Math is the foundation of engineering
Last night I received an email from a student who wrote: “I just got accepted into a Software Engineering program at a university. I do not know whether I will be able to finish the program because I am scared of math. My friends said without a good math skill, you cannot complete this program. Is it true? Can I study engineering without taking a math course? Please advise.”
Answer: “To be a software engineer, you need to have a good knowledge of mathematics. Both programming and engineering are about logic which is based on math. Why are you afraid of mathematics? Is it because when you were in high school you did not do well in math? Maybe the way some teachers who teach math make it more abstract and complex so you are confused and frustrated? I had many students who were scared of math because they did not have a good math foundation but after they were taking some remedial math courses to rebuild their foundation, they all did well. Maybe you can do the same.
Students of Computer Science or Software Engineering must know mathematics concepts such as Linear Algebra, Calculus, Discrete Mathematics, Probability, and Statistics. These are the foundation that you need to do well in your career and advance to the next level. You can NOT be an engineer without knowing math and you can NOT complete an engineering program without taking any math course.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
