If you have an interest in these topics, you can learn them. If you spend enough time doing something, you will learn it. Everyone has a different number for how long it will take, but depending on your "intelligence" skill level you will eventually grasp the subject.
This feeling that you are not armed for the subject is because there is a lot of dependent information between what you know and subjects like category theory and abstract algebra. Since you just got outta high school, you still have a lot to learn between where you are and where you want to be. Do not let that dissuade you tho, you can learn it, just gotta start.
Both MIT[1] and Stanford[2] have category theory as a graduate level course. I was not a math major but I assume that means you're like 4+ years away from learning this on the college track. Now, do not take that as a personal endorsement for going to college, you do you.
But, you are on hacker news, so I assume you want to learn, Well here is the MIT undergrad pure math major class requirements[3]. Its a good place to start learning an undergrad amount of math, the internet has resources everywhere to learn this stuff, it just takes time. Lots and lots of time.
One more tip, there is a trade-off between how hard something is to learn and how quickly you can learn it [4]. Do not over exert yourself too far in the difficult to learn direction, because you will become frustrated. Try and find a spot that is still fun, but not too fun, because then you are not maximizing your learning potential, assuming that is your goal. Learning how to learn can be very helpful, maximize your gains.
Also shout out to Numberphile on Youtube [5]. If you like math, you will like the channel.
This feeling that you are not armed for the subject is because there is a lot of dependent information between what you know and subjects like category theory and abstract algebra. Since you just got outta high school, you still have a lot to learn between where you are and where you want to be. Do not let that dissuade you tho, you can learn it, just gotta start.
Both MIT[1] and Stanford[2] have category theory as a graduate level course. I was not a math major but I assume that means you're like 4+ years away from learning this on the college track. Now, do not take that as a personal endorsement for going to college, you do you.
But, you are on hacker news, so I assume you want to learn, Well here is the MIT undergrad pure math major class requirements[3]. Its a good place to start learning an undergrad amount of math, the internet has resources everywhere to learn this stuff, it just takes time. Lots and lots of time.
One more tip, there is a trade-off between how hard something is to learn and how quickly you can learn it [4]. Do not over exert yourself too far in the difficult to learn direction, because you will become frustrated. Try and find a spot that is still fun, but not too fun, because then you are not maximizing your learning potential, assuming that is your goal. Learning how to learn can be very helpful, maximize your gains.
Also shout out to Numberphile on Youtube [5]. If you like math, you will like the channel.
[1] https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-s996-category-the... [2] http://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/10-210A/ [3] https://math.mit.edu/academics/undergrad/major/course18/pure... [4] http://fancyfishgames.com/img/difficulty_curve.png [5] https://www.youtube.com/user/numberphile