Me learn math now

[BigPoppa]

I am thinking of going back to college (maybe a year from now).
I haven't taken a math class since Precalculus in HS over two decades ago.
If I do go back to college, I don't want to limit myself to non-mathy majors.
If I don't go back to college, I would still like to eliminate the gaping hole in my body of knowledge where math should be.

Right now I know nothing, and I don't want to get a rude awakening in a classroom.
So, I would like to teach myself math at least up through what is required of an Econ or non-Physics science major.

What books/self-study materials would you recommend?
Anything I should stay away from?
Any cool books to get me interested/edumacated on this stuff?

[Jcrew]

Learn these topics in this general order (search on amazon base on keyword and review rating. Filter out any books with less than 10 reviews):

Review:
Algebra
Geometry
Trigonometry

New Stuff:
Single Variable Calculus
Linear Algebra*
Multi Variable Calculus*
Probability and Statistics
Ordinary Differential Equations*
Partial Differential Equations*

*Could probably be skipped depending on your major.

But if you going back to college, what ever math is needed for a particular major will be a required course, so probably you need to just refresh up on algebra,geometry and trig.

[Metric]

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

[tshort]

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But if you going back to college, what ever math is needed for a particular major will be a required course, so probably you need to just refresh up on algebra,geometry and trig.

[/ QUOTE ]

[jay_shark]

Hey Big Poppa , here is a question .

What is the integral of (sinx^2 +cosx^2) where x is real , evaluated from x=0 to x=pi/2 .

[br.bm]

yeah ... ask the hard stuff first -.-

Math is 10% talent and 90% hard work.

I really like the books from Mr. Papula. Dunno if his books are available in english.
They are written for engineers, three parts and a formula collection. I recommend buying the first two parts.

[NotReady]

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What books/self-study materials would you recommend?


[/ QUOTE ]

I decided to brush up on some math I had a long time ago and so looked around for good intro and basic stuff. There are a lot of good tutorials on the web. Others may have a more informed opinion but I've found the Dummies series helpful. I don't like the Barron's books (Algebra, whatever The Easy Way). Let us know if you find something better.

[jay_shark]

I suggest you read the calculus for dummies book .

[CrayZee]

To cover your bases for econ, engineering, and the sciences, you usually need the first year of calculus (i.e., differential, integral, infinite sequences and series and such). If you can learn those good, you'll be fine with the maths.

For review, maybe Schaum's Outline texts are a good organized way to study since they have both solutions to example problems and all of the answers in the back to homework-type problems.

I also recommend going to the university/college bookstores if local, or possibly online, that you might attend to see what texts they hawk. If you're a really good self-study, you can write down the titles, authors, and/or ISBNs for cheaper online purchase ahead of time (the editions may change by the time you take the courses however).

[BigPoppa]

Cool.
Thank you all for your help.