Math, Textures, and Shaders... oh my!

[jwalters]

Hey Everyone,

First I do apologize if this is too DX-centric. I'm reading a new book and see some crazy math stuff, wondering if anyone does some of these things. I know there are libraries for a large number of things, but have you ever generated cylindrical or spherical texture coordinates (e.g. to texture the teapot mesh)? How frequently do you use sines and cosines? Any calculus? Or perhaps a better question... what type of math do you use every day?

Also, to what extent do you use vertex/pixel shaders? Are they a part of every game you write?

I'm trying to figure out where I should focus my studies and if I need to work on memorizing some of the crazy math (e.g. to compute specular lighting) I see in the DirectX book I'm reading. Thanks for your thoughts!