I'm a first year CS student at a university and I'm finally finishing up Calculus, thankfully after this week I'll be done with it for good. I plan on getting a bachelor's degree, perhaps considering going on to the master's but I haven't decided yet. However, my question is as follows: will I really even apply any of this calculus concepts in programming? Things such as integrals and derivatives, limits, etc. If so, where would these be applied?
>>1
Unless you want to be stuck as a web monkey with a shitty salary, a thorough understanding of the calculus is important. You should also learn about numerical analysis and methods for approximating integrals and derivatives on computers. In fact, you should learn as much mathematics as possible. It will set you a part from the rest of the riff-raff.
For example, I recently built an image analysis and object recognition kernel for a client, which utilized 2nd order langragian partial derivatives and harr wavelet integration. I was handsomely paid.
The same would not be said had I remained doing bottom-of-the-barrel, turn-key, web-facing ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS.
If by learning calculus you mean remembering the chain rule, the product rule- how to calculate acceleration given velocity over time and vice versa. No. You won't ever need or have any use for these.
But- If you really understand calculus, if you approach it from first principles. What is the definition of a limit, of continuity at a point, of a derivative and how do we derive the FTOC? If you are intimate with calculus on this level then it will be immensely helpful to you in your career and you can surely expect to rise above the mechanized monkeys coding in the next cubicle over.
>If by learning calculus you mean remembering the chain rule, the product rule- how to calculate acceleration given velocity over time and vice versa. No. You won't ever need or have any use for these.
I've used some of that stuff for building the AI for a game I was working on. You'll probably also end up using it if you're working with simulations or engineering problems.
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Anonymous2011-04-25 6:32
Myth #7: A Ph.D. means something.
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Reality: The only thing a Ph.D. means is that you're a moron, and you're willing to put up with the bullshit it takes to slog your way through a Ph.D. program somewhere. Empirically, having a Ph.D. is negatively correlated with business success. This is because the reward structure in academia is almost the exact opposite of what it is in business. In academia, what your peers think matters. In business, it's what your customers think that matters, and your customers are (almost certainly) not your peers.
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Anonymous2011-04-25 6:32
Computer Science: Disadvantages
Conventional computer science programs, as mentioned, do require students to study a variety of subjects, from arts and humanities to math and science. For students who are eager to learn marketable skills quickly or who have already completed a bachelor's degree, this can be seen as a disadvantage. And not every student will take a summer co-op or internship, and they will be at a distinct disadvantage to others who do get work or research experience.
Other students who aren't strong in non-science based courses may find it difficult to balance their time studying, wishing that they had more time to complete the coursework that's more important to them. Still other students might find the more advanced computer science topics too demanding and not relevant enough to programming.
Although computer science course at traditional universities are rich in theory, programming-bound students might view the many hours spent in lecture hall sapping time that could be spent learning by doing. (programming specific schools, on the other hand, tend to maximize the number of hours students spend actively programming, meeting with their development teams, or otherwise interacting with students participating in hands-on work.)
Finally four-year universities simply don't appeal to everyone. Individuals who have already completed a degree may be better served in a program that adds new knowledge only in a specialized field. Some students simply don't learn well from lectures, but easily absorb information when faced with hands-on problem solving. And while some students do best in clearly directed or guided learning environments, others thrive in independent learning scenarios (like the kind online learning provides); still others do their best when working with a group of peers.
-- Marie Ferrer, a graduate of a traditional computer science program.
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Anonymous2011-04-25 6:34
There are no educators. As a thinker, one should speak only of self-education. The education of youth by others is either an experiment, conducted on one as yet unknown and unknowable, or a leveling on principle, to make the new character, whatever it may be, conform to the habits and customs that prevail. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
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Anonymous2011-04-25 6:35
The history of science is a history of great individual thinkers, of Archimedes and Leonardo and Galileo and Kepler and Newton and Einstein. It is not a history of committees and peer groups. Galileo did not succeed by a vote. Newton did nothing with the authority of a majority. Just the reverse. All these great people did what they did against the majorities of their times. You only have to study their lives to see that, in science and other hierarchies, the majority is always wrong.
>>23
Fear not, for as a corollary of >>22, it follows that because ``God'' does not exist, God is ``no one.'' Substituting ``no one'' for ``God,'' we obtain the phrase ``no one loves you.'' Actually, never mind, I guess that is equally uncomfortable.
HI IM A PROGRAMMER IM 13 I CAN PROGRAM CALCULATOR SORRY FOR MY INGLISH IM NOT INGLISH I CREATED A RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR HERE IT IS 0.2551207681358123