Is it necessary to learn maths to enter into programming?
alan-crowe: The big overlap between mathematics and programming is proof
by mathematical induction. The standard example in
mathematics is proving that1+2+...+n = n(n+1)/2The proof has two parts, first is it true for small values
of n, and second does truth for a large value follow from
truth for all small values.Well, 1+2+3 = 6 and 3x(3+1)/2 = 6, so small n is looking good.What about general n? Can we get the formula for n from the
formula for earlier n, perhaps n-1?Suppose we already knew 1+2+...+(n-1) = (n-1)((n-1)+1)/2 = n(n-1)/2.Adding n to n(n-1)/2 does indeed produce n(n+1)/2 so gives
us the second part and completes the proof.The standard example in programming is writing a fast
sorting routine.  Given data x1,x2,...,xn pick one item,
perhaps x1, as the pivot and work through the data
accumulating two lists, big and little, of data larger than
and smaller than the pivot. Join the sorted versions of
big and little with the pivot in between.The algorithm works because it works for small n as special
cases and works for larger n by breaking the big case into
smaller subcases.A list with only one item is inherently sorted and a list
with exactly two items is easily sorted by swapping them if
needed.A list with n items gets broken into a pivot and two lists
big and little.  Both lists are less than n long. Even in
the lopsided case that one is empty the other is only n-1
long because we have taken out the pivot. So the sorting
routine is going to work because it works for smaller cases,
by just the same logic that underlies mathematical
induction.School mathematics has a misleading focus on
computation. University mathematics is focused on proof.In programming we tend to keep the proofs in our heads and
not write them down. The reason for this is that computers
need a great deal of handholding and babysitting. A computer
program is mostly made of details that spell things out for
the computer in detail. These details are typically
mathematically shallow. Provided we have not made any small
slips with the details the program will work and obviously
so.On the other hand, interesting programs have tricky bits
that are not mathematically shallow. How do you write those?
You need to think like a mathematician writing a proof. You
need to find bases cases and inductive steps.Mathematics and programming are different but mutually
illuminating. There is a very close connection between a
mathematic proof and the explanation of why a tricky
computer program works. Learning how to create mathematical
proofs will help you with writing tricky programs and
vice-versa.The most important example is calculus. Many mathematics
students struggle with calculus. It is a useful exercise
(perhaps for 16 to 18 year olds) to write your own computer
programs for numerical differentiation and for symbolic
differentiation and to get the two to agree as closely as
rounding error permits. Much that is obscure about calculus
then becomes clear.The overlap of mathematics and programming is very clear in
formalisms such as ACL2
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/moore/acl2/ which use a
computer programming language as a logic in which
mathematical theorems are stated and proven. The ACL2 book
is excellent, but alas, it assumes a university level grasp
of meta-mathematics. I fear that the book the poster seeks
has yet to be written. Perhaps some-one on HN will take up
the challenge?