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Nevermark · 2024-11-21 · Original thread
I have so wanted such resources for years. I have found some and should make a list.

The first time the difference between understanding some math, and understanding what the math meant, was after high school Trig. The moment I started manually programming graphics from scratch, the circle as a series of dots, trigonometry transformed in my mind. I can't even say what the difference was - the math was exactly the same - but some larger area of my brain suddenly connected with all the concepts I had already learned.

While ordering the "Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosity" I came across these books, which looked very promising in the "learning formal math by expanding intuition" theme, so I bought them too:

Field Theory For The Non-Physicist, by Ville Hirvonen [0]

Lagrangian Mechanics For The Non-Physicist, by Ville Hirvonen [1]

The Gravity of Math: How Geometry Rules the Universe, by Steve Nadis, Shing-Tung Yau [2]

Vector: A Surprising Story of Space, Time, and Mathematical Transformation, by Robyn Arianrhod [3]

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN7HMTJN

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN7HMK38

[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541604296

[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226821102

Excited to read each (based on their synopses & ratings), and if I will get compounding fluency across both math and physics between all five books.

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