I think OP was using math as a scalar metaphor for programming. In that vein, I'm not saying you need to literally know algebra, just that it's a parallel kind

I think OP was using math as a scalar metaphor for programming. In that vein, I'm not saying you need to literally know algebra, just that it's a parallel kind of progress. The point being that if you know algebra well, you can do useful things with math. In a similar vein, if you know functions well, you can do useful things with programming.