Re: Dumbing down?

On May 24, 9:44 pm, Jeff Rollin <jeffrey.rol...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A friend (who should know better than I) and myself both agree that an
understanding of maths is necessary to be able to program.

So why do so many introductory textbooks insist that it isn't?

How deep an/what kind of understanding do you think is necessary?

I have a good understanding of numbers (not number theory!) and think
I am good at recognizing (many kinds of) patterns, but don't have any
formal maths training beyond high school level, yet consider myself a
competent programmer - at least competent enough to have taught
programming to beginners when I was freelance 10 years ago.

None of those beginners had any formal higher maths education, most
acknowledged having no real interest in or background involving maths.
As to what I could teach them about programming (using VB, alas), some
'got it' while others didn't really grasp essential concepts.
Intuitive mathematical ability may have played a role, but in this
case, social factors (those people were sent to the courses by the
Employment Agency and didn't all really *want* to learn programming)
may have been more important.

So, depending on the definition of 'understanding of maths' I'm not so
sure if such is strictly necessary to be able to program.

.

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