Reddit mentions of Linear Algebra and Its Applications (5th Edition)

Oh boy…

Q1: I have a similar experience in that I did not do well in high school. In fact, I flunked/dropped out of high school and joined the military in an attempt to learn a skill because I was stuck working in a doughnut shop. I ended up in aviation, which is the industry I still work in today as an engineering technician for a major manufacturer.

Toward the end of my military career I was an aircrew member for medevac helicopters. This meant that I had a lot of down time while waiting on medevac request. I was on an alert status which was similar to a living at a firehouse and waiting on calls. To pass the time I started reading pop-science physics books like Neil DeGrass Tyson and Brian Cox on a personal quest to understand how the universe works. One can only get so far in these books before the author says something like "but if you really want to understand how things work you need to know math". I thought that this was something that I was not capable of this so I gave up.

After I was out of the military, I found Khan Academy and started from the lowest level math and worked on all of the exercises. I worked my way up through algebra and started to look at calculus. At this point I went to my local community college and enrolled in precalc just to see if I could do it. I felt like I was kind of writing a wrong I made where I failed so miserably as a teenager. I am now a math major at a state university where I am in my final semester before graduating and I have recently decided to stick around for a masters.

Q2: I can't help you here. Sorry.

Q3: These walls exists for absolutely everybody in different places. The good news is that you can get to the other side of every one of them, and doing so is rewarding enough to make it worth it every single time. You've likely already experienced this at some level and it only gets better. What you need now is an introduction to mathematical proofs, especially if your interested in math for the sake of math. This is the thing that lies between computational topics like calculus and higher math. I will elaborate more on proofs further down.

Q4: I haven’t had experience with the probability book in question, but I worked with A First Course in Probability by Ross. I think this is a pretty standard textbook but my only other exposure to probability was in a statics course for business majors that I hated. I used this book in class for linear algebra and I watched Gilbert Strang’s videos for fun. There are probably better approaches out there but this worked for me.

Q’s 5 and 6: Back to proofs. This book absolutely bridged the gap for me when I made the leap from calculus to higher math which seems to be about where you are now. At the bottom of the page, in the comments, are links to some bite sized videos that go along with the book. These are fantastic as well. Understanding the structures of formal proofs is really what you need in knowing how to read and write mathematics. Dive right into this before something like abstract algebra or real analysis.

Here’s some more good news, your programing experience will likely help you in your next step when trying to understand proofs. The logic parts will sound familiar when learning about things like ‘if-then’ statements.

Here’s the best link I’ve found since becoming a math major. You’re welcome!

My undergrad class used David Lay’s Linear Algebra and it’s Applications. The most recent version isn’t too difficult to illicitly stumble upon.

https://www.amazon.com/Linear-Algebra-Its-Applications-5th/dp/032198238X/ref=nodl_

Where I teach they use Linear Algebra by Lay for the introductory class. I'm not sure what level you need but Linear Algebra Done Right is also commonly recommended; could be more abstract than what you need?

Cool.

Linear Algebra Don't waste your time with anything other than Lay, pretty much. Sounds like you're 100% new to LinAlg (it's not about polynomial equations) so it may be a bit tough to get off the ground working by yourself, but not impossible. It'd be worth finding a MOOC on the subject, there should be plenty. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard freshman maths course and a lot of people struggle with it (not because it's hard, just because it's different to HS maths), so there's a ton of resources on the internet.

Calculus Kinda just gotta slog away with where you're at tbh. I had Stewart as a freshman, didn't think it was overly great though. Still, that's the kind of level you need, so search for "alternatives to Stewart calculus" and anything that comes up should be appropriate. I wouldn't be able to tell you which to pick though.

Stats Basically, completing both of the above is pretty much a prerequisite for being able to understand linear regression properly, so don't expect to gain much by diving straight into stats. You could probably find a "business analytics" style textbook that would let you do more stats without understanding what's really going on under the hood, but if you want to stick with it in the long term you'll benefit more from getting stuff right at the beginning.

I really liked Linear Algebra and it's Applications. I thought it was a good textbook with plenty of problem sets.

It's not ecology-centric but David Lay's "Linear Algebra" is a great text at an intro level that's great for developing intuition. I remember one example that uses demography of owl populations as a way to use matrix projection models. Overall a great book to teach yourself.

https://www.amazon.com/Linear-Algebra-Its-Applications-5th/dp/032198238X

Two of my all time favorite math subjects: Linear Algebra and Number Theory.

My Number Theory professor actually wrote a textbook that I think you’d find is, generally speaking, pretty easy to follow and has some neat applications. Bear in mind though that he wrote it specifically to teach Number Theory at a University level so sometimes reading through some proofs may not be exactly clear. here is the libgen link, if you’d rather another source this is the amazon link to purchase or rent the book.

You will learn some cool techniques and patterns and things you (possibly) never even knew about numbers if you start studying Number Theory.

Now my linear algebra textbook I never actually used because my professor never required it but from what I hear it’s a good foundation but doesn’t expound much upon certain topics - idk if that’s true but I heard the author is a chill dude so here ya go

You can libgen that too.

I don’t exactly think studying calculus on your own will be too exciting, but if you do study calculus, you can then carry it over to other fields - like physics, which has a foundation in calculus from Isaac Newton. I don’t have a good reading source for introductory calculus.