I have been studying electricity as a hobby, using a highschool textbook, partially documented here. I am trying to leave no stone unturned, meaning that I’m trying to understand any and all concepts and terminology that the book presents. I am now reading about generators and how they produce AC. The chapter also explains how the voltage can at any time/point in the cycle be calculated using sinus. While I understand the gist of it, I don’t understand the math behind it, because I simply suck at math. I almost failed math in highschool… I’m fairly confident I could go on without understanding the math behind why and how the voltage cycles between polarities, but my somewhat neurodiverse brain simply won’t let me. I want to, nay, I need to understand it.

So, should I:

  • grab a highschool math book and start from scratch until I reach the chapter on sinus?
  • only read up on sinus and whatever knowledge turns out to be a prerequisite to understand it (with a risk of cascading backwards…)?
  • other recommendations?

This is not a question about how generators work and I am not asking you to explain sinus to me here. I am asking for advise on how to (re)learn math at my age of 30+. I can invest about six hours per weekend. I am eager to learn! Please advise! 😊

  • Eq0@literature.cafe
    0·
    1 day ago

    At the time of writing: 3 different replies, all different, all good. It depends on how your brain works, unfortunately!

    For elementary math concepts, middle school books explain stuff in a variety of different ways. So you can shop around for that. I inherited a math book from my father and it was enlightening! It explains concepts I already knew in different ways and suddenly the connections between them and others were so clear to me.

    Specifically for sinus, what you are looking for is a section of trigonometry. You are lucky in the sense that it’s a fairly “independent” set of concepts, so you can jump in without too much background. Personally, I would advise getting a college level trigonometry book and read the first chapter. If that doesn’t work, going to high school level and different ways of presenting the topic.

    • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      0·
      21 hours ago

      Thanks! Good to know that I have the option to jump into trigonometry without concerning myself about other concepts. And what a beautiful thing, to inherit a book from your father! <3