note DapperDan <i><blockquote>algebra-the-theoretical-subject (as opposed to what most of us sat through in 7th grade)</blockquote></i> <p> Important distinction. :) <p> I am currently reading a book called "Mathematics: The Science of Patterns" by Keith Devlin (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716760223/">amazon</a>) and starting to open my mind up to mathematics beyond the high-school learning-by-rote level. <p> I imagine it would be interesting to have a closer look at what one can learn about programming by studying algebra. Thanks for the pointers anyhow. 218729 218970