Maths in Computer Science

[Disaster]

In September I started my Computer Science course, and I've always been rubbish at Maths, I blame this on learning it in Welsh (I hated it) until I left school, and never being taught the fundamentals in English.

When I went on to college where I was only taught Maths in computing, it went in through one ear, and straight out of the other. I was able to solve maths problems like multiplying matrices only for the time that I was doing it, and considering there was an entire module dedicated to Mathematics in Computing, that's the only thing I can remember...

I think that I'm just one of those people that doesn't get on with Maths, and am starting to worry that Maths is going to play a massive role in the future of my course.

I'm doing CompSci because I enjoy programming, I get on with it ok, and I really don't want to end up struggling for my degree just because of maths, what am I able to do? is there anybody else in this situation, or been in it before?





tl;dr

i'm crap at maths, studying computer science, what do I do?

 

[D.P.]

Change degrees to something like software engineering, computing, computer networking.

Computer science is a branch of mathematics, ergo a good CS degree is heavily math based, and you might not even become a good programmer out of it. However this does vary by institution.

If you are crap at maths then I would put the effort it to get better as really it has so many advances throughout your career. I'm not crap at maths but not great, if there is anything I wish I changed in my degree would be to add maths as a double major.


Just don't make the mistake of thinking that computer science == programming, it doesn't. Programming is just a tool. Computer science, and university in general, is not vocational explicitly, but prepares you for academia. Indirectly a good degree stands you in excellent stead to enter industry. People seem to get confused about this point and complained that a degree is useless and experience counts. They are wrong, the degree counts but the aim of a CS degree is not to teach you to tie your shoelaces in your first job but teach you a solid understanding. More than Anything a good CS degree is damn difficult and requires hard-work, intelligence, time management and strong problem solving ability. That is why employers look for good CS grads.

Depending on your institute you might get by if you carefully select courses when appropriate, e.g. Machine learning is likely to be pure math with very little programming (and even then only playing in matlab), operating systems will have little math (but may be just as hard).

 

[cats_five]

My degree is Computing - I have a 2:1 from the Open University, and my inability to understand proof by induction stood between me and a 1st. I was already a very competent programmer when I started my degree, and it didn't make me much better at it. What it did was expose me to a lot of new areas I wasn't working in. Oddly I found some of the level 3 courses easier than the level 1 courses, which seemed an awful lot of hard and tedious work for very points.

Any good degree in a 'proper' subject (not just CS) requires "hard-work, intelligence, time management and strong problem solving ability" which is why good degrees (1, 2:1) are worth having.

 

[gregorius]

I'm doing CompSci because I enjoy programming, I get on with it ok, and I really don't want to end up struggling for my degree just because of maths, what am I able to do? is there anybody else in this situation, or been in it before?

Are you up for a bit of self-study? Graham, Knuth & Patasknik, "Concrete Mathematics" is a superb introduction to the sort of mathematics often used in compsci and is very attractively written.

 

[AJK]

Everything D.P. said is spot on - you shouldn't be doing a CS degree if you can't follow the maths, and to be honest I'm surprised you've been accepted onto one? What other courses are available at your Uni onto which you could switch?

Oh, and speak to your personal tutor. Immediately. Universities can only deal with problems if they are raised before your grades suffer.

 

[gregorius]

Oh, and speak to your personal tutor. Immediately. Universities can only deal with problems if they are raised before your grades suffer.

Excellent advice. We (universities, that is) do actually want you to succeed. The earlier problems are rassied, the more likely they can be fixed.

 

[Disaster]

I've had a word with the lecturer that delivers the Principles of Computing module, he says there's a few people in a similar situation every year, and that there are ways to help me through Maths drop in sessions.

I got in because of a key skill equivalent to a C in GCSE maths that I had to do on my BTEC course

I think it's something that can be worked on if I put the time in myself and went to these drop in sessions

 

[Ryan-3]

Whenever I've seen computing on any timetables, it always seems to be Maths related.

See what you can do and attend the drop in sessions. Try producing a poster with things on each week and stick it somewhere you will see it. Set things to remember as your background. Anything to try and keep this stuff current in your mind

 

[AJK]

I got in because of a key skill equivalent to a C in GCSE maths that I had to do on my BTEC course.

Well, my first question would be where are you doing CS that doesn't require A-Level maths...

I assume that your university wouldn't have taken you on if you didn't meet the requirements on paper, but you may find that you haven't covered relevant background material that others have. And while drop-in classes may go some way to teaching this, you've already said that maths goes in one ear and out the other!

I don't mean to be rude, but are you really sure that you can improve your maths with drop-in classes? And more to the point, improve such that you can then apply that maths to your CS course?

I can't recommend strongly enough speaking to your personal tutor (or whatever term your uni uses for the member of staff who has overall responsibility for your achievement/wellbeing). You need to explain the whole situation to someone who has the full picture, and if it proves necessary can advise you on remedial action or course/module changes; the lecturer for one module that you're having trouble with is (probably) not that person.

 

[Mason-]

My university didn't require A-Level maths for Comp Sci, but firstly: it's not the best university and secondly if you didn't have A-Level maths you were forced to do a maths module in the first year. Lucky for me I had A-Level maths and further maths. Depending on what sort of Computing you want to do is how much maths knowledge you'll need. Obviously even the most simple programming requires simple algebra skills, things like matrices, well it's nice to understand them but not necessary unless you're going to be using them a lot. Whatever happens you can read up on maths, get some books.

 

[The Only Beardy]

I don't know about you guys, but where i went the amount of maths you were required to was down to the modules you took... because i specialised and did a course called "Computer Graphics, Visuals and Games" i did quite a bit of maths... but people who did straight comp sci got to pick to do a lot of databasing and web design modules instead that didn't require as much maths. Before you do anything drastic i would find out what the structure of your course is like and whether you are required to do a lot of maths based modules.

 

[AJK]

... people who did straight comp sci got to pick to do a lot of [...] web design modules ...

^^ Just, no.