So my kid is considering this major - thoughts?

[nanette1985]

My daughter graduated two years ago with a BS in math. She's a HS math teacher right now, and loves it.

However, she was offered quite a few jobs thru the math job department - banks, research etc. All of which paid more than the teaching job. I suggest you talk to your local college math department and see what they have to say.

Good luck.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I remember my old university's math department encouraged math majors to dual major in other disciplines like computer science. It was even in their brochure....

 

[jersiq]

Just a point from a math major.

I know you said he is interested in theory, but at the Calc I level there really isn't a lot unless you self study something like Apostol. There is a difference between reading a proof and writing a proof, which most math majors don't start until they hit the upper level courses. (Abstract Algebra, Geometry, Complex and Real Analysis and special topics classes). In fact, I think Linear was the last applications course I went to.

At any rate, a major in math will be beneficial. Quants, programming, actuaries like all the others have mentioned. In most fields, it's not if you know the answer, it's the logic you apply to get to the solution.

 

[ahenkel]

you know I learned the bleach ammonia lesson when I was 9 and had to do chores. I had to clean the floor in the laundry room and well I didn't know I couldn't mix the two. That was not awesome at all.

 

[thepd7]

Let him do whatever he wants to do. In the end thats what will make him happy. Sure you could try and get him to be some king of engineer or an accountant or something where he could make tons of cash but in the end doing what you want is better.

king of engineer? wow I must be a sucker I'm just a regular engineer. Oh well.

 

[villageidiot111]

A friend of mine just got hired by the NSA with nothing more than a math degree. He is going into his last semester of college currently.

 

[Babbles]

I think getting a math degree is a great idea.

You can apply math to so many various fields that I would reasonably believe there is a fair degree of job security. I worked as an analytical chemist, and I worked with a few people who had bachelor math degrees and they were able to pick up the laboratory work easily. Another coworker of mind had his BS in chemistry and MS in math.

A good friend of ours is wrapping up her PhD in math (some statistical something or another is her focus) and offers are beating down her door.

One could teach with a Masters degree at the community college level, if that is a desired.

Anyhow, the skills that one learns in a science field can readily be applied to other fields so I would advise you to be supportive of his studies in mathematics.

 

[F1N3ST]

1. Get Math Bachelors of Science degree.
2. ????
3. PROFIT!

 

[Hacp]

I hear actuarial get paid a shitload. I know my cousin gets paid 80k being 3 years out of college working at an insurance company.You don't need a masters to be an actuarial, just need to take a test(that 50% fail). The more tests you pass, the higher your salary gets.

Know another good friend majored in comp sci and pure math at a local college. He has a job offer from bloomberg as a terminal monkey.

With good grades, a state college is plenty good enough if he's getting a BS in math.

 

[ShawnD1]

you know I learned the bleach ammonia lesson when I was 9 and had to do chores. I had to clean the floor in the laundry room and well I didn't know I couldn't mix the two. That was not awesome at all.

Ha. Yeah a lot of people learn it the hard way.

Another interesting thing I learned in chemistry was that you're never supposed to mix different types of motor oil or different types of grease. Mixing 5W20 and 10W30 does not create "blended" oil; it creates garbage oil that doesn't work properly.

 

[bobsmith1492]

oh come on, you know walmart doesn't hire cashiers *waits in line for 3 hours to pay for things*


Engineering is how retarded people do math. Let me give you an example of something I did today in design class. We have an electric motor of a known size and motor class. We know that it's a totally enclosed fan cooled motor, so we look in the tables at the back of the Canadian Electrical Code to see what insulation rating is required for this motor. Next we multiply the full load current by 1.25 then look on in the back of the CEC to pick the conductor size, but we pick it from the 75C column even though we know we're using 90C insulated conductors. Next we find the locked rotor current by multiplying the motor's horsepower by the number assigned to its design class to get a value in KVA. We divide the KVA value by root 3 then by the line voltage to get the line current. We use this line current (which is a very large current) to pick the size of the motor starter.

I'm not even sure the above is correct. Some of the steps get a bit jumbled. I'll need to double check this later.

And you think that is "engineering" ? That's just a very simple application of a limited knowledge of power engineering plus application of building codes. Designing that motor is engineering. Figuring out which one to use is maybe "engineering technology."

 

[Savij]

oh come on, you know walmart doesn't hire cashiers *waits in line for 3 hours to pay for things*

Engineering is how retarded people do math. Let me give you an example of something I did today in design class. We have an electric motor of a known size and motor class. We know that it's a totally enclosed fan cooled motor, so we look in the tables at the back of the Canadian Electrical Code to see what insulation rating is required for this motor. Next we multiply the full load current by 1.25 then look on in the back of the CEC to pick the conductor size, but we pick it from the 75C column even though we know we're using 90C insulated conductors. Next we find the locked rotor current by multiplying the motor's horsepower by the number assigned to its design class to get a value in KVA. We divide the KVA value by root 3 then by the line voltage to get the line current. We use this line current (which is a very large current) to pick the size of the motor starter.

I'm not even sure the above is correct. Some of the steps get a bit jumbled. I'll need to double check this later.

You just got the Engineering equivalent of a pat on the head and "You'll DEFINITELY be pitching for the big leagues one day, son."

As for a math major's career prospects, if you look at entry level engineering positions in just most major companies, they'll take any engineering major, math major or physics major.

 

[nerp]

My son is considering majoring in Math. A Bachelor of Science degree - not teaching.

If you are willing to relocate most anywhere - what can you do with that. I know alot of you are working in 'hi tech' fields. What would be his job prospects with a 'pure' math degree.


*EDIT* - he doesn't want to teach K-12 - he has mentioned that he wouldn't mind teaching community college or college as there wouldn't be the issues that a k-12 teacher has to deal with. . .

Are those jobs available for people with math degrees - if he got at least a Master's? I just want to make sure the boy is gonna make it in this messed up economy he is coming of age into. . . I should probably add that unless he gets a boat load of scholarships - he is probably going to an average 4 year state school - not Harvard or Yale. . .so take that into consideration.

To become a college professor, he'd need a phd.

 

[yhelothar]

Pro poker player.
Most world champs that make millions are either into math, programming, or actuary.

 

[Q]

If he is good at math he will be good at CS. Have him take the intro CS course his first semester, see if he likes it. If so, he can major in CS and minor in math. Or vice versa.

 

[ShawnD1]

And you think that is "engineering" ? That's just a very simple application of a limited knowledge of power engineering plus application of building codes. Designing that motor is engineering. Figuring out which one to use is maybe "engineering technology."

A good 99% of engineering is about picking parts and drawing things. There will always be the select few who end up working at Siemens or Cutler-Hammer, but most of us will work for utilities, the phone company, and factories just to pick parts and draw things. For every 1 person at Siemens designing a breaker, there are thousands of engineers who simply use the breaker and don't really care how or why it works.

Chemistry was like that too actually. There was a lot of theory here and there to show why something should work, but overall it didn't really matter. Analyzing stuff all came down to statistics. Run some standards, make a trend line, check if the coefficient of determination is good, run sample, see where it goes on the trend line. On the job, theory was mostly used for general guidelines on how to run a piece of analytical equipment. For example, if I'm trying to run different alcohols through a GC, I know that a dimethylpolysiloxane column will not work. Something like polyethylene glycol might be a better column to use because it's more polar.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

you can do just about anything wiht a math degree. if i could do it again, thats what i'd do.

 

[Ichigo]

Just let him do his own thing and he'll be fine. Sounds like a smart kid who knows what he's interested in, so he's above most already.

 

[RedFiveSW]

Be an actuary

Beanactuary.com

 

[Babbles]

Chemistry was like that too actually. There was a lot of theory here and there to show why something should work, but overall it didn't really matter. Analyzing stuff all came down to statistics. Run some standards, make a trend line, check if the coefficient of determination is good, run sample, see where it goes on the trend line. On the job, theory was mostly used for general guidelines on how to run a piece of analytical equipment. For example, if I'm trying to run different alcohols through a GC, I know that a dimethylpolysiloxane column will not work. Something like polyethylene glycol might be a better column to use because it's more polar.

For the most part I would agree with you. I spent nearly ten years doing GC/MS work and it does basically all boil down to statistical analysis. For FDA regulated studies essentially your run a calibration curve multiple times, determine the % accuracy and precision at various points, throw in a bunch of other robustness experiments and that is it.

However with that being said I also did method development which means I had to basically invent ways of extracting stuff from a matrix, derivatize it as needed, and develop an analytical method to run it on a GC. That sort of works does require a good understanding of theory. One time I had to develop and validate a method to analyze a small carboxyclic acid from whole blood. There are a lot of different molecules floating around in whole blood, and a shit ton of them are carboxylic acids - to be able to make a robust method takes the understanding of theory and being able to apply it.

As far as I know I am pretty confident that I am the world's foremost expert on preparing and analyzing a certain type of derivatized acylated sugar (people in multiple EU countries as well as Japan and India dicked around with it and I am the one that got it to work, hence why I am somewhat confident I am the leading expert on it). It takes a pretty good grasp on theory to be able to achieve this. I think that is the difference between a run-of-the-mill lab monkey who loads up vials and presses start on their chromatograph as opposed to those of us that do method development & synthesis.

Also I have only a B.S. but after nearly ten years I was essentially doing PhD level work. Tossing all of that out for a MBA, though!

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Maybe he should give physics another chance. Its all about derivations, proofs, applied math, etc. My physics professor always talks about how math and engineering do not require any thinking compared to physics, but he is a little arrogant.

 

[Fenixgoon]

my sister has a BS in math with a minor in physics and works for a government contractor doing budget analysis stuff (last i checked)

she gets paid *very* well.

 

[ShawnD1]

Also I have only a B.S. but after nearly ten years I was essentially doing PhD level work. Tossing all of that out for a MBA, though!

Nice! One of the guys who graduated with me was working for the university as a lab technician; he was basically doing the kind of work a grad student does. He eventually started doing most of the maintenance on the lab equipment and recently he was in charge of setting up new equipment. Right now his job involves a lot of instrumentation even though he's technically a lab tech

 

[thegimp03]

Math is a good major combined with something else like econ, comp sci., or actuarial sci. It is hard to do alone unless he wants to go into teaching.

 

[Bignate603]

Math alone is hard to get by on, math and science, engineering or computer science and he'll be pretty much set.