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Some people like to work their way in reverse. I'd often pick a really complicated subject I'm after like "stellar fusion" and then work my way downwards and learn whatever I need to learn in order to understand it. If I had to start from differential mathematics, without knowing why I need it, I'd probably give up.

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This is the big problem I had with engineering in school, so much was based on faith that you needed it. And just now as I'm writing this, I realized that's completely counter to my personality.

side note: I remember Einstein needed to learn particular math skills to help prove his ideas and sought out to learn it.

Are there any notable teachers who take or have taken this approach?

I can't think of any from my education, everything was bottom up building. But when I self-teach (as it naturally emerges from pursuing projects related to work or hobbies) it's often top down digging.

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