#Math or physics for undergrad if pursuing graphics programming? Courses in order of importance?

8 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

gilded musk
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Hi everybody,

I understand that this may be a question that has already been asked and answered many times, but I am struggling to find a resource that answers these questions in a clear and concise way. If there is one, please direct me to it.

I am looking to break into graphics programming, but I don't know whether I should major in math or physics for my undergrad. Are there different implications for the two majors depending on what I specifically want to do within graphics programming? If so, what are they?

Along with this, what are the most important courses that I should take in order to get into this field (for either math or physics)?

I am very open to the idea of grad school as well.

Thanks for the help.

gilded musk
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Based off of my current knowledge I am leaning towards going for a math major (applied math or computational math). I have contacted two professors who specialize in graphics at my university to ask these questions as well but I wanted to see if I could get some more opinions here.

gusty field
gilded musk
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Thanks for the pointers, I really appreciate it. I am still waiting for a response from the professors but this gives me a better general idea of what I should do.

gilded musk
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For anybody who is curious about this question as well, the GA professor that wrote the "Mathematics for Computer Graphics" page above wrote an updated version of the original page. Here is the link for said page: https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~turk/math_gr_new.html

flint crystal
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Physics is the quintessential graphics background, a lot of the people who pioneered computer graphics were physicists

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That being said, physics and math are extremely different majors, and both are very challenging

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I wouldn't necessarily pick one on a whim