For a bit of perspective about these equations:<p>I only have a bachelor of science degree with a major in computer science. Mostly through my interest in physics and mathematics, and hence the electives I took, I have a somewhat intimate familiarity with all of 1-5, 9, 13, and 14. I have at least basic knowledge about 7, 11, and 12. I have no idea, really, about 6 and 15-17. I'm a bit embarrassed about #15, given what I do. I have heard good things about Shannon's original paper, so I should give it a read. The ones I never listed fall into a half-half area, where I am aware of their meaning, but not very familiar with them.<p>At the university I obtained my degree from, just as I was graduating they were removing the requirement for computer science majors to take 6 credits in third or fourth year mathematics courses. All that is required now is first year calculus courses, with linear algebra and statistic in second year. The credits are moved to electives, so interested students can still take mathematics courses, but I feel like few of them will.<p>It was posted elsewhere in these comments that a proper treatment of these equations is found in Ian Stewart's book "In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World". I had heard of this previously, and now look forward to giving it a read.<p>Edit: To be clear about something, plenty of my knowledge of these equations came from my choice of electives in second and third year physics courses. So, my moaning about the removal of required mathematics credits isn't precisely relevant.<p>It was one of the few major disappointments of my time at university that I didn't get to take the proper course in electrodynamics (equations in 11). I have always meant to obtain Griffiths' text on the subject and give it a fair shake, and still plan to do so. Entertainingly, I looked it up quickly on Amazon and see they released a fourth edition in 2012, which has mixed reviews and seems to suffer from the usual publisher hijinx.