>However in the strict sense of math, there is a requirement there.

As someone who tutored first year MBAs at one point...

My observation in general was that most people could at least muddle through most classes, even if they were at best mediocre students. But some subset of students pretty much froze at anything beyond the most basic arithmetic--and then probably only because they had calculators.

Whether you call it aptitude or just a phobia about math, it's there.

I even had project groups of generally strong students. But, still, as soon as things got into more complicated spreadsheets, operations research sort of topics, etc., I usually ended up doing more than my share.

Over the years there have been a number of "My first year at business school" sort of books and the common theme in all of them I think is "It was the math that got me."

I always find it funny that MBAs struggle with math and that so many MBAs aren't actually that good at excel. It seems like it is a core tenant of success of the program. I fully understand that business isn't strictly math and there are so many other dimensions of importance. However in its purest form, it is mathematical.

Then again I guess you could always buy talent to shore up your insecurities.

Expert Excel proficiency is mostly useful in data heavy roles such as finance, which is just one subset of MBAs. For other roles, it's useful to be able to calculate simple sums/averages/vlookups but going beyond that is outside of their required skillset

I've done big spreadsheets over the years in product management and other roles. But they've never been especially complicated--certainly not in the stereotypical complex models sense.

Honestly, anyone who goes into the corporate world and, outside of pure creative roles, thinks they never will have to deal with big spreadsheets associated with budgets, sales forecasts, and the like is going to be very disappointed. But that doesn't mean most people need to deal with anything that's complex mathematically.

No but they do need to be able to be comfortable with mathematics and need to be able to make sure their models are correct. Which I would argue is not always the case.

This is a fascinating take. I consider all the advanced math that is needed for a CS degree unnecessary gate keeping. I took several years of calculus to graduate, and while I still grok the concepts somewhat, I by no means mastered any of it.

It doesn’t feel necessary at all where I am now.

I don't think knowing any specific mathematics is necessary for CS, but having the capacity to learn mathematics is, and most people who have that capacity end up with a degree somewhere in the science umbrella. You don't need calculus specifically, but you need the ability to abstract, to form rules and express precisely where they apply and where they do not.

Maybe the question is then whether someone has that curiosity about maths?

True curiosity and then follow through to be able to learn. Which I would argue is aptitude.