I have a very strong background in humanities but I've completed three-year undergraduate course in math. Though I passed it without trouble, I feel like traditional textbooks didn't teach make me understand a lot. What are best math resources (books, but not necessarily) that instead of trying to look like PM read more like literature or work on your intuition and talk about big picture implications instead? Something like Godel, Escher, Bach for various areas of mathematics. [more inside]
posted by desultory_banyan on Sep 27, 2012 - 25 answers

I have forgotten basically all of math, and I want to learn it again from the ground up. [more inside]
posted by showbiz_liz on Oct 19, 2011 - 28 answers

Is it really possible for me, at 42, to increase my IQ/fluid intelligence/learning ability? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 13, 2011 - 30 answers

I have always had difficulty with mathematics. Now I'm in my mid-thirties and have gone back to school to study engineering. Things are not going appreciably better than they did the first time I went to university. What can I do to fill the gaps I have and become a skilled problem-solver? I want to go from being a C to being an A student. [more inside]
posted by rhombus on Mar 24, 2010 - 30 answers

I have always been horrible at math, but somehow a great programmer. I have found that writing a computer program that demonstrates a certain mathematical concept enables me to better understand the concept. I'm a psych major and I brought this up once in the research lab I've been working in. My prof said he recalls that someone did research and/or created a system in which a student writes a computer program that is pertinent to a certain mathematical concept and upon completion is given the regular math problem (as it would appear in a math class). This enables the student to better understand the math problem, solve, and learn math. Has anyone heard of this or anything similar? A learning system such as this would be a blessing to my education. Thanks.
posted by fightoplankton on Apr 13, 2009 - 15 answers

I've just started dating someone who studies serious hardcore applied math. I am a complete and utter math idiot who is lost at anything above multiplication tables. I would like to sort of understand what is going on inside his massive, beautiful brain. Help? [more inside]
posted by logovisual on Sep 11, 2008 - 33 answers

There's a smart freshman who's going to be in my school's Academic Decathlon team next year. However, Academic Decathlon tests over all of high school math, so I ask: How can I teach a fast learner an overview of high school math in around 7 months? [more inside]
posted by LSK on Apr 3, 2008 - 6 answers

Mathfilter: Have you ever found any really, really good explanations of complicated mathematics topics online? Where "good" here gives higher marks for clarity, analogies, examples, and even aesthetics than for strict formal completeness, though that's not taken lightly either. (E.g.) [More inside] [more inside]
posted by tss on Oct 3, 2004 - 8 answers