#Resources to learn Math and Physics for GP

46 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

halcyon marsh
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Hello,

Some context : I am currently in the 3rd year of a bachelor in Games Programming, but we don't have math classes, just a few math lessons from time to time. I feel like this is a problem if I want to find a job in Graphics Programming.

I know how to do 2D and 3D transformations (basically what's in chapter 2 and 3 of this book) and some basic physics (like I made a physics engine for example), but I think I should learn more (like calculus for example).

I already saw "Linear Algebra Done Right" mentionned somewhere, would it be useful for GP ?
And would anyone have some other resources that could teach the math / physics subjects I should know to do GP ?

dawn hare
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Your whole school doesn't have any math classes?

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You didn't have math in your lower division coursework?

halcyon marsh
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mhh i don't really know what you mean by lower division. I'm in switzerland so the system is different from america, but basically I did two diplomas that are below the level of a bachelor where I had math and physics classes, but now that I'm doing a games programming bachelor I don't really have math classes anymore

dawn hare
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How old were you in those math and physics classes

halcyon marsh
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from 14 to 19

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it's like post mandatory school ?

dawn hare
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What math subjects

halcyon marsh
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mhh things like 2nd degree equation solving, a bit of linear algebra (so like matrices and stuff) and the last lessons we had was like an introduction to derivatives

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and for physics it was things like rotations, heat transfer and balistics

dawn hare
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Ok interesting

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So you never took a dedicated linear algebra class?

halcyon marsh
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not really, since it was more like a programming apprenticeship we just had some math classes 2 hours per week

dawn hare
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Hm ok

halcyon marsh
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it's okay to become a web dev, but it gets harder when you wanna do graphics programming haha 😅

dawn hare
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Yeah weird that you don't have dedicated math classes

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In the US everyone doing STEM needs to take 3 quarters of calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations

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5 math classes in the first 2 years

halcyon marsh
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well it's a private school since the games industry is very very small in switzerland, and we only have lessons 2 days a week, the rest of the time we're supposed to work on projects

halcyon marsh
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but i'm kinda starting to regret not going to a "normal" school just for the math level 😬

dawn hare
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That being said, the linear algebra you have in your math lessons might be enough of a primer

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The linear algebra you learn in those classes isn't very applicable to graphics

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They just give you theoretical background so that you can learn the rest on your own

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The important part just comes with practicing in projects

halcyon marsh
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well the linear algebra we had in school was mostly about 2d transformations, so it was enough to work on an opengl renderer, but i started to be really limited in the PBR part of learnopengl, since i never really learned what an integral is

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our teacher tried to explain it in like one day, and then i watched some 3blue1brown videos on the essence of calculus, but i'm scared that might not be enough to get a job

dawn hare
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The 2d transformations generalize to the 3d pretty well

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But yeah calculus is a whole different thing

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You could try learning it on khanacademy

halcyon marsh
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yeah, and then i was able to use the book is metionned before to learn the rest

halcyon marsh
dawn hare
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It's not really necessary

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Well

halcyon marsh
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I though maybe a book could be more focused on the stuff usefull for graphics programming, since khanacademy is very general

dawn hare
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If you're going to be implementing techniques that already exist, it's not really needed

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You can learn it on the job

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The reason you'd need it is if you're going to be the one inventing new techniques

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But building up that level of mathematical maturity takes years of study

halcyon marsh
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makes sense, then I guess i'll continue khan academy until I at least understand a bit the PBR equation haha

dawn hare
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Yep

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You just need to know how to solve a basic integral

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The concepts will transfer over

halcyon marsh
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okay, thanks a lot for the informations !

vivid turret
halcyon marsh
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thanks a lot !