The Story of the Mathematics of Machine Learning Book

How I accidently wrote a 700-page textbook because I couldn’t stop posting on Twitter

Writing online about mathematics and machine learning started as a creative hobby for me, a way to recharge my batteries after cofounding a failed startup that burned my savings and two years of my life.

I have always had a passion for teaching. Even as an undergrad, I often found myself explaining the material to my coursemates. In my third year, I became a teaching assistant, teaching probability theory to students only one year below me. Later, as a researcher in a computational biology group, I used to give spontaneous lectures on (guess what) the mathematics of machine learning, sometimes even helping my grad student colleagues prepare for calculus and linear algebra exams.

The conventional advice is “don’t follow your dreams, do whatever makes you the most money.” But I’m not a conventional person. I walk my path, not others’. So, in 2021, I started a project with no promise of money, only a promise of personal fulfillment. A dream.

It turned out to be the most rewarding decision I…