I need to learn math without a school...how?

[Marcus Aseth]

Hi guys, I was hoping you could help me with this...
I don't have a a decent math background since I went to an art school and equations are the height of my knowledge...I later in life decided to learn a programming language (C++) and I've almost finished reading C++ Primer 5th edition, but since I want to apply this knowledges to do game and graphics, I really feel the limitation of lacking a math background, I can't even go past the first pages of a book like "Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics" because the pre-requisite knowledge is already too high, and same story with similar books...

So with school being not an option for me, how am I suppose to get back on track?

On the specific, what resources would you suggest me? (online videos, or books, wathever you got you think is suited)
Help me pls :P

[wildblue]

Khan Academy has many videos and online practice for different topics in math. https://www.khanacademy.org/#math

[Marcus Aseth]

I know of Khan Academy,definetly useful on the excercise side, though I don't like the fact that it doesn't presents you with a clear path where every subsequent material builds on top of what you did on the previous chapter as a book would, so to be able to follow a topic I constantly need to jump around the site on other topics figuring out what I need to know next (without even knowing if I'm actually learning something that I need or how I could use it, so sometimes feels like I'm wasting time as well)... and also some obvious topics gets repeated so many times it feels like you are learning nothing, and then when stuff more complex get presented, it is explained quickly like "is obvious", at least this is the experience I had with it.
And...the teacher going OCD with colors matching and wasting half video just switching the damn colors, didn't quite helped...

I don't know...maybe I'm more of a book guy...there is anything worth mentioning on the books side?

[mbozzi]

3D programming relies heavily on linear algebra. That relies on elementary (high school) algebra and trigonometry.

If you're not comfortable with high school algebra and trigonometry, that's the place to start. Your algebra needs to be solid, your trig, somewhat less so. I don't know what to recommend to you if you need this.

I found Gilbert Strang's Introduction to Linear Algebra is written phenomenally well for a math textbook. The topic is useful if you're interested in classification (i.e., machine learning), and it's applicable to computer graphics and a bunch of other things e.g., digital signal processing. It covers the vectors and the matrices and the projections and transformations, which explain basically everything that happens to your data while it's going down the graphics pipeline.

You shouldn't bother yourself with calculus unless you're interested in writing your own physics code, which will rely heavily on it. In case you are, I really like Spivak's textbook.

some obvious topics gets repeated so many times it feels like you are learning nothing

I know that feeling. For me, that means I need a more rigorous book, and to remember George Pólya's quote:

The advanced reader who skips parts that appear too elementary may miss more than the less advanced reader who skips parts that appear too complex.

(Polya's How to Solve It is great, too, but probably not immediately relevant.)

Yeah, Strang's book is what I would suggest as long as you're okay with high-school math. I can recommend stuff to you all day, but I think that is a fairly efficient way to go.

[Marcus Aseth]

Thank you for the suggestions mbozzi, I was actually giving it a go with 3d Math Primer, but if I end up founding this too hard too, then I'll definetly fall back into Introduction to Linear Algebra (and probably I could end up reading it parallel to this book anyway, because...why not?)

I can recommend stuff to you all day, but I think that is a fairly efficient way to go.

Please, feel free to , after all sooner or later I will need more books anyway, so would be pretty usefull to just come back to this topic and take a look at all the suggested stuff instead of opening a new one :)

[Uk Marine]

Games development does require a certain amount of mathematics and physics also. However, most of the times you won't find yourself writing too much physics as you will be using a header called Box2D. So unless you're planning on writing your own physics engine (which I don't see why you would), then you will also need physics.

Discrete mathematics can also be helpful to you but that is optional to learn. First program a 2D game before attempting a 3D game. Try writing your own game engine as well, don't use physics. Here are some mathematical concepts I recommend you pick up before doing this:

Discrete Mathematics (optional but helpful to know):
------------------------
- Logic (Sets, Functions, Quantifiers etc...)
- Proof (All methods)
- Counting (Permutations and Combinations) <-- Note: Extremely important for creating well-balanced games.


Normal Mathematics (important):
-----------------------
- Basic Cartesian Coordinate Plane (2D)
- Trigonometry (Triangles) <-- Note: Extremely important.
- Vectors
- Matrices and their properties
- Matrix transformation (Translation, Scaling, Rotation, Projections etc...)
- Quaternions <-- Note: Important for 3D games.

And that would be all you need to get started. This may seem like a lot but believe me all these mathematical concepts can be self-taught within a month or two if you're determined to creating games and you're willing to put the required energy and effort to learning these concepts. For starters, only create 2D games, pick up a book related to 2D game development and follow it. I would recommend WinAPI graphics library and not immediately jumping into OpenGL or DirectX. KhanAcademy is nice but I noticed that there are several concepts they do not cover, and for this reason I would recommend you pick up a book.

Some amazing Math YouTubers to subscribe to:
- PatrickJMT (The reason I survive math courses in college)
- MathBff (Very beautiful and smart instructor)
- Krista King (Another beauty with great talent)

Goodluck, let me know if you need further assistance.

[Marcus Aseth]

Thank you for this list Uk Marine, as expected my current knowledge didn't even scratch the surface, the Cartesian coordinate system is probably the only thing I know from the list xD

Currently I don't need anything more in particular to get going with study, but of course if you have some books you would recomend to add to my top priority list of books to read, then I'm all hears :)