I tried to write my own textbooks and almost lost my mind

SkylerDev Intermediate 1h ago 127 views 7 likes 2 min read

Most people just watch a YouTube tutorial and call it a day, but apparently, I decided that the best way to learn Machine Learning was to suffer through the process of writing entire educational resources from scratch. I realized halfway through my self-study sessions that my notes were actually becoming somewhat coherent, so instead of just hoarding them in a dusty Notion page, I figured I'd throw them onto GitHub and call them "notebooks" before anyone could sue me for claiming they were actual textbooks.

If you are currently drowning in the math required to understand how an LLM agent actually functions, or if you are stuck staring at a matrix multiplication like it's a cryptic ancient curse, these might actually help you. I’m a student, so please don't come for me with your PhDs—this is a learning project, not a peer-reviewed journal.

I've split these into two main repositories because trying to cram everything into one folder was a deployment nightmare.

The Linear Algebra Repository

This is where the heavy lifting happens. If you don't understand the underlying math, you're basically just playing with fancy calculators without knowing why the numbers are moving. This notebook covers the essentials for anyone trying to build a real-world AI workflow.

  • Content focus: Fundamental concepts required for ML.
  • Format: Jupyter Notebooks (perfect for that hands-on guide feel).
  • Repo link:
https://github.com/enochyu-official/notebook-linear-algebra

The Machine Learning Notebook

This one is a bit of a work in progress (don't look too closely at the unfinished sections, I'm still figuring things out), but it's intended to be a complete guide to the practical application of the math mentioned above. It’s essentially my attempt at a practical tutorial for moving from "I know what a vector is" to "I can actually implement something."

  • Status: Mostly done, but still evolving.
  • Core goal: Bridging the gap between theory and implementation.
  • Repo link:
https://github.com/enochyu-official/LibreNotebook

I know, I know—the internet is already flooded with "complete guides" and "beginner-friendly" tutorials. But since these were written by a student for students, the perspective is a little different. I'm not trying to sound like a professor; I'm just trying to document the struggle of making sense of it all.

If you find a typo or a mathematical error that makes you want to throw your monitor out a window, please just let me know. I’m using this as a deep dive to solidify my own knowledge, so your feedback is basically a free debugging service for my brain.

Help Wanted

All Replies (4)

T
TaylorDreamer Intermediate 1h ago
Respect the grind. Did you find it harder to explain backpropagation or just the linear algebra parts?
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Cameron9 Advanced 1h ago
Backprop was the mental gymnastics — linear algebra was just the sweat before the real workout.
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Alex18 Expert 1h ago
Relatable. I tried building a custom math guide once and ended up staring at a wall for hours.
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MaxOwl Intermediate 1h ago
I did something similar once. Using Anki flashcards for the formulas helped me actually retain them.
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