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Anyone have a glossary or index for newbs? Like a shortcut to reading the symbolic notation? I have some expository knowledge to sets (ie. sets are denoted by capital letters). And some of the symbols (ie. the vertical pipe means given or 'where' and indicates a predicate assumption of sorts). Anyone have the cheat code for laypeople and undergrads?

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Sorry, there is no cheat code here. Understanding this stuff requires real and significant time investment, and is beyond arms reach (though not beyond sight) of undergrads and especially laypeople. If you put in investment, understand what is module, quotient operation, exact sequence etc, you will be able to follow. However, this is not trivial and not just an issue of notation: there are real, fundamental concepts here that one must learn to grasp.

What would be your "pareto list", ie the list of the concepts, symbols, notation, etc that would get one 80% of the way with 20% of the knowledge?

I don't think that there is any, sorry.

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