So you thought you could just pip install tensorflow and become an ML engineer? Plot twist: Machine Learning ghosted you the moment you walked in because Mathematics was already waiting at the door with linear algebra, calculus, and probability theory ready to have a serious conversation. Turns out you can't just import your way out of understanding gradient descent, eigenvalues, and backpropagation. Mathematics is the possessive partner that ML will never leave, no matter how many Keras tutorials you watch. Sorry buddy, but those neural networks aren't going to optimize themselves without some good old-fashioned derivatives and matrix multiplication. The harsh reality: every ML paper reads like a math textbook had a baby with a programming manual, and if you skipped calculus in college thinking "I'll never need this," well... the universe is laughing at you right now.