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Forty years after high school, I am now asked to teach high school geometry to a kid. Starting this week.
No dusty old books, but fresh PDF books available in the public domain.
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When moving house, I came across my exam papers from my first year at Uni. I didn't understand the words in some of the questions, let alone knowing how to answer them. I didn't even bother looking at the later years.
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I've had similar experiences with calculus and digital control theory. I stumbled onto a library book that is a good alternative to my college books Barron's E-Z Calculus. It's based on a somewhat juvenile story, but it does the job. Having plenty of college calculus in my distant past, this was a great refresher, and I'm sure I learned things I never really understood the first time around. It's an enjoyable approach to getting back up to speed. I've since downloaded a digital version of the book which is a great goto when riding on a plan (when we get to do that again). Good luck.
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I needed a FFT implementation for an AI audio project a few years ago.
Thinking I could do it from the math got me into my old books.
Clapping the first book closed, I sneezed away the dust, and was cured in a hot minute.
CP articles and 3rd party libs are not for the lazy, they're for the pragmatic.
Cheers,
Mike Fidler
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good." Steven Wright
"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met." Also Steven Wright
"I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit, but it wouldn't matter." Steven Wright yet again.
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I've never gone back to my old math books, but I've been absolutely certain that if I tried, I'd find myself to be very, very rusty. It's not like riding a bicycle...
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I assume I still have mine on a shelf somewhere. For me, it is the Anatomy and Physiology books and history books. I find the aches and pains drive me to reinvestigate the names of the muscles that hurt or the battles referenced by politicians in their rambling speeches. When I do pull out a math book, it is driven by the need to calculate the amount of seed needed to seed a lawn or the geometry to calculate the height of a tree.
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I would be in the same place, but had a girlfriend and then my kids who needed help with Calculus, so it's not so dusty. My bugaboo is Quantum Mechanics and Gravitation. I just got a book on Quantum Computing to help me get back into it.
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I recommend going back until you get to the easier stuff.
Remember that "Algebra" was created to simplify calculus (By standardizing many rules/approaches/etc).
By the time I finished Calc 4... My Algebra was pretty IMPRESSIVE. I minored in math, so I kept going. (My last math class: "Concentric Geometries in Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Spaces" is WELL beyond me today, and was a bit of struggle).
Also, bear in mind that we TEACH Calculus at roughly the same speed as it was DEVELOPED. Kinda insane, but not really when you think about it.
University was a Floating IQ Test. Since in the USA, businesses were NOT ALLOWED to test IQs to do their hiring. They used Universities as a proxy. In the end, what you learned was NOT as important as what you chose and how you did when you applied yourself. Interviewers then look for nuances, like how you handle failure, etc. To avoid getting the super-geeky cry babies that don't play well with others (while other companies, like TI, would lap some of those up for fun, LOL).
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"The slope of a curve" haunts me to this day. My book: Forgotten Calculus. I now just watch my dog lean into curves while we're driving.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Down to just my CRC Math Handbook.
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I got rid of my math books decades ago (except for the 16th edition CRC). And wouldn't you know it, I got involved in embedded devices that do a fair amount of audio processing. The DSP coding peaked my interest so I picked up a few books on it (really like the Richard Lyons book!). Was fun to learn new stuff but boy I sure wish I remembered all the math I took in college.
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Nope - Bessel functions are still as meaningless to me now as then, as is the wave-function of a quantum particle constrained to the surface of a sphere (one of the questions in the exam for my second year quantum mechanics course - I was mentally scarred by that...).
Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p
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I recently dug out my Calculus and Linear Algebra books out for my 16 year old who is just starting Calculus this semester with hopes of doing well enough to take Linear Algebra in a year. I looked over the books before I gave them to him and I realize that other than moral support I will be of no help to him in any of his future math. The difference with my experience is an additional 19 years of math memory loss. Glad to have a son who is academically much smarter than the old man, we just need to work on the common sense part of it all.
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I'm afraid that with maths it really is a case of 'use it or lose it'. I'm sure if you persevere then in a few months time it will suddenly seem much easier.
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Oh, yes, I have done that. i was surprised just how much I had forgotten and just how long it is taking to get partly "back into" the Maths....however I am now 72, but that should not be a real problem.
So I am very rusty in Maths and now need to keep reading for the next months to refresh. This will be necessary, since I want to read about AI/ML.
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One man's opinion: The entire problem with collegiate mathematics is contained in this one word...
We don't do enough of it.
I remember my "Pre-Calculus" classs.
Six weeks of Algebra followed by five weeks of Trigonometry.
And then came calculus.
Pig Snot; Totally.
College Algebra should take about fifteen weeks
College Trigonometry should take about the same amount of time.
If the typical science curriculum did that, then Calculus would be fun, fascinating, loved, and cherished for life.
But I'm also a realist.
That will never happen; not on this planet.
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Interpreting Statistics should be a mandatory course for everyone.
It's disturbing how we are so easily swayed through the presentation of stats without context, and how a little understanding would go such a long way towards proper understanding.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Estas Tonne - The Song of the Golden Dragon
Had never heard of him until today. Was going to make a wisecrack about I will never again pick up a guitar in my life, due to being unworthy, but really all I can say is Wow! How had I never heard of him before! Amazing! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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I saw him once live... it is way more impresive than in the video.
I just got this one recommended... a good one too (impressive what two guys are able to do):
Pepe Danza, Estas Tonne and Zola Dubnikova magic Moment - YouTube[^]
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
modified 7-Sep-20 18:06pm.
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Nice one! 
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Good friends are hard to find.
Remember, no matter where you go... there you are.
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... and difficult to leave.
hide n seek might have not started for all those hours. 
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I was the kid that would hide and no one tried to find me, they all went home.
I'm not sure how many cookies it makes to be happy, but so far it's not 27.
JaxCoder.com
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Geez Mike. Nobody around here cares...
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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