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DO YOU NEED TO BE A MATHEMATICIAN TO BE A PROGRAMMER ?

    While you don't need to be a mathematician in order to be a programmer, it certainly helps a lot in general to know about both boolean and binary arithmetic, as well as discrete mathematics in general. But mostly the amount of math you need to involve depends on the application. And yes, in modern game programming, where everything tends to be 3D, you need to understand the mathematics of geometry, which usually mostly amounts to linear algebra and trigonometry. Generally, if you intend to do any kind of advanced data processing (and most fun stuff involves some form of that) you're likely to run into some mathematical concept or other that you need to understand.

However, as a seasoned programmer, I've rarely come into situations where I actually need to remember any complicated mathematical formulae or do any extensive calculations. More often, I just need to understand the concepts behind the math, google for the formula I need, and apply it in my code.


Programming is almost exclusively based on logic, so it helps a lot to have a knack for logical thinking (which is closely related to math in general). That said, again and again I've seen feelers and people with more focus on rote memory do well in this field. It also helps tremendously to have dynamic memory, in the sense of being able to assimilate lots of information in a short time, paying extreme attention to relations between relevant details, and then forget all but the essential principles and some nuggets of information to help you locate the details if you need them again - sort of like the swapping that happens in a multitasking computer's memory management system. But the most important trait of them all, I think, is to have a shitload of patience, as every nontrivial programming project tends to involve a lot of frustration.

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