I’ve discussed this before but another thread popped up a couple of months ago and I had to give another explanation on the significance of mathematics in software development.
Excuse me?
I just want to ask if the computation in math is using for programming? Cause I hate Math :-|
Almost all programming deals with logic, and Logic is part of Math. So yeah, you shouldn’t be a programmer if you don’t want to do math.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… the real question here is: “Why do you hate math?”
If you hate math because you think it’s all memorization and weird symbols, you do not hate math – you simply hate standardized education from last century.
I love math, because for me it’s a fun way of exploring and discovering the mysteries of the reality we live in using only a handful of tools. I do not consider the memorization and weird symbols as the whole of math, I just think of them as a necessary (albeit annoying/painful) part of math – no different from a novice carpenter getting injuries from learning his tools.
The problem with most math classes is that they are too abstract to the point that learning the topics become almost faith-based. (A good example of faith-based teaching can be seen in Richard Feynman’s essay on Brazilian Physics eduction.) If students were introduced to calculus using this or polar coordinates using this, they might have a different opinion on the subject.
Back to your question, the other commenters have already given most of the things you need to know i.e. no, most of us programmers don’t do hardcore math from day to day; however, learning math practices your abstract reasoning and problem comprehension skills, both of which you will use everyday. (Think of soldiers doing push-ups. You won’t see them do those in the heat of battle, but it helps condition their bodies for the battlefield.)
Oh, and yeah, there’s one field in software development that everyone wants to get into but actually deals with a lot of hardcore math: Game Programming.
Aa. Okay i just want to ask if that math subjects is so hard to get? :)
They are hard, but they are doable as long as you have proper study habits.
Different maths require different skills, though. For example, Linear Algebra is more meticulous to detail, Calculus stresses your pattern recognition abilities, and Discrete Math needs both critical and out of the box thinking.
