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Ask HN: Text Book Recommendation for Math?

by techsin101 on 10/16/22, 3:07 PM with 6 comments

I want to learn math, I know this question has been asked but comments have textbooks that don’t look like textbooks I’ve had. They read like novels. Which is incredibly spirit crushing. I remember in hs and college textbooks were compact and designed to be efficient. Very little fluff or tangents. Also had illustrations though out to aid in memorization, practice questions, and derived proof

I want to start at under grad and go to grad, there are many sub categories so I want to focus on things related ml but also general

Book recommendation for

- algebra

- trig / precalc

- geometry

- calculus 1/2/3

- statistics 1/2/3

- linear algebra

And anything else

Please recommend in this format

Calculus: book name

  • by yrui on 10/19/22, 2:37 PM

    Serge Lang has a series of books that cover these topics with a miniumum of fluff and in a maximally efficient way. Starting with his "Basic Math" and "Geometry", you could then study his "First Course in Calculus" and "Introduction to Linear Algebra."

  • by vasili111 on 10/17/22, 2:54 AM

    For:

    - algebra

    - trig / precalc

    - geometry

    - calculus 1/2

    I would suggest "for dummies" series. I did Algebra I and it was easy to read and understand and I really liked it. The math topics that I listed above "for dummies" series also have good reads on Amazon. Linear Algebra of "for dummies" series is not rated high. Also I would personally not recommend statistics of "for dummies" series.

  • by ldjkfkdsjnv on 10/16/22, 6:26 PM

    If you really want a challenge, and to learn math deeply, work slowly through:

    Principles of mathematical analysis by Rudin.

    It might be above your pay grade, but all those lower level concepts/classes you listed will come with working through this book. Even if a chapter takes a month, you will learn real math and not be memorizing recipes to solve equations

  • by jstx1 on 10/16/22, 3:25 PM

    Don't read books, take classes instead - Khan Academy, MIT 18.01, 18.02, 18.06, Harvard Stat100 etc.