Good question. I think a Python background is strongly recommended. PyTorch knowledge would be a nice to have (although I've written a comprehensive 40 page intro for the Appendix, which is also already available). From a math perspective, I think it should be gentle. I'm introducing dot products in Chapter 3, but I also explain how you could do the same with for-loops. Same with matrix multiplication. I'm bad at estimating requirements, but I hope this should be sufficient.