It's been 18 years since I've had to do any maths beyond the basics, that was just some trig to do coordinate conversions. Most of the code I've written since uni has been information systems, not mathmatical in nature. I'd love to try my hand at interesting problems, a bit of ML, stats, probability, perhaps simulation or signal processing, and some electronics. But I feel like a carpenter who's forgotten how to use his saw.
I'd really like to regain what I've lost, and perhaps advance a bit more from A-level (that's the 16-18 qualification in the UK). I know I can learn it, I did before.
What are good resources for re-learning maths? I have two small kids so I'd like to find something structured that I can do a little at a time in the evenings, a good book with exercises or an online course would be great.
One of my favorite resources: Professor Leonard. He has videos of him teaching everything from pre-algebra through calc III, statistics, and differential equations. He's planning a linear algebra sequence soon'ish as well.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHhuummRZaIVX7bD4t2czg
Then there is Gilbert Strang:
linear algebra - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL221E2BBF13BECF6C
calculus - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBE9407EA64E2C318
Others:
ProfRobBob - https://www.youtube.com/user/profrobbob
3blue1brown - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw
Organic Chemistry Tutor (not just "organic chemistry"!) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEWpbFLzoYGPfuWUMFPSaoA
(could also be useful if you actually did mean "meths" and not "maths")
And, of course, there is always Khan Academy.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Problem-Solving-Vol-Basics/dp/097...
Maybe looking around for these kinds of refreshers rather than discrete textbooks in their own right is your best bet? I know that I encountered analysis paralysis when trying to re-learn "everything" from the ground up, and got nowhere as the information wasn't curated enough for my needs.
Barring this, I found the "MathIsFun" to be the best all-round resource for grokking foreign math concepts.
One thing that stuck out to me is that there are so many great YouTube videos on virtually any subject. Back in the day you were stuck with your textbook and if you, like me, were stuck with a less than stellar teacher, a lot of things didn't stick. I have an identical twin brother, but we had different teachers and took different classes from middle school on. My brother was excelling at maths, I was faltering. My brother flunked french, it was my favorite subject. The only variable here is the teacher: my maths teacher was widely regarded as a boring, old and uninspiring man. My brother's maths teacher actually cared about you grasping the subject. Same way around with our french teachers.
* Basic Mathematics by Serge Lang
* Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus Thompson
Then try a DIY bootcamp in the spirit of Harvard Math 55. If you are interested in continuous math:
* Vector Calculus by Hubbard & Hubbard
If you are interested in discrete mathematics and computation:
* Logic in Computer Science by Huth & Ryan
"No Bullshit Guide to Math and Physics"
I would literally go back as far as necessary (2nd grade/form even) until you find math that isn't challenging, but still takes mental effort to remember. For example, do you remember fractions? exponents? If not completely, go back and re-learn them.
Then progress grade by grade will go much much quicker than the first time you learned them. Khan Academy is a good help.
Someone else mentioned drills and Schaum's. I second that. Drilling is even more necessary as one gets older (I say this as an oldster.)
Once you've exhausted grade-school math, you would be ready for some of the other suggestions listed by others.
Two main reasons why it's better than other resources for your use case:
- it covers everything from pre-school arithmetic all the way up to multivariable calculus. This means that you can pick up from the level that you're comfortable at and build up from there
- Sal (who delivers most of the tutorials) teaches in a very approachable way and doesn't mind overexplaining basic things that university lectures tend to skim over
Once you're past Khan Academy, you can get some undergraduate/postgraduate lectures from MIT or just textbooks if you're interested in more rigorous treatment of mathematics or more advanced subfields.
Caveat: only viewed it briefly until now.
Last I saw, it was part of Wolfram, though maybe independent earlier.
Check the About page for a good overview.