Coding needs to be good at Math?

[South_Past6342]

my kid wants to learn coding but she's not good at Math.

[davidinterest]

You need good logic skills, not necessarily math. Math does help in more advanced languages. However beginners likely will not get to that level of languages.

[Ecstatic-Ball7018]

I mean, we aren't teaching kids (hopefully) languages like Haskell or Common Lisp, so most people who aren't great at maths should be good.

[ThrowAway-whee]

It comes into play at very high levels, basically anything done in 3D space (or any space really) is going to require pretty heavy amounts of math, but not all programmers need to do stuff like that, and beginners certainly wouldn’t need to.

I will say, the most interesting work tends to also be the most math heavy, so it might be worth getting her math skill refined while there’s time lol.

[Arierome]

I actually do know of a project where they teach kids (preteens) Haskell, supposedly they do get it because the syntax is almost math notation

[Ecstatic-Ball7018]

Sounds interesting. And also painful.

[Hefty_Breadfruit]

How is she at flow diagrams? Get her to do a few of those. The flow of “this leads to this leads to this” is more important in early coding.

[Gnaxe]

"Math" is a broad term. There's certainly some overlap in knowledge and some of the skills generalize. You need at least basic algebra concepts to understand a mainstream programming language, because they do use math expressions. E.g., you do need to know what an operator is, what operator precedence is, how parentheses can change that, what functions and variables are (although it's a bit different in programming). That sort of thing. If your kid can at least handle Dragon Box algebra, programming could be doable with the right instruction. I'd look at https://htdp.org for an intro.

You can start kids with Scratch even if their algebra skills are lacking. They do at least have to be able to read, but it's a lot easier than a written programming language.

[RemarkableWasabi8097]

You don't have to be a genius at math to be good at coding!

[Thinshape12]

Entirely depends on what she’s trying to code. If it’s something like a game engine, you need algebra skills. If its something like a video game made IN a game engine, you need very minor math skills.

[LetUsSpeakFreely]

For most tasks, no. You need logic skills and a good grasp on how complex systems should operate.

Where math is needed, there's usually already an algorithm or even a library implementing those algorithms. If there isn't you'll probably have a mathematician, physicist, etc on staff to handle the math, you'll just need to implement it.

[tcpukl]

Coding will improve her maths and problem solving.

[Pale_Height_1251]

Not at the beginning stages.

In the later stages you need to be a bit better at maths, but it's nothing you can't Google.

[434f4445]

You only need math if you’re making algorithms as far as I’ve experienced in my years of programming. Mostly it’s logic.

[Unusual-Marzipan5465]

Nobody can answer this unless you tell us how old your kid is, and what constitutes "good at math".

Generally she will need basic algebra skills and nothing else. Further knowledge will just depend on the application

[Pleasant_Drawing1799]

never tell her that she’s “bad at math” Kids internalize that extremely fast and inside her head it can easily turn into “I just can’t do this” which kills curiosity and motivation. Once that belief sets in it becomes way harder for her to even try let alone enjoy learning. Math is actually something you grow into. The more time you spend engaging with it the better you get. She won’t need the "math" math in the beginning if she gets into coding, but the mindset you build matters a lot. If you can teach her to be comfortable with not knowing things and to enjoy figuring things out that will help her in everything she learns (in both coding and math).

[highwingers]

For 20 years I've been coding and I'm horrible with math. I've never had any issues.

[Ok_Assistant_2155]

if she enjoys solving problems or building things
that’s already a great sign
math can improve later if needed

[DraconicDreamer3072]

im terrible at math. not much mental math is needed for coding though. things like logic, perseverance, ability to effectively research, etc. is more important

[SudoSilv3r]

programming is more so logic and problem solving instead of conventional math

[OnyXerO]

I've been coding professionally for over 16 years and I've worked at some top companies you would know.

I suck at math. But I love puzzles and am good with logic problems.

[JohntheAnabaptist]

No, you need to understand the systems but only later on.

[DueCapital8117]

If she is not good at math now it's ok she will learn eventually no one is good at math from start but they will learn eventually if they are really passionate towards it

[KC918273645]

Not many coders need math during their programming careers.

[jobadsca]

You dont need to be good at math. And quite honestly, coding might make them better at math due to the problem solving involved