BACKGROUND

Always a cornerstone of a university education, mathematics has become increasingly vital to science, technology, social science, and society itself. When combined with the disciplines of computer science and statistics, mathematically oriented courses provide a wide range of concepts, techniques, and tools that are fundamental to virtually all areas of life. At UPNG, these three disciplines have been combined to produce a program that is designed to equip the university's graduates to be able to function effectively in an increasingly technological society. Students can study mathematics not only in its own right, but also as a tool for studying and modelling important concepts in the physical, life, social, management, and ecological sciences. Thus, in studying in these disciplines students not only expand their mathematics abilities, but they also attain skills that are valued in other disciplines and in a wide range of career opportunities.

Mathematics

UPNG offers mathematics courses from a wide variety of viewpoints. By choosing to study mathematics, students will prepare themselves for a wide range of careers requiring quantitative skills. In one direction, a pure mathematician concentrates on the development of mathematics in its own right through the study of mathematical concepts, theorems and proofs, algorithms, and computer models. Studies in pure mathematics courses provide students with a strong theoretical basis for future career development, and provide the background for further advanced study to prepare for positions in teaching and research.

However, even the study of pure mathematics is guided and informed by a variety of areas of applications both within mathematics and from other disciplines. Moreover, in many fields of application, problems need to be formulated mathematically before being solved using computer technology. Consequently, most courses in mathematics also are used as constituents of programs in other disciplines at the university. In addition, the problem solving approach encountered in mathematics equips students with skills that are useful elsewhere.

An applied mathematician acquires the same fundamental skills as any other mathematicians, but also develops mathematical tools, techniques and models specifically designed to understand scientific phenomena or to solve problems in basic technological, economic, and business areas, or to develop and apply optimisation techniques to management and decision making. Thus, an applied mathematicians contributes to both mathematics and applied areas by bringing the disciplines into closer relationship with one another. For example, a recent development in business is the expansion in the range and diversity of the applications of mathematics. Mathematics now represents a vital component of such varied areas as decision-making, investment, corporate planning and management, and marketing.

Computer Science

The impact of computers increasingly has been profound not only in the areas of science and technology, but also in such diverse fields as business, the creative arts, the social sciences, education, medicine, and the health sciences. Within mathematics itself, effective computation techniques now centre around computers, involving the preparation and analysis of algorithms, the numerical treatment of these algorithms, and the use of numerical analysis on computing systems.

The UPNG curriculum allows students to incorporate a core selection of computer science classes in creating joint programs with other disciplines. The core includes courses in programming, database and information systems, and systems analysis. One popular program that prepares students for future employment combines courses in computer science and statistics within a mathematics strand. Graduates of this program can find increased career prospects in banks, industries, management, and government. They can later go on to become computer specialists after completing additional postgraduate education in computer science.

Statistics

A statistician develops and applies mathematical techniques to analyse and interpret data for use in inference, prediction, and decision making. Knowledge of statistics equips students with a wealth of techniques for handling experimental data and forecasting trends in areas as diverse as quality control in production, agricultural decision making, manpower and social planning, finance, and environmental protection. Statistics involves the art of designing research studies to obtain data, and then analysing the results for decision making and application. The field of statistics combines a broad variety of mathematically oriented methods with an analytical way of thinking. Like other areas, statistics at UPNG increasingly will exploit the use of computers.

Interdisciplinary Fields

Because mathematics, statistics, and computer science are frequently combined with other disciplines to provide interdisciplinary programs, UPNG makes available such joint degrees. These can be developed by working with the strand coordinators in the various schools. At present mathematics, statistics, and computer science can be combined with courses in either economics or physics to create joint degrees. This list will be expanded and refined continually. Although most students doing a degree in mathematics will be enrolled in the School of Natural and Physical Sciences (SNPS), it is also possible to do a degree in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS). In this case, the required first year science courses are replaced by those nominated by the strand coordinators and the SHSS.