Coding & Mathematics

“Let n be a natura number……” or Let f be the function > 0.” These problems throw many students off for years and slowly they start developing the ‘maths phobia.’ As educators it becomes our responsibility to make students love the subject and to make them understand it to the core. Programming does the task for you. It helps to translate a mathematical statement into a program which makes it easy to keep a track of scope of variables’ in mathematics making it convenient for student to understand how the mathematical function works. Thus, Problem solving skills sets the common foundation of mathematics as well as for programming. It makes the learning process easy and more efficient by turning maths into a useful, engaging, and fun subject. With the help of programming, students can apply the concepts they learn in classrooms in real-life. We all know how important proofs are in mathematics. By experimenting with codes, students see the working of those proofs and demonstrate whatever the user puts in, the statement will hold true. Thus, students learn the nature of proof through programming.

Mathematics is not only about numbers, equations, and algorithms, it is also about understanding. Coding follows the same rule of understanding. It enables the students to understand the mathematical operations more effectively by bridging the gap between theory and practical. It also equips students with the tools of STEM education which focuses on giving real-life exposure to them. Today, learning is not only limited to books, but it is more about acquiring new age practical skills which empowers you with the future technology. Below are some examples of how coding augment cognitive strength and mathematical learning.

  1. Coding equips the students with the cognitive ability to think critically and thrive to solve the problems using different mathematical operations. Through coding, students learn to break down critical problems into smaller parts and find its solution.

  2. Coding builds students’ interest in mathematics- With the help of programming, students build games and apps to implement their theoretical maths concept which ignites their interests in the subject and thereby paving the path for new form of learning.

  3. Coding makes teaching and learning process more convenient and easy- With the help of programming tools, it becomes easy for the teachers to give functional knowledge of the concept to the students in the form of live images and games.

  4. Aids STEM education- Coding form the basis of STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and maths) education. It allows students to experiment and create new tools of for easing out work.

  5. Promoting Abstract Reasoning- The standard of mathematical practices is to reason abstractly and quantitively. Whether you are coding for a game, app, or some website, you are required to solve the values required for computer to execute the program and give the desired output.

  6. Helps in solving problem and persistence- Mathematics and coding both require dedication, precision, and persistence to solve problems. Therefore, it increases the problem-solving skills of the students which is the most critical qualification employers look for.

  7. Makes thinking more logical and structured- Mathematics requires solving problem step-by-step and in structured manner. Coding helps in aligning our thinking in more structured and logical manner by experimenting with codes to get the desired output.

Maths and coding go together. While teaching kids to code, you equip them with mathematical tools and critical thinking to use those operations strategically. With the use of different programming languages, learning maths become more adaptive for students. They get the better numerical sense by different programming commands. Thus, it becomes evident that there is great potential for mathematical learning via coding by making the concepts more visible and tangible for the students.