Mathematics of Computing
Hossein Saiedian · Computer Science Education · 1992
After years of discussion, the consensus among academic computer scientists seems to be that undergraduate computer science programs need more mathematical content. This mathematical content is not to be found in areas such as calculus and differential equation but in areas such as discrete mathematics and mathematical logic. The objective of this article is to re‐examine the central role of mathematics in computer science by reviewing the undergraduate computer science curriculum from Curricula ‘68 to the current Computing Curricula 1991. The trend toward a greater concentration in such courses as discrete mathematics will be explored. Furthermore, we collected and put together comments and concerns of three prominent computer scientists about the importance of mathematics in computing science and lack of mathematical content in computer science programs. We then look at one area of computer science amenable to mathematical treatment. This area, software specification, is one of the important phases of the software development. The use of formal methods based on discrete mathematics has been increasingly emphasized recently for software specifications in an effort to produce precise and concise descriptions. We will provide an example to demonstrate the importance of a mathematical approach to arrive at precise specifications and argue against claims that mathematical notations introduce unnecessary complication by pointing out the advantages of and misconceptions about the use of formal notations. The article is concluded by once again emphasizing the integration and applications of mathematics in all areas of computing discipline, especially for software development.