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Try finding a cool research paper that contains a lot of math you don’t understand. Then spend a few months learning the math in that one paper until you get it
by outlace 7y ago
Try finding a cool research paper that contains a lot of math you don’t understand. Then spend a few months learning the math in that one paper until you get it. That is a highly motivating and enjoyable way to learn. Far better than textbooks. I did this to learn algebraic topology.
- banachtarski 7y agoI've been trying to penetrate algebraic topology for a bit now (learning barcodes and such). Any suggestions on papers you think are particularly good?
- outlace 7y agoI was obsessed with topological data analysis which is basically applied algebraic topology, so I read every paper I could find on TDA. All of them were mostly incomprehensible to me at first, but by working backward, e.g. "What's a homology group?" Oh I need to learn some basic group theory first. Oh what's a Cayley graph? I kept working backward and forward until I could piece it all together. Working backward from a specific goal was very motivating compared to just working through a textbook aimlessly.
- james_s_tayler 7y agoI think this is an awesome idea. Im sort of taking the approach of learning the definitions of things via Anki in a real exploratory way. Just read about something that takes my fancy then I keep finding I run into definitions I've learned before and this time something that was previously gibberish made more and more sense. Recently I read the paper posted here about how an optimal regulator needs to model what it's trying to regulate. I was amazed at how much more of it I had access to due to learning some definitions here and there. I've picked up a Rubik's cube lately and am learning group theoretic concepts to help me solve it. I'm finding it a neat way to engage with the maths in a practical way too!