What Mathematics Should be Required of Computer Science Majors

Mathematics requirements for computer science students vary broadly by institution. The general question of what mathematics should be required of computer science majors naturally leads to more specific questions such as: What mathematics content should be required? What mathematical concepts? Should the theory of computation be required? Should calculus, discrete mathematics, probability, and/or linear algebra? What impact do newer fields such as data science and machine learning have on the mathematics needed or required for computer science majors? What are faculty members doing to integrate mathematics into their computer science courses and does this help some students overcome difficulties learning the mathematics? What level of mathematical maturity should a computer science graduate attain? In this session, participants will share their answers to these questions with the goal of coming to a broader understanding of how mathematics informs the discipline. Through this discussion, we will try to reconcile our idealized curriculum with the practical reality of requirements, dependencies, and limits imposed by our institutions.