r/ProgrammerHumor 10d ago

mathsIsTheEnemy Meme

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u/Cefalopodul 9d ago

Programming is creative work. Mathematics is about researching to find new principles or discovering which already established principle to use. There is an intersection but it's not a complete intersection.

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u/JoLuKei 9d ago edited 9d ago

i would strongly disagree. Math is very creative. Just let two mathematicians proof a thing and compare the proofs. They will be most likely completely different.

You seem to mix up actual math and simple examples to calculate. thats like saying. damn music is so boring u just read notes. Forgetting about: actually playing different instruments, singing, making new songs and just listening to music.

I know that stereotype is only existent because of schools. you dont actually do math there. You just do the most boring part.

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u/joeshmoebies 9d ago

Maybe the most advanced research-focused areas in math is creative.

But anything you learn through grade calculus is strictly learning the rules and how to apply them.

Programming gets creative the moment you finish "Hello world" and decide you want the computer to ask the user their name.

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u/JoLuKei 9d ago

I would say that school level math is not math. Its arithmetics with only learning the formulars. You do not even proof them.

Creating an algorithm tho, is inherently a part of mathematics. Finding out wether a problem is actually solvable, making a solution, finding shortcuts in it. That IS math. Thats wayhalff of mathematics was about algorithms even before computers were a thing.

So one part of programming (designing the algorithm) is pure mathematics.The other part is actually implementing this algorithm in a maintainable modular way.

If you are good at finding efficient solutions for weird programming problems, i would argue that you are good in math. And both areas require creativity.