• @Rognaut
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    495 months ago

    Trig is not bad at all. Couple dozen rules to memorize and you’re golden.

    Now Calculus… Integrals…

    • @[email protected]
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      285 months ago

      The worst part of calc was honestly the rude awakening that my algebra skills needed woooork

      • @[email protected]
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        165 months ago

        Totally agree. The general concept of calculus is pretty straightforward. The implementation of calculus is an exercise of algebra.

    • Liz
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      165 months ago

      Calculus is intuitive and sexy. Linear algebra, on the other hand…

      • @[email protected]
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        125 months ago

        I love linear algebra! It’s one of the coolest and most satisfying maths (for me personally)

        • @pivot_root
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          35 months ago

          Try playing around with GLSL shaders! They’re a fun application of linear algebra and have a satisfyingly quick feedback time.

        • @kurwa
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          25 months ago

          I agree! That was the one class I took where it just all made sense for me.

      • @pivot_root
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        115 months ago

        Hard disagree. Linear algebra can make pretty shapes and colors from a bunch of vertices, while calculus can make you want to quit school and become a plumber.

      • Kogasa
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        115 months ago

        Quoting a relatively famous mathematician, linear algebra is one of the few branches of math we’ve really truly understood. It’s very, very well behaved

          • Kogasa
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            15 months ago

            It wouldn’t have been published, and he’s only relatively famous if you’re a topologist, but it was Charlie Frohman. Not that it must carry the same weight for you, but I value his insight highly, even if it’s just a quip.

      • @[email protected]
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        85 months ago

        I have learned linear algebra in a few different contexts now, and each one I learned made it easier. When I first learned it, it was in a pure maths context and I found it tricky. It began to make more sense in university, when I learned it in the context of x-ray crystallography. I think more so than most topics, linear algebra really needs the context of it’s usefulness for it to really make sense, but also, I think I’d have struggled with the x-ray crystallography if I hadn’t already got a grounding in linear algebra from a pure maths angle.

        • Liz
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          65 months ago

          Yeah I got zero context when I learned linear algebra and it seems everyone here that loves it is pointing to something outside the math itself for why. My brain only knows it as a bunch of nonsense matrix rules you gotta memorize.

          • @captainlezbian
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            35 months ago

            Ok yeah that sounds awful. I was taught it by an engineer and it was great

        • @[email protected]
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          45 months ago

          Statistics truly is god’s work. The petty, sadistic, contradictory god of the bible, that is.

      • @captainlezbian
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        35 months ago

        Linear algebra was so much easier. It’s just vectors

    • @MehBlah
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      25 months ago

      especially that