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I'm not the parent but here's my list.

* Discrete Mathematics

* Linear Algebra

* Combinatorics

* Number Theory

* Introductory Real Analysis or "Calculus 1"

* Probability Theory

* Statistics

This will prepare you to be a general purpose CS professional. Further specialization will likely require some additional high level topics used in your field.



Even for these, some you will only need in specific fields.

Discrete Maths / Combinatorics : Probably everywhere.

Linear Algebra : Machine Learning, Computer Graphics, Computational Geometry, etc.

Number Theory : Cryptography.

'Calculus 1' : Useful to know for 'maturity', you will likely not use it unless you implement numerical algorithm libraries.

Probability / Statistics : Heavily in Machine Learning and related fields, in small doses everywhere else just because you need to be able to create useful observations and presentations.

I would add another branch:

Logic : If you work with programming languages or verification.


Yeah, you can't do half of these without understanding Calculus.


Well, understanding calculus and being able to compute indefinite integrals or solve differential equations analytically on paper are very different things.




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