Computer repair and Math

Mr Sinister 187

Does one need really good math skills to work in computer repair?

trick000

Mr Sinister 187 wrote:

Does one need really good math skills to work in computer repair?

Might need to know the basic operations but I don't think you'd need to know calculus or something like that.
But you might need to know some stuff that they probably won't teach you in normal school like being able to manipulate binary and hex numbers.

Webmaster

I would say good basic math skills. You don't need to be an mathematician. IMO, nothing you don't know or can't learn if you can use a computer.

Mr Sinister 187

I know the basic operations good , it's just the algebra and calculus that gives me a big time headache. That's good to hear , but if I want to get a degree to go with my career I might need to take computer science which I believe has calculus with that , so I guess I'll just have to see what happens , thanks for the info.

Sinister.

trick000

Mr Sinister 187 wrote:

I know the basic operations good , it's just the algebra and calculus that gives me a big time headache. That's good to hear , but if I want to get a degree to go with my career I might need to take computer science which I believe has calculus with that , so I guess I'll just have to see what happens , thanks for the info.

Sinister.

Computer science has a lot of math in it. I think you have to take calculus III, linear algebra and probability and statistics. Yikes!

Mr Sinister 187

Yikes , well then , I hope I can have a good career in this without a degree.

cheeblie

I think you should know algebra fairly well, as it can be very helpful if you know how to use it properly. Calculus, however, is really only useful for engineers and physicists. Calculus isn't too hard, but algebra is definitely something you should master.

Cheeblie

Drakonblayde

I've never really looked at Algebra as math, it's mostly just learning to appreciate logical flow, most of the mathmatical operations are fairly basic.

Calc and Trig otoh..... /shudder

Zumpel

I'd say programming and certain, quite advanced software troubleshooting would benefit from a good mathematical understanding, but, when your into computer repairs you don't need much math beyond the common sense stuff. Don't let all that fancy binary, hex and what have you scare you.
As long as you know what to do with a value and know where to look up on it should you ever need it you'll be fine. You might have to learn the theory behind it at one stage to pass an exam, but in the real world you won't run into maths a lot. (.. thanks god for that )

lazyart

I agree. Knowing how to decode/encode binary is useful, and hex not quite as much but it wouldnt hurt. When you are dealing with "masks" and it's not halloween, you'll do well to know where to put those bits into those bytes.

Drakonblayde

Yeah, if you plan to go into networking at all, binary is a requirement. One of my most euphoric days was when I finally *understood* exactly how subnetting worked, and you gotta know binary for it hehe.

I can do up to the 16th power in binary in my head without thinking about it (couple years programming ingrained THOSE numbers quite well), beyond that it gets fuzzy..... for Hex... eh, let's just say my tech kit includes a scientific calculator, just in case