thrill3rnit3 said:
Can I use a computational maths/physics degree to work in the video game industry?
I did six months at a game company and I can tell you there is a tonne of maths you should know especially with games that are graphically and physically demanding.
Everything from barycentric coordinates to convex hull, raytracing, collision detection, you name it can be used. Its not just your standard linear algebra, vector calculus that is used.
That said you're probably in a good position to learn more and get some sort of work experience where you are now.
Also you will be expected to be a fairly competent (sp?). Typically the repository for the source code used in this kind of work is extremely large and very complex and the activity of writing code and adding it to the repository requires a lot of careful thought, planning, and processes that have to be followed.
If you want to work for this sort of company you need a portfolio. Your portfolio should show a demo or perhaps a simple game with good features. Typically you won't know everything (no one is expected to), but depending on your expertise and portfolio you will either work in either core gameplay, engine development, or perhaps on a particular subsystem.
It is a good idea to understand all the mathematics you learn so that you actually know and realize what's going on when you apply it.
Take for example bezier surfaces and NURBS. If you study a course in numerical analysis and real analysis as well as vector calculus you will understand how everything works from how the lighting is done to how interpolation works and so forth.
Typically you find that the latest techniques like say sub division surfaces are in front of current hardware support but it does catch up in the future as hardware becomes more accessible and powerful enough to do these things in a real-time manner.
If you limit yourself to graphics, you will still have quite an open spectrum of possibilities to work with. If you do gameplay you will need to know even more especially when dealing with physics, AI, optimization, etc.
Some books I can recommend include any of the Graphics Gems books and Real-time rendering. Some of these are old but they are still worthwhile.
I would recommend however going to university (which is what you are probably doing) to learn the intrinsic math and understanding it. Once you learn the myriad of math that is used at a university level it will make a hell of a lot more sense than if you just got the algorithm and applied it none the wiser.
Hope some of that helps