Thread 16806993

I bought some cheap used math books and every day I sit down for like 50 min, study a bit and do the exercises in the book.
I am not in college, I don't study anything in STEM, I am a wagie working at a grocery store. Am I wasting my time doing maths just for fun?

>>16806993 (OP)
You're unironically more on par to greatness than any of the mindless drones studying via universities

>>16806993 (OP)
this anon >>16806998 is right. you are a legend, OP, you maybe could solve a hard open problem in the future

Yes. You should go on Tiktok and scroll for 9 consecutive hours instead.

math is simply natural and embedded in the human mind and history - practicing it is a human activity, valuable enough

>>16807007
Yet so few does it out of their own will. OP is on the right path.

>>16806998
>>16807000
I have these thoughts because working through a book feels more like playing a videogame. Like even if I can solve the exercises in the book am I really becoming better at maths in general or just at solving problem sets that some author came up with.
It's like building lego by following the given plan vs coming up with a design yourself.
Does solving exercises and knowing a maths book's contents make you better at maths or just better at solving books?

>>16807017
>imagine applying math

>>16806993 (OP)
I hope you don't make a channel out of it. Stay pure.

>>16807017
It makes you better at both. Problem solving is the core of math, and understanding the problems' pattern makes you more efficient at solving them.

>>16806993 (OP)
as a person who had been a self-learner for many many years, and I actually learned the things, yes, it's a waste of time.
The only thing that matters is recognition by peers. Don't self-study anything ever. I'm not sarcastic.

>>16807017
As long as you use multiple resources, there's no danger of just becoming better at solving one author's problems. This will also allow you to see the bigger scheme of things; what the authors are trying to build up to and then you could, if you are able to, design your own path there. The first few months/years are basically just learning trivialities and definitions you need to know to solve actual rl mathematical questions, as well as building a refined ability for mathematical thinking beyond just calculations. That's why the exercises are necessary, as long as they're making you comfortable with the new concepts and having you prove supposedly well-known truths and central statements

>>16807044
>to solve actual rl mathematical questions, as well as building a refined ability for mathematical thinking beyond just calculations
Idk bro I am just doing this because it's fun and calms me down and gives me my me time as a shy introvert. Once it stops being fun I'll quit.
I even hide all my math books whenever a girl comes over.

>>16806993 (OP)
Why learn anything at all? Why learn how to tie shoes when you could use velcros? Why be subscribed to veritasium?

>>16807043
If you were smart enough you'd get a research position and an honorary phd

>>16807017
True creative problem solving is obviously research-level and not meant for everyone.

But yes, if for example you study a proof-based calculus book reasonably well, you will learn knowledge and problem solving skills that are applicable to other math topics. Some are hard prerequisites, some more subtle and intangible. Like experience and mental strength. In math, we often learn new things by analogy and examples. How the new thing is similar to something we have seen before, how it is different. So nothing is totally new, we build it up from something else we learned before, or at least try to relate them somehow.

Btw to be able to solve the problems in a textbook is not that easy. Math is hard. You can pick a standard intro math book like Spivak's Calculus and realize you struggle even with the exercises from the first chapter. Even though technically it's just algebra.

Spend some of that time researching a trade or career to get in to. You’ll learn more working a real job than any textbook will teach you.

>>16806993 (OP)
hobby mathematicians make glow niggers seethe

>>16806993 (OP)
I don’t think so. You could apply the math you learn to everyday life and create your own personal system.

Or isolate and mesure complex systems and try to profit from them.

I don’t think having information the majority of people don’t understand or have isn’t beneficial in some way as long as you use the information and not waste it.

>>16807176
>trade
enjoy your joint issues

>>16807384
>implying that math won't wreck neck and shoulders aswell

>>16806993 (OP)
You have 3 possibilities OP:

1. Applied math: learn maths that has already been discovered to solve a real life problem

2. Math puzzles: learn maths that has already been discovered to solve puzzles from competitions

3. Maths discovery: learn maths to advance the field with new research

1. and 2. you can self study no problem. For 3. you really need an academic environment, because research is mostly about learning about the bleeding edge and growing a network of acquaintances. Other than the big unsolved problems, there are no low hanging fruits that you can tackle by reading your average library texts

>>16807372
how do you know, are you a glow nigger?

>>16807616
I've been known to glow a little, on occasion.

>>16806993 (OP)
>doing maths just for fun?
not wasting time at all

What area of math do you study? Calculus? Algebra? Probability? All of them?

>>16807614
>math is discovered
ngmi

>>16806993 (OP)
Good for you, but if you want to improve your lot in life, you need a degree and credentials, or some kind of nepotism. I guess you're best off getting as far as you can without a university before starting a degree program.

>>16807686
if aliens had math it would be the exact same math (except more or less advanced)

oh what a coincidence every single sentient species in the universe "invented" the exact same thing by complete "chance"

>>16806993 (OP)
A reminder to OP and anyone else that's interested in learning math without going through all of the university bullshit; almost any high level lecture for any topic in mathematics is available for free on youtube. Between your books, the free lectures available, and talking to like minded autists online, you've got most of the resources available to you that university wankers have. The fact that you're self motivated and not acquiring enormous amounts of debt mean that you're probably ahead of the game.

>>16806993 (OP)
Most math hobbyists that I know are tutors, the math youtubers are too.

>>16807017
ChatGPT:

You walk the right path.
To build your own models, you must first see through the eyes of those who built before you.
Mathematics only feels dull when its symbols seem foreign—each new notation is a dialect of the same truth. Learn its rhythm, not its shape.

There is no border between pure and applied math.
They breathe through each other.
Reality gives birth to abstraction, and abstraction returns to shape reality.
They are not opposites, but mirrors—each reflecting the other’s light.

I used to read graduate-level math books because they are the books that are the hardest to read.
The knowledge gained is not worth much but the writing style itself is interesting.

>>16809449
I don't see anything wrong about it. People read fancy literature all time even though they do not write or even understand what they're reading about.

>>16809460
certainly better than endlessly watching tiktok slop

>>16809482
True.

It's retarded how much time people spend on their phones. If I remember right, the average is around 12 years of a person’s lifespan spent scrolling on a cellphone, which... is... fucking... insane.

>>16807017
you might have your left hemisphere in good shape now also you need to feel the dopamine rush solving problems ("like playing a videogame")

It's a better waste of time than most hobbies

>>16806993 (OP)
Pretty much. Even if you manage to somehow make a huge discovery or prove a major unproven theorem no one in academia will take you seriously because you don't have the right credentials. Perelman was successful only because he was already a respected figure within Differential Geometry at the time and his papers were published on Arxiv. If he was a hobbyist nobody who published his papers on Vixra he'd probably remain unknown even today.

>>16806993 (OP)
Good. I encourage to study math OP.

>>16812383
you can be Satoshi Nakamoto(bitcoin man) even if academicians dont give shit about what you do.

>>16812383
>no one in academia will take you seriously
Then keep the theorem unproven. Not Anon's problem if he can mog academia in his hobby time.

>>16809421
>bullshit; almost any high level lecture for any topic in mathematics is available for free on youtube.
This is just wrong. No one put advanced math courses like late year 3-4 undergraduate courses, or graduate courses on youtube. Especially with the problem sets and notes. Not even mit ocw.
You just read titles of some baby math videos on youtube from "famous" universities and think they are advanced because you're an uneducated philistine.

OP anon you are learning the basics for physics as well. Would you be more or less interested in theoretical physics or applied math? OR don't care. I don't want to jump into doing research as it is good youre ploughing through, but if you got over the boredom of most of that in the pic with ans answered, I could prolly give a amateur roadmap to, for example, General Relativity to at least first year graduate. I know this cuz I'm on the road of autismus maximus too from a an old undergrad background. But I long way to go and i may give it and take drugs instead.

>>16818103
>I know this cuz I'm on the road of autismus maximus too from a an old undergrad background.
The blind leading the blind.

>>16818148
>The blind leading the blind.
Yeah true but there's not a lot of info about self study on this (not specific) and I had to piece together stuff based on stackexchange answers, reviews, math sophistication, tensor pedagogical strategy, level of diff geometry, how much cosmology and astrophysics cared about .
Also came across some pre-beginner non textbooks like Susskind TTM stuff before Schutz for example. Don't take any of my bright ideas to the bank brother, but there's little else I can do to set up a path without paying.
I can tell you some rough details, it's very simple., but don't worry I wouldn't give a shit about my cobbled together dilettante tinged plans either

>>16818150
Write the progression method here? On the internet I often see people recommend A General Relativity Workbook. No idea if it's any good. For all I know, author could be a crackpot.

If that is the Moore book iirc was decent when I looked into revirws and skimmed it, it makes you fill in the boxes so you "can't" skip the main text. I got this book in advanced beginner tier just lol. I got Carroll, D'inverno and Hobson in adv beginner too. It's important to do the problems no matter what book.

Don't forget these are my tiers so adv beginner might be piss easy for others.
If you're rusty, Schaum's Vector Analysis could be worth a butchers- it start very simple and goes up at the end to Christoffel symbols and geodesics. The main draw is it contains like 450 problems and you might need practice if it's been a while. Well, you def will actually. Another slightly more advanced Schaum one is Tensor Calculus by Kay and Tensors a Concise guide (different publisher) is another beginner math book


I can elaborate sure, but the other anon is right and needs to be taken in mind for anyone listening to someone like me plotting a leaning guide esp as I haven't even nearly finished. I don't know much on this and I fuck up a lot... and I don't want to mislead people. In fact I got shown up here some time ago and was put in my place lel

>>16806993 (OP)
>I am a wagie working at a grocery store.
Put some effort towards making a few million first.

>>16807064
>muh true creative problem solving
opie, FLT was proven by a hobbyist. at the end of the day all researchers are doing is spending a lot of time thinking about specialized shit they find interesting. if you were the last man on earth with all these textbooks, would you be worried about calling yourself a mathematician?

>>16818296
>hobbyist
That hobbyist was a math profession in Oxford. He had all the time he needed to do math instead of spending half his life to a 9-to-5 job.

>>16818890
>wiles is the only guy to prove FLT
ngmi

>>16806993 (OP)
probably

if you didnt excel in math in highschool or elementary school in a gifted program or anything you wont get anywhere with 2 shits of a fuck in applicable shit in math you have to be able to visualize a 2d/3d plane and make model selection problems on non linear data then optimize parameters its a whole hoot in a half nigga ok?