Gentle Introduction to Various Math Stuff

I recently attended a meetup in Pittsburgh titled Analytics of Social Progress: When Machine Learning meets Human Problems given by Amy Hepner. She did an outstanding job of introducing some math concepts very simply and intuitively. If you are interested in the slides showing how she did this, you can go to her web site by clicking here.

This got me thinking about how I could help others with simple and intuitive ways to explain math stuff. I get annoyed when people say "doubly differentiable" as opposed to no gaps and no kinks. What makes this difficult is that everyone is at a different level and so you won't be able to please most people. However, I figure, any help is better than no help at all.

As expected, there is already plenty of material on the internet. For statistics, a good place to start is "The Most Comprehensive Review of Comic Books Teaching Statistics by Rasmus Baath." A second good place to look is "A Brief Review of All Comic Books Teaching Statistics by Rasmus Baath and Christian Robert." For links to the book themselves, see the list below.

1. The Cartoon ...
   
   1. The Cartoon Guide to Statistics by Larry Gonick, Woollcott Smith
      
      1. Amazon
      2. GoodReads.Com
      3. Harpercollins
      4. LarryGonick.Com
      5. YouTube.Com
   2. The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics by Grady Kelin, Alan Dabney
      
      1. Amazon
      2. GoodReads.Com
      3. Macmillan.Com
      4. PasteMagazine.Com
      5. PublishersWeekly.Com
      6. ScientificAmerican.Com
      7. The Cranky Sociologists
2. Manga Guide to Statistics by Shin Takahashi
   
   1. Amazon
3. ... for Dummies
   
   1. Biostatistics For Dummies by John Pezzullo
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Business Statistics For Dummies by Alan Anderson
      
      1. Amazon
   3. Predictive Analytics For Dummies by Anasse Bari
      
      1. Amazon
   4. Probability For Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey
      
      1. Amazon
      2. GoodReads.Com
      3. Wiley.Com
   5. Psychology Statistics For Dummies by Donncha Hanna
      
      1. Amazon
      2. Wiley.Com
   6. Statistical Analysis with Excel For Dummies by Joseph Schmuller
      
      1. Amazon
   7. Statistics Essentials For Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey
      
      1. Amazon
   8. Statistics for Big Data For Dummies by Alan Anderson
      
      1. Amazon
   9. Statistics For Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey
      
      1. Amazon
   10. Statistics II For Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey
       
       1. Amazon
   11. Statistics Workbook For Dummies by Deborah J. Rumsey
       
       1. Amazon
   12. Statistics: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice) by Consumer Dummies
       
       1. Amazon

 For other gentle introduction to other math stuff, you can check out the list below. People have complained that the list below is too long. My response is if you are not willing to spend 10 minutes to skim through the list, you are not ready to make the commitment to upgrade your math skills.

1. Algebra ...
   
   1. Algebra I For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Algebra I Essentials For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
   3. Algebra I Workbook For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
   4. Algebra II For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
   5. Algebra II Workbook For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
   6. Algebra II: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice) by Mary Jane Sterling
      
      1. Amazon
2. Basic Math and Pre-Algebra ...
   
   1. Basic Math and Pre-Algebra For Dummies by Mark Zegarelli
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Basic Math and Pre-Algebra: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice) by Mark Zegarelli
      
      1. Amazon
3. Calculus ...
   
   1. Calculus For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Calculus II For Dummies by Mark Zegarelli
      
      1. Amazon
   3. Calculus Essentials For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   4. Calculus Workbook For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   5. Calculus: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice) by Patrick Jones
      
      1. Amazon
4. Complete Idiot's Guide to Algebra Word Problems by Izolda Fotiyeva
   
   1. Amazon
5. Cartoon Guide ...
   
   1. Cartoon Guide to Calculus by Larry Gonick
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick
      
      1. Amazon
6. Data ...
   
   1. Data Mining For Dummies by Meta S. Brown
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Data Science For Dummies by Lillian Pierson
      
      1. Amazon
   3. Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information into Insight by John W. Foreman
      
      1. O'Reilly
7. Differential Equations ...
   
   1. Differential Equations For Dummies by Steven Holzner
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Differential Equations Workbook For Dummies by Steven Holzner
      
      1. Amazon
8. Excel Data Analysis For Dummies by Stephen L. Nelson
   
   1. Amazon
9. Geometry ...
   
   1. Geometry Essentials For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   2. Geometry For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   3. Geometry Workbook For Dummies by Mark Ryan
      
      1. Amazon
   4. Geometry: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online Practice) by Allen Ma
      
      1. Amazon
10. How to Solve Word Problems in Algebra by Mildred Johnson
    
    1. Amazon
11. Linear Algebra For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
    
    1. Amazon
12. Manga Guide to ...
    
    1. Manga Guide to Calculus by Hiroyuki Kojima
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Manga Guide to Linear Algebra by Shin Takahashi
       
       1. Amazon
    3. Manga Guide to Physics by Hideo Nitta
       
       1. Amazon
    4. Manga Guide to Regression Analysis Shin Takahashi
       
       1. Amazon
    5. Manga Guide to Relativity by Hideo Nitta
       
       1. Amazon
13. Math Word Problems ...
    
    1. Math Word Problems Demystified by Allan Bluman
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Math Word Problems For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
       
       1. Amazon
14. Optimization Modeling with Spreadsheets by Kenneth R. Baker
    
    1. Amazon
15. Physics ...
    
    1. Physics I For Dummies by Steven Holzner
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Physics I Workbook For Dummies by Steven Holzner
       
       1. Amazon
    3. Physics II For Dummies by Steven Holzner
       
       1. Amazon
16. Pre-Calculus ...
    
    1. Pre-Calculus For Dummies by Yang Kuang
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Pre-Calculus Workbook For Dummies by Yang Kuang
       
       1. Amazon
    3. Pre-Calculus: 1,001 Practice Problems For Dummies (+ Free Online… by Mary Jane Sterling
       
       1. Amazon
17. Predictive Analytics For Dummies by Anasse Bari
    
    1. Amazon
18. R For Dummies by Andrie de Vries
    
    1. Amazon
19. Schaum's ...
    
    1. Schaum's Outline of Introduction to Probability and Statistics by Seymour Lipschutz
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Schaum's Outline of Probability by Seymour Lipschutz
       
       1. Amazon
    3. Schaum's Outline of Probability and Statistics: 760 Solved Problems + 20 Videos by John Schiller
       
       1. Amazon
    4. Schaum's Outline of Statistics by Murray Spiegel
       
       1. Amazon
20. Technical Math For Dummies by Barry Schoenborn
    
    1. Amazon
21. Trigonometry ...
    
    1. Trigonometry For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
       
       1. Amazon
    2. Trigonometry Workbook For Dummies by Mary Jane Sterling
       
       1. Amazon