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Mathbook for dummies, any recomendation?

Started by
15 comments, last by Conny14156 10 years, 8 months ago

Hi,

This may seems like a wierd question but could any of you guys recommend a book about math, Seeing how I think I need to raise my currently knowledge in math. As I barely understand the math behinds alot of the tutorials I been looking through, Especially Matrix related ones.

The last thing I learned from school was "derivative"(Google translate). The book doesn't need to be game related. I feel like I have struck a big wall cause I don't have a great knowledge about math, so my programming gets stuck alot and for long time for math related problems. I understand that matrice math is College level (Well, from where I am atleast :l), so if there are any books that would cover the parts between Derivate > Matrice would be very nice.

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For a short concise read I'd recommend the following:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0486636348

Derivative is calculus. If you were able to grasp calculus then you have everything you need to learn linear algebra(probably the most useful form of math for game and graphics programming, and is all about matrices), specifically, the geometrical kind as the theoretical kind is sort of useless for game programming.

FWIW, math skills rust if you don't use them so make sure you have a solid foundation of college-level algebra.

For Linear algebra I'd recommend "Practical Linear Algebra: A Geometry Toolbox" by Gerald Farin. I've read the book myself and it was an excellent introduction to linear algebra for solving geometrical problems.

For a more game oriented math book, I'd recommend "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development", note that even though it says primer it expects you to have a firm grasp on "basic" mathematical skills(e.g, college algebra, trigonometry, calculus). Note that it covers a lot of linear algebra too, just with more game specific topics.

If you have a hard time understanding these books, check out KhanAcademy and see where your math level stands and begin working towards them.

Derivative is calculus. If you were able to grasp calculus then you have everything you need to learn linear algebra(probably the most useful form of math for game and graphics programming, and is all about matrices), specifically, the geometrical kind as the theoretical kind is sort of useless for game programming.

FWIW, math skills rust if you don't use them so make sure you have a solid foundation of college-level algebra.

For Linear algebra I'd recommend "Practical Linear Algebra: A Geometry Toolbox" by Gerald Farin. I've read the book myself and it was an excellent introduction to linear algebra for solving geometrical problems.

For a more game oriented math book, I'd recommend "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development", note that even though it says primer it expects you to have a firm grasp on "basic" mathematical skills(e.g, college algebra, trigonometry, calculus). Note that it covers a lot of linear algebra too, just with more game specific topics.

If you have a hard time understanding these books, check out KhanAcademy and see where your math level stands and begin working towards them.

Thanks for the KhanAcademy site. No idea that existed ^^

CEO of Dynamic Realities

This was helpful to me when I first encountered linear algebra:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/video-lectures/
void hurrrrrrrr() {__asm sub [ebp+4],5;}

There are ten kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't.

I used these ones: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Primer-Graphics-Development-Wordware-Library/dp/1556229119 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mathematics-Programming-Computer-Graphics-Development/dp/1584502770/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376221532&sr=1-9&keywords=math+for+game+development

Worked on titles: CMR:DiRT2, DiRT 3, DiRT: Showdown, GRID 2, theHunter, theHunter: Primal, Mad Max, Watch Dogs: Legion

I will check out most of the book, and the Khan and the MIT free courses is quiet awesomes, didn't know people uploaded those kinds of videos

NightCreature83's second link is a book I'd second as a fairly graspable book for someone who might not be terribly familiar with higher-level mathematics. A good chunk of the book is devoted to linear algebra, but it goes quite a ways further than that too. It and wiki/google/wolfram are my first stops when I need to re-familiarize myself with some bit of math I've forgotten.

For someone that's really green, the Khan accademy videos are great, just because they start at the absolute beginning, and the visual presentation makes things really clear.

throw table_exception("(? ???)? ? ???");

This is no book but I have to recommend this guys tutorials as a complement to

Algebra for Dummies,

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Algebra

Trignometry for Dummies,

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Trigonometry

https://www.youtube.com/user/BSVino

This guy is AMAZING.

This is no book but I have to recommend this guys tutorials as a complement to

Algebra for Dummies,

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Algebra

Trignometry for Dummies,

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Trigonometry

https://www.youtube.com/user/BSVino

This guy is AMAZING.

I'd try to make it a rule of thumb not to buy books that insult its readers on the cover.

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