Mathematics - at the heart of Technology and Finance.

"Enigma", "Toy Story" 1 & 2, "A Bug's Life", "Proof", "A Beautiful Mind", "Pi", "Good Will Hunting", what have these in common?

They're all popular recent films but what else have they in common? The answer is simply Mathematics. Each of these in its own way reflects some of the recent resurgence of interest in the many aspects of the subject and its applications and usefulness in modern-day technology and finance.

"Enigma" has Cryptography, which is basically the science of secret transmission of messages, as a basic theme. It is claimed that mathematicians won the second world war - what is certainly true is that the war was substantially shortened by years by the efforts of the Cryptanalysts who were able to decipher the German codes.

Nowadays E-commerce could not exist without Cryptography. Security on the internet and elsewhere is huge and is destined to become a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide very shortly.

Coding and compression of data are highly dependent on mathematical formulae for their implementation. These formulae are used for example on CDs and DVDs and when transmitting large amounts of data over the internet and elsewhere. Encarta, the encyclopoedia on a CD, requires an enormous amount of compression techniques.

The Mathematician John Nash, of "A beautiful mind" fame, won his Nobel prize, not for Mathematics, but for Economics - the Mathematics he did early on became of immense interest in the financial area many years later.

The rapid technological changes now occurring and spanning an expanding range of new information technologies which will dominate extensive areas of commercial, economic and social life are primarily based on major developments in mathematical theory and analysis.

Trends in the labour market of advanced countries indicate the increasing premium that the corporate and financial sectors place on highly numerate graduates with the ability to apply the new technologies in a commercial environment. Places like the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Dublin are only realising their potential and will continue to require many mathematicians for the specialised quantitative analysis of decision making in the economic and commercial areas such as economic modeling, actuarial work, banking and risk investment.

Formal Methods of Software Engineering is particularly important in safety critical systems such as in medical and aeronautical areas; here the software must be proved to do what it is designed to do.

What has mathematics to do with Toy Story 1 & 2, and A Bug's Life? Animators wanted to produce better images so new forms of mathematics based on existing formulae were developed to improve the production of the animated characters. The puppy Buster, in Toy Story 2, had no fewer than four million hairs to help it look more realistic on screen.

Mathematics graduates are well placed to challenge for positions that require a blend of analytical and problem solving skills. The major areas of employment are the computer industry, particularly software design and development, and the financial sector, but graduates also secure employment in the civil service, such as in the meteorological service and central statistics office, and also with an Post and local authorities. The nature of the degree prepares students for many diverse areas of employment so that a downturn in any particular area will not greatly affect employment prospects.

So many more opportunities became available for mathematics graduates in recent years that very few, if any, are now entering the teaching profession. Our present excellent group of teachers qualified in mathematics is decreasing rapidly and despite warnings over the years, no one, it seems, is willing to make the necessary political decisions to rectify the situation. Our continuing advancement in the technological, engineering, scientific, and now financial areas depend to a large extent on a stream of highly (mathematically) numerate students coming through our second level system and on into third level.

At NUI,Galway, a student may graduate with a mathematics degree either (i) as a major subject in the Science or Arts faculties, (ii) within the denominated degree in Mathematical and Computer Science (where for example Cryptography would be studied to a deep level) or (iii) within the denominated degree in Financial Mathematics & Economics.

Visit the web site at www.maths.nuigalway.ie where an abundance of information on the various programmes, courses, careers and opportunities are available.