<p>Curious to know how much math is used for computer science majors (feel free to use any type of scale you want...descriptive, 1-10 scale, etc.)? </p>
<p>Also, I'm wondering which types of math are needed to do it? Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>Typically required courses that are math or math-like are:</p>
<p>Calculus
Linear algebra
Discrete math
Probability and statistics
Algorithms and complexity</p>
<p>In addition, any theory course (e.g. language and automata theory, graph theory) will be like a math course. Other courses (e.g. those with programming assignments and projects) may be less like math courses, but require the ability to think logically. Some areas of computer science, like cryptography, can be heavily mathematical (cryptography uses algebra and number theory).</p>
<p>Engineering-based computer science majors may require additional math courses:</p>
<p>Multivariable calculus
Differential equations</p>
<p>I can answer this question coming form a multitude of “mathy” majors. I started college as a chemical engineering major. I did calc 1-3, physics 1-2, and differential equations. I then decided chem e wasnt for me after I took a few chem e classes, and switched into computer science after taking an intro to computer science course.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you this. There IS a lot of math in computer science, but its much DIFFERENT. Compare differential equations to calculus. In calculus, you use formulas and most importantly NUMBERS to solve problems. In differential equations, you use primarily VARIABLES to solve problems. I hope you know what I mean.</p>
<p>The math utilized in engineering is more “calculusy”, meaning you throw a lot of numbers around. In computer science, in such classes as discrete mathematics, its much more like differential equations and you utilize proofs. Theyre both math, but both very different. </p>
<p>I am currently majoring in math w/ CS, and you definitely need a good background in discrete mathematics (e.g. logic, proofs, graph theory, number theory, etc.). Calculus and linear algebra are used as well, although I haven’t encountered a heavy emphasis on more theoretical topics in math yet. That largely depends on what field of CS you want to go into though.</p>
<p>@JohnnyToledo I don’t quite understand your statement “In calculus, you use formulas and most importantly NUMBERS to solve problems. In differential equations, you use primarily VARIABLES to solve problems.”</p>
<p>Computer science is comprised of a spectrum of fields… only some of which are very “mathy”.</p>
<p>While MIT does not really offer it, many other schools include “software quality assurance” as a field in their computer science curriculum… which I do not consider all that mathy. Also, some schools include “project management” or “engineering management” as part of their CS curriculum… which I also do not think are all that mathy. “Cyber-security” too, sometimes.</p>
<p>Now, there are some CS fields that I consider quite mathy.
Data analytics/big data, cryptography, bio-informatics, artificial intelligence, theoretical CS, and machine learning can be quite mathy.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school you go to as to what their CS major offers. Some schools’ CS programs are very mathy with few non-mathy offerings. Others have a broader offering that encompasses skills that more support software development (like SQA or project management), rather than actually doing the software development.</p>
<p>I have met people with CS bachelor degrees who did very little math or coding. In these cases, most concentrated in software quality assurance… learning how to methodically test the code that other people wrote and documenting bugs, reproduction procedures, and regression plans.</p>
<p>You mean cyber-security and cryptography not the same field?</p>
<p>There are topics in computer security that are not cryptography.</p>