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I didn't read this book, I tried reading books like this though [1]. Because of my experience [1], I have an entirely different approach to learning mathematic
by melvinroest 7y ago
I didn't read this book, I tried reading books like this though [1].
Because of my experience [1], I have an entirely different approach to learning mathematics as a developer. The "do the normal track and suck it up approach."
This should be a blog post, but I don't have a blog and don't have the time to edit a story that nicely.
1.5 years before graduation, I couldn't handle advanced math anymore and I flunked the year. The next year I transferred to an easier math curriculum and have been coasting ever since. Even in my CS degree courses they never taught us linear algebra and calculus (I did learn graph theory, that was hard).
I didn't regret this decision of not studying maths for more than a decade, until a few months ago. I am noticing that my solid fundamental progress of mathematics has stopped in high school, learning graph theory was more about passing the course.
But now I want to join the conversation in math. So time to change that.
My method:
I am using the book of Haese & Harris IB HL. It's the most advanced high school math book for international students. I am now up to chapter 6 (complex numbers).
And Wow! THIS IS AWESOME! :D
Maths is just like software engineering, or at least algebra is.
I'm having tons of fun, who knew? I really didn't. I think it's because my approach to math is really different than when I was young.
Every time when I freak out, I use my programmer instincts to treat math as a 'best practices software system for numbers' and that mentality really helps.
A couple of examples:
1. I found ways to 'debug' algebraic applications (rewrite them in R and see if the evaluated value stays correct) which means I always know at which step I went wrong with my thinking,
2. I can use variables/abstract things away for a little while (grouping math expressions to letters),
3. My understanding about looping is useful (summations).
It's insane how much programmer instincts maps to mathematics. It's not fully 1 to 1, but it helps a lot more than it harms.
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I'm still looking for a math tutor/coach. So if someone feels bored, or if you just want to discuss math and software engineering. Hit me up (my email is in my profile)!
[1] I tried to read the no bullshit guide to linear algebra. That was not a nice experience at all. Reading an actual high school textbook is a much better experience.
- bigred100 7y agoI agree completely. The only risk is that once you get to real analysis, your prof will yell at you for mixing notions of complexity and computability into your ideas of what a function is (happened to me).
- melvinroest 7y agoOf that sounds harsh. What do you mean by complexity? I understand computability (having made a Turing machine from a mostly XML based language :D).
- bigred100 7y agoA function is (at least formally) a relationship between two sets of things. It doesn’t matter whether there’s any sort of algorithm that lets you input an object from the domain and calculate the corresponding image under the function, or even an approximation. This came up when we were talking about Dedekind cuts or something like that so it’s very much not pedantry at all in that sort of context.
- lonelappde 7y agoThe main difference between pure math and computer science is that mathematicians assume uncountable sets exist and then use that to prove all sorts of nonsense that are not true in the physical or computable Universe.
- sedeki 7y agoGive an example of this kind of _nonsense_, please.
- blt 7y agoMany CS papers, at least in machine learning, state an algorithm in terms of real numbers and use results from real analysis to prove properties of the algorithm.
- chrisoverzero 7y agoGiven that Cantor’s Diagonal Argument – which demonstrates the existence of uncountable sets – is the technique which underlies Turing’s solution to the Entscheidungsproblem, you might want to re-examine your assumptions.
- wainstead 7y ago> It's insane how much programmer instincts maps to mathematics. It's not fully 1 to 1, but it helps a lot more than it harms. I worked on khanacademy videos and problems for a few months and had the same experience! I enjoyed the gamification aspect of khanacademy and need to take it up again.
- melvinroest 7y agoEdit: for full clarity, the author of [1] did reach out in order to get feedback. Which I can only applaud.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]