Why all this Math?!?! – Common CS Questions

ByWalter Wimberly

A common question I get is why is there all this math in Computer Science, and what happens if I’m not great at it?

So some of the math is because a lot of early Computer Science work was done by applied mathematicians. However, that’s not the only reason for the math courses. Math helps us learn to break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable problems.

It also helps if you plan to go onto graduate school, as you will need that base work for some of the future classwork and research.

Also, depending upon the area of Computer Science and Programming that interest you, you may need more, or even specialized, math courses. They are found a lot in everything from 3D graphics programming to Artificial Intelligence, and more.

And while being good at math will help you, it won’t stop you from being a good CS student, or developer. – Take it from someone with a solid B- average in Calculus.

Why all this Math?!?! – Common CS Questions was originally found on Access 2 Learn

Assistant Professor

Walter Wimberly is an Assistant Professor at a regional college in Tennessee, teaching Computer Science in the Software Engineering track. He works as a student advisor, oversees curriculum changes, develops new courses, and manages the advisory panel.
Walter taught full time for about 7 years, before going back into “industry” as a full stack Software Developer for a dozen years. There he focused on web based projects coding in JavaScript/jQuery and utilizing the Bootstrap CSS Framework on the front-end, and coding in PHP, ASP/ASP.Net, SQL on the back-end.

Since he loves teaching, he taught as an adjunct web and digital media classes for eight (8) years, while working in industry, and has since returned to teaching full time.

He has been married for over 25 years, and is father to several special needs boys. As such, he is working on some projects to help others who have special needs to be self-sufficient, and support the care givers of those with special needs. Check out his Autism blog for more info.

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