Clear mathematics books from A to Z ?

[Kuriza23]

Hi ! I've been reading on here for a long time through google and decided to join !

I started learning physics material mostly through general layman books from Hawking,Greene,Asimov etc and while I do not aim to become a physicist in occupation (luckily for physics), I do want to progress to a more proof-based level of physics rather than just thought-based which is very practical but lacks the PUNCH of mathematics.. I often find myself think after reading something important "this is very nice but how the HELL did he come up with that ? "

I have not touched mathematics since my SAT's ,,
I understand you can't put calculus,geometry,algebra,statistics, probability etc in one book,
so, considering that I have limited budget and these are probably expensive books, what "bundle" can I add to my amazon cart that would allow me to get a great level of the math needed for basics physics ?
Again, my current level is low.

Thank you very much 1

 

[micromass]

There are many books out there which are very cheap or even free! For example, you could look at lecture notes at universities. Free materials are likely to be less good than actual textbooks though.

As for free material, you can always look at:
http://www.khanacademy.org/
http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/
(warning: do not use the previous two links as your only source but rather as a secondary source! In mathematics it is crucial to make as many exercises as possible. Just watching khan academy videos is not sufficient, but it can be a huge help)
http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/
http://www.matrixanalysis.com/DownloadChapters.html
http://hbpms.blogspot.be/2008/05/stage-1-introductory-calculus.html

Some nice cheap books:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471827223/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486404536/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[Kuriza23]

VERY NICE ! Bookmarked !
So I take it CALCULUS is most important when dealing with the basic level ?

Do I need special Geometry and Algebra books for now ?

 

[micromass]

VERY NICE ! Bookmarked !
So I take it CALCULUS is most important when dealing with the basic level ?

Do I need special Geometry and Algebra books for now ?

Geometry and algebra are very important. They're even more important than calculus (because if you don't know algebra, then it will be impossible to do calculus). However, you probably learned all the relevant stuff in high school. You can always take your old high school books and relearn you stuff. Additionally, there is good free stuff online on algebra, trig and geometry, for example: http://hbpms.blogspot.be/2008/05/stage-1-elementary-stuff.html

A very good book on algebra, trig and geometry is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0387967877/?tag=pfamazon01-20
You can apparently get a used copy for $30 on amazon, and probably cheaper elsewhere. In any case, it is cheaper and better than most or all $200 textbooks out there (like the awful books by Stewart).