Regardless, I'll give my two cents for textbooks anyway. Reading Mathematics is different than reading English, Working neatly helps you think more clearly, Investing money (interest rates, profits, etc). Modern graphics has moved so far up the stack nowadays that you probably shouldn't say that you "know 3D graphics" after that exercise, because you'll know 3D graphics circa 1995. Answering questions helps you organize the ideas in your mind*. Learning new/different things is just a small step further beyond learning old things with new/different assistants. If you're doing it to learn, don't sweat about the prestige of the place. Also see Griffeths E&M book for a great explanation of Fourier's trick and separation of variables in the chapter on special techniques... At least in the 1999 Third edition. > If you're working with graphical concepts, why not code them up, or use a drawing program (or hey, a graphing calculator) rather than pulling out a ruler and such (and maybe learning to draw at all if you don't know how)? If you finish that -in several years- you will be a qualified theoretical physicist. My professor for dynamics and mechanics of materials required homework to include diagrams of the problem, neatly drawn, on unlined paper. Fourier's trick is crucial. Then all you can think about is the heat, and you are so lost it cannot be returned. Are you more interested in math or physics? If this approach sounds like what you're after, start by getting a 1960's edition of Halliday and Resnick's physics (which is better than the present editions and quite cheap used), a Schaum's outline of calculus. Those last problems are, IMO, the most important, they actually cement the concepts in long term memory. For me it was graphics at first... and today it's formal proofs and type theory. You could go to the library and check out different math books! For physics, I believe you fall in Leonard Susskind's target audience. The reason is that, with the proof neatly typeset, and the ability to re-work and edit repeatedly without making a mess, I found that I think more precisely and systematically. Buy a book and take a course. Some offer discrete math, not many offer graph theory, and you probably won't get much astro (but you can get astronomy) or string theory from them. Sounds like the perfect thing for me right now. I would like to get into a field that requires a stronger grasp of mathematics but also has a need for programming and computation (maybe machine learning or computational biology). Physics, and to a lesser extent maths[1], are topics where the top 1% of ability are actually concentrated at universities. (By "learn" I mean read, do problems, write summaries.. it's a wide range): Days to repeat: 0 (initial learning), 1, 6, 15, 37, 93, 234, 586, 1464, 3662, 9155. Start at the beginning. Focus on those facts using memory techniques that work. Your body knows what to do from a single thought—one chunk—instead of having to recall all the complex steps involved in hitting a ball. Take a look at brilliant.org. Might open doors at certain places. Math can be a difficult subject, particularly if you don't have the right skills in place. For best results you need to make a nice LaTeX set up. I follow a bunch of folks on the internet and idolize them for their multifaceted personalities - be it math, programming/problem solving, physics, music etc. You might find my site interesting. 3. No labs this time. I never really studied physics, but I found the first books from the "Feynman lectures on Physics" to be very good. Another poster already mentioned linear algebra for simple computer graphics. Read it for intuition, motivation, the story of Mr. Bader, and entertainment. I would recommend that you start with physics and only learn math on a "just-in-time learning" basis. Anticipate not understanding large chunks of it. You will also gain a lot of the pre-req's for optimization and constraint solving. A trainable skill. Here ends the undergraduate curriculum. It helps to maintain your motivation if you have a reason, a driving reason, to continue this practice. Oh, and pick up the power series methods for solving tricky differential equations - don't learn it from the physicists. (1.5 courses) Req: Diff Eq, Calc 3, Electrodynamics: Griffiths [6]. It won’t be enjoyable but being examined on what you learn will provide focus. algebra II? By thirty you probably get the hint that life is not about solving fake problems, and most of the knowledge you learn at school is useless and pointless. The one subject I have been having issues is with Math, but that is due to lack of effort and stretching myself too thin. Approach 1. Advanced statistical mechanics or other special topics for those going into condensed matter. Like you, I am working in business software development, and I simply cannot attend a brick and mortar university because I do not have the time, or would have to accept the severe cut-back in income resulting from a reduction of my work hours. Once you have completed a learning activity, check your responses with those provided in the Learning Activity Answer Key found at the end of the applicable module. in high school and undergrad which unfortunately I didn't get a taste of. I made a rule to complete one chapter every evening including exercises and sticked to it. SCOTT'S MATH CLASS. I still do scratch work on paper, but writing up a clean copy as I go is very beneficial. You can still learn a lot, but it's meaningfully harder. Have you considered auditing a course at a community college? Now I'm interested in mechanical machines and electrical machines. Lesson planning. Always wanted to learn such things, but never found the motivation to do so in an effective way. Once you build your intuition, you will then be in a position to "invent" the maths as you go along. Personally I struggle to learning things. What’s more, the headlines about the massive sums millennials will need to amass to retire — $1.8 million to $2.5 million, according to one USA Today article 1 — might seem so daunting that you don’t see the point in trying. However, you will not. Not to mention the degree you are awarded if you succeed. 2199 cards and counting, Math is something that needs to be learned by rigorous practice. I believe they may be planning to add some written materials, so maybe in the future, but not currently. > If you're writing proofs, why not do it formally? With Zoom you can meet online and organize meetings where students and teachers meet face to face! That retaining bit is important - I can pick up something, give it a go and get it right, but if I don't do it again, I forget what I've learnt. I've been eyeing few books on Amazon myself. Persistance and routine are key here. One final warning. Reading, Maths and Learning; Amazingly Flexible: Learning to Read in Your 30s Profoundly Transforms the Brain; When becoming literate neuroplasticity conquers … 21- … Don't stress too much about being like those people you idolize. Ha no. So don't think "I read 2 pages today", instead think "I understand graphs better now". This means, especially as a beginner when you are stuck you can easily find an explanation that you can understand. These videos are frankly better explanation of college-level math concepts than most college classes. I'm a similar position to you (at least, when it comes to maths). Anki is a very good memorization tool, I would use it aggressively. What topics are you most interested in? The first order necessary condition for an extreme point is that the derivative of the function be zero. You can still learn a lot, but it's meaningfully harder. Khan Academy has the same issue and is arguably worse because, so far as I've found, it requires learners to know what they don't know, rather than structures a learning programme where each topic follows sequentially (maybe there is a way to do this but I've found the KA UX to be complicated and confusing). You won't find a better book than this for E&M. For more, get into numerical methods and applications. I didn't realize this was unusual and thought I got very bad at learning. Essential Math 30S Geography 20F Rugby and Dragon Boat Contact Me Formula Booklet. The first pass is one or two years long and is roughly what's in Halliday and Resnick or Tipler's physics books: Newtonian mechanics, some wave motion, some thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, electromagnetism, and a little "modern physics" (special relativity and a bit of quantum theory). With macros I could do things way more efficiently, with comments I could go back and see what I was thinking at a misstep (if I wrote anything).). It's hard, but definitely doable. My advice would be find a cheap university nearby and start enrolling in courses. There is a great, fairly short Coursera course called "learning how to learn". Learning by heart here also means something slightly different than simply being able to recite definitions and theorems. You need to learn about the topics first in order to appreciate whatever you will encounter later. Each chapter has an application (a working Python implementation) of the ideas in the chapter. For physics, my goto book (which I have never finished) would be The Road To Reality by Roger Penrose. you will have to understand analysis. It is a way of developing 'muscle memory'. > Halliday and Resnick, early editions , printed in the late 60s and 70s. I'm a bit wary of some of the suggestions here. I am mostly on my own, so I guess if I were studying entirely independently, I would not be doing much different. Think very carefully where you want to spend your motivation and discipline. With pen and ( plain III Analysis of Games and numbers 11E3 really about,... Tough textbook to learn such things, but there is any easy way of 'muscle. Math/Physics which was nurtured by their environment which made them participate in IOI/ACPC etc. ) over time need. Formal program is just plain fun: 1 fourth path is the case of studying in a classroom, can. Maths ) surprisingly simple, appears 8 ) Counterintuitive: if you get to ( deterministic ) optimization constraint! 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