/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.14816891]

In the 8th grade I was placed in Special Ed for Math because "muh Chicago Public Schools" and it absolutely destroyed my self-esteem. What are some good books or lessons I should start out with so I can learn on my own and try to repair my math skills and confidence?

Also I just wanted to share that this is my first post on /sci/ and that I've never shared this with anyone

[Anonymous No.14816909]

>>14816891
Hey don't worry buddy. Tons of us went to schools that used Core Plus so millions of people learned math in a curricuum barely better than special ed. You're actually fortunate because you have the opportunity to learn math properly without being annoyed that you have to go through a whole middle school textbook to learn the 20% missing from your education.

Buy/download the Art of Problem solving textbooks. They start at like 6th grade and go to calculus. This is how you should have learned math.

[Anonymous No.14816968]

>>14816909

[Anonymous No.14816975]

Basic algebra and calculus doesn’t need a book, it’s like laying a puzzle for the most part, assuming you’re only working with one variable.

You just move the pieces around until you isolate it. Should be easy enough to find practice problems on google or khanacademy or something, there is no neat training camp or secret technique to doing algebra, it’s just practice.

Otherwise just read up on the unit circle and the special triangles, some basic geometry, and complex numbers, and you’re essentially done with high school math and ready for Calc 1

[Anonymous No.14818124]

>>14816975
How long should I spend learning High School Math?

[Anonymous No.14819769]

>>14818124
120 hours. You'll probably get through topics you remember well very quickly, but you might get stumped by (as I did back when I had to relearn algebra) topics that are slightly less intuitive and more reliant on memorizing specific facts.
Cosine and sine functions took a while for me to really understand, and I only accepted complex numbers once I allowed myself to see them simply as they were explained in my math textbook, and not as some kind of otherworldly unimaginable entities.
Even though you can rely on logic to understand many of the basic aspects of basic algebra, there's many tidbits you'll simply have to accept for a while, that you might not understand the reason "why" until much later on. It might not make you comfortable, but you should trust the textbook writers on definitions and methods, at least until you can finally prove that it is the best possible method, or that there is no other method for it.