I'm a games programmer with an interest in the following areas:
- Calculus
- Matrices
- Graph theory
- Probability theory
- Combinatorics
- Statistics
- More linguistic related fields of logic such as natural language processing, generative grammars
Here are some examples of topics I've come across in the last 18 months in my design/development work, that have been of interest in solving certain problems. I grasp the outlines of these topics enough to know how they would help me to solve certain problems in my designs, but I don't even scratch the surface in understanding how to apply the math involved.
- Matrix math for spatial transformations
- Minkowski sums for spatial expansion
- Planarity testing and embedding to convert logical non-planar to planar graphs
- Generative grammars and natural language for narrative generation (linguistics / logic)
My maths ability is sorely lacking. I know enough to get by for the relatively simple games I write. My logical and analytical skills are generally good, being a programmer. I enjoyed math in high school, but college was a different story -- my lecturer was terrible, and I didn't get any individual tutoring as I did before that. Anything that was in my head has long since departed. I would need to relearn what I learnt, which in mostly centred around "the calculus".
Bearing in mind that I need to balance my time between improving as a game designer, developer and mathematician/logician, what is the best way for me to tackle these gaping holes in my knowledge, enough to work in-depth mathematical descriptions into working algorithms?