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How Good at Math Does a Programmer Need to Be? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 2 weeks ago by anonymouse2@sh.itjust.works to c/programming@programming.dev

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I'm working my way to a CS degree and am currently slogging my way through an 8-week Trig course. I barely passed College Algebra and have another Algebra and two Calculus classes ahead of me.

How much of this will I need in a programming job? And, more importantly, if I suck at Math, should I just find another career path?

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[–] kartoffelsaft@programming.dev 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

While I do agree that math gets much easier with interest, and that it gets more interesting the further you get into it, and that math is inherently beautiful, etc. I feel this argument has to fall flat to people who don't already agree. It's the education equivalent of when someone says they couldn't get into an anime and then the fans tell them 'oh it gets really good around season 9'. You could be completely correct, as you are here, but it's utterly unconvincing if you don't already "know."

To be fair, I think this is mostly a problem with math curricula. Math classes up through high school and early college seem to focus on well trodden solutions to boring problems, and at some (far too late) point it flips around to being creative solutions to interesting problems. I think this could be fixed eventually, but such is the system we have now.

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I totally agree. I think maths should start with games in elementary and cover history and applications as soon as you enter middle school. (Keeping games of course, how is there no redstone in the maths curriculum?!)

And I know that my rambling won't convince people to immediately shake off the system induced maths fatigue, but I'll never stop encouraging people to give it a second chance :)