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Changing my major... need ideas.
- Thread starter GD0X
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Yeah but it was only one class, not even a true "Calc 1" class, just Calculus and how it relates to business. Math isn't my thing either and I did just fine. College is going to be difficult and taking one easy calculus class is about the least you can get away with when you want to have a computer-related major.
I'm finishing up my 3rd year in electrical engineering and am focusing in chip design, specifically very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. I also do some fairly advanced undergraduate research in my school's high-performance, low power VLSI lab exploring a new taxonomy for multi-fault-tolerant, reconfigurable parallel prefix adders.
To put it bluntly, it's extremely difficult. The good thing, however, is that it's 1) interesting, 2) a very large industry, and 3) pays fairly well. If you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life.
So how does math relate to it? Well, obviously being in engineering school, I had to take Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, and Probability. I also took Discrete Mathematics and should probably take Linear Algebra. That's a lot of math. Do you need all of it? Well, sadly, you really do.
My Electromagnetic Fields course last semester blew my mind by how much differential equations was used (Curl, Divergence, etc). The whole field is governed by math and would be non-existent without it. My solid state physics course uses all sorts of differential equations to model how transistors function, how silicon and other semiconductors are doped, and other characteristics such as band gap energies and whatnot.
I mean, yes, there's a hierarchical structure when it comes to processor design... a level of abstraction where you don't necessarily need to know everything to complete a task. Can you derive the XOR function at the gate level? Sure. But can you do it at the transistor level? Can you do it using the most effective topology? How about the threshold values and associated capacitances for such a circuit? How do the inputs and outputs of such a layout affect the previous and subsequent stages? Are you utilizing logical effort and branching effort to properly size for delay? How does delay affect your critical path? What implications does that critical path have on your overall clock cycle? If you lower the clock cycle, how does that affect the energy consumed? Would you know how to perform the integral that provides you with the overall power consumption, with respect to the energy used and the critical path delay? You can't expect to be an asset to the industry if you can't delve deeper into the details.
If you want a future in computers, especially chip design, then you're going to have to learn math. Math and physics govern the progression of the industry. If you just want to play around with computers and not have to worry about math, then go into IT. Business/econ uses all sorts of mathematical models too, so that's not an option either. Marketing obviously uses a ton of math. Almost anything worth getting paid for involves some type of math.
Have you considered any of the arts and histories? Maybe teach about the history of computers? Maybe look into HCI - human-computer interaction. That might not involve much math.
Anywho, hopefully this gave you a better insight! Good luck!
Depends on the school I suppose. At my university you aren't going to be in any engineering related field without taking at least calc 1+2
I changed my major from Business to Communications because I couldn't pass the math required. (Calc and Stats). So now my major is Interpersonal and Occupational communication with a minor in business. I should have the same kind of opportunities that I would have with just the business degree. Look for something that you can easily transition into and offers the same kind of opportunities you were looking for.
Granted I'm only a junior in high school, I also am not the best at math. But that doesn't stop me from taking computer programming. Right now I am learning Java. It's fairly easy (well once you learn it at least) to type up some code and get a program working. You don't /need/ to be good at math. I've already learned C++ which is a lot more math centered. Java is overall easier. I hope I helped even I little bit lol
To an extent computer science then, programmer. However, you still need math there. Programming certain functions into the program.
Come to think of it, pretty much every job requires some sort of math knowledge, unless you are a trainer, masseur or maintenance guy.
Not going to be mean or anything but there is a lot more to programming that just knowing the language. Even in java the math skills matter. Plus there is a massive amount of over lap in the logical thinking that is required to program. Generally speaking if you can not do math you are going to lack those criticle thinking skills needed to design programs. Being a coder is a dead end job.
Computer programming isn't as much math based (hardly at all imo) as it is logic and syntax based
No man you weren't being mean or anything lol that's some good solid advice. Thanks. Im still learning so I appreciate you letting me know this stuff. Even if you didn't mean it to be advice. So thanks.
Definitely true for basic programming, but logic is just an extension of math. My school requires all computer science majors to take discrete math, which is very relevant to programming, and it's obviously quite math based. CS majors are also required to take an algorithms course, which from what I've heard, is bloody difficult.
I most certainly believe that a CS major doesn't need to know as much hardcore math as an electrical engineer, but to say it hardly requires math is misleading. But of course, there's a major difference between being a computer scientist and a programmer - the former being a lot more math based.
I mean, who do you think figures out whether to use a bubble sort or merge sort or any other sort of sorting algorithm? These are quite math extensive
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Most of these programs are graduate programs, btw.
I would be of the opinion that most programmers have to know math to a decent degree. If you want to do graphics work or anything complicated you it's pretty useful.
FWIW, my computer science program is extremely math-based.
Calc 1 + Calc 2 + Vector Geometry + Matrix Algebra all in freshman year..
It's also part of the Engineering department, so the only classes (At least for Freshman year) that is different for a computer science major than an Electrical Engineering major is one class - Introduction to Programming Concepts or something like that
Calc 1 + Calc 2 + Vector Geometry + Matrix Algebra all in freshman year.
.It's also part of the Engineering department, so the only classes (At least for Freshman year) that is different for a computer science major than an Electrical Engineering major is one class - Introduction to Programming Concepts or something like that
Within the information technology field, consider options in networking and information systems. If youre interested in switching fields, you might find a program in health information management or healthcare administration interesting. I think you need to take some time to figure out your goals and interests better. Im currently reviewing California College San Diegos business administration programs, but they do offer programs in healthcare, IT and graphic design as well. Read some California College San Diego reviews to find out more if youre interested.
Hire a math tutor. I did this at the end of calculus because I was just not getting it and was probably going to fail the course. I think my grade to that point was 55% or something. I spent a couple weeks learning the stuff from a tutor, and got an A on the final exam. Totally worth it.
