Short Essay

What can I do as a Math Major?

So you want to be an applied mathematics major? First of all, welcome to the major, it is a lot of work, but you have a multitude of opportunities as a reward. In this field you will be taking the computing, calculating, and problem solving skills that you learn through the mathematics major and apply them to fields related to, but outside of basic mathematics. Fields such as statistics, numerical analysis, real and complex analysis, Fourier analysis, linear and nonlinear programming, ordinary and partial differential equations, dynamical systems, algebraic coding theory, bioinformatics, social sciences, and optimization are available for you to apply your skills to. Aside from the basics of what you can do, you can also take those skills to help out our environment. There are multiple fields of application that can be utilized to help sustain our planet such as statistics, dynamical systems, and differential equations. Although most of these applications do not provide the spotlight contributions that lets say and eco-journalist makes, but as a math major, you provide the necessary foundations for the research and the platform that those involved with environmental sustainability stand on.

One foundation is possible the most important and that is statistics. This branch of math deals with collecting, interoperating and analyzing data. This skill is invaluable to those working to help our environment. Stats are used by everyone from your everyday eco-journalist to the UN. Statistics are used to deliver understandable data to the public to further the cause of environmental stability by stating alarming facts i.e. 85% of the United States’ energy coming from fossil fuels (Stola), but they can also be used by researchers to create a system of rating the sustainability practices of a country, for example the UN’s Environmental Sustainability Index, which rates countries on a scale of 0-100 on how sustainable they are. There are many other uses for statistics in the field of environmental sustainability and who knows? Maybe you can find another.