficult to digest material. My hope is to generally increase my math abilities so I can do some electronics design classes and some study about how to start applying ML/ AI tools. But I've found studying math to be quite fun and useful in its own right. It's fun and I feel like it's helped my general intellectual abilities.

dexter_t 8y ago
I too would like to work my way up to calculus and beyond. What sequence of courses do I take on the site to get to calculus, starting from the beginning with the basics?
- pault 8y ago
  I had a humbling experience last year when I browsed the available courses until I found one that only contained math I'm already familiar with and I had to go all the way back to fourth year elementary school. :/
  - dexter_t 8y ago
    How were you able to determine what level you were at?
    - pault 8y ago
      I started at precalculus and worked my way back until I found a video that didn't assume I already knew something I don't already know.
      - ambicapter 8y ago
        Could be that you know a lot of maths at a higher level than that, but your education just has a lot of holes in it.
        pault 8y ago
        If only that were true. :) I only know cross multiplication and basic arithmetic, excepting long division.
        jahbrewski 8y ago
        We all start somewhere! One of the beauties of math is it’s hierarchical structure. Once you figure out where you’re at, it’s just a matter of progressing further up the hierarchy of abstraction (spoken by someone who has only made it to Calculus in the hierarchy)
        voltagex_ 8y ago
        I really want to make a site that expresses this like a skill tree you'd find in an RPG or in Civilisation.
        nimonian 8y ago
        Duolingo has something like this. I rather like it.
        mrkstu 8y ago
        I run into this every time I help my kids with their math homework- even for subjects I thought I had learned comprehensively their curriculum covers branches/approaches I've never seen before, down to elementary school work.
        amanaplanacanal 8y ago
        That was my experience. I took through calculus in high school, but that was a lot of years ago. I discovered my trig and logs were very weak, and started back at algebra 2 and worked my way forward. A lot of it was review, but a lot of it felt completely new to me.
  - vaughnegut 8y ago
    I went back to school for CS, and ended up taking courses starting at Grade 10 math as prereqs so that I could rebuild my math knowledge. Even the start of that was rough, since I hadn't done math in a long, long time. By the end of the course, I was much stronger. What I'm trying to say is that you've made a good decision by jumping way back. Once thing I realized pretty quickly is that to do well in math, you need to know the prior content pretty well. And for the next thing, the current content pretty. And so on. If you can stay on top of it, it 's a lot less challenging (and more interesting).
- jahbrewski 8y ago
  How familiar are you with algebra? The stronger you are with algebra, the easier you will find Calculus. You will also need a relatively strong understanding of trigonometry, but I've mostly been able to review the trig I need as it comes up. That being said, don't feel like you need to be an expert at all prior math before jumping into Calc. In fact, Calculus might be the class you finally grok algebra since you'll use it so much! Here is a good review of the algebra you'll use in a Calc I course: http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/AlgebraTrigReview/AlgebraTrigIntro.aspx http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/AlgebraTrigReview/Alge...
gowld 8y ago
What was your math background before you started Khan?
- scarecrowbob 8y ago
  20 years ago I flunked out of a Calc 2 class in college and (unrelated) never got back to it because I changed my major to Philosophy. I program for a living, but was having trouble, like, with multiplying fractions and that basic level. But it's not hard to learn if you do it every day. I mean, it's slow going, and I am certain that there are folks who think that integrals are pretty basic math, but its fun and interesting to me, and derivatives have helped me understand quite a few things I never quite groked already.
  - speedplane 8y ago
    University CS programs are designed to produce professors, not programmers. Many students who graduate from these programs and go into software development are over-qualified. Many students that flunk out of them have their careers needlessly derailed for a few years.
    - scarecrowbob 8y ago
      Well, for what it's worth, I am now a programmer by trade. I took a silly path and spent all my 20s in school, largely working on a PhD in English while I raised my kids.
      - speedplane 8y ago
        > I am now a programmer by trade. I took a silly path and spent all my 20s in school, largely working on a PhD in English while I raised my kids ... "silly path"? What exactly did you miss out on? Raising children is one of life's great joys. Working towards an English PhD (regardless of whether you obtained one), provides a unique experience that many dream of. Would you trade that for a few extra years of a larger salary at a tech company? Sure, maybe you would be making 20% more now, but would that give you a significantly different life? It sounds like you used your time as a "CS dropout" wisely, or at least productively. I'm more concerned for folks who drop out of unnecessarily challenging technical degrees and end up working at fast food shops for ten years, when they can be doing something far more gratifying and lucrative.
throway88989898 8y ago
Khan Academy is great, the only issue I have with it is it's too long-winded sometimes. Taking much longer than necessary at the cost of maintaining that comfort level of a beginner student. There is something to be said about struggling just enough according to your proficiency level (the idea of Flow in psychology).

dexter_t 8y ago

I too would like to work my way up to calculus and beyond. What sequence of courses do I take on the site to get to calculus, starting from the beginning with the basics?

pault 8y ago
I had a humbling experience last year when I browsed the available courses until I found one that only contained math I'm already familiar with and I had to go all the way back to fourth year elementary school. :/
- dexter_t 8y ago
  How were you able to determine what level you were at?
  - pault 8y ago
    I started at precalculus and worked my way back until I found a video that didn't assume I already knew something I don't already know.
    - ambicapter 8y ago
      Could be that you know a lot of maths at a higher level than that, but your education just has a lot of holes in it.
      - pault 8y ago
        If only that were true. :) I only know cross multiplication and basic arithmetic, excepting long division.
        jahbrewski 8y ago
        We all start somewhere! One of the beauties of math is it’s hierarchical structure. Once you figure out where you’re at, it’s just a matter of progressing further up the hierarchy of abstraction (spoken by someone who has only made it to Calculus in the hierarchy)
        voltagex_ 8y ago
        I really want to make a site that expresses this like a skill tree you'd find in an RPG or in Civilisation.
        nimonian 8y ago
        Duolingo has something like this. I rather like it.
      - mrkstu 8y ago
        I run into this every time I help my kids with their math homework- even for subjects I thought I had learned comprehensively their curriculum covers branches/approaches I've never seen before, down to elementary school work.
      - amanaplanacanal 8y ago
        That was my experience. I took through calculus in high school, but that was a lot of years ago. I discovered my trig and logs were very weak, and started back at algebra 2 and worked my way forward. A lot of it was review, but a lot of it felt completely new to me.
- vaughnegut 8y ago
  I went back to school for CS, and ended up taking courses starting at Grade 10 math as prereqs so that I could rebuild my math knowledge. Even the start of that was rough, since I hadn't done math in a long, long time. By the end of the course, I was much stronger. What I'm trying to say is that you've made a good decision by jumping way back. Once thing I realized pretty quickly is that to do well in math, you need to know the prior content pretty well. And for the next thing, the current content pretty. And so on. If you can stay on top of it, it 's a lot less challenging (and more interesting).
jahbrewski 8y ago
How familiar are you with algebra? The stronger you are with algebra, the easier you will find Calculus. You will also need a relatively strong understanding of trigonometry, but I've mostly been able to review the trig I need as it comes up. That being said, don't feel like you need to be an expert at all prior math before jumping into Calc. In fact, Calculus might be the class you finally grok algebra since you'll use it so much! Here is a good review of the algebra you'll use in a Calc I course: http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/AlgebraTrigReview/AlgebraTrigIntro.aspx http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Extras/AlgebraTrigReview/Alge...

gowld 8y ago

What was your math background before you started Khan?

scarecrowbob 8y ago
20 years ago I flunked out of a Calc 2 class in college and (unrelated) never got back to it because I changed my major to Philosophy. I program for a living, but was having trouble, like, with multiplying fractions and that basic level. But it's not hard to learn if you do it every day. I mean, it's slow going, and I am certain that there are folks who think that integrals are pretty basic math, but its fun and interesting to me, and derivatives have helped me understand quite a few things I never quite groked already.
- speedplane 8y ago
  University CS programs are designed to produce professors, not programmers. Many students who graduate from these programs and go into software development are over-qualified. Many students that flunk out of them have their careers needlessly derailed for a few years.
  - scarecrowbob 8y ago
    Well, for what it's worth, I am now a programmer by trade. I took a silly path and spent all my 20s in school, largely working on a PhD in English while I raised my kids.
    - speedplane 8y ago
      > I am now a programmer by trade. I took a silly path and spent all my 20s in school, largely working on a PhD in English while I raised my kids ... "silly path"? What exactly did you miss out on? Raising children is one of life's great joys. Working towards an English PhD (regardless of whether you obtained one), provides a unique experience that many dream of. Would you trade that for a few extra years of a larger salary at a tech company? Sure, maybe you would be making 20% more now, but would that give you a significantly different life? It sounds like you used your time as a "CS dropout" wisely, or at least productively. I'm more concerned for folks who drop out of unnecessarily challenging technical degrees and end up working at fast food shops for ten years, when they can be doing something far more gratifying and lucrative.

throway88989898 8y ago

Khan Academy is great, the only issue I have with it is it's too long-winded sometimes. Taking much longer than necessary at the cost of maintaining that comfort level of a beginner student. There is something to be said about struggling just enough according to your proficiency level (the idea of Flow in psychology).