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# Minimum Math Req

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Hey ya''ll I was wondering what would be the minimum level of math required to effectivly make games of the 2D (tile/iso) type, and of the 3D type. I''m a Junior in highschool, and im in advanced algebra 2/Trig. But I''m not taking physics and people are talking about physics alot soooo... Yeah should I give up the dream of making a game until I learn some harder math? (BTW any freshmen that might be looking at this... Don''t screw around in highschool... I slacked pretty hard frosh year, and I''m kind of kicking myself for it now lol) Thanks, much appreciated as always.

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You need at least a PHD and a thorough understanding of Brownian motion.

No. What you have is a fine start, and there is no reason you can''t learn along the way. Higher understanding of math helps, particularly in optimising some algorithms, but some things are just so damn easy to do that what math you have should get you far.

The most important thing you should learn, I think, is how to figure out math problems for yourself. Don''t just memorise formulae but understand how things are derived, and you will have all you need.

The following statement is true. The previous statement is false.
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Just my couple cents but...

high school algebra should serve you just fine for the the basic end.

I personally found high school Calculus to be a joke, however, appled calc in university proved very beneficial.

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i''m a junior too,
and believe me even AP Calc BC isn''t enough

alg2/trig, sure, but physics and linear algebra are also musts

linear algebra is vector/matrix math that goes into things you
can''t imagine

physics you need in order to make the physics of a game, duh!!!

and calc provides you with the knowledge of why some formulae are the way they are, so you can optimize them and make your game run with killer FPS

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I am a junior too. Trigo is one of the most importment things to know, cause it helps you rotate objects, determine the new location of an object based on angle and distance, and stuff like that.

Everyboddy need someboddy!

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yeah you''re right, the power sincostan is amazing,

took trig my fresman year, we did matricies
but never anything like vector transformations

quote:

Dick''s Lemma:
"Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean they`re not out to get you."

The Programmer''s dilemma:
"Programming is like sex: One mistake and you''re providing

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Math course, while good to have, won''t neccessarily make or break you when it comes to stuff like this.

If you can think logically and solve problems mathematically you can do it..

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in 2D, trig, basic algebra.

for physics, vector operations help A LOT. And 2D vectors and simple phsyics is a good launch platform to move on to 3D.

simple 2D matrices transformations helps too, but you can get away with basic trig for a 2D game.

in 3D, you can''t really get away without a good grip on vectors and matrices.

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The math requierment is overrated, sure for writing the advance stuff you need to know the math to suport it, but for basic 2D and some 3D you''ll managed with next to no math knoweledg (especialy if you''re using somone elses game lib/engine).
For writing say a 2D side scroler from scratch using OpenGL as the API you don''t really have to know any math (well perhaps some depending on why you want to deal with collision detection), you''ll of course have to be able to think logicaly but that''s not the same as math.

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