<p>I'll be attending an university within the next two month and I have decided that I want to study computer science.
I have a little bit of (but not much) background knowledge with basic computer science. I took AP Calc BC this year and expected to get a 5 or 4 at worst. I took AP Physics B last year with a 5.
After finish doing some researches, I just found out that computer science is not purely programming. Instead, it's more about math. While I'm good at math, I'm not very fond of high level mathematics. My calc teacher showed us some formal math proofs and pinch/sandwich/squeeze theorems after the AP. While I understood them pretty well, but I have no interest in theoretical math. I'm more of a practical person that wants to program and create real things.
So my question is, do I have to take a lot of theoretical math classes and deal a lot of math proofs? I know for sure that I'll have to take calc 2, 3, linear algebra, and differential equation, which I'm assuming that there are not a lot of proofs.
Really appreciate it if you guys could offer me some advises.</p>
<p>The type of math you do for CS is practical math. It’s related to what you’re doing and you actually use it for programming. In those math classes you mention, they will often show you a proof for something you use, but it’s just for background; you don’t actually have to do proofs in those classes in most cases.
Like you, I was good at math in high school but didn’t really enjoy the theoretical side of it. I started to enjoy my math classes once I got to college and they were relevant to the programming and research I got into. </p>
<p>Calculus is more important for computer engineering/electrical engineering when you actually have to understand how things work on a very low level. Computer science is centered around data structures, algorithms, and operating systems (as well as a few other things) and CS majors tend to focus more on discrete math which is likely something you didn’t get to study much in high school. College math (especially for CS majors) also tends to be much more proof-based. It’s definitely not more of the same.</p>
<p>But CS is way beyond programming. Instead of just writing programs, you’ll likely also be working on the languages they’re written in.</p>
<p>All CS programs have some math requirements, but CS isn’t mostly about math. You’ll spend most of your time learning about programming languages, data structures, algorithms, computer architecture, and maybe some EE.</p>