Use Advanced Mathematics To Develop And Understand Mathematical Principles, Analyze Data, And Solve Real-World Problems
The Bachelor of Science in Mathematics combines mathematics and computing fundamentals with mathematics applications. Graduates are critical thinkers equipped to investigate and communicate mathematical theories, as well as to build mathematical models of real-world problems, and to solve, analyze, and communicate the results. They become valuable members of quantitative analysis teams in business, or they continue their education in graduate programs in mathematics or other analytical fields.
This degree provides a solid background in mathematics with supporting coursework in a concentration, if you choose to add one. Adding an appropriate minor field of study can complement the program, as well as give the graduate a competitive edge in the work force.
In April 2014, Brad graduated from Oakland University with a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Applied Mathematics. His focus was on Operations Research and Computational Complexity Theory. Brad is currently an Adjunct Mathematics Instructor at Delta College.
Brad Pretzer graduated from LSSU in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.
All of mathematics courses required for this degree boast small class sizes. The typical course for freshmen and sophomore students has 30 or fewer students and the typical course for upper level course has 15 or fewer. Because of this, you have many opportunities to get to know your instructors who will serve as your mentors while at LSSU.
Because mathematics is such an in-demand need in many growing fields, our program graduates have gone on to work or further study in many different areas including mathematics, education, banking, operations research, meteorological sciences, statistics and computer programming.
In order to complete your degree at LSSU, you must complete a senior project.
All of our mathematics majors take many of the same core classes. If you know that you want to enter a mathematical field, but are unsure of your specific area of interest, you have time to make a decision about adding a concentration. Those core components include a foundational background and applications of calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, abstract algebra, and mathematical modeling. In addition, students take two computer programming.
If you so choose, you may concentrate your studies in one of the three specific areas below (Actuarial and Business Applications, Elementary Teaching or Secondary Teaching). Click on these links to learn more about these options. Instead, many students decide to use those elective credit hours to add a minor or to customize their electives to gain the skills that match their future goals. There are so many differing careers in mathematics that level of personalization is ideal.
Regardless of your minor or concentration, we strongly suggest students pursue computer science beyond the two courses required in the mathematics program, because many graduates find job opportunities working closely with software development teams. Business, engineering, earth science, biology, chemistry, and social science all use mathematics in their research and development activities. Thus, a mathematics graduate with documented knowledge in one or more of these areas is an attractive addition to their team.
Students in mathematics regularly participate in faculty-supervised competitions, including the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and the Alma College Michigan Autumn Take Home Challenge. Students are also offered the chance to participate in a variety of individualized “special topics” experiences during the course of their undergraduate careers. Students in the non-education degree programs are expected to complete some type of senior-level research or applications project, again under the direct supervision of a departmental faculty membe
Adam Anderson
Dating back to before the 19th century, but not formally named until the 1940s, the concept and application of order statistics has made its way into many different fields. In the majority of cases in which order statistics are used, we are concerned with the minimum, median, and maximum values of random events. What does ordering random variables do for us? Ordering random variables, along with knowing some basic statistical properties of these random variables, helps in finding the probabilities of the variable outcomes being less than or greater than certain values. These probabilities yield the ability to calculate the expected value of the minimum, maximum, or any of the ordered variables. Given a common density function and some independence relations, what is the expected value of the maximum claim amount from wind damages within a pool of policyholders? Or, given a fifty person race where each of the runners’ start to finish time follows a uniform distribution, what is the expected difference between the first place finisher’s time and the
last place finisher’s time? While actuarial applications were the focus of this study, order statistics can be applied in both of these scenarios.
Career PathsCareer opportunities for mathematics often begin with a position title including the word “analyst,” working either for the government or in industry. Providing experience with these or similar tools, our program prepares professionals who hit the ground running within teams that use Excel, Matlab, Mathematica, C, or C++. They are also prepared use special-purpose tools such as statistical packages like R, SPSS, or SAS, optimization packages like AMPL or CPLEX, and simulation packages like Simio or Arena.
Mathematicians use advanced mathematics to develop and understand mathematical principles, analyze data, and solve real-world problems. Mathematicians work in the federal government and in private science and engineering research companies. They may work on teams with engineers, scientists, and other professionals.
If you are one of the fortunate minority for whom mathematics has always been a favorite subject or one of the subjects in which you excel, then this should seriously consider exploiting this advantage by pursuing a mathematics major. Employment of mathematicians is projected to grow 23 percent from 2012 to 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations. Businesses will need mathematicians to analyze the increasing volume of digital and electronic data.
Average Starting Salary of Mathematicians and Statisticians. National Association of Colleges and Employers Spring 2015 Salary Survey
According to the United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the median annual wage in 2019 for all mathematicians, who typically hold masters degrees
