> For example, how do you expect to understand how to minimize an utility function if you have no idea of what a gradient is, how you calculate it, and why you want to descend through it.

The course teaches all those things - as the comment you're replying to states, you go deeper and deeper during the course to understand all the details.

There's been a lot of research into teaching strategies that shows that this is often a more effective approach for many people than the bottom up approach widely used in math and CS. It doesn't mean that you learn any less of the foundations - just that it's in a different order.