pouët.net

math for non-mathimatical programmers?

category: general [glöplog]
is there such a thing as a book for programmers that describes how certain mathematical operations work. such as summation which i don't know calculus. but, isn't it just adding up an array? i'm just wondering if there is a book just full of algorithms on how this shit works. rather than having to read a math book on a bunch of shit i'll never use. i suck at math and i think if a book was available with a programming approach to it i think i might be able to learn it.
added on the 2010-09-06 05:52:30 by hexen hexen
There is such a thing as non-mathimatical programmers?
Being good at one usually helps with being good at the other. Experience with commodore basic did a good deal to prepare me for early algebra.
added on the 2010-09-06 06:06:39 by QUINTIX QUINTIX
i don't own a commodor 64. i guess i could dl an emulator. but, i'm just saying if i'm right about summation being just adding an array up. why teach programmers that with a stupid epsilon symbol with some numbers around it. maybe it's just me. but, i think math is ridiuculous. probably because im to stupid to understand it. but, it should be easy it should have references to it's uses. it shouldn't just have to be known because people want you to know it. to be fucking better than you. that makes me want to stab someone in the face. i wouldn't think commodore basic would be any different from classic basic or new school basic. i would think since all these raytracing books i have like to use calculus there might actually be a book out there that shows how these things work from a programmers point of view. not some guy who sat under a rock coming up with things to use his algorithms for. it obviously has a use here and alot of people who would like to learn it might not know how to do things just because of how it's explained. i guess i'm retarded. i am also left handed. i hear we think more visually. so, i guess there is another point against me. but if summation is just adding up an array it's 100x easier to just say that instead of putting a stupid symbol with some numbers next to it on a peice of paper; i know what an array and adding is shit i also know what a sum is and if it's easier to explain it that way mathematicians are being counter productive and should be phased out.
added on the 2010-09-06 06:14:56 by hexen hexen
anyway if theres a book like that. i'll buy lt for like $70.
added on the 2010-09-06 06:20:52 by hexen hexen
there are some certain rules and such, you can get this from every school book that is beyond beeing a bakery assistant. the rest is just some practical use of this standard set of rules and information.

Quote:

the thing is, as for example with a lot of papers, that people try to wank off with the most complex formulas to look clever - and in the end it is just some simple operations... (guess they don't understand it as well ;)

freely quoted after albert einstein, btw

well, the stuff is formal correct, but you can get these basic formal rules from everywhere. (as said, school books should do the job in first place) - but there are some more programming oriented and practical books on almost every subject (gpu gems for example). the standard lectures are very mathematical, that's correct.
added on the 2010-09-06 06:48:46 by prost prost
i like that quote, even though for some odd reason it;s hard to believe he said "wank". lol. i actually only made it to pre-algera in school. i currently am not taking any math classes at the moment either. so, the gpu gem books explain math in the way i'm looking for it? i
m just looking for like a book on calculus with it explaing those symbols with it's code equivelant.
added on the 2010-09-06 06:57:16 by hexen hexen
there are so many books out there, sometime i don't know where to start reading. i always feel like i'm wasting my time. i have tons of ebooks i have physical books to. it's just turning into junk. i actually have a dled gpu gems books to. but it's all junk. because i don't know where to start. i'm actually trying to learn ray tracing. but, apparently i need to learn calculus first. the point is i care about the ray tracing and not the math. well i do care about the math. but, i'm more concerned about how it was turned into code. a symbol with some numbers by it does nothing for me and alot of people i think would learn more if it wasn't that way. everyone needs to read like 10k pages from math books to understand just how to do graphics programming that doesn't involve the api at all. i'm surprised more graphics programmers don't shoot themselves. ever since i was little i was kind of a pack rat of information and now i have like 14k books and i don't even know what to look at anymore. it just looks like alot of information which it iis. but, if i knew more on the math side it wouldn't look that way. a few of my graphics books are almost all calculus thorough the whole book. i feel li'll never understand it. i want to learn it. but, how does a person get good at this shit not knowing what he's doing? you don't apparently. because people think you are stupid and they like it that way. i don't want to not know how to do it. i really do. but, some of the calculus makes me feel like i should punch a door or something. i do have a book from the us airforce on math and it explains alot of the symbols. but, i have noone to double to check with if i do things right or wrong. i can assume i do things right. but how do i know? atleast if a programmer had implemented how these mathematical operations work i'd have something to work with so i can be positive i actually know what i'm doing. not everyone is a genius. but, some people end up thinking that way. probably because they think life is a competition and the demoscene seems like a big competition. not that i think that is bad. i think you guys are some of the best people ever american or not. i don't give a shit. but, seriously why break myself apart because i'm not good enough and think differently. i shouldn't sit around and think out of all the people on the planet noone ever thought about writing a book on how to easily explain calcul\us and other mathematics to programmers who may not be good at it. i can come up with an algorithm if it makes sense to me. but, if someone throws a bunch of calculus at me and says this is how something works. i am not smart enough to do that. i'd feel like hanging myself. even though i probably wouldn't.
added on the 2010-09-06 07:18:17 by hexen hexen
Essential mathemathics for games & interactive applications
a programmer's guide

James M. Van Verth
Lars M. Bishop

Morgan Kaufman

ISBN-13: 978-1-55860-863-4
ISBN-10: 1-55860-863-X
added on the 2010-09-06 08:10:44 by sol_hsa sol_hsa
What you are looking for is called "source code"... there's a lot around.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:12:33 by Jcl Jcl
ok thank you. i'll check it out. all this stuff isn't working.

[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/hexen/math.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/hexen/graphicsprogramming.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/hexen/graphicsprogramming2.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/hexen/graphicsprogramming3.jpg[/img]

if it's what i'm looking for i'll be ecstatic. also, you have a great site sol.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:18:24 by hexen hexen
obviously thats the wrong tag. ;x. eh whatever noone wanted to see it anyway.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:18:55 by hexen hexen
BB Image
BB Image
BB Image
BB Image
added on the 2010-09-06 08:19:31 by hexen hexen
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/math.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/graphicsprogramming.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/graphicsprogramming2.jpg[/img]
[imgl]http://hex.esemdesign.com/graphicsprogramming3.jpg[/img]
added on the 2010-09-06 08:20:46 by hexen hexen
ok fuck copy and paste.

BB Image
BB Image
BB Image
BB Image

i should give up. but, i wont.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:21:53 by hexen hexen
Quote:
how does a person get good at this shit not knowing what he's doing


By starting on page one?
added on the 2010-09-06 08:31:18 by doomdoom doomdoom
of what? it's like telling someone to go pick up some groceries for you not knowing what a store is. then they figure it out and you tell them they got whatever it is you wanted at the wrong store.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:37:29 by hexen hexen
but, sol had a book. which is what i was looking for. so, i think i'll take that as a solution to my problem. because, i find him to be a credible source.
added on the 2010-09-06 08:40:33 by hexen hexen
hexen: summation is more like a forloop imho?
BB Image
Code: result=0; for( i=1 ; i <= 4 ; i++ ) result += pow(a,i) - i ;
added on the 2010-09-06 08:58:50 by the_Ye-Ti the_Ye-Ti
hexen, it's the best book I've found so far. But it will still take some work.
added on the 2010-09-06 09:08:22 by sol_hsa sol_hsa
ok. i dled the book and look at it. read some reviews and bought the book. hopefully it helps. it has some really good reviews. pow = power? i'm actually a basic programmer. oh now i'm confused. i'm currently in a programming class. but, it's a web programming classing learning databases and asp,asp.net,php and shit like that. i did learn some c# at the beginning of class. but, when i was younger like 13 i learned vb and so i know how to do most things in vb. i suck at c++. i know how the for loop works. but, i don't know what all those libraries do and since i started that with c# i someone think it's different. i thought summation was about adding a group of numbers together and not performing any sort of operation on those numbers. but, then again it's hard to jump from pre-algebra to calculus.
added on the 2010-09-06 09:13:59 by hexen hexen
hmm i think i get it. the "i" is increasing to 4 and "i" is the power of a so it's increasing in the loop and being subtracted by "i". but, what is a?
added on the 2010-09-06 09:16:43 by hexen hexen
ok, i read over what i wrote. i've been drinking. but, i didn't realize i'd make so many typos. it must be the result of that.
added on the 2010-09-06 09:19:27 by hexen hexen
but, basically what you have up there describing summation as a for loop is what i have been looking for in a book. just a big explanation of calculus and maybe trigonometry just like how you explained it.
added on the 2010-09-06 09:21:18 by hexen hexen
because now i can relate that symbol to programming. summation is about the only thing i could get. except a few symbols seemed close to the same like dividing a group of numbers or multiplying a group of numbers. which seems like the same for loop with their givin operations.
added on the 2010-09-06 09:24:22 by hexen hexen
is a the set of numbers?
added on the 2010-09-06 09:34:40 by hexen hexen

login