A math PhD student in my insistute is organizing a reading group

I want matfak to leave

>>8603845
Why do you ask here an not on sci?

>>8604125
Because /sci/ is filled with even more pseuds than lit. Not OP, but I don't really read much literature. I'm mostly into pure-math and linguistics. Nevertheless, I prefer to browse /lit/ because most people on /sci/ seem to be pretentious engineering majors who think they're the shit because they passed Calc III and Differential equations with an 82% and then they shit on stuff like biology because its not a "real science".

>>8603845
>group ablut operads
Until I realized that was a typo I was like wth

I would recommend coming to the reading on its own terms. You may lack motivation now, but when you get into the process you may find it easier.

Operads are way outside of my areas of knowledge but they look interesting.

I don't know fucking anything about math but I want to know about math.

Please explain every single thing about math to me, from learning it as a grown man who forgets how to do long division, to getting up to a college level education in it, to picking a high level specialty, to appreciating mathematical philosophy and the philosophy of math without getting trapped number-crunching primes on computer programs for eternity.

>>8604750
Math major (who dropped out, but that's neither here nor there...)

Think of math as a series of games, each game with its own set of rules and logic.

In lower level math (everything pre-proofs), the boundaries of the games are already set, and you merely have to be smart/creative enough to figure out the correct solutions. With time, you'll get more clarity as to all of the rules of the games, until you get a good grasp of 1) the real number system, 2) the different ways to manipulate numbers, and 3) how simple shapes like circles and triangles play an important role in math.

In higher level math, the "games" are much broader. They're like open-world video games, so to speak: you create some basic rules, but after that, it's a matter of saying, "I think Action X is possible; thus, I want to do it. In order to do Action X, however, I have to prove it's actually possible. So, I must look through my current action-set and determine the way of doing it".

--

Now, all of this might be pointless to you, so it's worth emphasizing this:

You *need* to build the fundamental skills if you plan on gitting gud with math. Learn your multiplication tables, learn fractions, learn long division, learn all that basic shit. And by "learn", I mean, practice that shit, day in and day out (which is what you *should* have been doing in elementary school...).

Because, really, those aren't even parts of the game. They're like the letters of the game. It'd be like saying, "I really wish I could get into lit," while admitting to not knowing/understanding the alphabet. You have to get those basic building blocks -- otherwise, shit's always going to be way too difficult.