Thursday, July 30, 2009

What is the influence of Computer Science in Mathematics?

Since math and computer science are related...what's the influence of computer science to math and vice-versa? %26lt;project in cs%26gt;

What is the influence of Computer Science in Mathematics?
Computer science was initially a part OF mathematics. Back in the day, a college's CS department was just part of the math department. If you were majoring in computer science, then you were a math major with a CS concentration. So math undoubtedly helped to give birth to CS. CS programs use the binary base number system, algebra to store and manipluate variables, etc.





But yes, CS ended up having an impact on mathematics too. Computers are good at doing long redundant tasks. They've been used to set new world records for the most number of digits of Pi calculated, the highest known prime number, etc. Computers have also allowed mathematicians to do approximation algorithms for equations that are impossible to solve algebraically (I wrote programs like this all the time in grad school, where I was taking "Numerical Analysis" classes to get my MS in math).





James Gleick's book "Chaos" also shows some interesting examples of how computer work led to the discovery of some new branches of math too.


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