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RE: Overcoming the fear of mathematics
I dont have issue with mathematics, but understanding math is always requiring lot of time and effort to understand, and most people dont have this sort of time or mental energy available, or they dont value mathematics problem solving enough to invest too much time into understanding it, or have other things to solve that they think is more important.
Understanding new mathematics concept or formulas always takes time and effort, there is no black & white barrier where someone understand all the mathematics at once, its all about time spent into understanding some bits of it, and the more time you spent reading it the more you understand.
I would say understanding math in a physical sense is easier than memorizing the formulas. In fact, most professors encourage you to conceptualize your topics in order to get a sense of what you're actually doing. Taking a derivative easy, but if you don't understand what you're doing physically or graphiclly, that's wheree problems begin. This particular book talks about math in the broader sense, and does not make you do actual problems (that's why I posted about it!) it's applicable to a wide audience! There are other books like "Differential Equations in 24 hours" that are more geared towards learning and practicing a mathematical class then conceptualizing it.
It depends if you do mathematics only for sake of practical application for industrial and economic purpose, or to train into logic or more with a platonic sense of valueing reasoning and solving problem with the mind, like mental training into idealism and logical thinking more than to be trained in a sector of the industry.
Mathematics is a discipline in itself that has value beyond physics modelling.
Rieman showed very well this problem of how to determine the "physicality" of mathematics equation in " the Hypotheses Which Lie at the Foundations of Geometry".
If its for economic purpose, all together advanced mathematics only has marginal use in the whole process of designing commercially succesful industry, in which direct experience and practical insight and "know how" might be more important than knowing mathematic formulas.
Specially with computers, now there are plenty of software that can be used for solving engineering or accounting issues, without needing to know about the math behind.