The language brain matters more for programming than the math brain? (2020)

Post by Someone » Sat, May 03, 2025, 12:13 PM UTC

delecti wrote: post #327

Someone1234 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now we're getting into the "define maths" part of the discussion which is always where these discussions die. It can be argued that turning a kettle on and boiling some water is "maths" or it can be as narrow as "everything above basic arithmetic is logic, not maths." So how much of programming is maths? Before we answer that, let's answer: How much of maths is actually maths? Because first we define maths, and then…

I think for this discussion, "math is stuff you'd learn in a math department" is a pretty useful definition, even if it's not a very good one. There's a lot of math involved in the design and manufacture of the kettle, electrical grid, and water utilities, but a person's ability to put a kettle on isn't going to be improved by math classes. In that way, programming probably is a bit mathy, but good programming is mor…

Post by nurettin » Sat, May 03, 2025, 12:41 PM UTC

bitzun wrote: post #369

albertoCaroM wrote: post #349

Although the study by Prat et al. (2020) suggests that linguistic aptitude is a better predictor than numeracy for learning programming in Python, it should be read carefully, as it can easily be oversimplified. To begin with, the study measures functional numeracy: the ability to solve everyday numerical problems. This is quite different from the kind of advanced mathematics often associated with programming, such a…

This reads like an LLM wrote it.

Post by yawboakye » Sat, May 03, 2025, 1:33 PM UTC

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Sat, May 03, 2025, 1:43 PM UTC

mmaunder wrote: post #356

albertoCaroM wrote: post #349

Although the study by Prat et al. (2020) suggests that linguistic aptitude is a better predictor than numeracy for learning programming in Python, it should be read carefully, as it can easily be oversimplified. To begin with, the study measures functional numeracy: the ability to solve everyday numerical problems. This is quite different from the kind of advanced mathematics often associated with programming, such a…

> These more abstract skills—not basic arithmetic—are essential for understanding recursion, type inference, or algorithm design. No they're not. Academia has spent decades trying to formalize many aspects of programming and continues to be confused by the lack of correlation between comp sci grads and innovative programmers. Why is it that the drop-outs are succeeding so wildly? Recursion, for example, is learned by…

Post by GoblinSlayer » Sat, May 03, 2025, 2:01 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #83

QuercusMax wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most coding doesn't need much of any math past boolean logic and very basic set operations. I'm much more likely to spend my time studying DB and interface schemas to understand how something works than doing a lot of mathy fiddling. Sure, some people write game engines and such, but even much of 3D graphics doesn't need anything more complicated than the first half of a linear algebra course.

Now we're getting into the "define maths" part of the discussion which is always where these discussions die. It can be argued that turning a kettle on and boiling some water is "maths" or it can be as narrow as "everything above basic arithmetic is logic, not maths." So how much of programming is maths? Before we answer that, let's answer: How much of maths is actually maths? Because first we define maths, and then…