You will (probably) never pull out pencil and paper and do arithmetic (simple, with fractions, averaging, etc.), simplify an algebraic expression, convert to st

You will (probably) never pull out pencil and paper and do arithmetic (simple, with fractions, averaging, etc.), simplify an algebraic expression, convert to standard form, factor a quadratic, solve a system of linear equations, calculate the area of a polygon, prove something about triangles, solve an inequality, divide polynomials, take the slope of a line, etc. This is what "math" consists of in K12 and very little of it is obviously linked to programming itself. You don't need any of high school math unless your specific application requires it (i.e. graphics involves polygons, anything quantitative involves arithmetic and unit conversion, you may want to report percentages and averages at some point.) Things I remember from K12 math classes that were useful for programming in general: - What variables are - What functions are - You can compose functions (this was obvious because I had been programming for 5+ years before function composition was introduced) - Very basic set theory (Python list comprehensions resemble set-builder notation) - Introductory propositional logic (though I learned this in the context of programming 7 years before I was "ready" for it in math class) Learning to prove things about triangles (geometry) exercises some of the same skills as programming, but I wouldn't say it teaches them. Certainly none of the theorems or facts have ever been useful, just the process of reasoning.