Calculus I/II - Advice?

[xicovu]

I am very intimidated by math. I've also very good a coding so I think I'm wired to be good at it. I need some advice/reassurance about taking these two.
I have to take PreCalculus to get an AS for sure. If I want to move on to an BS Electronics Engineering I'll need Calculus 1&2.

How have you guys done with learning upper math? I'm going from maybe College level algebra, and rusty at that. Khan academy seem like it could be a good source before jumping into Straighter Line or Saylor kind of courses.

[armstrongsubero]

My advice will be to Practice. Practice. Practice. Nothing else will help you learn math. Math is a skill you must practice to learn.

People like Khan academy, I however prefer professor Leonard from youtube. The guy is awesome.

Before you do anything with Professor Leonard in Calc check out 'Highlights of Calculus' by Gilbert Strang on youtube as well.

If you Algrbra is rusty, check out "MyWhyU" on youtube.

Good 'coder' funny. Please don't use that word lol. 'Coding' has nothing to do with math. Its just a tool to express your ideas.

However, if you learn math you can become an excellent programmer. Forget the web monkeying crap I mean AI, Robotics, Embedded Systems and all the fun stuff.

If suggest you take Linear Algebra as well, its indispensible Gilbert Strang has a good book on the subject along with the book 'The No BS guide to linear algebra'.

Electronics Engineering? Or Electronics Engineering Technology? They're both very different things.

[xicovu]

My advice will be to Practice. Practice. Practice. Nothing else will help you learn math. Math is a skill you must practice to learn.

People like Khan academy, I however prefer professor Leonard from youtube. The guy is awesome.

Before you do anything with Professor Leonard in Calc check out 'Highlights of Calculus' by Gilbert Strang on youtube as well.

If you Algrbra is rusty, check out "MyWhyU" on youtube.

Good 'coder' funny. Please don't use that word lol. 'Coding' has nothing to do with math. Its just a tool to express your ideas.

However, if you learn math you can become an excellent programmer. Forget the web monkeying crap I mean AI, Robotics, Embedded Systems and all the fun stuff.

If suggest you take Linear Algebra as well, its indispensible Gilbert Strang has a good book on the subject along with the book 'The No BS guide to linear algebra'.

Electronics Engineering? Or Electronics Engineering Technology? They're both very different things.

I slightly disagree with the coding part. I hold my own with my CompSci teammates. Reading a coffee table book called "A tour of the Calculus" that gave a birds  view, and I could imagine all of the concepts as software development concepts. Data structures and Cryptography also help. Obviously it barely explain Calculus but it all made sense if I related it that way. To me it's just hard to see what a formula/equation is all saying then it is understanding what is going on conceptually. Building algorithms in Python or Java or C negates the "mess" of the math.

It's Electronics Engineering Technology, ABET certified program, but not the full Electrical\Electronics engineering. I'm coming from a 8 years IT Systems+DevOps. EMC used to sell 2ExB of storage to Apple iCloud and I was Ops. Now I work with mining Automation Control Systems/SCADA/PLCs but more from the Server/network infrastructure side. Our role would ideally be 50-50 IT/EET and having an ABET-EET that can work with onsite electricians and communicate directly with EE & IT Sys folks would be awesome. I don't think I'll be using tons and tons of higher math like an EE would as I'm mostly in the trenches.

Honestly I'm betting I'll need to start at College or Intermediate algebra. I've bookmarked most of what you've given me. Any good books/workbooks for Calc you'd recommend? I think I can handle the algebra for the AS Electronics/Electrics. I don't want to enroll in an EET program until I know I can handle the math. I'd also like to know a time frame to expect to finish Calc I/II after I'm at a pre-Calc level, but that's definitely specific to me and not something that is really advisable I imagine.

[armstrongsubero]

You misinderstand me my friend. I mean coding ability had nothing to do with math skills. Just as CS is not the same as programming. In fact if you read my latest book you'll get a lot of insight into these ideas. I teach mainly DSA but also a lot of CS concepts without any programming whatsoever:

https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484257241

Reading a book on math and not practicing is like reading a book on tennis or basketball, you may be able to talk about some concepts but when it comes down to it, you have to play basketball to do slam dunk.

Math is not like english or history you MUST practice math to be good at math. 'Coding' espeically the coding you do in IT requires little if any math. Many web devs, DBA and Dev Ops guys suck at math, you're a living example.

Disagree all you want OP if you and a Comp Sci teammate had to learn about inverse kinematics and pose estimates or design a neural network, the diffference in skill will be apparent.

You are also wrong about the algorithms part. Buy my book, you'll learn a lot and clear up all those misconceptions you have. I promise.

Oh the 1001 calculus problems for dummies definately, if you do most of the problems in that book you'll be a force to be reckoned with.

I told you start with 'MyWhyU' on youtibe. Professor Von Shmohawk will teach you algebra in a more fun way than that monontonous guy on Khan Academy.

[xicovu]

You misinderstand me my friend. I mean coding ability had nothing to do with math skills. Just as CS is not the same as programming. In fact if you read my latest book you'll get a lot of insight into these ideas. I teach mainly DSA but also a lot of CS concepts without any programming whatsoever:

https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484257241

Reading a book on math and not practicing is like reading a book on tennis or basketball, you may be able to talk about some concepts but when it comes down to it, you have to play basketball to do slam dunk.

Math is not like english or history you MUST practice math to be good at math. 'Coding' espeically the coding you do in IT requires little if any math. Many web devs, DBA and Dev Ops guys suck at math, you're  a living example.

Disagree all you want OP if you and a Comp Sci teammate had to learn about inverse kinematics and pose estimates or design a neural network, the diffference in skill will be apparent.

You are also wrong about the algorithms part. Buy my book, you'll learn a lot and clear up all those misconceptions you have. I promise.

Oh the 1001 calculus problems for dummies definately, if you do most of the problems in that book you'll be a force to be reckoned with.

I told you start with 'MyWhyU' on youtibe. Professor Von Shmohawk will teach you algebra in a more fun way than that monontonous guy on Khan Academy.

https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484257241 I'm impressed! I'll buy it just cause you've given me good info

I do believe that once I get over this mental hurdle I've got going on I'll be pretty good at it. Dyslexia problem more than anything else. If I have to spend 6 months doing nothing but Calc I + II so be it. I'll get do play with machine learning and (real) data science instead of pre-canned "data analytics"

I think your book description gets the point across. I've got it ordered! Thank you. One question, mostly for curiosities sake. Going back to the CS with no programming, could you learn Calculus or other higher level concepts using mostly programming to learn them?

[armstrongsubero]

The closest thing you can get to learning math through programming like that is project Euler:

https://projecteuler.net/

Be minded its a hard hard road. You'll have to do a lot of research. I started it and some problems take me days lol.

Just practice the math OP. You'll feel so accomplished knowing you conquered calculus.

[xicovu]

The closest thing you can get to learning math through programming like that is project Euler:

https://projecteuler.net/

Be minded its a hard hard road. You'll have to do a lot of research. I started it and some problems take me days lol.

Just practice the math OP. You'll feel so accomplished knowing you conquered calculus.

Yes, definitely, because there are a lot of paths I didn't take (ie Computer Science or EET) because I was intimidated.

I have no interest in putting that much work, but the concept of your book intrigued me and wondered if it could apply to math with code as opposed to code with English. It looks a lot like "A Tour of the Calculus" but for Data Structures & Algorithms.

https://www.amazon.com/Tour-Calculus-Dav...192&sr=8-1
That book definitely started me on the path the just doing it finally.

[davewill]

Get the answer manual for the textbook you're using. The answer manual will have the actual steps to do the problems, not just the answers. Big help when you run into problems that are not explained in the text. It will only have the evens just as the text will have the simple answers to the evens in the back.

[armstrongsubero]

Thats why I like the 1001 problems for dummies book. The majority of the book concentrates on answers and gives an explanation as well. The book is like 600+ pages and answers start at page 125. So you get decent practice and answers.

As a bonus its written by PatrickJMT who also give excellent math tutorials on Youtube. He is ome of the best math tutors on youtube.

[bjcheung77]

For math, I would recommend moving from Basic College Math up to Calculus II at StraighterLine. This is how I would do it if I had to start from scratch. Use tutorials from Khan Academy, Youtube, and free textbooks on OpenStax.org - from Pre-algebra, Stats, Calculus. I like to be frugal and start with cheap/free, but will pay for courses that grant me credits. Try Saylor/ALEKS.

But, I also recommend "paying" for the courses to get credits or to review. For cheap/free - All the Math/Stat courses from ModernStates.org - Then take Calculus I/II from StraighterLine to cement your knowledge in the subject. All in all - practice is what will help you perfect (or at least know more about each subject better). If you need more courses in math, then take the ones on Study.com that don't duplicate your credits.