Best resources for self-studying math from K-12?

[Zephyr1779]

Hi, everyone!

I'm planning on teaching myself math all the way back from the basics, up to high school stuff.

It has been a long time since I studied math. I've never been a great student back in school. I daydreamed most of the time, and when it came to math, I always rote learned and memorized things just enough to get a passing grade, sometimes I got lucky and managed to get a perfect score, but those moments were rare.

Because of that rote learning, and memorization, I have forgot almost everything about math other than the basic arithmetic, and even there, it takes me a bit of time to calculate simple problems :(

However, now, that I'm older, I found out just how useful and great math really is. I would honestly love to go through it again, and hopefully with your help I can manage to do it!

What I'm looking for are (in your opinion) the best learning math resources that you can recommend. Anything that covers the materials from K up to Grade 12.

The type of resource is irrelevant, I'm not looking for only one type, it can be anything, whether it's a book, a website, videos, etc. Free, or paid also doesn't matter.

All that's important to me is to get a good book/video/etc. that properly explains the concepts I'm learning. I want to make sure that I actually understand the concepts I'm reading about and to be able to think logically on how to solve the problems for the topic I studied. Which means no more rote learning, and no more memorization!

If necessary, for better understanding of the concept I'm learning, it would be nice to also learn the history behind that concept I'm learning about, that is, how did we manage to come up or create something like which we use to this day, what problem did the people back in the day need to solve in order to come up with such things, etc. (eg: numbers, base 10 system, shapes, algebra, logarithms, calculus, trigonometry, probability, statistics, etc.)

While I'm studying math right now mostly for fun, and because I find math to be such an amazing subject now than I did back before while I was at school, I do plan on taking my studies seriously, and actually trying to learn it, instead of what I was doing in the past.

Aside from the resource recommendation, I would also like to ask you guys:

What do you believe is the best / proper way to study math? Instead of cramming or memorizing formulas and methods like I did back in school, what do you think is the most effective way to study to "make it stick", that is, how should one study math to better understand the content you're learning?

What are some common mistakes people do when trying to learn math?

Additionally, is there like a roadmap, or a guide for studying math? That is, from which topics should I start and how should I progress?

Also, apologies if this is posted in the wrong subforum, moderators feel free to move this thread to where you think is appropriate.

Thanks in forward, and apologies for the long post!

[joigus]

Sorry. What is K-12?

[Phi for All]

6 minutes ago, joigus said:

Sorry. What is K-12?

Kindergarten through 12th grade in the US. 

[joigus]

Thanks. Usually, I don't allow myself more than 5 min of stupidity a day.

[Phi for All]

2 hours ago, joigus said:

Thanks. Usually, I don't allow myself more than 5 min of stupidity a day.

Just a different system than you're used to. I don't know how yours works, beyond primary and secondary. I've heard of sixth form? And you go to college before university?

[joigus]

37 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Just a different system than you're used to. I don't know how yours works, beyond primary and secondary. I've heard of sixth form? And you go to college before university?

Yes, but I should have read the post more carefully. I just hope new comments draw attention so that OP can get a proper answer.

My idea of American education is that knowledge is more practical than in Spain. I've seen courses in Britain which, even on the theoretical side, go more from example to theoretical idea. I'm more familiar with Britain than America.

We have six primary-education courses, then four secondary education courses, and then two pre-universitary courses we call "Bachillerato."

I always say any person who would assimilate all the the Bachillerato courses (Science, Human Sciences, Social, and Arts) would --potentially-- be a modern Leonardo Da Vinci +. The unfortunate result is that most people don't get a proper education in any of them, probably due to excessive emphasis on theory, to the detriment of practical knowledge.)

[murshid]

Have you tried Khan Academy?

Edited October 20, 2022 by murshid

[Phi for All]

4 hours ago, Warrenclark said:

But obviously it's best to go to a private teacher.

It might seem this way, but people respond to learning situations in many different ways. I've known people who learn better in classroom situations as opposed to one-on-one tutoring. People who have a competitive streak don't always do well when there's nobody else to play off of. Tutoring is wonderful, but for some it can put a lot of pressure and focus on them.