How Important is Maths For Software Engineering? | Tips & Tricks
The word ‘Maths’ can terrify people who don’t have a bit of interest in this subject. Mathematics is an important foundation for many science and engineering domains. Similarly, Discrete mathematics and logic are foundations for computer-based disciplines such as Computer Science, Software Engineering and Information Systems.
In this article, I will try to highlight some of the facts to check if Math really holds the importance as we think of? Let’s us find out
How Much Is Maths Important?
This is a very common and frequently asked question by most of the CS grads. “Why study Maths?”, those complex equations, the calculus that sucks the brain within no-time and the wizard logic used to solve them. If Maths is not the strongest part of any student in their academics then they are always in a dilemma whether it is important to be good at Maths or not? to study CS, especially if they want to become a Software Engineer or a Developer.
Software engineers often proclaim that they don’t use any of the mathematics they learned in college. But, do you seriously believe this? well, I certainly didn’t. Our education system has developed in a way where the brain is considered as a “filling vessel”, knowledge is generally poured into our brains, and using what has been fed we pour it back out.
Learning and understanding Maths does not work in a way as we do to grasp the concepts discussed from the above methodology. It demands to apply the logical reasoning considering the facts and universal truth. That is the same with computer programming where you just can’t neglect the physiological concepts and the math that’s hidden behind them.
A research claims that our brain has been evolved in such a way that it can’t cope with a new level of abstraction easily and software engineering is all about abstraction. Do you agree or not? Every single concept, from implementing Classes, construct, and method is entirely based on some sort of abstraction. That is why I personally think that learning mathematics in school and at university give us an experience of practicing rigorous reasoning with purely abstract objects and structures.
As a software developer, one should be good at dealing with the number system, and geometry Especially if he or she wants to be an app/web application developer. Dealing with layouts and solving issues related to them can be really easy if you have a handsome grip over Maths. Also, if you are good at solving Maths then, coding the core logic or the procedural program will be a bit easy task. But again, this is a question with lots of arguments, comments, and exceptionalities. So, I leave this up to you and do write your opinion in the comment section below.
What Kind of Maths Is Really Necessary for Computer Science?
Well, the answer to the above question totally lies in the area of CS you are interested in. But in general, these are the following areas that you must build a strong grip.
- Subjects like Concrete Mathematics is important as, it covers a lot of discrete mathematics, number theory, combinatorics, and probability.
- Calculus
- Statistics is generally useful
- Linear Algebra is everywhere, and worth covering.
- Graph theory, think about it.
- Set theory
- Numerical methods for applications
- Geometry
Conclusion
If you think that you need to improve in Maths then this could be a great move. Try learning logic as much as you can. I believe the single most useful kind of mathematics for me was learning school maths. The formulas and basic concepts that we learned, helped in increasing our logical thought, correctness, and completeness (e.g. learning to make sure you have covered all of the cases).
Logic and Set Theory classes do the exact same thing when we learn to solve them using all possible cases. So having a good knowledge of Mathematics can directly help you while learning to code, think, analyze cases properly and handing the errors in your software.