http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=185385


in reply to (OT) Should math (or adv. math) be required in CIS degrees?

I will disagree with everyone else.

I think that most of Calculus is useless for computer programming. Furthermore any subject which is taught because it teaches "analytical thinking" deserves to suffer the fate of Latin and Euclidean geometry. (If you have to think about what Proposition 1.47 is, then you didn't learn classical Euclidean geometry, no matter what delusions you may have to the contrary.)

As for other areas of advanced math? Each area should stand or fall on its own merits. Linear algebra, graph theory, number theory and combinatorics all make sense for programming, if only to give people some background for understanding how scalability works. (Which is definitely applicable if you are trying to understand why your web application server is falling over!) Differential equations, analysis (complex and real), topology and the like generally are not as applicable to CS.