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I love it. This really appeals to me because of the all the bad ideas I had to unlearn in my 20s: - math is about numbers and arithmetic operations on them - b
by nikhizzle 13y ago
I love it. This really appeals to me because of the all the bad ideas I had to unlearn in my 20s:
- math is about numbers and arithmetic operations on them
- being good at math meant you were good at arithmetic
- some people (meaning me) just didn't have what it took to be "good" at math. Reinforced by my high school math and physics teachers.
I hated math because I didn't understand that mathematics is a system for representing abstract concepts and manipulating them.
Eventually on my 4th try to get calculus, I took a class from nick fiori(http://www.yale.edu/education/about/faculty/fiori.elw062111 http://www.yale.edu/education/about/faculty/fiori.elw062111).
His teaching methods opened my mind, and I've gone on since then to become an ardent amateur mathematician with minor publications and career tangents in machine learning and data science.
I can only imagine what would have happened if I had been taught math well from an early age.
- Zolomon 13y agoThis is really great and inspiring to hear! I also had a very bad experience to mathematics during my earlier youth. Relentless studying, book reading and search for motivational information have helped me get over the bullshit I was introduced to. I love math, and it is ing beautiful.
- roasty 13y agoGood to hear, any math books you'd recommend to someone who's not there yet, or remember from that class?
- nikhizzle 13y agoSorry, did not learn much from books. The only one of note is the Tom Mitchell Machine Learning Book, which already requires a basic advanced mathematics fluency. I also believe it is a little out of date. I can recommend a few professors who really opened my mind to how to use math, all at UCSC (CS grad school for me): - Dave Helmbold (Machine Learning) - Kevin Ross (Operations Research) - Martin Abadi (Security)