Learning math as an adult

The Coffee Shop
1

I want to become more literate in math.

I haven’t had any refreshers since college calculus, stats, and a few econometric and economic math courses. Since then, it’s just been googling something in order to help one of my kids out with homework.

Any thoughts on where to start and the resources available? I’m thinking that I’d start again from algebra 1 and 2, geometry, trig, and calculus, and using teacher versions of textbooks, so that I can see all the answers in the appendix instead of just selected ones. I suspect that I can rush through some topics but may need to send more time here and there on others.

I know there are some math nerds here who may have some insight. Thanks.

2

For the basic courses, I recommend looking at your local community college.

For the more advanced stuff, MIT has a fantastic online program:

https://openlearning.mit.edu/

It’s even free if you just want to audit a class and don’t need any kind of certificate/degree.

3

I will admit I don’t know it in great detail, but Khan Academy Math seems to provide a pretty stepwise and comprehensive online curriculum. Unless you really want the textbook route, to scribble in margins and flip back and forth?

4

I think this could work – community college or online – but once I’ve come up to speed.

I was thinking that with the preliminary courses, such as algebra, geometry, trig, and even calculus, are things I could do on my own with the right text or workbook, since that would give me the ability to go at my own pace and skip over topics I already remember.

Thanks

5

My undergraduate is Applied Mathematics so I’m not in your shoes, and I don’t consider myself a maths nerd, but in my down time I spend a lot of on YouTube watching Mind Your Decisions.

6

I agree Khan Academy is really good for self learning. It’s all free and has exercises and quizzes.

I wish Youtube and Khan Academy had existed when I was going to school. It’s probably better than most teachers at learning the basics. Kids today totally take it for granted, but it really is incredible the level of education you can get for free if you’re self motivated.

7

Any particular reason?

I had a choice to read either maths, sciences, engineering, philosophy or law at university. Maths was my strongest subject. But in adult life I have not found much use for calculus or higher mathematics. I’ve found geometry, trig and arithmetic to be sufficient, with the very occasional dabble into summing series. The most I’ve had to dip back into that world was to help one of our daughters with her end of school maths at 18 yo.

Off the back of that I dug out from my parents’ house the maths papers I had been doing when I was 18. My God - I simply could not now begin to follow what I had been able to do then. I might as well have been looking at something written by aliens. But as I say, forgetting those skills isn’t something that’s held me back in adult life, so I’m wondering why you’d want to do this, other than because it’s there.

8

I will admit I don’t know it in great detail, but Khan Academy Math seems to provide a pretty stepwise and comprehensive online curriculum. Unless you really want the textbook route, to scribble in margins and flip back and forth?

plus 1

9

I will admit I don’t know it in great detail, but Khan Academy Math seems to provide a pretty stepwise and comprehensive online curriculum. Unless you really want the textbook route, to scribble in margins and flip back and forth?

Kahn Academy videos are really procedural. I’d advise against them because it reinforces math as memorize how to do stuff rather than as a body of knowledge that makes sense and has meaning.

I’ll get hate for saying this, but remember I do this professionally and have a lot more knowledge about it than almost anyone else here - I’d find some Common Core aligned teacher edition textbooks. The common core standards really are very good. Materials based on them aren’t perfect (they had to be made too quickly), but they’re a shift away from math as a collection of procedures like you learned in school. They focus more on sensemaking, why things are the way they are, and meaning. That’s what you want.

10

No hate. I genuflect to you.

You have practical and a priori knowledge. :slight_smile:

11

Why is maths plural?

The people from my land always just called it math.

Does “maths” more accurately describe the multiple maths that people study? If so, why don’t we call history education “histories”? Or art education “arts”? Or law school should be called “laws school.”

12

Why is maths plural?

The people from my land always just called it math.

Does “maths” more accurately describe the multiple maths that people study? If so, why don’t we call history education “histories”? Or art education “arts”? Or law school should be called “laws school.”

mathematics (plural) → maths

helps if you want to sound pretentious and/or British

13

Why is maths plural?

The people from my land always just called it math.

Does “maths” more accurately describe the multiple maths that people study? If so, why don’t we call history education “histories”? Or art education “arts”? Or law school should be called “laws school.”

mathematics (plural) → maths

helps if you want to sound pretentious and/or British

Exactly right, on all points.

Btw, I am British all the time, and pretentious some of the time.

14

Why is maths plural?

The people from my land always just called it math.

Does “maths” more accurately describe the multiple maths that people study? If so, why don’t we call history education “histories”? Or art education “arts”? Or law school should be called “laws school.”

mathematics (plural) → maths

helps if you want to sound pretentious and/or British

That’s interesting, and I will think about it.

I feel like we fought the American revolution so we wouldn’t have to call it maths. 1776!

15

1776!

That’s a really big number.