Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Math books

tSuibhne

14:09 / 12.07.02

Earlier this week, I was picking up a book by Rudy Rucker that was in the Math section of the local book shop (as many of his books tend to be) and I noticed all the books trying to teach you different kinds of math.

Since then, I've been thinking about may be picking some of those books up and trying to teach myself different kinds of math.

I acctually took up to Engineering Calc 1 in college, but it was always a matter of learning just enough to pass the class, then forgetting it all.

So what I'm getting at is, does anyone reccomend any good books for teaching yourself math? Any and all forms. Thanks.

Abigail Blue

14:41 / 12.07.02

There used to be a series called The Elements of.... They were wee dark green trade paperbacks, and were very affordable. They also covered just about every area of math in a way which was ideal for home study. I've tried a search for them, but haven't found anything. If you don't mind popping down to your local bookstore and driving the staff crazy by asking for a book by colour, that's what I'd recommend.

Ierne

18:20 / 12.07.02

Wow, serendipity...I've been seriously considering re-learning Math. (Especially since the first time around wasn't all that successful.)

Thanks for starting the thread, tSuibhne.

Chuckling Duck

19:14 / 12.07.02

Unfortunately, I can’t think of a textbook to recommend. For math-based fun, however, I recommend the books of Douglas Hofstadter, especially Godel, Escher, Bach and Metamagical Themas.

Stone Mirror

22:05 / 12.07.02

Not exactly math, per se, but then again not exactly not math--but very, very interesting if you can get through it, as slim as it is--is G. Spencer Brown's Laws of Form...

Spatula Clarke

22:49 / 12.07.02

I was going to suggest having a look at the Open University course texts in your local reference library. The use of the word 'math', however, pretty much screws that idea - you'd have one hell of a job getting them outside of the UK.

The Return Of Rothkoid

00:05 / 15.07.02

I've found Flatland to be pretty neat in explaining dimensions and stuff. It's in story format! It's slightly ropey in some aspects, but is still worth checking out.

I sucked at maths, incidentally.

tSuibhne

19:24 / 15.07.02

I'm less concerned with theory books, like Flatland, and more concerned with text book type stuff. Need a brush up on things like Trig, Calc, Linear Algebra, etc.

Add Your Reply