14

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! 😊

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Eq0@literature.cafe 4 points 9 hours 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.

[-] akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 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

this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2026
14 points (93.8% liked)

techsupport

3255 readers
37 users here now

The Lemmy community will help you with your tech problems and questions about anything here. Do not be shy, we will try to help you.

If something works or if you find a solution to your problem let us know it will be greatly apreciated.

Rules: instance rules + stay on topic

Partnered communities:

You Should Know

Reddit

Software gore

Recommendations

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS