Because of my experience [1], I have an entirely different approach to learning mathematics as a developer. The "do the normal track and suck it up approach."
This should be a blog post, but I don't have a blog and don't have the time to edit a story that nicely.
1.5 years before graduation, I couldn't handle advanced math anymore and I flunked the year. The next year I transferred to an easier math curriculum and have been coasting ever since. Even in my CS degree courses they never taught us linear algebra and calculus (I did learn graph theory, that was hard).
I didn't regret this decision of not studying maths for more than a decade, until a few months ago. I am noticing that my solid fundamental progress of mathematics has stopped in high school, learning graph theory was more about passing the course.
But now I want to join the conversation in math. So time to change that.
My method:
I am using the book of Haese & Harris IB HL. It's the most advanced high school math book for international students. I am now up to chapter 6 (complex numbers).
And Wow! THIS IS AWESOME! :D
Maths is just like software engineering, or at least algebra is.
I'm having tons of fun, who knew? I really didn't. I think it's because my approach to math is really different than when I was young.
Every time when I freak out, I use my programmer instincts to treat math as a 'best practices software system for numbers' and that mentality really helps.
A couple of examples:
1. I found ways to 'debug' algebraic applications (rewrite them in R and see if the evaluated value stays correct) which means I always know at which step I went wrong with my thinking,
2. I can use variables/abstract things away for a little while (grouping math expressions to letters),
3. My understanding about looping is useful (summations).
It's insane how much programmer instincts maps to mathematics. It's not fully 1 to 1, but it helps a lot more than it harms.
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I'm still looking for a math tutor/coach. So if someone feels bored, or if you just want to discuss math and software engineering. Hit me up (my email is in my profile)!
[1] I tried to read the no bullshit guide to linear algebra. That was not a nice experience at all. Reading an actual high school textbook is a much better experience.