On Sat, Apr 11, 2015 at 6:20 PM, Daniel Barrett <[email protected]> wrote: > > Programmers definitely benefit from higher mathematics, but there's > nothing magical about calculus in this regard. I majored in math in > college (and have a Ph.D. in computer science) and learned more about > proofs and rigorous thinking in my junior year algebra courses, > studying groups, rings, and fields, than in my calculus classes. The
So true. Much later in life I took some undergraduate algebra courses and I have to say that it had way more rigor/proofs then any of the high school or college calculus classes that I ever took. At times, I felt like my brain was oozing out of my ears. And it didn't require Calculus to get there. I would still push for Discrete Math (which includes basic combinatorics and graph theory) and discrete Probability rather then the Calculus based continuous Probability that is normally emphasized in Math departments. I think college algebra (at least as I experienced it) should only be used if you need a "weed out" class. Bill Bogstad _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
