Most of them won’t do mathematics research. And since realistically it is quite hard to both innovate in mathematics and in an applied field at the same time, the differentiation is valid.
It’s like the quote by Clifford Stoll. The first time something is done its science, the second time its engineering, the third time its technicians work. Most people in statistics become actuaries and do the math equivalent of being a technician. They aren’t discovering or applying anything new, more so just going through the steps.
You can do a great deal more as a statistician than actuarial work. I’ve got a mathematics degree, but ended up in fatigue design 4 years ago. Engineers tend to have great intuition about physical things, but tend to struggle a little with the theoretical tools.
As a math major who passed all entry exams, spent nearly a year cold emailing and applying it seems more appropriate to steer stats students toward data science at this point.
There are more technician jobs than engineering jobs and there are more engineering jobs than primary science positions. I’m not sure that should surprise anyone. How many pure mathematicians does global society actually need? Not that many. How many farmers or civic engineers or geologist does society need? A lot more than mathematicians.
Most of them won’t do mathematics research. And since realistically it is quite hard to both innovate in mathematics and in an applied field at the same time, the differentiation is valid.
It’s like the quote by Clifford Stoll. The first time something is done its science, the second time its engineering, the third time its technicians work. Most people in statistics become actuaries and do the math equivalent of being a technician. They aren’t discovering or applying anything new, more so just going through the steps.
You can do a great deal more as a statistician than actuarial work. I’ve got a mathematics degree, but ended up in fatigue design 4 years ago. Engineers tend to have great intuition about physical things, but tend to struggle a little with the theoretical tools.
As a math major who passed all entry exams, spent nearly a year cold emailing and applying it seems more appropriate to steer stats students toward data science at this point.
There are more technician jobs than engineering jobs and there are more engineering jobs than primary science positions. I’m not sure that should surprise anyone. How many pure mathematicians does global society actually need? Not that many. How many farmers or civic engineers or geologist does society need? A lot more than mathematicians.