Why major in mathematics?

dauden6 · #1 $Old$ July 24th, 2009, 01:28 AM

Hello, this is my first post on these forums and thought this topic is an appropriate first post.

I am a recently turned math major from engineering and was wondering.. What benefits are there to majoring in mathematics?

I turned to math instead of engineering for the theory part of math. I love theoretical thinking and the topics it includes. I love the idea of solving some problem that people have thought to be impossible (Euler is my idol). I can't really think of a career that would really use a theoretical style of math. I have only touched the basics of college level math (I have taken Calc 1 and 2 and soon to be taking 3).

I obviously haven't extensively looked into the applications of that kind of math but I am 100% sure that there are near numerous examples.

Thank you and I hope to become a regular on these forums to help and receive help from others.

PS: How famous would someone be if they found $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^3}$

I love working with that problem.

CaptainBlack · #2 $Old$ July 24th, 2009, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dauden6 $View Post$

Hello, this is my first post on these forums and thought this topic is an appropriate first post.

I am a recently turned math major from engineering and was wondering.. What benefits are there to majoring in mathematics?

I turned to math instead of engineering for the theory part of math. I love theoretical thinking and the topics it includes. I love the idea of solving some problem that people have thought to be impossible (Euler is my idol). I can't really think of a career that would really use a theoretical style of math. I have only touched the basics of college level math (I have taken Calc 1 and 2 and soon to be taking 3).

I obviously haven't extensively looked into the applications of that kind of math but I am 100% sure that there are near numerous examples.

Thank you and I hope to become a regular on these forums to help and receive help from others.

PS: How famous would someone be if they found $\sum_{n=0}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^3}$

I love working with that problem.

There is only one reason to major in Maths, and that is because you love it. You need not worry about employment afterwards there are plenty of jobs for Maths qualified graduates (outside education as well as inside).

CB

Swlabr · #3 $Old$ July 24th, 2009, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainBlack $View Post$

There is only one reason to major in Maths, and that is because you love it. You need not worry about employment afterwards there are plenty of jobs for Maths qualified graduates (outside education as well as inside).

CB

Are there many jobs for people to apply/develop algebra outside of the universities and -erm- the Government? I have long wondered about this question - the only non-university based job that I've seen (in Britain) that wanted some proficiency in algebra was for GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), where they wanted someone to do pretty things with fields. However, algebraic structures (groups, Lie algebras, etc) have applications in some many places, as does so much pure mathematics! For instance, some earlier computers used Fermat's little theorem and the theorem of quadratic reciprocity as pseudo random number generators; this must have been conjured up by a mathematician!

CaptainBlack · #4 $Old$ July 24th, 2009, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swlabr $View Post$

Are there many jobs for people to apply/develop algebra outside of the universities and -erm- the Government? I have long wondered about this question - the only non-university based job that I've seen (in Britain) that wanted some proficiency in algebra was for GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), where they wanted someone to do pretty things with fields. However, algebraic structures (groups, Lie algebras, etc) have applications in some many places, as does so much pure mathematics! For instance, some earlier computers used Fermat's little theorem and the theorem of quadratic reciprocity as pseudo random number generators; this must have been conjured up by a mathematician!

You might want to look at coding theory (this is not cryptograpy).

CB

isp_of_doom · #5 $Old$ August 14th, 2009, 04:47 PM

Quote:

there are plenty of jobs for Maths qualified graduates (outside education as well as inside).

I've heard many people say this but could you give me some examples? Most I can think of would require some other post grad study. Is this correct?

I'm in a similar situation to the TS, I'm in my second semester of a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics), which is going quite well. Trouble is I'm at uni partially to sort out what I want to do in life (haven't got a clue at the moment tbh). What doors can maths open, both on it's own, and combined with another qualification (Cert/Dip/Bch?)

My apologies if I have hijacked the thread.