For what it's worth, if she takes the time to learn how to use these math tools -- and learns the math itself -- she will place herself in a powerful position with respect to future research work, just because so few people bother to acquire a solid grounding in analysis.

I would offer her every encouragement to take the time and absorb the basics of both programming and math. At the moment, a grounding in these topics is essential, and in the future, it will be even more of a necessity than it is now.