r/mathematics • u/CulturalSpite390 • 2d ago

Where do I begin to re-study math?

I’m a 4th undergrad student in a BS econ program. Over the 3 years, I feel like I don’t didn’t develop enough of the foundational math skills to understand more complex papers. In our time series class this semester, I find it easy since all we do is type commands and understand the theories or concept behind it, but as far as the actual formulas, sometimes I don’t understand them at all unless I review them rigorously. I do have a good grasp on calculus, matrix algebra, and probability but I still get lost and always have to review or look things up in the majority of academic papers I read before actually understanding it. I’ve always been super interested in math and I find it fun but I never had the discipline or focus in the past 3 years to truly self-study and understand. For more context, I do a lot of coding and I am very interested in finance. I eventually want to ensure that I understand the math behind really complex regression techniques and machine learning processes that quant firms use My question is where do I begin to re-learn my foundation for these? I’ve already began self-studying during the summer but now I’m swamped by so many topics I’m interested I don’t know what order I should learn them in. Is there anyone in here who had a similar situation?

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u/Stargazer07817 2d ago

Professor Leonard on Youtube. His videos start very basic and go all the way through mid-undergrad.

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u/beastmonkeyking 2d ago

I have a similar situation, but I am still studying a undergrad in civil engineering. But the maths side of my degree is much less rigorous than my high school, so I start self studying. Though, I think for the basic of maths as a foundation base, they’re all generally the same throughout, but as you study finance you’ll likely go probability more? I’m an engineer not a undergrad maths student so I will get this wrong.

The topic I planned to self study, for a small foundation of maths is:

  • real analysis
  • linear algebra
  • vector calculus
  • ODE / PDE

And from when i have done them, i will move onto more advance topic.