[Discuss] OT: Do CS grads need calculus?

[Richard Pieri]

On 4/14/2015 2:38 AM, Bill Bogstad wrote:
> Did you not believe that other branches of mathematics can  teach you how to
> think differently?   Take the Monty Hall problem for example.   So counter
> intuitive that quite a few people with Ph.Ds in engineering and
> mathematics got it
> wrong when they saw it.   Perhaps there is something to even basic
> probabiliity after all.

A bunch of prestigious degree folks rejecting the seemingly absurd 
solution is not evidence that learning calculus is useless or that 
learning probability theory is better. It's merely evidence that some 
people will reject what they perceive to be absurd regardless of their 
education.

When I interviewed at InterSystems they had me take what's called the 
"Evil MEES Test". It's all arithmetic with some simple algebra at the 
end except that order of precedence is linear: 1 + 2 * 3 = 9. Most MIT 
graduates utterly fail the test. They reject the seemingly absurd linear 
order of precedence or they don't read the instructions.

You can lead a Ph.D (or CS grad) to water but you can't force him to think.

Perhaps basic probability and statistics would be better than calculus. 
I don't know. My understanding is that they're dead ends without calculus.

-- 
Rich P.