Adult Swim Math

Adult Swim Math is intended to be a place where adults can come back into mathematics in a calm, relaxed and self-confident environment. Getting back into math requires first and foremost patience and willingness to go back to elementary things. You also need to be willing to do exercises. You can't learn any mathematics without doing it.

Pace

Adult swim math is not a race. In fact, slower is generally better. Being able to move fast with new concepts requires that you slow way down to make sure that you understand the concepts.

Goals

1. Experience the beauty of mathematics
2. Experience the fun of doing mathematics
3. Gain the fitness benefits of doing mathematics
4. See what it's like to think like a mathematician
5. Learn how to solve some interesting problems
6. Be able to understand, extend and develop new ideas using math

Approaches

Mathematics is a vast subject so there are many, many ways into it. Here are some common paths into interesting and powerful mathematics.

• Calculus
• Combinatorics
• Algebra
• Number theory
• Probability
• Mathematical Logic

Code of conduct

Most codes of conduct talk about social behaviors and how you need to treat others. This one is all about how you treat yourself. Success really requires that you adhere to it.

1. Don't be embarrassed in front of yourself. No matter how basic or elementary a concept is, allow yourself the time and permission to revisit it. Instead of "I can't believe I don't know this basic thing" make yourself think, "Oh wow, I get to relearn this basic thing." Self-doubt and frustration are not your friends when it comes to math. And it really is all the same - from the most basic arithmentic to the most advanced number theory, to math itself, it's all basic.
2. Don't proceed before you understand things. The most important single thing in learning math is to go slowly enough. In adult swim math, there is no hurry. There is no exam coming up or project that needs to get finished. You need to take the time to fully understand things. There will often be many ways to look at things or to solve problems. Take the time to explore them and to make sure that it all makes sense at every step of the way.
3. Try all exercises and complete as many as possible before looking at the solutions branch. Most of the exercises are easy. You can't learn math without doing it. Write them out by hand, on paper. Go back and look at your solutions to make sure that they are correct. Some exercises my be a little difficult and it might take a few passes to get the idea. That is how math works. Don't gyp yourself out of having the experience.
4. Ask good questions. Ask questions when you have trouble understanding things. But think carefully about your questions. A beautiful thing about matehmatics is that very often just carefully expressing a question leads you to see its answer. Keep track of things that you have tried and that did not work in solving a problem or understanding a concept. Once you get it, go back and think about where you went wrong or what you were missing.
5. Ask follow-up questions Confirm your understanding with more questions, even if you can now answer them yourself.