My academic math journey stopped at pre-calc, and I had been a C student for quite a long time. HS Algebra II would never have happened for me if I hadn't discovered XMaxima, an emacs-based CAS. Fortunately I took a Discrete Math course before dropping out of college, and it gave me a new admiration for math.

In spite of my weak math background, this has been the most enjoyable comments section on HN I've read so far.