In the past I have only been driven to learn mathematics to stand on the top of my class but after I started programming in python I realized the importance of mathematics and it's beauty. After passing high school I had a determination to learn mathematics all the time realizing all I could do with mathmatics that I learnt over the past 17 years was addition, subtraction, division and multiplication.
Yes, I learnt calculus, I learnt theorems of limit, I learnt linear programming and statistics when I was in high school but the real mathematical ideas were not presented in the high school study. It was more of a horse race, if you back down on the 'parrot- study', you lose your future. So, I did it along with all others. I don't understand the most base concept of mathematics and I want to learn.
As I've mentioned above, I have only 4 skills in mathematics addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions.
How can I self-study my way for maths but a complete understanding of the subject.
I did find a book that I thought I would try, was an open content by Thomas w. Judson, but after learning a few pages I found out it required knowledge of matrices. After acquiring a book on matrices(linear algebra), and reading a few pages it said it required calculus. And I thought a similar problem would round up.
So how should I start the very first brick in mathmatics after all these years?
Sorry, if this question sounds pathetic, while I know similar questions have been asked It isn't specific towards this one. If you think of closing it as an off topic question please provide a link that I could ask elsewhere because I've already inquired in the places I could besides in websites and am unaware of other sites that involve such question and answering interaction.
Hum, I'm not sure this will answer your question but imho the very first brick in mathematics is to accept things as true. The very core of mathematics is to suppose something as granted and see what happen (this granted things are called axioms). Of course in any subject you can always go "deeper" and question every things. Like you said that you know how to do an addition but what does that mean, how do you define an addition? Addition on what by the way? addition on matrices are well defined, ...
Because of this reason I don't think there is any book (or anything else) that start with very few axiom and confer the whole mathematics, because that would require to go again trough the millenary of previous mathematics.
In all books you have some knowledge required to understand the book, you can see it as axioms. If I admit that this properties are true then the content is true. However each time you question this claims you will have to "re-do" all the history of mathematics