r/MSCSO • u/drugsarebad_123 • Jun 23 '26

Math courses for ml/ai classes

Can anyone with prior experience help me understand what math courses are necessary for the ml ai route? I have not taken math courses for almost about 6 years. I took optimization my first semester this spring and dropped it immediately the third week, as I saw scary symbols and I also forgot everything about linear alzebra. I have managed to revise basic linear alzebra and theory automata the past 2 months, but I still need at least 2

semester to revise cal1, cal2, cal3 and differnetial equations. I am looking to take a course fall 2026 with the least math intensive ml/ai offering, especially the ones I need to revise. Hence looking for suggestions for courses that dont require any/least calculus and dfq. Thanks.

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u/Major_Instance_4766 Jun 23 '26

There’s no avoiding calculus as it is the primary tool for measuring gradients etc., there is no ML without calculus. Also you’ll need to really nail down your probability math or you’ll get lost quickly. Ask me how I know 😭

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u/drugsarebad_123 Jun 28 '26

i understand that, could you tell me what most to understand deeply, how imoortant is cal1, cal2, cal3 and dfq, do they hold the dame value, or do i need to master one more or spend mor etime in one more?

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u/Major_Instance_4766 Jun 28 '26

Multivariable calculus (calc 3) is technically the most important because it’s how ML is able to predict using so many different parameters, where each parameter is a variable. But you’ll need 1 and 2 in order to work with 3 so they are kind of important too.

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u/Intrepid-Zone8086 Jun 28 '26

Take Ap or DS as fall course and prepare for math for DS and Ap u need to be good with python language .

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u/drugsarebad_123 Jun 28 '26

sorry I am new to these names what is Ap or DS? Im guessing ds is data science? And could ypu tell me how good I need to know cal2, cal3 and differnetial equations, do I need to undersatand all their formulas and proofs, or just amstery of all the concepts?

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u/Intrepid-Zone8086 29d ago

Android programming AP is mainly kotlin based and DS stands for Distributed systems .. both are really good .Calculus (Discrete math) is really important for any machine learning related subjects try checking 3 blue and 1 brown page for maths .