Course 2 · Unit 1

Maths bridge

7 lessons
≈ 11 h of study
Level: intermediate
optional

The school maths you are going to need, revisited from scratch and with Python. Functions and slopes, powers and roots, exponentials and logarithms, sums and notation, percentages and scientific notation, and how to read a formula without fear. If you already know it, prove it in the placement test and go straight to the next unit.

Create my account See pricing

Topics covered

Lessons in this unit

Functions, graphs and slope 50 min
What f(x) means, how to read a graph and how to measure the slope of a line, with Python.
Powers and roots 35 min
Integer, negative and fractional exponents, their rules and roots as powers, with Python's ** operator.
Exponentials and logarithms 40 min
Exponential growth and decay, the number e, the logarithm as "how many times do I multiply", its rules and the logarithmic scale, with lots of examples worked by hand.
Log-loss and softmax 35 min
The logarithmic loss and softmax, the two formulas with logarithms and exponentials found in almost every model, by hand and in Python.
Summations, subscripts and vectors as lists 35 min
Read Σ, ∏ and subscripts for what they are, loops and positions in a list, and translate them into Python.
Percentages, proportions and scientific notation 35 min
Percentages and changes, percentage points, proportions that add up to 1, rounding and numbers like 3e-4.
Reading formulas without fear 40 min
A method for reading any formula in a paper or in documentation, with the most common symbols and ∇ as a "vector of slopes".

Prerequisites

Before this unit it helps to have done:

Engineering with Python (Course 1 · Unit 2)

The full explanations, auto-graded exercises, exams and projects are inside the academy.

Every lesson you complete gives you 10 yang, the academy's currency, and every unit exam you pass, 50.

Shall we start?

Create your account and activate your subscription: you get the whole syllabus from day one.