Hi All,
So I had a talk with my counsellors and they told me if I was “okay” at math I would struggle in college (especially if I went to a really good one) to do Computer Science… this was further shown when people told me doing Computer Science would require a lot of theoretical mathematics… I am doing honors in my sophomore year and I do plan to take HL (although I will really need to work my tail off to make sure I can do well and comprehend everything)… is Computer Science really for me as a major… I really enjoy Robotics, Programming in Python, Machine Learning… and I haven’t run into too much Math yet that mind boggles me… so what should I do… would any other computer related majors help? Or shall I just make it my purpose to fight the current and conquer the math? I’d also probably do a minor in Business / Enterpreneurship of that sort since I’d take Econ HL in my IB curriculum starting Junior year… along with Math HL & Physics HL.
You have quite a bit of time to work on your math abilities. I would just focus on being the best student you can be and looking at what major you decide on when you actually apply, or even when you actually get to college and take college classes. Most people don’t settle on their major until sophomore or junior year of college.
@anxiousenior1 The thing is for junior and senior year of highschool I’ll be going into the IB… this means I’m choosing my classes because they’re prerequisites for the field / major I want to go in… this is why I’m thinking about this… sure I’ll change my mind maybe in college… but I’ve gotta choose what’s most likely right now, right? Or if I’m set on somewhere in the computer field (+ a possible financial / entrepreneurial field)… do my prerequisites of Math HL, Physics HL, ITGS SL, Econ HL… seem pretty robust no matter if I do Computer Science or something else computer related?
That looks fine for whatever you want to do.
@anxiousenior1 So what computer related majors are there other than Computer Science that would not be suc high levels as those in computer science?
Some business schools have programs called something like Information Systems
Math and computer science are connected in a way, but are not super correlated. Cs requires more logical reasoning, which is why its connected to math, but isn’t inherently based off of what you learn in math itself. Your counselor is right in the way that if you are good at logical reasoning, you should be good at math and comp sci. However, there is very very very little of comp sci that actually requires theoretical math(what I’m assuming you mean pure math).
What I am saying I guess if that being bad at math does not directly mean you’ll be bad at cs. Give it a go before you call it quits.
@AnnieBot I’m sorry, but that’s just not true. Mathematics and CS are VERY interrelated. For example, data structures and algorithms depend on your understanding of discrete mathematics. Calculus, linear algebra, probability, are all math topics that are a part the CS curriculum, and having a strong mathematical foundation will make life much easier.
@anxiousenior1 oh no. I definitely agree that those subjects are part of the cs curriculum( and all high school math should be included), but cs students, at least here at vandy, in particular only take “introductory classes” ( I say this relative to actual math majors, they aren’t actually intro classes) of those subjects. They don’t dive nearly as deeply into math as a math major would.
OP in particular was mentioning “theoretical mathematics”, which I assumed to mean pure mathematics. That is definitely not required for a cs major.
It may be influenced by where you are pursuing your degree and what area you are specializing in. I know that several of my sons classes depend heavily on math ( linear algebra and probability).
Just because you aren’t good at math now, doesn’t mean you can’t become great later. I went from being a c+ student in honors math to getting an A in BC Calc.
If you have a passion, pursue it. Don’t let what someone else says about your abilities stop you.
@AnnieBot From what I’ve heard from @AccCreate
"CS is not entirely programming. It leads to software jobs after graduation but many times, there will be CS courses (especially theoretical) that are very math intensive. After all, CS until fairly recently used to be in the Applied Math department. And even now in places like MIT, the theoretical CS side is in the math department, not the CS department.
I haven’t been really “programming” in any of my college courses outside my first semester or two. That’s how much “programming” that can happen in a CS degree. Of course if you are more interested in the software side, you are more likely to be programming more than me as I spent majority of my CS degree with writing proofs / doing abstract computations."