I had considered working with a tutor. but honestly, its not hard to understand math from the textbooks. The main value of the tutor is that they figure out what you're weak at. however cost and time come into the equation. with a tutor, you have to plan ahead. you also can't have a tutor by your side everytime you practice math.
> I don't see spaced repetition being useful for theoretical math though maybe it is ok for calculation.
what Ive learned over the years over multiple disciplines is that really understanding theory is built on a strong intuition and a strong intuition is built on LOTS of practice. if you're solving the problem a lot, you are engaging with it on multiple levels which is going to force your brain to understand it on a level you will simply not get from simply watching a video on the subject. In much the same way that watching a video on react does not make you a web developer.
A tutor can give you an opinionated approach to a subject. They can offer you what they believe are the best (well, good) references. They can give you intuitive explanations for why things are true - the kind of explanation that is missing in a typical “rigorous” book. They can tell you what lines make sense to explore at your level and what things you should save wondering about for later. A tutor is another name for a professor, if you expect enough.
Studying statistics / ML, I absolutely found that there were “truths” from the text that I would try to prove with simulations and … couldn’t really reproduce. Having somebody tell you that “that chapter is good but those particular statements are controversial / wrong / not exactly saying what you think they are saying” is really valuable.
In the end, my opinion is that if you find it easy to learn from a text, probing the boundaries of your understanding could be good. Some stuff is easy. Other stuff just sounds easy but there is a deeper understanding to acquire.
> I don't see spaced repetition being useful for theoretical math though maybe it is ok for calculation.
what Ive learned over the years over multiple disciplines is that really understanding theory is built on a strong intuition and a strong intuition is built on LOTS of practice. if you're solving the problem a lot, you are engaging with it on multiple levels which is going to force your brain to understand it on a level you will simply not get from simply watching a video on the subject. In much the same way that watching a video on react does not make you a web developer.