(Scroll down for links to the courses.) The two best sources for free, high-quality online math courses are MIT OpenCourseWare and Khan Academy. You don't get any course credit or grades, but if learning is what you care about, these are exactly what you want. If you don't understand your current professor or teacher, using these online courses is a great way to have the material presented in a different way. Usually, that helps the material really click. MIT OpenCourseWareMIT's OCW is best for courses at the college undergraduate and graduate level (Calculus and later.) It's almost like being an actual student in MIT's lecture hall since you get videos of the professor lecturing at the chalkboard. The syllabus, PDF lecture notes, homework assignments, midterms, and solutions are often all available, too.Khan AcademyKhan Academy is best for math courses leading up to college, from arithmetic to algebra to trig to calculus.The presentation style is more personal with a video of the notes Khan is writing out as he's talking--it's more like a math tutor coming over to your house. The founder of Khan Academy recently gave a phenomenal TED lecture. Incredible data visualizations and a great sampling of the thousands of lectures available through Khan Academy. Khan Academy also offers biology, chemistry, physics, finance, SAT prep, competition math, computer science, and more. Getting StartedBelow are a few direct links to specific free online math courses to get you started. All have full high-quality video lectures. |
The Best Online Math Courses
| Course title | Comments | Course link | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algebra | Slope, ratios, factoring, quadratic equation, functions, inverses, conic sections, partial fractions. | Algebra playlist | Khan Academy |
| Arithmetic | Adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing. | Arithmetic playlist | Khan Academy |
| Calculus 1 (Differential Calculus) | Limits, derivatives, optimization, and other topics of first semester calculus | Calculus I playlist | Khan Academy |
| Calculus 2 (Integral Calculus) | Indefinite integration, definite integration, solids of revolution, Taylor series and polynomials, and other topics of second semester calculus | Calculus II playlist | Khan Academy |
| Calculus 3 (Multivariable Calculus) | Partial derivatives, divergence, gradient, curl, line integrals, Green & Stokes' Theorems, double & triple integrals, and other topics of third semester calculus | Calculus III playlist | Khan Academy |
| Calculus, Single Variable | The best. With complete video lectures. | Calculus MIT OCW | MIT |
| Differential Equations | The best. Complete video lectures. | Diff Eq MIT OCW | MIT |
| Differential Equations | Exact equations, integrating factors, first order homogenous, 2nd order linear homogenous, complex roots of characteristic equation, undetermined coefficients, Laplace Transform, inverse Laplace, Dirac delta function. | Diff Eq playlist | Khan Academy |
| Engineering Mathematics I | Prof. Strang is extremely gifted. | Eng Math MIT OCW | MIT |
| Geometry | Two-column proof, congruent, similar, transversals and parallel lines, obtuse and acute angles, Pythagorean Theorem. Special topics include the Koch Snowflake fractal and the Golden Ratio. | Geometry playlist | Khan Academy |
| Linear Algebra | Matrix multiplication, inverting matrices, span, linear independence, reduced row echelon form, nullspace, transformations, image, kernel, basis, determinants, transpose, orthogonal, Gram-Schmidt, eigenvalues, and additional advanced topics such as alternate coordinate systems | Linear algebra playlist | Khan Academy |
| Linear Algebra | Prof. Strang is extremely gifted. | Linear Algebra MIT OCW | MIT |
| Multivariable Calculus | The best. With complete video lectures. | Multivar Calc MIT OCW | MIT |
| Pre-algebra | Fractions, exponents, order of operations, logarithms, scientific notation, significant figures. | Pre-algebra playlist | Khan Academy |
| Pre-calculus | Limits, sequences, series, Binomial Theorem, compound interest, polar coordinates, parametric equations, function inverses. | Pre-calc playlist | Khan Academy |
| Probability | Binomial coefficients, independent events, dependent events, combinations, expected value, probability density functions, binomial distribution, Poisson process. | Probability playlist | Khan Academy |
| Statistics | Variance, standard deviation, normal distribution, confidence intervals, type 1 error, hypothesis test, squared error, R-squared, Chi-squared test. | Statistics playlist | Khan Academy |
| Trigonometry | Radians and degrees, sine, cosine, tangent, trig identities, polar coordinates, inverse trig functions. | Trig playlist | Khan Academy |
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