[kasey_junk]

Precisely what I thought as soon as I read the study, simply because I was terrible at math generally (and algebra specifically) before I studied CS. Afterwords, it turns out I'm fine at math generally (and have a bit of ability for algebra). The problem I had was not the content matter but the teaching paradigm.

A much more interesting experiment would be to add the algebra test back into the end of the program and see if there is improvement and how that correlates (or doesn't) to programming competence.

[xeromal]

I was in the exact same boat. I was "shit" at math, but my love for tech pushed me to CS. I barely passed the req maths such as the calcs and descreet math, but I did exceedingly well at the cs classes. I even did okay in the algo classes just because I was driven. The longer I'm in the industry though, the easier math becomes. I've been teaching myself algebra and calc on the side and things come a lot easier. Maybe it's just my wrestle with it attitude I've picked up over time or maybe my brain is rewired. Who knows.

[yen223]

The way I see it, you became good at math the same way a musician gets to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice.

For some reason - possibly due to the disproportionately young age of mathematicians - there's a prevailing idea that math is an innate talent, something which you are either born with, or you aren't. I strongly disagree with that notion - putting in that 10,000 hours can improve one's mathematical abilities.