<p>So, I've been told that my school no longer requires CS majors to take Calculus II. This is coming from a CS professor who supposedly double checked with the bulletin, but who isn't necessarily the most knowledgeable person. I've sent the question up through the official channels, but they tend to take a long time to respond. In the meantime, can someone give me an idea of whether this is remotely possible to be true? I'm registered for that class next semester, and if the requirements really did change it could be a pretty large waste of my time and money.</p>
<p>At my school they only have to take calc 1</p>
<p>Huh, maybe it is true then. The current online bulletin states that it is, but according to this professor the paper copy says it isn’t. I still haven’t gotten an answer from any higher-up officials. Maybe I should drop in to the registrar’s office, although my last visit there didn’t leave me very confident that the inhabitants of that big vault full of card catalogs know any more than I do about such things.</p>
<p>It sounds crazy to me that they wouldn’t… I feel like a reputable CS program should have Calc 1-3 at least to hammer in and practice easier math concepts and to develop analytical skills. Aren’t advanced CS classes basically math classes?</p>
<p>Yes, but generally math of 1s, 0s, and straight lines as opposed to the curves and infinitesimals of Calculus.</p>
<p>Basically, at my school the requirements outside of the specifically CS courses are Calc I, Statistics, and Discrete Math, and previously Calc II as well. Allegedly Calc II is no longer required, something which I am trying to double check.</p>
<p>Why not just check the web page of the CS department at your school? It should have the degree requirements somewhere.</p>
<p>It does, and it directly contradicts the statement of the professor, reading from his hardcopy which should be identical to the online document, hence my confusion.</p>
<p>The school I will be attending for engineering requires calc 1-3, diffeq, applied combinatorics, and stat.</p>
<p>It actually requires as much or more math than all the engineering majors.</p>
<p>Kamelakbar- most of the CS programs are similar to what you have cited. If you do not have the math at your school, I wonder what disadvantage that may have for you (if any).</p>
<p>Linear algebra is a lot more powerful when combined with an intricate knowledge of calculus, and the most enjoyable type of computer work requires some hefty linear algebra, IMO.</p>
<p>What school?</p>
<p>Could you just go to the department office and ask directly?</p>
<p>In any case, I don’t see why a CS major should have any qualms about taking second semester freshman calculus (a CS major afraid of a freshman math course may not do well in discrete math, algorithm and complexity theory, and language and automata theory). It may be useful if you want to take stuff like physics (e.g. for scientific computing or computer games), more statistics, differential equations and/or multivariable calculus (e.g. for scientific, economic, or financial computing), etc… The entire freshman and sophomore math sequence may be required prerequisites for algebra and number theory courses that you may want to take if you have an interest in cryptography.</p>
<p>So, sounds like this is most likely a mistake, and regardless, it’d be advisable for me to take the course. I’ve been considering doing a math minor anyway, so when it comes to plugging things into slots there’s always that.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus: I’m North Georgia College and State University. The CS department here is kinda podunk, so stuff like this happens. I have an email out to a more reliable person. I don’t live on campus and my current schedule is somewhat weird, so I have limited chances to talk to them in person, and I wanted to have an idea of how plausible/insane this was before doing so.</p>
<p>I’m not ‘‘afraid’’ of Calc II, but it’s a 4-day-a-week class that meshes poorly with the rest of my schedule. If it’s not absolutely necessary that I take it this semester I’d rather put it off until my transportation situation improves, as getting to campus from where I live is a slight hardship right now.</p>
<p>Both:</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Science Major](<a href=“http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Full.aspx?id=4294971188]Computer”>http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Full.aspx?id=4294971188)
and
<a href=“http://www.northgeorgia.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Math_and_CS/Degrees_Offered/Degree_Maps_and_Plans_of_Study/Degree%20Map%20CS_07(1).xls[/url]”>http://www.northgeorgia.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Math_and_CS/Degrees_Offered/Degree_Maps_and_Plans_of_Study/Degree%20Map%20CS_07(1).xls</a> (linked from [Math/CS</a> Degrees Offered](<a href=“http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Default_1colA.aspx?id=3999]Math/CS”>http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Default_1colA.aspx?id=3999) )</p>
<p>list Math 2460 (Calculus II) as degree requirements for CS.</p>
<p>Are you sure that the faculty member who said that only Math 2450 (Calculus I) was required was looking at the correct list? Your school also has a “Computer Information Systems” major that only requires Math 2450, not Math 2460:</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Information Systems Major](<a href=“http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Full.aspx?id=4294971189]Computer”>http://www.northgeorgia.edu/MathCS/Full.aspx?id=4294971189)</p>
<p>Ah, I’ll bet that’s what it was! I’d forgotten about the CIS major.</p>
<p>Also, ignore my egregious abuse of quotes above. They were meant to be italics. I’ve been on wikipedia too long…</p>
<p>If Calculus II covers series and sequences and you skip it in a CS program, somebody’s making a really, really bad mistake.</p>
<p>You guys are lucky. My school requires CS majors to take the same math courses engineers have to take.</p>
<p>I can see Calculus III (multiple integrals, etc) being removed from CS programs but not Calculus II. There are some upper-level CS-related math courses that require at least Calculus II like Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Cryptology and Numerical Analysis. Furthermore, a good Linear Algebra course will need Calculus I & II as prereqs anyway.</p>
<p>One more word of caution about skipping Calculus II…</p>
<p>Many of the better graduate CS programs will require AT LEAST Calculus II just to be admitted.</p>
<p>I agree with GlobalTraveler. If you end up as a CS Phd student and don’t know what a derivative or integral is, that may be a big problem.</p>
<p>Well, I took calc in high school, and I’m good at independent learning. I’m not concerned about the actual knowledge side of it, just the academic requirements side (specifically, the “is the guy who told me this confused and deluded” side).</p>