Originally Posted by
DougDbug
The good news is that most programming doesn't involve much math... And, the computer can do the calculations for you if you know how to set-up the expression.
I've been programming (mostly as a hobby) for several years, and I've never needed any calculus or other "higher math". I may have used some trigonometry, and I have done lots of "simple math", number-manipulation, and bit-manipulation.
Most beginning C++ books require very little math. You'll need to understand Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT, XOR), which is a mathematical concept. And, you do need to know something about binary (base 2) for bitwise operations, and it also helps to know something about hexadecimal (base 16).
The bad news is that in order to become a professional programmer (or "software engineer") you will need lots of math. If you major in Computer Science in college, you will be required to take calculus just like any other science or engineering major. (I have a friend who has a job as a professional programmer, and he majored in math!)
The other bad news is that (good) programming requires logical/analytical/abstract thinking, and it requires accuracy & precision. So, people who are good at math can be good at programming, and people who are poor at math tend to have a hard time with programming.
If you really enjoy programming, you may develop new attitude toward math, and there is a good possibility of becomming much better at it!
I'd hate to see you "avoid" anything.... I'd rather see you "dig into" the math as-needed. cpjust mentioned encryption and compression... A couple of other math-heavy areas that come to mind are DSP (digital signal processing) and graphics, especially animation.
And most of the time, you can find a pre-written library for all of these areas. So, it's not always necessary to understand all of the math behind the functions you are using.