What areas within research mathematics use computer programming (not including $\LaTeX$) the most and least? What programming languages are most commonly used in those fields?
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- 6$\begingroup$ Theoretical Computer Science is probably among the subfields that use computers the least. (I am considering TCS as either a subfield of or a field with a huge intersection with mathematics. If only for the sake of the irony of this answer) $\endgroup$Clement C.– Clement C.2016-02-13 16:20:29 +00:00Commented Feb 13, 2016 at 16:20
- $\begingroup$ Another question being -- is paper writing (e.g. with $\LaTeX$) considered as "using a computer"? $\endgroup$Clement C.– Clement C.2016-02-14 00:35:48 +00:00Commented Feb 14, 2016 at 0:35
- $\begingroup$ I did not intend that to be counted (although I suppose it wouldn't matter for the rankings, as all field should use $\LaTeX$ equally). $\endgroup$vukov– vukov2016-02-14 01:14:40 +00:00Commented Feb 14, 2016 at 1:14
- 2$\begingroup$ I would guess that algebraic topologists don't use computers much(aside from $\LaTeX$) $\endgroup$Sean English– Sean English2016-02-14 15:48:07 +00:00Commented Feb 14, 2016 at 15:48
- 1$\begingroup$ My work in combinatorics often needs some programming to deal with all but the simplest data collection -- perhaps you've heard of combinatorial explosion? Right now I'm starting to look at a family of ${n \choose 2}$-dimensional polytopes. After the $3$-simplex, I can't even draw the things and it takes me an hour or so to find all the vertices by hand! Hopefully with data some patterns will emerge, but I'm definitely going to be sitting down with Sage to move forward. $\endgroup$pjs36– pjs362016-02-14 16:13:22 +00:00Commented Feb 14, 2016 at 16:13
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1 Answer
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1 More: numerical analysis, cryptography. Less: set theory, general topology.
FORTRAN keeps being used for number crunching with C/C++ growing in popularity. Mathematica/Maple/Matlab are used almost everywhere and you will see Python, Perl, Ruby, Haskell, LISP...
answered Feb 14, 2016 at 22:06
Martín-Blas Pérez Pinilla
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- $\begingroup$ Crypto maybe, but not theoretical crypto? I now very few people that actually implement, say, Indistinguishability Obfuscation primitives or FHE cryptosystems. There are, but not many... As for the languages, Julia seems to gain speed. $\endgroup$Clement C.– Clement C.2016-02-14 22:57:20 +00:00Commented Feb 14, 2016 at 22:57