Is it possible for a person with an Internet connection to become

you''d have more success locking yourself inside a library. internet leads to procrastination.

>>8337031
True.

But let's assume that this person had excellent focus and willpower... How far do you think he could get in his study of mathematics?

>>8337062
i am that person
not far, senpai; you'll never discover anything new, just constantly play catch-up against people who died centuries or decades ago

yes but once you get past calc 2 it will get very hard to find collective resources

If you forget to buy hotpockets it could set you back an hour.

You could position yourself to learn a lot, but you'd have problems when it comes to journal access. You can find some online, but it would be more sporadic.

It seems the best way to go about it is to use the online resource of your liking, and accompany it with a textbook.

>>8337031
I can confirm this

>>8337062
The other problem is creating a lesson plan for yourself. I guess MIT materials might help with that.

>>8337026
I mean you can learn graduate level courses like algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, etc, but being able to contribute original research to a field would probably require an adviser who works in that field to introduce you to the contemporary literature on that topic.

You might be able to figure it out on your own with stuff like arixv but I haven't heard on many people doing it.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. A lot of good insights.

I should have specified that I'm not aspiring to make any groundbreaking discoveries in mathematics; I was just wondering how far I could expect to get without signing up for classes at a college.

I do want to get a bachelor's degree, but I don't have the money right now... So what I planned to do is get really good at math on my own time so that when I do take these math classes, I can blast right through them.

>>8337031
>Internet leads to 4chan.org
FTFY

>>8338312 continued:

* Not a bachelor's degree in math, but in a field that will require at least a few math classes.

>>8337026
>>8338312
Use the internet to see which textbooks are recommended for whichever field you're interested in and download them

Of course it's possible, why wouldn't it be? It's not even so much about intelligence as it's about your mentality. You can't back off, you can't escape, you need to face all kind of extremely overwhelming problems all on your own. You will constantly question yourself. See all those threads about people who think they don't have what it takes to become good at science or maths? It will be far worse for you. People who go to a proper university have all kind of comparisions and a lot of fellow students that are of varying quality. Even if they're fucked up they have all kind of possibilities to recover just because of their enviroment. You on the other hand will be consumed, maybe even go full depression if you don't have a strong mentality.

If you can break trough the first year successfully you should have the mentality to make it. The first undergrad year in math in my university breaks around 80% of newcomers for example.

>>8338332
This is basically the life of most artists.

>>8338336
It's the life of everything challenging you do on your own. You're all motivated, collecting information and opinions to face your challenge and the moment you start you feel all the pressure, all the anxiety fills you and you become overwhelmed by the task. If you can pull trough this it's a good start but you need to do this thousands of times and just being able to study is far from being able to peak perform in your studies.

File: deb3ebe891a6134ec46c9259f1a6c657.jpg (13KB, 236x313px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 236x313px

Does anyone have any advice on creating lesson plan for my math studies?

I am Freshman now and am taking Calculus III but I want to go full autist and be able to finish my undergrad math education by first semester sophomore year, so I can begin taking grad courses.

The Math Department allows you to skip undergrad courses if you pass oral examination and paper exam for that course.

So advice on where to start and how to do it/use what textbooks?

>>8338399
You wont be able to so dont try

File: 1469821382059.png (119KB, 1216x970px) Image search: [Google]

119KB, 1216x970px

>>8338415
it may be difficult to do all that, but I want to push myself to next level, so may some anons help?

>>8338437
Just get into it. You will be able to make an effecient personal schedule after you get a good idea of the subject. If you're already stuck without further advice you won't make it.

i'm a high school drop out who works at chick-fil-a
at the risk of sounding arrogant, i would say i'm very good at math for a dropout
i can solve almost all of the problems in algebra:chapter 0
math is so beautiful, i really regret not going to college
but you most certainly can learn a great deal of math from the internet (if you count pirated textbooks)

>>8337077

This.

I'll never discover anything new.

File: Sad Pepe.jpg (23KB, 385x385px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 385x385px

>>8337031

Just reiterating what some people have said already: the higher you go in classes, the less diverse resources there are to help you out.

With stuff like college algebra, calculus, and differential equations, you will have numerous resources out there--some not made by mathematicians but students just like you who wanted to share their tips and tricks to make the material easier for YOU. Explanations are a dime a dozen; if you don't like someone's explanation, you simply just go to another explanation.

But beyond that, you will find very few resources that are actually helpful. Explanations are very general and don't go into great detail and it leaves you the responsibility of seeing the details.

This is where academia is helpful--you can have peers and professors to bounce ideas off of. Stackexchange can supplement, but not substitute this experience--people get incredibly bitchy when you ask questions.

File: 1437215089149s.jpg (9KB, 205x249px) Image search: [Google]

9KB, 205x249px

>>8337031
Why do I always have to procrastinate? I could have accomplished so much if not for it

Once you reach a certain point the only resource left is books. And without a teacher you run the risk of misunderstanding the book or misinterpreting parts of it and learning math wrong without someone to correct you. A lot of these higher level books are really abstract, use rough esoteric language, and importantly don't have a question and answers section so even if you're smart and were able to grasp everything up to that point you might have a difficult time going further. However if you're really smart and dedicated theoretically nothing is stopping you from learning on your own.

>>8337026
Ramanujan did it, but he was a god amongst men.

>>8338680
Plus, most mathematicians are terrible at writing pedagogical material. It's either fuzzy and nonrigorous or it's too advanced and unmotivated.

>>8338399
interested too