Linear algebra will not help you fine tune many algorithms. The best math to know for fine tuning algorithms is how big O notation works, and be able to calcul

Linear algebra will not help you fine tune many algorithms. The best math to know for fine tuning algorithms is how big O notation works, and be able to calculate how long things take to run. The second thing that will help you is studying data structures algorithms. What is the average case for a search over x items? How long does it take to insert into a linked list? This way you can begin to identify bottlenecks, and get an idea as to how to approach solving problems with performance.