Can maths be self taught?

It is not possible. I am probably one of the few who have published in the field who started out learning math on my own (avoided math in undergrad).

Can you teach yourself with textbooks?

For some disciplines, yes — this is theoretically possible for some people. However, they would need to find other books with background material and commentary for what they are reading. Most textbooks are written so that a teacher fills in some of the material around the concept in the texts.

What is the best book to start learning about mathematics?

The Princeton Companion to Mathematics: By June Barrow-Green, Timothy Gowers, and Imre Leader. Arithmetics: It is most elementary and the oldest among all other branches and it deals with the basic operations and number system of mathematics such as addition, multiplications, subtractions, and divisions.

What do you learn from the book maths by Paul Lockhart?

When you start reading, you will realize that, the book is a powerful criticism on the prevalent curriculum of Mathematics in elementary, middle and high schools. Paul Lockhart thinks that, mathematics is an art, and it is much more than memorization of notations and formulas. For him, mathematics is a life-long love.

Why do we need to classify the branches of mathematics?

Because of the expansion of mathematics usage and scope, there is a requirement to classify several branches of mathematics. Each year number of math books are published, but few of them are successful to be loved by mathematicians and students all around the world.

Is there any joy in understanding mathematics?

There is a lot of joy in understanding mathematics, for instance, how the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem or the secrets of pi, e, epsilon… Anyway, if you passed a lot of math courses but failed to make any sense out of them during your education, those books were written for you.