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0 pointsbogomipz9y ago0 comments

Can you elaborate on which types of math you believe one needs for CS?

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4 comments · 1 top-level

Spivak9y ago· 3 in thread

I'm not the parent but here's my list.

* Discrete Mathematics

* Linear Algebra

* Combinatorics

* Number Theory

* Introductory Real Analysis or "Calculus 1"

* Probability Theory

* Statistics

This will prepare you to be a general purpose CS professional. Further specialization will likely require some additional high level topics used in your field.

fooker9y ago

Even for these, some you will only need in specific fields.

Discrete Maths / Combinatorics : Probably everywhere.

Linear Algebra : Machine Learning, Computer Graphics, Computational Geometry, etc.

Number Theory : Cryptography.

'Calculus 1' : Useful to know for 'maturity', you will likely not use it unless you implement numerical algorithm libraries.

Probability / Statistics : Heavily in Machine Learning and related fields, in small doses everywhere else just because you need to be able to create useful observations and presentations.

I would add another branch:

Logic : If you work with programming languages or verification.

mr_pink9y ago

Yeah, you can't do half of these without understanding Calculus.

fooker9y ago

Well, understanding calculus and being able to compute indefinite integrals or solve differential equations analytically on paper are very different things.

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