Thread: is it essential to master mathamatics in order to be able to have a say in CS?

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    بابلی ریکا Masterx's Avatar
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    is it essential to master mathamatics in order to be able to have a say in CS?

    is it ?
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    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
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    I'm fairly certain that you can say what you want while playing CS without needing a mastery of mathematics.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

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    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
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    Master? No.
    Understand? Yes.

    At least my opinion.

    > I'm fairly certain that you can say what you want while playing CS without needing a mastery of mathematics.
    Haha

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    بابلی ریکا Masterx's Avatar
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    well actually i asked that because i saw the topic in tech board disscussing somehow the same thing!
    there laiserlight said sth about coming up with an algorithm or stuff that would require to know mathematics !well im talking about university and academic stuff(thesis) ,you know to submit sth new and unique ~ ! and aside from that ive heard this a thousand times that a good programmer is the one who knows mathematics fairly well! and mathematics give a programmer more flexibility (in terms of coming with new ideas and well designed algorithm!) and also ability to make new solutions ! ?
    is that right?
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    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
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    Ah, but you only need to know enough mathematics to develop the algorithm in question, i.e., mathematics from computer science, plus mathematics related to your problem domain (which may change as you work on different projects).
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

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    like everyone is saying here. There are specific areas of knowledge of mathematics to know if you want to have a say. For example, if you dont understand all the mathematics involved in 3D computer graphics at the conceptual level, then how are you able to produce the graphics rendering you are required to achieve unless you know about manipulating matrices, shading algorithms etc.

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    The Right Honourable psychopath's Avatar
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    is it essential to master mathamatics
    I hope not. I'm only barely passing calculus .
    M.Eng Computer Engineering Candidate
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    Robotics and graphics enthusiast.

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    Like lordmule said, maths are required, but not heavily. You can live without the math library. You don't have to. But if you are going to be a, let's say, game or scientific programmer, you should know about many things out there (matrices, trig. etc.). If you don't, you can do other things.

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    بابلی ریکا Masterx's Avatar
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    thank you all , appreciate that , thats the relief i needed:d
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    "...a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are,in short, a perfect match.."
    Bill Bryson


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    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
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    > I hope not. I'm only barely passing calculus .
    Ding ding, transfer to SE

    I can't stand my CS units, even though I do well in them -- not something I'd want to do for ever

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    Banned ಠ_ಠ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zacs7 View Post
    > I hope not. I'm only barely passing calculus .
    Ding ding, transfer to SE
    If that stands for software engineering, I had to take calc 3 and diff equ
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    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ View Post
    If that stands for software engineering, I had to take calc 3 and diff equ
    I know, I had to do all the same math units as the CS students. But as far as maths goes, it seems to be in CS a lot more than say SE.

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    I had to take a ton of math classes, calc I-3, DIff Eq, Stats (2 400 level), matrices, discrete math not to mention all the physics (mechanics, E&M, quantum and waves).

    I thought all those courses helped my problem solving skills but when I'm programming in the real world, so far I havn't used any math or needed math to understand the problem, but Its probably dependent on what exactly your programming

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    I agree it highly depends on what you're programming.

    During one of my past jobs I had to implement some curve-fitting and equation solving. An engineer showed me some application notes on a thermal resistor - some graphs and rough 2nd and 3rd order equations voltage vs. temperature. I could apply my knowledge of matrix solving and put together a little C program that can accept some calibration constants and come up with a good curve to calculate temperature from an A/D on a dedicated controller.

    In another case I was asked to write a touch-screen entry front-end. I was again able to apply my geometry background and do some simple rotates, (polar coordinate systems), and come up with a custom driver. Same with a digitizing project a friend of mine was doing. He needed to place a map on a digitizing tablet and point to three corners (or more) to establish a baseline. I whipped up the necessary code to do coordinate transforms.

    It doesn't matter your proficiency level in pure programming and the language thereof. You need to know some "real world" disciplines as well to mesh computers / controllers with the real world.

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    بابلی ریکا Masterx's Avatar
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    Thank you guys, thank you very much.
    Highlight Your Codes
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    "...a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are,in short, a perfect match.."
    Bill Bryson


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