It is possible to grasp (relatively) advanced math like in this discussion via self-study. I myself came from a different background (engineering) though I’ve been somehow interested in math since high school. I wish I can recommend some material for studying such fields of math from a non-math background (at least at the start) but maybe that should be saved for a separate thread. I do remember encountering such a thread in the other place, but it won’t hurt much to ask for it here (if there isn’t already such a thread here).