Help me pick a math class

[Prak]

General Ed requirement bullshit. I only went up to Algebra 2 in High School because I wanted out as soon as possible, and dicked around my first year, so had to take basically a remedial.

What kind of math classes would provide me with the math skills for game system analysis? I swear that's probably the only incentive that will keep me paying attention.

[Akula]

I think you would eventually want statistics.

[Neeeek]

If you can find a logic class that falls under "math" go with that.

[Juton]

There should be a class called probability or finite mathematics. That will teach you a lot of the fundamentals people use in game design. Statistics is also a good bet, but check its requirements. At my school you need to have taken at least high school probability to take it.

[ubernoob]

At my school, the actual statistics class was petty much just a fuck ton of formulas to memorize. Game design doesn't actually require statistics, but simple probability calculation. I'd honestly suggest calculus 1 since it covers everything you'll need for game design and then some. But then again, I like math.

Neeeek's suggestion of a logic class that falls under math is probably your best bet, really.

[Username17]

Summation of series is incredibly useful. Anyone can look at a Ten-Again nWoD die and realize that it averages 1/3 of a success. But it takes a bit of calculus to realize that and why a 9 Again die averages 3/8 of a success or an 8 Again Die averages 3/7 of a success.

-Username17

[mean_liar]

Probability, if you can swing it. That's fundamental to gaming, more than anything else.

Not sure if that would qualify though, as it gets put into Statistics departments sometimes and may not count as Mathematics. Check the specifics.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Don't do what I did. I took a massive 6 credit combo Calculus/Trigonometry class. It almost killed me. Then again, I'm not strong in math.

[Zinegata]

What are the list of courses you can take now without having to pick up other prerequisites?

Lots of people mentioned stat but I know some units require you to take up calculus and other math courses first .

[Blicero]

Calculus was the most fun I had in math my entire high school career. I'd say go for a bit of that, at the very least.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Discrete math is generally a nice combination of logic and probability, but if you haven't had calculus then you probably should...

[Doom]

Your best bet if you're not very math-aligned is a course called "Discrete Math", sometimes called "Explorations in Mathematics", I've taught it a few times, and usually large institutions offer it.

Basically, it's 'chapter 1' from three or four books. You'll learn basics of logic, and basics of probability for sure. Past that, basics of linear algebra (matrices, not as hard as it sounds, and actually pretty useful if you go on to something called 'game theory') and/or basics of statistics.

The actual course content shuffles around a bit, it's basically a course for write-off students that generally take a month off, or really can't remember anything past a few weeks. Since the subjects are so disparate, such students can possibly pass this course, while a focused course would be out of the question for them.

[Murtak]

If you know the teachers, pick a good teacher. Ideally a good teacher you also like. That is going to be much more important than the subject matter.

[Vebyast]

If you know the teachers, pick a good teacher. Ideally a good teacher you also like. That is going to be much more important than the subject matter.

Agreed. I only have usable experience from one or two places, but the math department always seems to have the highest concentration of non-english-speaking and just plain evil professors.

[Prak]

Ok, I'll take a look at the classes, thanks guys.

[Doom]

Actually, as a quirk, my institution has all native English speakers in the 'department' (of course, we only recently just expanded to 3 people).

Usually, I'm in the minority, for many reasons. I started to pick up Mandarin when I was the only native English speaker on the math department soccer team (no, we weren't very good, except for our Russian guy).

Addressing why this happens is a bit much for this thread, however.

[Kithkanan]

I found linear algebra to be singularly useless. I managed to pass, but I have no idea what to do with it.

[mean_liar]

Well, it's a great way to understand the concept of orthogonality in the abstract. That's pretty damn important.

[shau]

I managed to avoid math since my junior year in high school. I almost took an accounting class in law school just because it would be such an easy A, but I never had room.

In conclusion, I recommend you make sure you can't substitute something else.

[Vebyast]

I found linear algebra to be singularly useless. I managed to pass, but I have no idea what to do with it.

It depends on what you do. A lot of the robotics stuff that I do depends on some very heavy-duty linear algebra, but I can easily see an English major never touching a matrix in their life. If you do any sort of math at all, linear algebra would be a great course to take eventually.

[TavishArtair]

I would also recommend looking to see if they offer (Introduction to) Logic as part of their math courses. They might categorize it as a philosophy course or something, but check to see if you can meet the Math requirement with it. Then take it. It is not a "game design math" class per se, but when something can be boiled down to cold, hard logic, it will teach you what the fvck to do next, which most people can't fvcking process, even if they think they're smart. And even if you are that smart, it will challenge you to understand how logic works, and how math works, on a fundamental level, which itself can improve your understanding of math. Then again, I find logic fascinating because it is in some ways the intersection of language and math. It is not the be-all, end-all of things, but it can be quite.... insightful.

[Username17]

I found linear algebra to be singularly useless. I managed to pass, but I have no idea what to do with it.

Game design regularly requires the balancing of equations with several unknowns across a vector space. Actually playing the game should normally simply require adding a list of numbers.

-Username17

[Prak]

So these are the math classes that fulfill one of my general ed requirements

120- Intermediate Algebra I
124- Intermediate Algebra II
300- Intro to Mathematical Ideas
310- Mathematical Discovery
315- Exploratory
320- Symbolic Logic
325- Problem Solving
330- Trigonometry
340- Calculus in Business and Economics
342- Modern Business Math
344- Finite Mathematics
350- Calculus for the Life and Social Studies
370- Pre-Calculus
400- Calculus

[Neeeek]

Um...You should have done that earlier. That's an easy one: Symbolic Logic or Problem Solving.

EDIT: I recommend taking both, though.

[Doom]

Linear Algebra is sort of a bastard child subject.

We cover it in remedial here, but not algebra, stat, calculus, or any other course. It comes in mighty handy once you get to Game theory (maybe one college student in 30,000 takes that), or coding theory, and advanced physics, but there's a HUGE gap between "where you can learn it" and "where you can use it".

Symbolic Logic is well worth taking, I'd have to see the syllabus to figure out whether 'Finite Mathematics' or 300/310/315 would be useful (and possibly easy, sometimes logic is taught a bit too harshly for an unmotivated student to enjoy).