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Ask HN: How to get better knowledge about math notations in computer science

Hi all, it's now about 10 years, since I finished my masters degree at the university and the math lectures weren't my strength either. However, I often times read publications and I mostly skip the math formulas. I guess it's time to get better at understanding this stuff (again?). Do you have any tips/books/resources/videos to learn from? kind regards Johannes

amar-laksh 4y ago
Excellent talk by Guy Steele explaining the history of maths/comp notations that can probably lead you to the right path through original sources: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q Then have a look at this extremely underrated talk by Alexander Stepanov for basically falling in love with maths (he gives a long view of maths in general adorned with beautiful commentary): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fanm5y00joc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fanm5y00joc
- lichtenberger 4y ago
  Thanks, will watch later on :-)
kalimanzaro 4y ago
I don't know if you mean the logic notation often seen in programming language papers, but it's called sequent calculus. Wikipedia page has a good intro and links to further resources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequent_calculus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequent_calculus
brudgers 4y ago
Chapter One of The Art of Compute Programming is a good mathematical foundation.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Which was expanded into Concrete Mathematics, both are good resources but I liked CM better. I got to work through it as an independent study course with a professor one summer. We had started on TAOCP together, not as a course, just him mentoring me and a book I wanted to work through. We both found chapter 1 very interesting and learned of CM, so we jumped on it.
frozencell 4y ago
This resource makes it easy to understand mathematical notations by showing comparisons with simple code [0]. The Wikipedia history section of a mathematical concept is also useful to understand in multiple dimensions. Searching for visualizations or break downs can also be useful. [0] https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code

amar-laksh 4y ago

Excellent talk by Guy Steele explaining the history of maths/comp notations that can probably lead you to the right path through original sources: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q Then have a look at this extremely underrated talk by Alexander Stepanov for basically falling in love with maths (he gives a long view of maths in general adorned with beautiful commentary): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fanm5y00joc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fanm5y00joc

lichtenberger 4y ago
Thanks, will watch later on :-)

kalimanzaro 4y ago

I don't know if you mean the logic notation often seen in programming language papers, but it's called sequent calculus. Wikipedia page has a good intro and links to further resources: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequent_calculus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequent_calculus

brudgers 4y ago

Chapter One of The Art of Compute Programming is a good mathematical foundation.

Jtsummers 4y ago
Which was expanded into Concrete Mathematics, both are good resources but I liked CM better. I got to work through it as an independent study course with a professor one summer. We had started on TAOCP together, not as a course, just him mentoring me and a book I wanted to work through. We both found chapter 1 very interesting and learned of CM, so we jumped on it.

frozencell 4y ago

This resource makes it easy to understand mathematical notations by showing comparisons with simple code [0]. The Wikipedia history section of a mathematical concept is also useful to understand in multiple dimensions. Searching for visualizations or break downs can also be useful. [0] https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code https://github.com/Jam3/math-as-code