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Konkvistador comments on Discuss: How to learn math? - Less Wrong Discussion

12 [deleted] 09 October 2010 06:07PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 09 October 2010 07:02:33PM 14 points [-]

Self-teaching math is a skill in itself. The hardest thing is to recognize what it feels like to be confused, and to attack the source of your confusion (it's way too easy to think "meh, this makes sense" when it doesn't.)

Read with a notebook, like a monk, copy things down as you go. When you finish a book you should have a (somewhat paraphrased/shortened) copy of your own. Do the exercises if there are any (yeah, this will make you feel stupid. The more you can face this feeling, the more math you'll know.)

Comment author: [deleted] 10 October 2010 05:07:25PM 1 point [-]

Do the exercises if there are any (yeah, this will make you feel stupid. The more you can face this feeling, the more math you'll know.)

This.

I would also recommend studying the proofs and making sure one is capable of proving a few key concepts in different ways.