[pavel_lishin]

I don't think that math is universally necessary - it's actually rare that I need to sit down and write equations and think about something mathematically. (Unless I'm a genius who does it in his head, and trust me, I'm not.)

And a 25-hour-a-week job doesn't seem that overwhelming. I think I worked 20 hours a week with a 30 minute commute each way - unless you're having a truly difficult time with the core concepts, a 15 hour course load and a 25 hour work load isn't much harder than starting any new job.

[onemoreact]

Mathematical literacy is more than just writing down complex equations.

for (a = 0; a < n; a++) { for (b = 0; b < n; b++) { do_something(a,b); }}

How many times is do_something called? If you can say n^2 in under 15 seconds you are now better at math than the average American.

[watty]

That isn't considered "tough math" though. Surely basic math is needed but most developers won't actually use high level math (except to get the degree).

[Helianthus]

There's an argument to be made that learning tough math is necessary to make basic math effortless.

[rdouble]

That wouldn't be a very good argument. Basic math gets better by doing a lot of basic math. Your trigonometry will not improve by learning topology. I had more than one math prof who could not seem to balance a checkbook.

[geebee]

I knew very smart guy who worked over 30 hours a week on compilers alone. He got an A-. Maybe he could have gotten away with less work.

This was a notoriously difficult prof at a notoriously tough program, though. So maybe not typical.

[pavel_lishin]

I suppose it depends on the specifics of your program. BS in CS over here, never had to take a compiler class as far as I remember.