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Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

ocw.mit.edu

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Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#11

Post by bediger »

endtime wrote: post #6
amichail wrote: post #5

Mathematics gets way more attention than it deserves in computing -- particularly with today's sophisticated libraries/frameworks. Just because a topic can be challenging doesn't automatically make it worthwhile. This is a trap that many people fall into.

I think the more common trap, into which you appear to have fallen, is thinking that computer science and software engineering are the same thing.

The other common trap to fall into: thinking that all programming problems are solved. All you have to do is code the "business logic".

A corollary of this is that it's impossible to speed up "business logic" at all. You have to drop from Java (typically) directly into assembly language.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#12

Post by oscardelben »

raju wrote: post #10
codewall wrote: post #8

I have always been intimidated by college level math and secretly wished I was smarter to not just understand, but to enjoy it as so many people seemingly do. I tried but failed to attain that level of proficiency multiple times. The mistake I was making was that I was trying to read lectures/blogs/books recommended by random people who knew nothing about me. It doesn't work. The thing is: math is big. It's HUGE, it'…

Is the book you were referring to "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography" by Simon Singh? Amazon link - http://amzn.to/dlNAeO It's on my reading shelf right now, but I have not gotten around to reading it. I think your comment just might make that happen. Thanks for the recommendation

I've read that book although I admit I did not take the final challenges. Still I found that to be a very interesting book, very well written where you can actually learn something useful.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#13

Post by iamanet »

edge17 wrote: post #7
SandB0x wrote: post #4

This is useful, but pretty standard undergrad material. There are more interesting OCW courses, such as Street Fighting Mathematics: This course teaches the art of guessing results and solving problems without doing a proof or an exact calculation. Techniques include extreme-cases reasoning, dimensional analysis, successive approximation, discretization, generalization, and pictorial analysis. Applications include me…

cool, are there any vids for this course?

Nope there are no videos but the notes are simple to understand since they are very clearly explained.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#14

Post by iamanet »

codewall wrote: post #8

I have always been intimidated by college level math and secretly wished I was smarter to not just understand, but to enjoy it as so many people seemingly do. I tried but failed to attain that level of proficiency multiple times. The mistake I was making was that I was trying to read lectures/blogs/books recommended by random people who knew nothing about me. It doesn't work. The thing is: math is big. It's HUGE, it'…

What you say is very true. I guess the whole idea of this course was to equip students with the necessary Math skills to comprehend courses like Algorithms and data structures especially the CLRS's 'Introduction to Algorithms' book. At the least these notes helped me comprehend that book ;-)

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#16

Post by amichail »

bediger wrote: post #11
endtime wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the more common trap, into which you appear to have fallen, is thinking that computer science and software engineering are the same thing.

The other common trap to fall into: thinking that all programming problems are solved. All you have to do is code the "business logic". A corollary of this is that it's impossible to speed up "business logic" at all. You have to drop from Java (typically) directly into assembly language.

Not all programming problems have been solved, but your time is not unlimited either. You need to spend your time on what really matters for your development.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#17

Post by jgg »

amichail wrote: post #16
bediger wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other common trap to fall into: thinking that all programming problems are solved. All you have to do is code the "business logic". A corollary of this is that it's impossible to speed up "business logic" at all. You have to drop from Java (typically) directly into assembly language.

Not all programming problems have been solved, but your time is not unlimited either. You need to spend your time on what really matters for your development.

Who are you to say that this doesn't matter for someone's development? This thread reads like you're trying to convince yourself that you don't need to understand this stuff.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#18

Post by jgg »

This is stuff that's usually taught in a course called "Discrete Mathematics". As far as textbooks go for this type of material, which do you all like? I own Rosen's famous book ( https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applications-Ken... ), but it's the "James Stewart's Calculus" of Discrete Mathematics books. I purchased some really old books too, but I haven't yet found one that I like a lot (I settled for a Dover text that's mostly passable).

For the specific topic of set theory, though, I haven't found one I like better than Paul Halmos: https://www.amazon.com/Naive-Theory-Undergraduate-Texts-Math...

If I could only find a number theory text that I like as much.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#19

Post by amichail »

jgg wrote: post #17
amichail wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all programming problems have been solved, but your time is not unlimited either. You need to spend your time on what really matters for your development.

Who are you to say that this doesn't matter for someone's development? This thread reads like you're trying to convince yourself that you don't need to understand this stuff.

I've taken quite a lot of university math courses. Not much is helpful for what I do in my development.

In fact, not even the algorithms courses I've taken are all that helpful since most of the hard stuff is already done for you in libraries/frameworks.

Re: Mathematics for Computer Science - Lecture Notes

#20

Post by arethuza »

SandB0x wrote: post #4

This is useful, but pretty standard undergrad material. There are more interesting OCW courses, such as Street Fighting Mathematics: This course teaches the art of guessing results and solving problems without doing a proof or an exact calculation. Techniques include extreme-cases reasoning, dimensional analysis, successive approximation, discretization, generalization, and pictorial analysis. Applications include me…

"singing logarithms" - just like Anathem!
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