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mathematics revision

list of preliminary topics for foundational mathematics

The following is a list of topics & books that are on calculus, algebra and category theory, ordered in a way to be thorough as possible; intended to be used as preliminary study for any branch of study which has algebra/calculus as prerequisites. This list was first intended as a thorough preliminary study for machine learning, but admittedly, the list still lacks a lot of supplementary topics, most notably:

  • Statistics in general
  • Measure theory in general
  • The topology of R^n
  • Details of commutative algebra

Furthermore, this list is, by no means, complete. These are just listed off of a few undergrad/graduate level mathematics books intended to help me relearn what I have either forgotten or haven't properly learned in the first place. I DO NOT condone anyone use this list as a guide for preliminary topics for any topic requiring calculus/linear algebra. The authors of these books most definitely know what they're doing & what they're writing about, but I don't.

Resources

  1. Kunze, Linear Algebra
  2. Greub, Multilinear Algebra
  3. Awodey, Category Theory
  4. Munkres, Analysis on Manifolds
  5. Dummit, Abstract Algebra
  6. Atiyah, Introduction to Commutative Algebra
  7. Kaplansky, Commutative Rings

Topics

Basic structure definitions and theorems

    [2] 1.3 	Definition of a category
    [4] 1.1 	Basic Axioms and examples
    [4] 1.3 	Symmetric groups
    [4] 1.5 	Quaternion group
    [2] 1.4 	Examples of categories
    [4] 7.1 	Basic definitions and examples
    [4] 10.1 	Basic definitions and examples

Isomorphisms and isomorphism theorems

    [2] 1.5 	Isomorphisms
    [4] 3.1 	Definitions and examples
    [4] 3.2 	More on cosets and Lagrange's theorem
    [4] 3.3 	Isomorphism theorems
    [4] 7.3 	Ring homomorphisms and Quotient rings
    [4] 7.4 	Properties of ideals
    [4] 7.5 	Rings of fractions
    [4] 10.2 	Quotient modules and module homomorphisms
    [4] 4.1 	Group actions and permutation representations
    [4] 4.2 	Groups acting on themselves by left multiplication
        (Cayley's Theorem)
    [4] 4.3* 	Groups acting on themselves by conjugation
        (the Class Equation)
    [4] 4.4* 	Automorphisms
    [4] 4.5* 	Sylow theorems

Ring theory

    [5] 1.7 	Extension and contraction
    [4] 8.1 	Euclidean domains
    [4] 8.2 	PIDs
    [4] 8.3 	UFDs
    [4] 9.1 	Definitions and basic properties
    [4] 9.2 	Polynomial rings over fields I
    [4] 9.4 	Irreducability criteria
    [4] 9.5 	Polynomial rings over fields II
    [5] 4       Primary decompositions

Free categories & UMP

    [2] 1.6 	Constructions on categories
    [4] A.2 	Zorn's Lemma
    [0] A.6 	The Axiom of Choice
    [2] 1.7 	Free categories
    [4] 10.3 	Generation of modules direct sums and free modules

Duality

    [2] 3.1 	Duality principle
    [2] 3.2 	Coproducts

Categorical structures

    [2] 1.8 	Large, small, locally small categories
    [2] 2.1 	Epis and monos
    [2] 2.2 	Initial and terminal objects
    [2] 2.3 	Generalized elements
    [2] 2.4 	Products
    [2] 2.6 	Categories with products
    [2] 2.7 	Hom-sets

Categorical groups

    [2] 4.1 	Groups in a category
    [2] 4.2 	Category of groups
    [2] 4.3 	Groups as categories

Multilinear algebra and determinants

    [1] 1.1 	Multilinear mappings
    [0] 5.1 	Determinant Functions
    [0] 5.2 	Permutations and the Uniqueness of Determinants
    [0] 5.3 	Additional Properties of Determinants
    [4] 11.4 	Determinants
    [1] 1.2 	Tensor product
    [1] 1.3 	Subspaces and factor spaces
    [4] 10.4 	Tensor products of modules
    [1] 2.1 	Tensor product of algebras
    [4] 11.5 	Tensor algebras, symmetric and exterior algebras
    [1] 1.5 	Linear mappings
    [1] 1.6 	Tensor product of several vector spaces
    [1] 1.7 	Dual spaces
    [1] 1.8 	Finite dimensional vector spaces
    [1] 5.1     Skew symmetric mappings
    [1] 5.2     Exterior algebra
    [1] 5.3     Homomorphisms, derivations and antiderivations

Differential forms

    [3] 6.4 	Tangent vectors and differential forms
    [3] 6.5 	Differential operator
    [3] 6.6 	Action of a differentiable map
    [1] 2.2 	Tensor product of G-graded vector spaces
    [1] 2.3 	Tensor product of differential spaces
    [1] 2.4 	Tensor product of differential algebras

Adjoints

    [2] 9.1 	Preliminary definition
    [2] 9.2 	Hom-set definition
    [2] 9.3 	Examples of adjoints
    [2] 9.8 	Adjoint functor theorem

Canonical forms

    [0] 6.1 	Introduction to Canonical Forms
    [0] 6.2 	Characteristic Values
    [0] 6.3 	Annihilating Polynomials
    [0] 6.4 	Invariant Subspaces
    [0] 6.5 	Simultaneous Triangulation/Diagonalization

Inner product spaces

    [0] 8.1 	Inner Products
    [0] 8.2 	Inner Product Spaces
    [0] 8.3 	Linear Functionals and Adjoints
    [0] 8.4 	Unitary Operators
    [0] 8.5 	Normal Operators
    [0] 9.1 	Introduction to Operators
    [0] 9.2 	Forms on IPSes
    [0] 9.3 	Positive Forms
    [0] 9.4 	More on Forms
    [0] 9.5 	Spectral Theory

Rational & Jordan form

    [0] 7.1 	Cyclic Subspaces and Annihilators
    [4] 12.1 	Basic theory
    [0] 7.2 	Cyclic Decompositions and the Rational Form
    [4] 12.2 	Rational canonical form
    [1] 1.4 	Direct decompositions
    [4] 12.3 	Jordan canonical form
    [0] 7.3 	Jordan Form

Basics of integration

    [3] 3.1 	Integral over a rectangle
    [3] 3.2 	Existence of the integral
    [3] 3.3 	Evaluation of the Integral
    [3] 3.4 	Integral over a bounded set
    [3] 3.5 	Rectifiable sets
    [3] 3.6 	Improper integrals

Diffeomorphisms

    [3] 4.1 	Partitions of unity
    [3] 4.2 	Change of variables theorem
    [3] 4.3 	Diffeomorphisms in R^n

Manifolds

    [3] 5.1 	Volume of a parallelopiped
    [3] 5.2 	Volume of a parametrized-manifold
    [3] 5.3 	Manifolds in R^n
    [3] 5.4 	Boundary of a manifold
    [3] 5.5 	Integrating a scalar function over a manifold

Stokes' Theorem

    [3] 7.1 	Integrating forms over parametrized-manifolds
    [3] 7.2 	Orientable manifolds
    [3] 7.3 	Integrating forms over oriented manifolds
    [3] 7.5 	Generalized Stokes' Theorem

Galois Theory

    [4] 14.1    Basic definitions
    [4] 14.2    Fundamental theorem of Galois theory
    [4] 14.3    Finite fields
    [4] 14.4    Composite extensions and simple extensions

Ring ideals

    [5] 1.6     Operations on ideals
    [6] 1.2     Integral elements
    [6] 1.3     G-ideals, Hilbert rings & the Nullstellensatz

Limits & colimits

    [2] 5.1     Subobjects
    [2] 5.2     Pullbacks
    [2] 5.3     Properties of pullbacks
    [2] 5.4     Limits
    [2] 5.6     Colimits
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I recognize that the progression for learning these topics is not linear, but this is the best I could come up with to have a sense of order without resorting to more visual representations (like graphs). I plan on graphing a more suited progression system for these topics, but that is easier said than done -- I need to finish the chapters at least once in order to have a sense of how to order the concepts.

@utkuboduroglu
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I plan to add some changes to this plan to include even more algebra-oriented topics; It will admittedly be not related to machine-learning related subjects, but I was planning on shifting the scope of this list anyway. Instead, I plan to include pre-requisites for algebraic geometry as well. Statistics is still planned, but I will include some topology, some Galois theory and module theory too, to name a few.

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