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math essential for programming?
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Question same as title: is math essential for programming in c/c++ I know that i would expand my mind and such, but other than calculating for things like robotics etc. (which is beyond me) are there any other fields of programming where maths(and specifically-which maths) would be Essential? Learning programming already draws on various other experiences when learning to use it properly. So, can it be usefull/essential for things other than calculating stuff for business applications, space-related stuff, games? Maybe for cryptography? Thanks in advance Aster |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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by
 
on 2013-08-26 10:11:05 |
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Programming is all about math in some areas. Imagine you are coding a video game. Well what is a video game, it's literally graphics and numbers. Nothing more, when it comes to the core. Let's pretend you're making the newest first person shooter game. You get the drawing of the gun, well how high does the gun need to be at any particular standpoint? How far does the gun shoot? What happens to the accuracy at any set distance? What does the kickback look like? Are there any variables, such as wind that affect it? All of these things are a number, and such require many variables to make it effective. Sure you can say "set kickback to 13" or something, but what exactly is "kickback rank 13" in the code? That would require some calculations so that the code knows how to react and play the game properly. Working for a business? What's the most important thing when it comes to any business? Money. Money is a number, and nothing more. If you want to be handling money, you'll need to know how to handle numbers as best as you can. You don't want to misplace that plus sign with a minus one, right? That will cost you your job. Working with space related stuff? Just look at something like Portal. That game is all about space, and there are huge calculations involved in it. There is some serious math involved in making the physics factor, which in itself is a form of "space," wouldn't you agree? Even if you're working in open space, you need to calculate out how big the space is and how everything works inside of it without going out of bounds. Without math, how would the world go 'round?  |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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| INU put it very well when it comes to c++ math is a must even for simple programs to funtion properly the mor complex the program more math required. |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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Thank you both for answering... soo very quickly. The field of programming is big and it just happens that game programming (yes... i'll say it) isn't on my list of things to do. Making useful stuff (and that's just my humble opinion) is what i'm about. As for the business applications, it doesn't strike my fancy since there are tons of ready to buy apps out there. Space and robotics: in my part of the world (shakes head) uh-uh There are other fields however which seem interesting: like cryptography/web 'programming'/ And sir silver: Could you give an example about complexity? In what situation am i likely to see some of this complexity? In newer languages like python etc there are tons of modules that do that kind of calculation(or java/c sharp). I understand that maths HAVE CHANGED THE FACE OF THE WORLD OVER TIME, but is knowing High Level math relevant for these things: (if you know the anwer thanks) 1) OS programming 2) drivers? 3) Network stuff like socket programming etc to me these types of fields make programming interesting to me. Anyway have a great summmer? I don't live in the states so i don't have the times of the year down. Anyway cheers, and thx |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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by
on 2013-08-27 06:38:03 |
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Just my opinion, but it seems that most encryption does use high level math. 'useful stuff' can actually be anything.. some games are made to help you learn things, for example. when you go to web programming, there is js. if you really want to master web programming, js is a must, and that means you'll be needing maths to do a lot of things.. just say you're doing OS Programming, you have calculate how much RAM it will use, and energy too.. at the least.. I mean, people will ditch your OS if it's slow and using too much energy. A friend of mine, who learns to mod linux tell me that there's a lot of things there where you need to calculate things. at least, you'll need to do math to expand your logic usage.. which will help you a lot  |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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Thanks for the reply I guess i'll just keep at it and add on the high level maths when the need arises for it, since need is what drives us to do most things |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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I would say yes. At least understand the underlying concepts in different fields of math. Cuz once you understand the concepts, then you can just make a program that calculates whatever. Not everything can be calculated by a computer(in some cases it's possible but inefficient), so you will still need to know your math for such situations. 
wooo maplestory |
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Re: math essential for programming?
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Yes, it is very essential. The knowledge of math depends entirely on how your program does its purpose. So essential you can't do a significant program without math. You can start programming now with basic knowledge of algebra, and just expand your mathematical knowledge if necessary over the course of your learning. You never stop learning in programming anyways ;). It is not the most important thing about programming though, imho.
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Nandai, Mirya? |