Miss Brinklow, however, was not yet to be sidetracked. “What do the lamas do?”
“They devote themselves, madam, to contemplation and to the pursuit of wisdom.”
“But that isn’t doing anything.”
“Then, madam, they do nothing.”
— James Hilton (Lost Horizon)
How to study: I strongly recommend that everyone read Peter Alfeld’s study guide for Understanding Mathematics.
Using LaTeX: LaTeX is an excellent document preparation tool when one needs to communicate mathematical content. It also provides one with a different perspective on creating documents. The LaTeX project website gives you information on why one should consider using LaTeX and how to use LaTeX. LaTeX runs on a variety of operating systems and is installed on the ECE department’s Linux-based systems (ssh.ece.ubc.ca). If you would like to draw figures within LaTeX, I would recommend TikZ.
Non-technical reading: A list of books and articles that connect to mathematics and algorithms may offer some relief, on occasion.