Huh? Up here in parts of Canada I don't remember being carded for the last M rated game I that I bought. Nor do I ever remember having to show my ID for renting an R rated movie.
What area are you from? My experience is coming from the Ontario region (Northwestern and southern). Namely, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Kitchener/Waterloo.
I agree that the whole textbook issue is just a load of bollocks. It's highly unlikely the whole deciding factor is based on having a 'real' copy of it.
Wasn't there a Nobel prize winner that once said, "There are two kinds of math text books: Those you can't read past the first page, and those you can't read past the first sentence."?
While I found long division with integers to be not so useful after awhile, long division with polynomials actually does have some good uses in a calculus course!
FYI, we're not talking about high school level algebra. A lot of topics in modern algebra like Group Theory and Ring Theory deal very rarely with 'numbers' solely.
While this could be something that the law enforcement authorities could use to deal with you, this has nothing to do with it happening on school grounds, and hence the school giving you disciplinary action is an absurd idea.
Again, we have the issue of the school overstepping its bounds in this case.
I agree in general. While I've mentioned this before in another story relating to the CS discipline, this is possibly why Dijkstra preferred to call Computer Science "Computing Science", since really CS has to do with the kinds of problems, like what can be solved by computing, and if you can solve it, what's the most efficient way of accessing and storing information for futher use?
Indeed, it is the computing part that is done, not on the actual device that is used.
Um, no, you're assumption is incorrect. Nintendo has been around since 1889. They started off by making cards for card games. See the wikipedia article below for more details.
Ah, okay, I was just a bit curious about that. Though, I do agree that in a lot of jobs, you're not going to use stuff like Fourier Analysis day to day unless you're dealing with stuff like digital signal processing of course.
Math can help with analyzing things like performance and also may be necessary for specific applications, but being able to design a set of logical steps to reach a solution (and then encode those steps in the syntax of a programming language) is what most of software engineering is about.
I guess what I'm trying to say is just that even if you're not uber strong in math, you can still work in the games industry... you just probably won't end up working with the rendering guys. There's a lot more to the average game than just graphics, after all... but you might want to develop some other marketable skills, like network programming for example:)
Agreed with your post.
Even just in designing the mechanics of a game, you will most likely want to use some kind of mathematics to help you out when modeling physical phenomena. The best example of this that I can think of is in a turn-based strategy game: How do you model how fast a population grows on some colony that you build? Answer: Use a (discretized) Logistic Function, which happens to be a solution of a.. differential equation! So, yes these things are actually rather useful afterall. I believe that MOO and MOO2 use a model similar to this, also taking into account other bonuses and technology you research.
So, yes, while you don't have to a full blown mathematician to be a game developer, it will make everything you do a lot easier, since it's better to drive a nail in with a hammer then doing so painfully with own fists. You save yourself a lot of pain that way.:)
Slashdot Mirror
The NSA hires teachers!?!?
E = mc^2.
Fifth. I am extremely annoyed by this. I like the overall redesign otherwise.
Huh? Up here in parts of Canada I don't remember being carded for the last M rated game I that I bought. Nor do I ever remember having to show my ID for renting an R rated movie.
What area are you from? My experience is coming from the Ontario region (Northwestern and southern). Namely, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Kitchener/Waterloo.
Excellent, if only I had mod points..
I agree that the whole textbook issue is just a load of bollocks. It's highly unlikely the whole deciding factor is based on having a 'real' copy of it. Wasn't there a Nobel prize winner that once said, "There are two kinds of math text books: Those you can't read past the first page, and those you can't read past the first sentence."?
Oh please Mr. Anonymous Coward, as if your anecdoctal experience is supposed to mean anything. In addition, correlation != causation. Nice try.
While I found long division with integers to be not so useful after awhile, long division with polynomials actually does have some good uses in a calculus course!
FYI, we're not talking about high school level algebra. A lot of topics in modern algebra like Group Theory and Ring Theory deal very rarely with 'numbers' solely.
Indeed, you could go back even further to about 2000+ years. See for example The Ring of Gyges.
While this could be something that the law enforcement authorities could use to deal with you, this has nothing to do with it happening on school grounds, and hence the school giving you disciplinary action is an absurd idea.
Again, we have the issue of the school overstepping its bounds in this case.
So? It's not like the U.S. doesn't have an equivalent of that either.
Correlation != Causation
Given Nintendo's record on how stable their previous consoles are, I think this is quite unlikely.
Well then there's the whole NTP vs. RIM matter, where the blood sucking patent holders NTP ended up winning in the end.
ROBOT HOUSE!!!
I agree in general. While I've mentioned this before in another story relating to the CS discipline, this is possibly why Dijkstra preferred to call Computer Science "Computing Science", since really CS has to do with the kinds of problems, like what can be solved by computing, and if you can solve it, what's the most efficient way of accessing and storing information for futher use?
Indeed, it is the computing part that is done, not on the actual device that is used.
Oh, and I do mean actually "your". Bah, typos be damned!
Um, no, you're assumption is incorrect. Nintendo has been around since 1889. They started off by making cards for card games. See the wikipedia article below for more details.
In comparison to the initial prices of the Playstation and Saturn, the N64 had a lower launch price.
Ah, okay, I was just a bit curious about that. Though, I do agree that in a lot of jobs, you're not going to use stuff like Fourier Analysis day to day unless you're dealing with stuff like digital signal processing of course.
And what kind of work do you do?
And real math somehow does not involve this step?
Boooo..urrrnss!
Agreed with your post. Even just in designing the mechanics of a game, you will most likely want to use some kind of mathematics to help you out when modeling physical phenomena. The best example of this that I can think of is in a turn-based strategy game: How do you model how fast a population grows on some colony that you build? Answer: Use a (discretized) Logistic Function, which happens to be a solution of a.. differential equation! So, yes these things are actually rather useful afterall. I believe that MOO and MOO2 use a model similar to this, also taking into account other bonuses and technology you research.
So, yes, while you don't have to a full blown mathematician to be a game developer, it will make everything you do a lot easier, since it's better to drive a nail in with a hammer then doing so painfully with own fists. You save yourself a lot of pain that way. :)