I posted my "Attitude & Motivation" comment before reading your recent post. It seems we have a lot in common. If true, then I suspect you won't have any problem learning what you need to know. Finding the appropriate starting point will likely be your major hurdle. If you're like me, you'll be impatient, but I've learned it's best to take the time to nail down the fundamentals first.
The quick answer is Schaum's Outlines, which provides comprehensive "outlines" for almost all college courses. Ideally, however, Schaum's works best when you're taking the course concurrently. Regarding the disclipline, however, it's entirely possible progress will be slow unless you first unlearn a few concepts or misconceptions that may be embedded in your psyche.
Because of the way we were first introduced to math both in our secondary schools and by our parents, many have developed mental blocks against ever learning any useful math. It doesn't have to be that way. Like many things, all that is required for progress is a small change of attitude. Specifically:
1. Approach the subject by understanding that math is really just another language. Things start to make sense once you master the vocabulary and the symbolic way of writing declarative sentences. The rules will follow.
2. Accordingly you'll need a good math dictionary. Common words used in conversational English have a much more precise meaning in mathematics. My favorite math dictionary is the classic James & James, but it's fairly expensive compared to others that are targeted more to the non-mathematician.
3. Become motivated. For most of us, math is best learned in the context of our personal interests (e.g., music, science, art, politics, economics, sports, etc.). Self-study is the ideal venue. There are many math books devoted to specific problems in various fields of interest.
4. Pure mathematicians, on the other hand, believe that math has to be divorced from practical applications in order to achieve universal application (that which is true for all situations for all time). The world needs the special intellect belonging to pure mathematicians, but for some reason, most such mathematicians are rather contemptuous of those of a practical nature and have been responsible for a lot of grief. Much woe befalls the physics or engineering student who must take a math course from the mathematics department. So it generally behooves the math student to understand the philosophic proclivities of the teacher/author in order to avoid the arrogant purest whenever possible.
5. Understand that practical people have had an important role in mathematics as well. Historically, much significant math has been developed in response to specific needs. For example, the Calculus (differential and integral) was invented to calculate volumes and areas of irregular shapes; Riemann geometry was developed to deal with the failure of Euclidian geometry for curved space; and Tensor Analysis was extended by Einstein to describe a particular kind of geometric field useful to his theory of General Relativity.
Hope this helps...
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I posted my "Attitude & Motivation" comment before reading your recent post. It seems we have a lot in common. If true, then I suspect you won't have any problem learning what you need to know. Finding the appropriate starting point will likely be your major hurdle. If you're like me, you'll be impatient, but I've learned it's best to take the time to nail down the fundamentals first.
The quick answer is Schaum's Outlines, which provides comprehensive "outlines" for almost all college courses. Ideally, however, Schaum's works best when you're taking the course concurrently. Regarding the disclipline, however, it's entirely possible progress will be slow unless you first unlearn a few concepts or misconceptions that may be embedded in your psyche. Because of the way we were first introduced to math both in our secondary schools and by our parents, many have developed mental blocks against ever learning any useful math. It doesn't have to be that way. Like many things, all that is required for progress is a small change of attitude. Specifically: 1. Approach the subject by understanding that math is really just another language. Things start to make sense once you master the vocabulary and the symbolic way of writing declarative sentences. The rules will follow. 2. Accordingly you'll need a good math dictionary. Common words used in conversational English have a much more precise meaning in mathematics. My favorite math dictionary is the classic James & James, but it's fairly expensive compared to others that are targeted more to the non-mathematician. 3. Become motivated. For most of us, math is best learned in the context of our personal interests (e.g., music, science, art, politics, economics, sports, etc.). Self-study is the ideal venue. There are many math books devoted to specific problems in various fields of interest. 4. Pure mathematicians, on the other hand, believe that math has to be divorced from practical applications in order to achieve universal application (that which is true for all situations for all time). The world needs the special intellect belonging to pure mathematicians, but for some reason, most such mathematicians are rather contemptuous of those of a practical nature and have been responsible for a lot of grief. Much woe befalls the physics or engineering student who must take a math course from the mathematics department. So it generally behooves the math student to understand the philosophic proclivities of the teacher/author in order to avoid the arrogant purest whenever possible. 5. Understand that practical people have had an important role in mathematics as well. Historically, much significant math has been developed in response to specific needs. For example, the Calculus (differential and integral) was invented to calculate volumes and areas of irregular shapes; Riemann geometry was developed to deal with the failure of Euclidian geometry for curved space; and Tensor Analysis was extended by Einstein to describe a particular kind of geometric field useful to his theory of General Relativity. Hope this helps ...