Do you have to be good at maths to program in Python?

[UHI]

I was wondering for this and any language really. Do you have to have a strong fundamental in maths to be able to program at a decent level?

By all standards, I left school when I was 14. Savvy with computers (albeit a bit out of the loop lately). But I was wondering how rooted in maths I would have to be to understand many of the principles?

Thanks

UHI.

[imhigh.today]

No.

The thing that surprised me most about getting my degree in Computer Science is how little math I use.

Obviously, that depends on what kind of programs you write, but understanding complex math isn’t required to program in most languages.

To really understand certain theoretical concepts in programming, advanced math helps. To write real, practical programs you only need to understand the math required to do whatever it is your code does (which usually isn’t much).

[UHI]

good to know, I am actually thinking of going back to school sorta to do maths I feel like I have cheated myself out of the knowledge of the universe haha.

[wertigon]

For general programming, you need to know Algebra 1.

e.g you will probably come across and need to know what expressions like these mean:

a = b + 2
c = a / b
x = (y + z) / 7 * c

That is all the math required to know for programming basic applications. However, the more math you know the more you can design a program as opposed to just coding it.

Some interesting fields that require more advanced mathematics however:

• Machine learning (linear algebra, calculus, probability)
• Control theory (linear algebra, calculus)
• Signal processing (linear algebra, calculus)
• 3D game programming (linear algebra)

But for your basic 2D game like pong, these are not required at all. If you have the chance to learn the advanced matheatics, learn it, but if not, worry about that bridge once you get there!

[UHI]

I think the first thing I want to achieve is a web scraper! I started looking at tutorials last week just looking for some spare time to sit down and do it now.

Thanks for the advice mind

[Log]

You don’t even have to be good at programming to program in python

[wertigon]

You don’t have to be good at programming to program in any language, actually.

Programming is a skill. Pretty much like drawing a picture, carving a piece of wood or making a pot. You may have some innate ability for it, but most of it is just practice, practice, practice.

So get going.

[zakpatat]

You don’t have to be good at math for being a programmer. However you need to be pretty damn good at making logical structures. The computer will do the calculation of 598 * 52291, however you need to come up with the right structure for the computer to calculate. You cant really compare this with mid school math. This goes for pretty much all programming.