Hey! This is a math thread. If you want to;

* cheat on your math homework
* ask a question about mathematics
* write something interesting about mathematics
* etc.

just do so here.

Useful links:

* Interactive LaTeX Editor, you can write equations there and send the link here
* /r/math if you need to reach larger masses
* MathSE where people get awards by helping you, in case you need something beyond the abilities of the nixers

I have a pretty big math exam coming in august, so I might post here :)

Anyone know of a good intro to elliptic curve crypto?

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/...ptography/

I had all my Maths exams recently and 2/3 went horribly, huzzah.

(16-06-2014, 05:31 PM)kirby Wrote: I had all my Maths exams recently and 2/3 went horribly, huzzah.

Level of discipline? High school? College?

UK equivalent to last year of high school.

(16-06-2014, 04:38 PM)yrmt Wrote: http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/...ptography/

Good article, it is well explained.

Things have been quiet around here so I poked around for some old threads and found this one.
Let me ask some questions to those of you who may know more.

I've always been a little better than average at math, this year I was thrown head first into AP calc
It's tough but I'm working through it.

Here are my questions:

- How much math is really needed in computer science / computer engineering ?
As far as my limited expirence can tell programming is mostly abstracted algebra
besides of course certain things that require specialized math such as physics engines, etc.

- Is being gifted at math something you are born good at or something that can be learned/practiced to competence.
I have a fear that I will not be able to stick with high level math classes the way that I have been able to thusfar, is this fear something that should be disregarded or is it a chance.

(06-09-2015, 12:25 PM)Houseoftea Wrote: Here are my questions:

- How much math is really needed in computer science / computer engineering ?
As far as my limited expirence can tell programming is mostly abstracted algebra
besides of course certain things that require specialized math such as physics engines, etc.

I have found that a lot of theory computer science courses use things such as Linear Algebra, as well as Probability and Statistics. I think the amount that you use any of this in real life programs just depends on the application, but I won't try to appear as I know more than some of the other people on this forum that might be more knowledgable. Calculus is also used some, but it doesn't seem as prevalent, at least in my experience.

(06-09-2015, 12:25 PM)Houseoftea Wrote: - Is being gifted at math something you are born good at or something that can be learned/practiced to competence.
I have a fear that I will not be able to stick with high level math classes the way that I have been able to thusfar, is this fear something that should be disregarded or is it a chance.

I don't think it is something you are born good at, although some people seem to be just naturally good at it. I do believe that it can be learned/practiced to competence, and don't worry about having fear about upper level classes, just know that a lot of math classes build upon things you learned or were supposed to learn in previous classes. This is something that I came to discover a little too late. Just continually practice, and look at videos online if your textbook or teacher is not good enough. Good luck with AP Calc!

Here are some links, and advice for people who are majoring in Computer Science in College/University.

As I stated in my last post in this thread, a lot of the math courses you have to go through in college are related to Linear Algebra, Probability, and Statistics. I also had to take a course called Finite Automata, which while not necessarily a math class, it had math related abstractions such as proofs (I'm not sure if every university requires a course like this though). Once again, make sure you learn as much material as you can in a single class, because you never know when it might pop up in a future class, which happened to me countless times. Here are some helpful links that I have used:

Linear Algebra
Gilbert Strang MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/1.../index.htm
This guy is a great professor, and understands some very difficult to grasp concepts in a easy to understand manner. I did not watch every single video, but I probably watched about 10 or 15 of them. Since he is most likely teaching from a different book, the order of the videos may not correspond to how your professor is doing it, but for the most part it is easy to jump between videos. There are also lecture notes, and exams you can practice on.
Schaum's Guide http://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-Li...0071794565
This is a helpful book, and part of a popular series of books with very good guides/tutorials for different topics. You could probably find a free download online for this as well, or if you have access to your campus library they may have physical or online copies you could use.

Discrete Math/Computer Science Math
Tom Leighton MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-en...fall-2010/
These videos were also helpful to me when I was going through my Discrete Math class. Once again, I did not watch every one, but the ones I did watch provided very helpful supplementary teaching. The class teaches you about how to write proofs, and the different types of proofs, and goes into more computer science related math like number and graph theory. There are videos, assignments, and exams for the class.
Concrete Mathematics by Knuth http://www.amazon.com/Concrete-Mathemati...0201558025
I have seen this book be highly recommended online as a very good textbook for math related to computer science. I have read through a little of it, but I plan to go through as much of it as I can very soon. One of the books authors is also the person that wrote The Art of Computer Programming, and he invented the TeX typesetting system, so he is a pretty good authority. You could easily find a free download online, but I won't post that cause I don't want to break any rules.

Probability and Statistics
I don't really have any good links for these topics. If I stumble across any, I'll add them.

Finite Automata
Jeff Ullman Stanford https://class.coursera.org/automata/lecture
I found some of these videos very helpful when going through my automata course, as I had a very difficult/bad professor. He wrote the textbook that we were using in my course, so he is also another pretty good authority on the topic.