the road to learning useful math
silentbicycle: I've found Project Euler (http://projecteuler.net/) tremendously helpful for this sort of thing - some of the puzzles I couldn't figure out the mathematical trick to do it efficiently, but after I solved it I read through the forum posts and made sure I could rewrite the full solution in the languages I'm using. (The same works well for learning algorithms or feeling out a language, if you're solid on the mathematical side.)_Mathematics: From the Birth of Numbers_ by Gullberg and Hilton (http://www.librarything.com/work/23014) is also a good overview. It starts with counting (Roman numerals, numbers in ancient Egyptian writing, etc.) and builds up from there. The writing seems quite clear, and it covers both the mathematical concepts and their history. (I like this approach quite a bit, though my background is in history. YMMV.) I haven't gotten to the chapters for math I'm completely new to yet, but it seems like it would introduce you to enough basic concepts that you could have a clearer idea where to go next._The Cartoon Guide to Statistics_ by Larry Gonick (http://www.librarything.com/work/12735) seems like a good statistics refresher / overview. It's not that deep, and it's rather hokey, but it's a quick read. An important part of reading math papers is not getting thrown by the dense notation, so starting with something less formal may be helpful.