Instead of drinking I would like to learn Calculus.

Submitted by jus74hu3m4n in Math

Once again I find myself in the grips of seeking numbness due to participating in the system of capitalism.

I lasted four days this time, but what differs from my previous post is that I had a notebook and a copy of "Elementary Calculus" on my phone. While I have pounded down discounted drinks, I took notes from the book.

After completing the "Calculus Better Explained" course I need and want to understand Calculus to become scientifically literate.

I need to build a math habit to escape from the oppresion of racial capitalism.

How have you all built a habit of higher mathematics outside of academia?

Sorry if incoherent and thank you in advanced for your advice.

9

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Bezotcovschina wrote

That's super cool!

I don't have any advice on particular books and resources, just think it's very possible to learn higher math by yourself without academical education and wanted to encourage you

6

kin wrote

I have the plan to start studying math seriously at some point, not sur show realistic is the desire to understand the whole thing just for pleasure.

As I understand you want to build this new habit to replace bad ones and potentially help you in other skills or work in something by yourself.

I think it's possible to get real good outside academia, but you will never get the academic lingo and you develop a very particular interpretation of the thing.

My plan is teaching myself from different books and dedicate some time to get the concept. Internet can really help. Public Libraries are probably one if the best place to study and I think many universities are open to visitors to get around. Some professor will be happy to help to point you in a direction even if you are not their student, I had a teacher in highschool that used to teach calculus for the engineering course as well and he was always happy to help the highschool guys in more advanced stuff, even students from other schools came to talk to them in the maths dept.

4

Bezotcovschina wrote

Maybe, next time you feel the urge to drink, you consider the following options:

  1. Find basic info about limits of function, and try to understand the basics. Find a list of known limits of functions, try to understand the basics, simplest limits, why it works that way. And then try to prove more complex limits by yourself. Look for info you think you are missing in the process.
  2. The same, but about derivatives

Treat it like a game. List of limits, List of derivatives. Maybe, there is better links, idk

3

existential1 wrote

My math practice is to play around on Khan Academy, do MIT Open courses, generally just read graduate level math course books, and do problems from project Euler. I love mathematics but was way too distracted to focus on it back when I was in formal school. The above tools is how I taught myself a lot.

3

Loof wrote

want to understand Calculus to become scientifically literate.

I really think a lot is less about understanding "Calculus" and more about understanding the specific use of symbols and formula within the context.

So you probably want to look at the equations specific to the type of science that you're interested in, and work backwards to find out what you're missing.

I could be wrong though... Actually I remember a scientific calculator being pretty much required for calculus, but I'm sure a computer can do that... It's been almost 20 years since I did any calculus.

2

crapshoot wrote (edited )

I'd start with set theory or category theory tbh, if you want to be mathematically literate as a whole. Calculus is not a great place to start, and schools mainly rush you towards it as quickly as possible because it's practical or smth

For the habit to be sustainable, you gotta get curious; get to a point where you ask yourself specific questions like "why do functions satisfy the vertical line test rather than the horizontal line test?" For that, you usually have to build up your understanding properly from first principles that formal education skips over to rush you towards a destination for their own agenda.

EDIT: Also check out the pinned video which I assume was down when you checked like it was for me. It doesn't mention calculus, but tbh calculus really doesn't make much sense without real analysis, which is the rigourous treatment of calculus they don't give you in high schools because it's more important for you to 'do' math than 'understand' math :'D

2

Adrian_Riskin wrote

Sorry to bump an old post if that's not the culture here, but if you're still interested in this I highly, highly recommend Michael Spivak's Hitchhiker's Guide to Calculus. There are a lot of visual ideas and cultural stories that mathematicians use when we teach calculus but which never make it into the actual textbooks, but this book has them. He talks extensively about what the formulas represent intuitively rather than just how to use them effectively. It's on Libgen if that's useful.

2

jus74hu3m4n OP wrote

Thank you for your praxis. I'll add this to the books I'm trying to lesrn from :)

2

MountainMan wrote

HEY! I also replaced drinking with a learning addiction. Can't get enough of the shit. I learn from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I learn in social situation where others might not see it as appropriate. Everything I do is ultimately done to feed my learning addiction.

Well, to be honest, learning was my first addiction from childhood, I just stopped for a while in my late teens / early 20s because I was too drunk to do anything. But now I'm back to my normal self.

Calculus is on my roadmap, but to be honest I think I'm more interested in discrete math. Graph theory really calls to me; I want to apply hypergraphs to knowledge-management and game development.

2