What do Mathnasium students and the creators of the most popular PC game in the world have in common? They both require an understanding of algebra! Thought you’d never have a use for algebra outside of school? Think again! Eric Friedman, a software engineer who works on League of Legends, had been playing video games since he was four years old, and found out at age 12 he needed to understand math and programming in order to create them.
“If there’s something in the world you want to draw in a 3D game, you need to know its position. It involves 3D vectors,” he said. “Then if you want to rotate the object or shift its orientation, that’s represented by a matrix or a quaternion [mathematical operators used to rotate and stretch vectors]. If you want to do a racing or fighting game where two things collide, it’s all math.”
Check out the full article here to learn more about Friedman’s career path and all the ways he applies math in his daily life. Also be sure to keep following our blog for more important updates and exciting news!
