Comments on: learning math online

learning math online

nickyskye — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:51:03 -0800

Free math courses online, from very basic to brainiac.

No registration required.

By: pravit

pravit — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:17:58 -0800

Nice! No partial differential equations, unfortunately.

By: socalsamba

socalsamba — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:38:21 -0800

@pravit They may be the first and only time that statement has ever been said. Though there is certainly a lot of great stuff in the link.

By: kuatto

kuatto — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:48:43 -0800

Nice. Does anyone know a good topology primers? Here is a pretty good resource I've found from just googleing "math books online". It seems that there are many good references floating around; Amazing really, to think of all this priceless knowledge to be had for just a paltry effort.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:55:24 -0800

That's not brainiac. If you want an example of brainiac from MIT's OCW, look at stuff like this. No, I don't know what any of that means. I do all sorts of applied math for electrical engineering, but looking at the real braniac math just scares me.

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:09:18 -0800

Here's the requisite link to Allen Hatcher's homepage. His 'Algebraic Topology' (free for download!) is by now the standard introductory text on algebraic topology.

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:11:09 -0800

(And , in fact, is the text for the Open Course Ware link provided just above...)

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:12:49 -0800

Good, someone on this internet website knows more math than me. I feel better about Metafilter now.

By: pravit

pravit — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:09:40 -0800

@pravit They may be the first and only time that statement has ever been said. Seriously though, if someone knows a good intro to PDEs, I'll be forever grateful. The related AskMe.

By: Stewriffic

Stewriffic — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:41:30 -0800

Thank you thank you thank you! I am considering taking the GRE again after almost 20 years since my last math class and I'll need a refresher for sure...

By: alona

alona — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:58:00 -0800

This probably just saved my high school math mark. Thanks!

By: Zinger

Zinger — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:07:10 -0800

[Carefully files away the link for future homeschooling purposes]

By: willie11

willie11 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:27:01 -0800

Education Portal is a phenomenal resource. This post almost makes up for the ten minutes of my life I lost watching the "fucking Matt Damon" post yesterday. Thank You.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:58:51 -0800

Seriously though, if someone knows a good intro to PDEs, I'll be forever grateful. Chapter 1. You can't solve any of the interesting ones. Chapter 2. You can't do a very good job of approximating them, either.

By: rodii

rodii — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:26:33 -0800

This comment by projectileboy on Hacker News a while back was inspirational to me (though you may differ on the details of what he's advocating). The whole thread is valuable, in fact.

By: mygothlaundry

mygothlaundry — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:28:14 -0800

And for those of us who are seriously math impaired, let me recommend this site for those horrible homework questions. It more or less taught me how to simplify fractions again the other night - without it, all would have been lost.

By: rtha

rtha — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:25:58 -0800

For realz, I'm going to learn math this time. I know there are a lot of math-heads 'round these parts. It has never come easy for me - never been intuitive the way it seems to be for some people. I never really hated it (except for geometry) - I loved algebra, and trig, although I was terrible at them. I was one of the very few among my friends in high school whose verbal SATs outshone those of the math portion (by, like, 300 points, or something absurd). And I never understood that - I thought, but you speak English all the time - how can you not do well on the verbal portion of the test? I've always been attracted to the part of mathematics that's so high up there it's closer to philosophy (the way I see it, anyway), and I've always wished that I had a better grounding in the basics so I could have a better appreciation for the higher end of things. Maybe this will help. Thanks, nicky, for another fantastic post!

By: freya_lamb

freya_lamb — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:17:17 -0800

Happy day! This is great and very timely. I'm seconding rtha on the maths-as-philosophy bit. I've been on a maths-related reading binge for the last month or so and four tomes later (recommending 'Number - the language of Science' to anyone interested) I'm itching to actually DO some of this stuff to get further in - was toying with the idea of taking a higher course. This is right on the button, thanks very much!

By: jhayes

jhayes — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:40:06 -0800

Just since they haven't been added yet, here are two more ridiculously big link pages to lots of maths textbooks/lecture notes; their material is mostly 3rd level. Mind you, big lists like these are intimidating at first when you're starting off; if you were just starting higher maths (i.e. 3rd level) then I'd suggest probably an applied maths POV via Gilbert Strang's Linear Algebra video lectures (or a similar source) and perhaps his Calculus book. But then again, YMMV.

By: doutzen

doutzen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:26:09 -0800

I hate to say this, but imho it's totally impossible to learn online. Get yourself a book relevant to your course which includes lots of problems (yes, you know, the one with printed pages), and scrap paper/calculator/pen. Find somewhere quiet. Read each topic, then solve lots and lots and lots of problems. Write concise revision sheets (to keep). Do your math EVERYDAY (little and often).