[Q] Does math help?

[vishalmullur]

Ok so I am learning coding Android apps. I wanted to know if learning math helps in anything other than developing math related apps. I have seen seen cube live wallpaper code and from what i see i think math is required for animation.
But still I would like to know if my math should be strong for this development.
Thanks a lot

 

[lufc]

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[The_R]

It really depends on what kind of an application you are developing.

You don't need to be great at Math to implement something like a spinning cube. For this specific kind of application you'd need to have some knowledge of matrices and transformations in 3d. Even if you don't know the math behind something, you can always learn it

So, if you are considering developing something that you think needs a good knowledge of some mathematical concepts, I'd say just get to developing it without worrying too much about what knowledge you need. If and when you find yourself stuck on something because you don't understand a mathematical concept, it is at this point that you should worry about learning it.

Another way of looking at this is "We are programmers, not mathematicians".
There are many programmers out there who use math libraries, which abstracts all of the complex mathematics behind the code. Hence allowing them to focus on the application they are developing.

 

[lucaoldb]

Well, I am a lawyer and not a coder, though I like math very much, I can code in bash, some python, basic skills of c, c++ and java. In Italy all the coders who are 35 or older are able to code in several languages and environments and use math a lot, while younger coders are usually focused on one or two languages and don't use math very much. That's the trend that has been reported by my sister's husband, who's a Linux developer.

Just think that a young engineer of his team isn't able to make simple bash scripts to test a patch written in c++ by creating a couple of symbolic links.

The world more and more requires people highly specialized, but widely ignorant....

My suggestion is always to be curious, because math is the world itself and even when you put in your wifi mask a stupid sequence of numbers 192.xxx and so on, that's math.

I hope I wasn't a bore, but I like to know what is hidden behind what I do

 

[vishalmullur]

It really depends on what kind of an application you are developing.

You don't need to be great at Math to implement something like a spinning cube. For this specific kind of application you'd need to have some knowledge of matrices and transformations in 3d. Even if you don't know the math behind something, you can always learn it

So, if you are considering developing something that you think needs a good knowledge of some mathematical concepts, I'd say just get to developing it without worrying too much about what knowledge you need. If and when you find yourself stuck on something because you don't understand a mathematical concept, it is at this point that you should worry about learning it.

Another way of looking at this is "We are programmers, not mathematicians".
There are many programmers out there who use math libraries, which abstracts all of the complex mathematics behind the code. Hence allowing them to focus on the application they are developing.

Thanks a lot. I will do that. Learn something after I am stuck. That's the best approach I think personally.

 

[vishalmullur]

Well, I am a lawyer and not a coder, though I like math very much, I can code in bash, some python, basic skills of c, c++ and java. In Italy all the coders who are 35 or older are able to code in several languages and environments and use math a lot, while younger coders are usually focused on one or two languages and don't use math very much. That's the trend that has been reported by my sister's husband, who's a Linux developer.

Just think that a young engineer of his team isn't able to make simple bash scripts to test a patch written in c++ by creating a couple of symbolic links.

The world more and more requires people highly specialized, but widely ignorant....

My suggestion is always to be curious, because math is the world itself and even when you put in your wifi mask a stupid sequence of numbers 192.xxx and so on, that's math.

I hope I wasn't a bore, but I like to know what is hidden behind what I do

I agree we should be curious but I think if I start learning at once I may soon get bored. That's my opinion though. But I agree after sometime knowing more is better.