re: Computer science without all that "heavy math" stuff...?
I am actually taking the opposite approach. Having not been exposed to much math, I use Python and other programming languages to teach me math. It provides some meaningful context, enabling me to see why mathematics is important and can be useful. Every cheezy little script I can write (and the ones that fail, as well) teaches me more about computing and how it works. I actually find that some of the advanced theory I learned even in Psychology and Philosophy becomes tangibly useful when I sit down to code. The obscure theoretical material is important, even if not visibly so. And I mostly program for simple pleasure.
Sounds quite similar to my experience. My Python and math evangilism have become quite intertwined - as Python became for me a tool that has made math accessible in quite fresh and exciting ways. Quite strange how we have gotten math tucked into some corner. Perhaps it is my own make-up, but I have come to see it as the finest kind of exercise of the imagination. In my opinion, it is tragic that math has become so isolated from the Liberal Arts education. That much harder to sympathize with the plea to isolate it from a CS education. ART
I am actually taking the opposite approach. Having not been exposed to much math, I use Python and other programming languages to teach me math. It provides some meaningful context, enabling me to see why mathematics is important and can be useful. Every cheezy little script I can write (and
This has also been my experience. Calculus made much more sense to me after I learned to program. I think it is because programming forces you to learn the concepts of abstraction, logic, sequencing, functions, etc. and at the end of the day you use these techniques to create solutions to problems. It wasn't until after I programmed for a while that I saw algebraic equations as a way of modelling relationships - before I always would look at a formula and think 'how did they come up with this?' Now I saw they were just, in their own way, building a program to model mathematically a real-world relationship and use that to predict or measure the effects of change. It definitely helped me to appreciate their work more. Math classes generally take the 'function cram' approach - which I would consider akin to making one try to memorize the entire Python library API rather than teaching how to program. Even the "problem solving" questions in the book aren't very helpful - they often ask you to do things you would never do in real life. "Calculate, using formula x, the distance of the ambulance from you at 2, 5, and 8 seconds." Or, "You see a plank of wood sitting against a wall. Now, you're extremely bored, happen to have a measuring tape with you, and are curious about the exact angle that piece of wood is stationed at. Find the angle where the wood connects to the ground." These examples are brain teasers, but they don't give students an idea about how they can use these things in real life. Not to mention, most teachers avoid those questions because students have lots of problems with them. Of course, school teaches a high-level of math to many people who may never have to use it - thus how can you give relevant examples? I honestly believe that abstract thinking is a skill in itself and needs to be gained by anyone getting into programming or math as a career. Anyways, just thought I would throw in my two cents. Kevin Ollivier ----- Original Message ----- From: <Arthur_Siegel@rsmi.com> To: <edu-sig@python.org> Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 12:43 PM Subject: [Edu-sig] re: Computer science without all that "heavy math" stuff...? the
ones that fail, as well) teaches me more about computing and how it works. I actually find that some of the advanced theory I learned even in Psychology and Philosophy becomes tangibly useful when I sit down to code. The obscure theoretical material is important, even if not visibly so. And I mostly program for simple pleasure.
Sounds quite similar to my experience.
My Python and math evangilism have become quite intertwined - as Python became for me a tool that has made math accessible in quite fresh and exciting ways.
Quite strange how we have gotten math tucked into some corner. Perhaps it is my own make-up, but I have come to see it as the finest kind of exercise of the imagination.
In my opinion, it is tragic that math has become so isolated from the Liberal
Arts education. That much harder to sympathize with the plea to isolate it from a CS education.
ART
_______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
participants (2)
-
Arthur_Siegel＠rsmi.com -
Kevin Ollivier