Survey posted 2006-03-03 04:12 by Jon.

Contribute ideas to surveys by sending a mail to survey@ticalc.org.

First post! (I've always wanted to say that!)
Math isn't my main focus, but computer science is. The two go hand in hand, so I might want to bring up my math grade :P

Phooey. The basic math they teach you in school isn't very much help. If you're taking some statistics course, then yes, otherwise math won't help you with programming, but programming will help you with math. Trust me, I know :)

Well, it depends on what type of programming you're doing.
Simulation: Chock full of math
Game: quite a bit (especially in 3D)
GUI: not much, unless you're doing some cool osx-ish effects (like expose)
Web: not much (incrementation DOES count :P)
WFRNG: TONS

>> WFRNG

WFRNG? Never heard of that acronym. Please explain.

^^see link

The link don't work!

Nick D's "Wacky Fun Random Numbar Generator"

A stupid ticalc forum inside joke that wont die like it should.

HEATHEN!

...sorry...

I tried the acronymfinder, but that didn't turn up anything. Then tried Google ("Did you mean: WRONG", ROTFL), and when I read the excerpts of the pages it found, I suddenly realized what it means. Can't say I remember having seen the acronym before though.

The thinking process used to solve math problems is also essential in doing programming. While not much math is usually used in programming, the thinking methdods are used. So, if you're good at math, you'll probably be good at programming, or vice versa.

Exactly. I find that programming goes a lot faster if one thinks like a computer (in my case, a Z80 processor). To think like a computer, you must be good at logical thinking, which is enhanced by being good at math.

I'm majoring in EE so I chose the "clever" choice. I don't really like math it selfe but I don't mind doing it to achive a goal. I think thier should be a "no, but math is important to my major" choice.

I agree with you 100 percent. I'm a sciency person myself, and maths is so much a part of science these days (has been for a hundred years or so, in fact) that you can't be a decent scientist and not have excellent maths skills.

Math has been key to science for a lot longer than 100 years, in my opinion (I trace it back to Sir Isaac Newton, who forever linked calculus and physics). In any case, my intended major is physics (as could have been guessed by my choice of example...I'm still in high school at the moment, though), and lots of nice calculus is needed for that! (luckily, my trusty 84+ SE will always be there to do all kinds of calculations...as well as a virtual 89ti to check integrals...)

Newton didn't link calculus and physics, he created calculus for the explicit use of physics.

And in doing so, forever linked them (I would have said he invented calculus, but I didn't want to get into a discussion of Newton vs. Leibniz...)

Sir Francis Bacon forever linked quantum physics and basic post-symbolic manipulation by his theory of Oz.

Ahh, someone else is pursuing EE as well! Good to know I'm not alone.

You kind of need math, no matter what. Whether you're trying to figure out how much gas you can buy or you're simply calculating the trajectory of an incoming asteroid, it's there.

Yay, another EE major!

Me too!
Where are you guys at? I'm a frosh at Cooper Union.

I am a freshman too. I am at the University of Alska Fairbanks

I want to move to Alaska.

what citty?

Probably Anchorage. Do you like Fairbanks?

yes but I really don't have anything to make a good comparison whith, as I have lived here all my life. fairbanks has colder winters and less presipitation then Anchorage. some people complain that their is nothing to do here though.

I haven't started college yet (I'm a junior in high school), but when I do, I'm probably going to major in EE too.

Really? I haven't even started High School. I'm in 7th grade, so the only honest answer was "No, but I'm interested in Math!"

I'm actually not that good at math, but it's my favorite subject at school. You're either right or wrong. 1 or 0. No "shades of gray!"

I have always thought that the wright or wrong stuff about math was BS propagated by people who misunderstood math. havn't you ever gotten partial credit on a math test?

Yes, partial credit is nice, but in math, 1=1, and 1 doesn't = 0. 1 will always equal 0. Unless you're using quantum physics where a 1 is both a 1 and a 0. But that stuff confuses me.

I once got only 1/2 off for writing "3+5=10." :)

my calc II teacher didn't take anything off if your error was in some sort of arithmetic and not in calculus.

by reeen, im not the youngest person on this site!

thats why ticalc.org has a math folder.
to heck with doing math; i just make a program to do it for me or download one if im feeling lazy

I agree. Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (link) requires a lot of math, but it's decidedly not my concentration.

Yay! A fellow wisconsinite!

Ummm… do you go to UW-Madison or do you live in Wisconsin? I only apply to the former, being from Louisiana.

My thoughts exactly.