Programming Foundations: Numerical Mathematics and Calculations

Course details

Junior software developers usually lose a tremendous amount of time choosing the “right” programming language, not knowing that the programming language they use is less important than their ability to solve problems and create useful programs. In this course, Terezija Semenski provides a solid and relevant base of knowledge in the most important mathematics concepts and topics to help you gain the skills needed to solve complex problems and to discover subtle patterns in data.

Terezija provides you a basic knowledge of topics in algebra, calculus, probability, statistics, and linear algebra, but instead of theorems and proofs, she uses real-world examples and code to illustrate the concepts. If you want to upgrade your math skills and learn more about applications of mathematics in software, this course is for you.

Concepts

Introduction

Numerical mathematics and calculations for programming.
What you should know

Introduction to Algebra and Calculus

Mathematical operators and order of operations
Common mathematical functions
Using built-in math functions
Writing a program to calculate factors of an integer
Challenge - Converting units of measurement
Solution - Converting units of measurement

Sequences and Series

Introduction to sequences and series
Sequences of numbers
Arithmetic and geometric progression
Series

Vectors Basics

Introduction to vectors
Vector arithmetic
Cartesian coordinate system
Dot product of vectors
Scalar and vector projection
Basis, linear independence, and span

Introduction to Matrices

Matrices introduction
Adding and multiplying matrices
Types of matrix transformation
Transposing matrices
Creating 3D shapes
Solving a system of equations

Exploring Data with Statistics

Calculating the mean
Calculating the median
Finding the mode and creating a frequency table
Measuring the dispersion and finding the range of a set of numbers
The variance and standard deviation
Challenge - Creating a grouped frequency table
Solution - Creating a grouped frequency table

Sets and Probability

Set introduction
Subsets, supersets, and powersets
Set operations
Basic concepts of probability
Probability of the intersection of two events
Probability of the union of two events
Generating random numbers

Conclusion

Next steps