Why study Mathematics or Statistics?
Mathematician and Statistician– the best job there is!
According to a recent study by CareerCast, being a Mathematician is the best job there is today in America. The study rated 200 career choices taking into consideration five vital criteria: Stress, Work Environment, Physical Demands, Income and Outlook. According to the site, a mathematician applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate. Being a Statistician ranked third on this list and Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google, says that statistics is the dream job for the next decade. Watch the video on YouTube and learn why statistics really is a dream job.
La Trobe University’s Statistics Program is the only Victorian program accredited by the Statistics Society of Australia Inc.
The statistics program at La Trobe University was the first program to obtain accreditation from the Statistics Society of Australia Inc. (SSAI) and is currently one of only three accredited programs in Australia and the only accredited program in Victoria. Upon completion of the accredited program, La Trobe University statistics students are entitled to Graduate Statistician status upon joining the SSAI.
This program requires:
- one first year unit (one eighth of a typical 1st year load)
- two second year units (one quarter of a typical second year load)
- four third year units (one half of a typical third year load)
Mathematics and Statistics will prepare you for a wide range and rewarding career
By choosing to study mathematics and/or statistics, students will prepare themselves for a wide range of careers requiring quantitative skills. Indeed, Ross Gittins, Economics editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, has provided the following advice:
"if possible do maths ... (it) is the single most useful ability to have in your kit-bag to equip you for any eventuality. In any case employers set a lot of store by mathematical ability and are more likely to hire someone with a good background in mathematics."
There is also currently a global and national shortage of suitably qualified statisticians. In a 2005 March 8th CSIRO media release, Dr David Mitchell from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences states:
"The biotechnology revolution is creating huge opportunities for statisticians…. However, most biological scientists today are not trained in statistics and thus do not have the skills required to analyse this data” and “Combined with the low number of people studying statistics, this has created both an enormous shortage of good statisticians to do the work, and a lack of critical mass in Australia to develop new technologies."
Dr David Mitchell from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences
Mathematics and statistics plays a crucial role in many areas of science, particularly computer science and the life sciences. It comes as a surprise to many students that mathematics and statistics can be included in a humanities degree. In all of these areas, studying some mathematics or statistics can open up an enhanced range of career opportunities.
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at La Trobe cares about teaching mathematics and statistics. It has developed a distinctive approach, based on active student engagement in problem solving, which has received widespread national and international recognition. Staff make themselves readily available to assist students and are constantly updating teaching approaches and content.
La Trobe University’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics has a proud tradition of combining excellent teaching with leading international research. La Trobe graduates of mathematics and statistics are extremely satisfied with their experiences, giving Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) scores of consistently high standard. In 2007 the CEQ scores rank our degree number one* Australia-wide in Overall Satisfaction and number two* Australia-wide on the Good Teaching Scale. As well, several of our staff members have received prestigious awards for excellence in teaching, including two national awards.
*Amongst Bachelor degree graduates in the mathematics Field of Education. This ranking is based on scores from the 21 universities receiving 10 or more CEQ responses
How to study Mathematics and Statistics
Mathematics, Statistics and Science (the Bachelor of Science degree)
Mathematics is the language of Science and therefore mathematics and statistics subjects form a key part of the various science degrees offered by La Trobe University. In particular, the General BSc degree (VTAC code: 21131), gives scope for a major study of mathematics or statistics or a combination of the two. This degree course enables students to keep future options open by taking a broad range of subjects in first year: a major study in mathematics requires only two first year semester subjects, totalling one quarter of a full year's work. These two subjects build on material studied in the VCE subject Mathematical Methods. A feature distinctive to La Trobe is the inclusion of material on chaos theory, which links to research activities in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
At second and third year level a broad range of offerings includes the mathematics of wave propagation, cosmology, environmental science and quantum mechanics, the key to understanding the fundamental properties of matter. The Statistics Program provides an opportunity to study many areas of statistical analysis that are critical for modern research. For example, at the second and third year level offerings include medical statistics, biostatistics, multivariate analysis, linear models and time series analysis which is a key statistical tool in the analysis of financial data. Additionally, this program also provides students which a solid background in statistical theory and mathematical statistics – two aspects which were key to La Trobe University’s program being successfully accredited by the SSAI. For those who achieve high marks in third year it is possible to proceed to a fourth year honours course in mathematics or statistics in which these studies can be deepened.
Mathematics, Statistics and Humanities (the Bachelor of Arts degree)
By including Mathematics and Statistics subjects within a Bachelor of Arts degree, students can open up an enhanced range of career opportunities. One traditionally popular choice has been to combine mathematics with subjects such as logic and philosophy. However the logical skills acquired in a study of mathematics are useful in a wide range of humanities studies. For those who achieve high marks in the required number of units at third year, it is possible to proceed to a fourth year honours course in mathematics or statistics, which includes a project on an active area of mathematical and/or statistical research.
Mathematics and Computer Science (the Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Information Systems degrees)
Computer Science has an inherent mathematical undercurrent. Information transmission and security are founded on the mathematics of coding and encryption, while computer graphics depends on mathematical tools from linear algebra. Moreover, the underlying framework for the general theory of computational processes is itself mathematical. This makes mathematical literacy essential: unless interpreted by a user with a firm understanding of the underlying mathematical principles, computer output can be misleading and even wrong (it was a mathematician who, in 1995, discovered the widely publicised flaw in an INTEL computer chip).
Within the La Trobe course in Computer Science (VTAC code: 21948) it is compulsory to study several units in first and second year mathematics, including Discrete Mathematics (which is also compulsory for Information Systems; VTAC code: 21049). However there is also scope for including a wide range of further mathematics units – touching on coding theory for example – and by so doing students can enhance their capacity to use computers effectively.