Hello Tildes,

I am currently taking DSA in college and struggling a lot with the math and algorithms. Recently had to solve Karatsuba questions and I don't even know what I wrote down on the paper. I have been trying to look for videos on this and only really came away with a vague understanding.

What I've noticed is that I struggle with solving the math part of the questions.

For example: "Describe a divide and conquer algorithm to compute the square
of an n-digit integer in O(n log3 5) time, by reducing to the squaring of five [n/3]-digit
integers"

I have zero clue how I am supposed to understand the latter half of the question. It makes no sense to me beyond I am supposed to be multiplying squared numbers. How do I even begin to turn this into an algorithm? What is the solution even supposed to look like?

Needless to say, I've struggled with math my entire life and I've been trying for years to be decent with it, and I have nothing to show for it.

So, do you have any recommendations that could simplify the math needed for DSA? Videos are preferred but I will textbook recommendations as well.

Thank you, and have a good day!

I read the AskReddit thread on "What costs less than $100 that changed your life?" (link unavailable since I'm at work) but someone responded "SQL" - jobs just open up that make a ton of money.

I did a cursory search on Indeed and holy moly they were right -- SQL jobs get easily 2x what I make now. I'm pretty good at Excel and that sort of thinking, so I was thinking I'd try taking a class.

Do yall have any recommendations as to a good course to take in SQL, preferably online, preferably free or cheap? I'm willing to pay a bit if it'll mean I can make a lot more, but I'm currently not making a ton, haha.

Any responses welcome, including ideas as to how to break into like, tech-oriented fields as well.

So, I've been going through Project Euler and solving problems as a way to brush up on my programming abilities, but it's mostly a math-focused set of problems. Which is cool..they're nice little puzzles that get the gears turning...

BUT I'm wondering if anyone here has suggestions for a website/course that teaches software design in a piece-wise way. Like... each problem is a nugget of software design that builds off previous problems and eventually you're creating an entire application utilizing different algorithms/design patterns/data structures/etc.

I'd appreciate any resources similar to that idea. Thanks!

I'm in a bit of a rutt with my journey to learn how to write software, and I really have no idea where to go from here. I've taken a bunch of software engineering courses on edx.org, and I've done a few personal projects with what I've learned, but I still don't know enough to be able to contribute to open source projects or make anything useful.

TL;DR
How can I learn to actually make things?