Do you think you need to be smart at math to be a programmer

People ask me that, my answer is like.. Well.. No

That's kind of bullshit

The only area of programming where you dont necessarily need it is web/web derivatives tho.

The argument "math" is more like the ability of logical thinking and less being good at "calculating".
A good logical thinking isn't necessary but it's helpful... hm... an advantage ofc, too, I think 🤔

I guess you don't have to be able to solve partial differential equations - last time I did was in 4th semester math, which was before quite some ranters here were even the glint in their parents' eyes.

However, math teaches some formal thinking, and hacking together code like doves shit on a monument isn't really understanding how and why shit works.

@Irithyll I'm give just come out and say this: if you don't have a good head for logic, you will not be a good programmer.

99% of people can learn the thought process, but if you haven't learned how to think things through logically, you will be a bad programmer.

@Zaphod65
🤔 Well... I understand your point but you can't know that. I can't prove the opposite but I'd say "exceptions confirm the rule"...

https://youtube.com/watch/...

but you probably need to be good if you're using a complicated algorithm or statistic stuff

It blew everyone's mind when I told them I'm a CS major that fucking hates math. In fact, I was preparing the underlining structure for a math rant the other day lol

We'll see just how long I make it lol

@Stuxnet well yeah.. but math mostly sucks because it's the hallmark of bad coding style. Open your run of the mill math book and gauge it as code, and you'll see why. It's just that this shit is so old in math, coming from times where paper was fucking expensive, that it has become part of the deal. There's a reason why APL has never taken off in software engineering.

@devTea
That may be the case and I would think the same way, since it is more logical or simpler.

But I wouldn't be me, myself and I if I didn't turn to the abstract and for some people the wrong way of looking at things.

So I'd rather say - there are exceptions. 😂 🙈

If someone thinks math is not compulsory in programming, they're doing easy stuff. Get your hands dirty in algorithms, neural networks, data science etc.. you'll realise the value of real math

You don’t know if you’re good at something unless you try, fail, try harder

As @omigator said. Certain areas do require math. And computer science as a whole is based around a **huge** number of mathematical concepts.

Game engine development --->fuckload of math.

Data Science and A.I---> fuckload of math

And so and so forth. I actually believe that being good at math did help me out quite a bit when going through cs at uni. Sure ain't needed for a lot of shit, not saying it is a complete requirement, but sure af is one for some stuff.

@Stuxnet I don't care for math beyond Algebra II. I never took Calculus and here I am.

Math is awesome and when you need to make something really fast and reliable, having a theorem and a proof is really good.

I always said that making a math proof is a waste of time but i was wrong (and i know it but i love getting myself excuses to not do things) because when you make the proof you understand better the concept and what is really important in it thus what you will need to use if you need a simple conditions to test a theorem and how to get it.

For instance lets just talk about matrix diagonalization there is a lot of way to assure a matrix could be decomposed like that but some conditions are easier to calculate in some case. For example evaluating prime between them polynom is an option leading to dunford and jordan decomposition.

@starrynights89 Calculus kicked my ass once is probably going to kick it again this year twice (calc 1&2).

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about discrete math, whatever the fuck that is, yet.

Statistics was required, but I didn't do any math in it hardly.

@sharktits until you do ecommerce then you need math again.

@Jase I know that problem, normal “static / basic” sites don’t get me motivated anymore unless I’m experimenting with UI’s.

The challenge from multi payments, system integrations and highly flexible checkouts get my gears turning - or I’m just a sucker for frustration 🤣

@Stuxnet I've done Algebra 1 and 2, statistics, trig and math logarithms. I'm not a CS major, just an IT major with a software engineering minor.

I don't think it makes me any more or less of a programmer. It just depends on what you want to specialize in. If I were building physics engines then yes I'd want to know calculus. When I programmed games you wanted to know some trigonometry for 3D games, until I lost the drive to keep working in C++ and went down other routes in life.

Life isn't a straight line, it's like a winding river. :)

@starrynights89 Honestly, the 6 required math classes for a CS degree is almost enough to make me wanna change my major haha

@Stuxnet It's what caused me to switch from CS. I've become pretty cynical about college and my end goal is to get the BS and quit. I really don't have the drive/justification for a master compared to what I can self teach.

@starrynights89 There's genuinely no justifiable reason for anything more than a BS, aside from a goal of doing something in research or some shit like that.

But chances are, I'll do the same as you and drop CS to a minor. Some aspects of IT interest me more than CS does anyways.

@Stuxnet What type of programs do you like to build/languages you like?

My calling was always this desire to build applications that could be ported anywhere and used on anything. Turns out I prefer a mix of dynamic and static typed languages with as minimal debugging as possible and to have the memory automatically managed. If I were to go back to memory management I would learn C or Go.

@starrynights89 lol I don't have a clue. I'm not one of those students who had CS classes in high school or any crazy amount of experience.

I took like half the Codecademy course on JS and knew enough HTML/CSS (I know it's not programming, but just roll with me) to make a 100 (99.98 but did not round up ☹️) in my web design class.

With that said, I think I'd really like cyber security. So I guess I'd like to build something in that area.

I'm learning Python and I think Java will be part of a class next semester.

I'm currently just trying to survive the stupid fucking general education courses with a few degree specific classes sprinkled in

@Stuxnet Hang in there. It sucks because you want to learn more then what the class teaches you. I learned Javascript and Java from my own interest.

Security is seriously fun once you find a project to inspire you. I use security tokens on a daily basis.

@starrynights89 Thank god I came in with a semester worth of credit from classes I took at a community college while in highschool. And I tacked on 2 more classes this summer. Will probably tack on another next summer. Speed this shit up. Hoping to be completely done with general education classes by the end of this year.

General education classes in themselves could inspire a half dozen rants from me lol

Analytical thinking is essential to be a good programmer but when it comes to high school calculus or differential equations etc. one doesn't have to know or like any of that. Maybe you do if you're programming a space shuttle.

You need a good command of Logic and some basic arithmetic and algebra to be able to get the most out of programming, as this field is heavily based on those.

I don't believe, however, you need to be very good at it, I know some programmers who suck at calculus but manages to pull good code.

As a programmer you may only need high school mathematics. But as a computer scientist, you need a pretty big chunk of math.

It really depends on what do you do as a programmer. I'm studying maths at uni and I'm front end developer so it really doesn't help me much, but back when I was doing something in C++ that required implementing various algorithms, mathematics was extremely useful if not mandatory.

For some fields it is important. Mostly research, AI and a few other things. Probability theory will follow you everywhere in research. At least at my Uni.
I think it generally helps a lot to be good at maths, but I suck at it. I managed to pass my exams, and am now trying to still become better at maths since it keeps coming back at me and hits me in the face.

Is it necessary to be an maths ace? No
Does it help? Yes
As a general rule we say that one should not be at war with it and have the ability and patiencrle to sit down and try to understand it.

Well, I failed math in 12th grade but here I am. I've only been working in industry for a little over year but ti seems to me that unless you go inter something specifically mathematically specializing, you don't really need to be a mathematical genius.

Personally, I've never needed more than 9th grade math for work.

There's nothing wrong with my logic but I think I was just missing a crucial break at the base of my math wall. I never managed to find it

@oudalally I think it's way more the logic-math connection or programmer-nerd, math-nerd connection that a lot of people make. I here so often "but you're a programmer, you have to be good at math".

As I said in my other comment, I missed a crucial brick in the math wall somewhere along they but my programming career would show that my logic is fine. I could imagine something similar happened with your experience with math

for web developer no need to use maths.

once you want to apply real logic on complected task then algorithms are your strombreaker to understand algorithm you need maths.

@Hu-bot0x58
Yeah I said that and I mean it.
Logical thinking isn't necessary for learning a language. Woosh woosh.

Huh...

Personally I think just understanding the concepts is enough. Like I get a good majority of the concepts but if a situation arises I can't actually just break out a piece of paper and do the math out. I'll usually just use an online calculator or worst case scenario break out the ti-89, it's not a testing environment after all.