Re-learn the math I forgot from school, and learn how to do math I never learned in the past

This is becoming ever more urgent as I find myself forgetting more and more maths! And the baseline was not great to start with!

I thought that this would be one of my priorities for a while, but then I got caught up in other projects and all that… So I’ll have to postpone this goal semi-indefinitely. I do want to make some progress on this before I start college, though. So I’ll leave it on my list as a reminder. :)

My boyfriend let me borrow this book for a while—he got about halfway through it before he got caught up in other things, but he really liked it.

So far I like it, too, even though it was written in 1942. But that actually adds to it, since he talks about adding machines and other old stuff. It’s fun! :)

It covers stuff from arithmetic to calculus, with some interesting math history thrown in. This isn’t a math textbook, though; it’s written in a conversational tone, explaining math in a simple and approachable way. I don’t know how thorough it is, but so far it looks like an excellent overview/introduction to math.

I know it can be interesting, but there was no way I’d be able to enjoy math while I learned it in school.

Before I even start learning math, I’m reading about math in general—just a little refresher course. I’ll be writing an introduction to math on my blog soon (see my profile), and I want to explore the reasons why people don’t like it.

So, to anyone reading: have you ever hated or feared math? If so, why?

Also, do you have any suggestions for how I should go about learning math on my own?

I have shelves of textbooks sitting around. Multiple calculus, algebra, trig, stats, math for elementary school teachers. Several on topology, discrete math, complex analysis…

Most are subjects I took in college (though most aren’t the books I used), but not all.

I really do intend to redo my linear algebra stuff sometime. That was my favourite math course because it all fit together so coherently, the way math really is supposed to. It’s the opposite of statistics.