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Is computer science essentialy a maths degree?

v2006

I really love maths and was wondering if computer science would be a good degree to do . I achieved AAAC at AS levels in maths bio chem with a c in physics. I was looking at the top 10 unis and was wondering if the course had a large amount of maths in it, in partciular the UCL course?

Reply 1

JohnC

Real computer science is an application of maths.

I don't know about the UCL course in particular, but most of the top CS unis courses have maths in and/or are based on maths in nearly every module.

Reply 2

v2006

OP

JohnC i hae not done Further maths at A level as it is not offered at my school. I got AAAC in my AS levels in maths bio chem and c in physics which i dropped for A2. Where do you think i should be aiming? I dont want to aim too high as i will probably get rejected due to no fm.

Reply 3

hallucination

1

Why not do joint honours - Maths with Computer Science or something similar?

Reply 4

Psyk

16

v2006

I dont want to aim too high as i will probably get rejected due to no fm.

No where will reject you completely on the basis of having no further maths. As long as you have a good grade in maths and a couple of other subjects you will be fine.

It involves a lot of maths but it's not a maths degree. It's based around an application of maths, rather than teaching maths for the sake of it.

Reply 5

v2006

OP

Anyone who is/has done computer science at uni tell me the % of maths their course hadd? Thanks

Reply 6

Babyangel452

well i'm starting computer science this year, and i have a couple of friends who already do the course...

Like John C said, Computer science is an application of mathematics. All my UCAS offers specifically asked for an A in mathematics. And based on the reading list books, you definitely have to to be well grounded in your maths to take the course.

But if ur a die hard maths fan, you can take the joint maths + computign course that most unis offer. Apparently its pretty popular for people from the joint to end up in solo computing of mathematics. But at least the first way, you get a taste of both feilds so you know what you're comfortable and happy with.

Reply 7

Babyangel452

The first year of computer science is meant to be firmly grounded in maths, and as the years progress, it moves to the applications, drawing from the set theories....

Reply 8

Waldo Dobbs

3

v2006

Anyone who is/has done computer science at uni tell me the % of maths their course hadd? Thanks

It depends greatly on the university and the options you take on an individual course. Some universities (like the one I attended) ensure first year computer scientists take subjects that are core to a normal maths degree (linear algebra, calculus, geometry, analysis etc.). Even though the style of maths is different to what you experienced at A-level, you would clearly recognise these as being "mathematical".

Later on, you can take subjects that are in a similar vein to the above, like numerical analysis. Or you can take very theoretical subjects you wouldn't recognise as "normal" maths such as subjects that cover epistemic and propositional logic, kripke models and the like. Or you could take very applied subjects, which are underpinned by maths but have a large whiff of artistic design flair to them, like object oriented and aspect oriented programming.

The point is, computer science is underpinned by maths, but you can pick and choose the type of maths you employ in your course by choosing certain subjects.

Joint schools in Mathematics and Computer Science can be very hard, but also can be very fun. They make you more or less suitable for certain jobs as well.

Reply 9

Psyk

16

Just to illustrate the differences between courses, my first year only had a very basic maths unit. Barely beyond A-level stuff. I actually took more maths as open units but that was purely my choice. The rest of the maths is taught in context, within computer science lectures. My software engineering unit had maths based things like complexity and graph theory. And I hear that this year there will be a greater amount of maths involved in each unit, yet there are no more "maths" units for the rest of my course.

Reply 10

v2006

OP

What university do you go to psyk ? I really like maths so i thought computer science would be a good option as there is actually a career at the end of the degree unlike just a bsc in maths. Do you think i should rethink my options as you have not done any maths? Also i was looking at the m odules taught in computer science but didnt really understand what they are about. Are they numerical subjects or written based? Thanks for your time

Reply 11

twisterman

1

My first course book I have to buy for my CS course is a maths one...so im assuming there will be maths content throughout my course...im just startying my first year.. :smile:

Reply 12

john171

11

No. They are very different.

Reply 13

Chubb

2

I'm 3rd year straight CS at Birmingham Uni and preety much every module has at least some maths in it and there are also complete maths modules in year 1 and again in year 2 (in year 3 you pick what you want to do). Graphics is the difficult maths in my opinion but like I said everything has it in somewhere - I'm doing AI stuff now (including a project as a Neural Net) so theres a lot of maths involved there too.

Reply 14

Psyk

16

v2006

What university do you go to psyk ? I really like maths so i thought computer science would be a good option as there is actually a career at the end of the degree unlike just a bsc in maths. Do you think i should rethink my options as you have not done any maths? Also i was looking at the m odules taught in computer science but didnt really understand what they are about. Are they numerical subjects or written based? Thanks for your time

I'm at Bristol. It's hard to say about the exams because I've only really done one traditional CS exam in my first year. Looking at papers for modules I will be doing this year, they are mostly written with some numerical work within the questions.

I think you would be better suited to a maths degree. A maths degree can lead to a much bigger range of careers than comp sci, so if you aren't that interested in comp sci as a subject, there's really no point in doing it over something more general. With a maths degree you could quite easily go on to do the same sort of jobs a comp sci graduate might do, even if that means spending a year doing a comp sci masters course.

Reply 15

Leigh

15

v2006

JohnC i hae not done Further maths at A level as it is not offered at my school. I got AAAC in my AS levels in maths bio chem and c in physics which i dropped for A2. Where do you think i should be aiming? I dont want to aim too high as i will probably get rejected due to no fm.

I didn't do FM either because neither my school or college offered it. I got my teacher to mention it in my reference, and that went fine. I got in everywhere I wanted to inc. Cambridge, so don't get too worried about that holding you back.

Reply 16

stoney

12

I'm about to start comp sci and am therefore prob not in the best position for answering this yet but from what I have seen (module content etc) degrees tend to be fairly mathematical. Some people say that the maths you learn isnt hard but the difference with computer science is that maths is central to it as opposed to say biology or economics where maths is merely utilized. Computers are an application of mathematics so one should assume that a computer science degree is based on maths i suppose.

Reply 17

v2006

OP

Hey stoney i thought durham wanted aab for computer science. How come they accepted you anyway? Is computer science undersuscribed or something at durham or generally?