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Math And The Computer Science Major

An anonymous reader writes "What sort of math are CS majors expected to take? Why are these classes useful? Does programming really have that much to do with math? Lineman.Net has published an article that answers these questions and more. If you are considering a CS degree, be sure to give it a look and make sure you are taking steps to prepare for your college career."

14 of 1,203 comments (clear)

  1. Of course you need math... by OEJack · · Score: 3, Funny

    How else are you going to figure out how much money to ask for in Rupees? ($1USD = 44.5641 Rupees as of this morning)

  2. Re:Why is maths useful for computer scientists? by appelflapje · · Score: 2, Funny

    Advanced math? You call linear algebra advanced math? Hmm... Maybe I overrated math. :)

  3. Re:A Warning by Nick+of+NSTime · · Score: 3, Funny

    What do you know about "many state universities" if you're attending DeVry? Last time I checked, University of Texas at Austin (my alma mater) wasn't advertised between CHiPs reruns.

  4. Re:Certain types of programming... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Business and accounting are fairly
    > straightforward math (arithmetic) but compound
    > interest gets a bit more complicated.

    At U-Mich, at least when I went there, economics majors were required to take Calculus I, so that for one brief shining moment in their lives they theoretically understood the derivation of the continuously compounded interest formula.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  5. Re:HS math question. by Mandi+Walls · · Score: 4, Funny
    Fess up. You never used graph paper for math class. You used it for D&D.

    --mandi

  6. Re: HS math question. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny


    > my little brother who recently turned 18 for a beer

    In my day we turned 18 without any such incentives.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  7. Re:True! by AnonymousKev · · Score: 2, Funny
    "Can you hack math?"

    Should I be scared that my first thought was an image of a nerdy math-type hunched over an HP calculator and unleasing PI=2.7 on the internet.

    "I've done it! I've successfully hacked math!
    1 0wnZ0rd j00 Py7h4g0r4z!"

    --
    Anonymous Kev
    Proudly posting as AC since 1997
    (Finally got a dang account in 2004)
  8. Young fellas today by pommiekiwifruit · · Score: 2, Funny

    You and your new-fangled Cartesian co-ordinate system. Why, back in Euclid's day we just had points, straight lines and circles, and we were grateful!

  9. Re:Certain types of programming... by abe+ferlman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Of course, plumbers need math too. In fact, the more I do computer science, the more it reminds me of plumbing- setting the pipes up so the right stream gets to the right place at the right time in the right amounts. I have a lot of respect for plumbers because they can't just fix their code if they have a bug, they have to get it right the first time and put it immediately into production.

    --
    microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
  10. Re:Math requirements? by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    My Numerical Analysis final is in 30 minutes. Can you explain the whole predictor-corrector thing? Cuz' I'm lost.

    --

    You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

  11. Re:Coding IS math. by Paulrothrock · · Score: 2, Funny
    Anyone can write a shell script. Very few people can express mathematical concepts in code.
    int c = 1;
    echo c;
    c++;
    echo c;
    Woohoo! I'm a mathematician!
    --
    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  12. Re:HS math question. by wass · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's even worse than you imagine. I was a TA for the introductory physics course for biological majors at Johns Hopkins University. Because of things like graphing calculators, as well as the ability to store vast amounts of textbook information in calculators/PDA's, students weren't allowed to use calculators on the exams (so as to level the playing field). In turn, the math was made easier (ie, no finding the square root of 743.2 for instance).

    It was really sickening that several students couldn't do relatively simple math or utilize scientific notation. For example, a simple quiz question could boil down to the student multiplying 4000 x 0.00007 and not being able to do it! Some students told me to my face that they couldn't do this type of stuff without a calculator! Sometimes after I explain it to them and point out how obviuos it is, they kind of slap their foreheads for not knowing it. But still, these kind of simple scientific notation calculations should have been taught to them at least in high school, if not earlier.

    The scary part is this school is one of the top top pre-med schools, and many of these students will go on to become top doctors in their fields. Some of whom were baffled by simplistic mathematical calculations.

    An amusing anecdote, although probably urban legend, goes as follows. Understand that for pre-meds physics is usually considered the hardest class because it's the only one where full-blown memorization doesn't work. A pre-med, frustrated with his/her physics class goes to complain to the professor. He/She says "Physics is stupid, why do pre-meds need to know physics anyway?". The physicist responds "Oh, it saves lives." Premed inquires how. Physicist responds "It stops the idiots like yourself from becoming doctors."

    --

    make world, not war

  13. Re:Certain types of programming... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    A good grasp of English and spelling wouldn't hurt either. For the final time, the adverbial form of the word "definite", is "definitely", NOT "definately."

  14. Math by gtclav · · Score: 1, Funny

    Math my dear boy is nothing more than the lesbian sister of biology.