When I meet people and they ask me what my major is, I reply "Physics" or "Math." Then I pull out the jumper cables and try to start the conversation up again. If you're still with me, I'm going to try and talk a little about what Math and Physics majors "do" out in the "real world."
Sometimes it gets hard to tell the difference between math and physics. That is, unless you are a mathematician or a physicist. Though they share many of the same tools, either will happily tell you that physicists approach things one way, mathematicians approach things a second way, and engineers approach things a third way.
In general, mathematicians, physicists and engineers are problem-solvers. The problems they work on include trying to get technology to work, programs to run, experiments to function, and communications to...communicate.
The many differences in their training often boil down to differences in the perspectives with which they tend to approach problems. We'll go ahead and cut it down to the group trend. Mathematicians are most concerned with rigor, or strict adherence to the logic and rules of math. Physicists are concerned most with accurately representing physical systems in conceptual frameworks. Engineers are most concerned with design functionality. Because these three fields overlap to a great extent, a person trained in one may easily choose a career in another.
What careers? The math major here does a good job of offering students background in both pure and applied mathematics, a background that can be part of exciting and rewarding careers.
Both government agencies and private firms employ mathematicians. For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) hires them as cryptographers, the makers and breakers of secret codes (maybe even better than the ones from the box of Captain Crunch we might have played with as kids).
If it's money one's after, the people who work with it tend to make handsome salaries. Math majors are sure-fire candidates for work as actuaries, accountants, and financial analysts. People with strong mathematics backgrounds are also in demand as computer programmers, statisticians, and teachers.
Some math majors continue in academia. One student ('96) just received her Masters at RPI and is going ahead with graduate school. Two people in recent years have become public school teachers.
Many other math students who graduated in recent years work outside of academia now. They include a restaurant manager, an economist working in the Maryland Comptroller's office, a systems engineer with EDS, a systems programmer with Rick Furlough & assoc., a project manager/software developer at MacXperts, a business planner and marketer for Bell Atlantic, a database administrator for Sales Partner Systems Inc., and a scientific systems & maintenance programmer at Allied Signal.
Likewise, the W.C. physics major arms students with a wide array of problem- solving skills, which can be part of a wide variety of careers. Those continuing in graduate school commonly pursue physics, astronomy, engineering, applied science or mathematics. With a masters or Ph.D. in one of these fields, one can end up just about anywhere.
Physicists and engineers often work in technology research and development (R & D). In private industry, Lucent, IBM, 3M and many smaller companies hire physicists to work in areas from material design to information theory. These companies (especially the larger ones) often allow their workers to follow many projects at a time and even leave them a certain amount of time to pursue their own (potentially useful) interests.
Recently, many physicists have migrated to Wall Street, where their ability to model and predict local trends in the market makes them "valuable." Of course, a surprising number also compete for the economically-opposite track and become teachers or professors.
In both academia and industry, physicists often work with scientists in other fields developing medical technology or modeling biological and chemical systems.
Now, let me see if I can find some jumper cables.
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