Need good math to be a programmer?
I have seen the question of how much math a person needs to know in order to be a good programmer many times on the internet.
To be a good programmer, you do need to be able to think through things logically. Therefore, you need to be the type of person who knows that if you apply a particular algorithm, your programme will produce a particular result. This is exactly the same as applying a particular formula in maths in order to arrive at a particular solution. So if you are capable of thinking through math problems, you are likely to be capable of thinking through programming problems.
There are some types of programming that do require a high level of maths such as certain game or quant programmers. There are also certain areas of research in computer science such as artificial intelligence that also requires a good level of maths. So if you want to work as a programmer that needs to utilise mathematical knowledge or you want to do a research degree one day, I would recommend getting a dual maths or physics with computer science undergraduate degree to provide yourself with a solid foundation to work from.
For the majority of programmers however, you do not need any maths beyond a basic level. This is because quite simply, maths is just not used a lot. So if you are one of those people who have no desire to study math or can program but unable to do math, this is not important. It is only important that you are good at programming.
To be honest, the majority of the best programmers I have come across are people who can think through things logically, they like programming and they like computing in general. This has nothing to do with their level of maths.
