understanding math formulas

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understanding math formulas

i consider myself one standard deviation more intelligent than the avg person (and i could name a few interdisciplinary accomplishments to prove that)

yet when i decided to get into machine learning - and not just learn some software packages but actually understand the concepts behind it - i quickly realized that i totally suck at math.

i mean i flip through a book on ML and it's full of this kind of stuff and i have not a CLUE IN HELL what it means.

what would be the best way to get started to understand mathematical notations?

mind you, i understand the operators, like the brackes, the dividing line, what the E sum means

but i do not understand the actual meaning of the formula

and those books are full of them and dont explain anything (not blaming them, i know it's my fault not to understand)


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so basically my question is:
do i just have to focus my ass and keep reading books on ML and at some point it will make click and ill understand

OR

do i need to start at some far more basic, unrelated topic (sth like advanced calculus idk)?

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would there be any quick-to-consume literature i could check out? i tried searching my uni's library for "uni math for beginners" or "math formulas for beginners" but didnt find anything

thanks in advance!