As for mathematicians in general, unemployment is virtually unknown. The programme in Applied mathematics aims towards employment in the private business sector or at research institutes. It is common for projects to be completed on behalf of or in collaboration with companies.
With a degree in mathematics from the University of Southern Denmark, you will gain a broad scientific education which will enable you to interpret and understand a number of interdisciplinary subjects. This will make you an interesting prospect to a variety of employers, from public institutions to private businesses - in Denmark as well as abroad.
The Applied mathematics programme does not give you teaching credentials at a high school level.
In for example the business sector, the health sector, the economic sector and the construction sector, there is a great need for mathematicians to solve larger modelling assignments where different provesses are optimised.
For instance, when the flow of patients in a hospital needs to be optimised, the material costs and use of time minimised, or route planning in different connections must be made in the most appropriate way, these objectives can be solved by application of mathematical and digital methods.
Thus, an applied mathematician analyses practical problems, formulates algorithms and constructs and completes complex calculations digitally to find solutions to improve quality.
Statistical analysis of data
Some mathematicians focus on statistics and are very sought-after by analysis institutes, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies among others. There are many political and health decisions which must be considered according to statistical analysis.
Basically, as a statistician, one is accomplished at discovering whether there is statistical cause for a hypothesis on a course of events – for instance whether a certain medicine is the ”cause” of healing or whether a certain political issue is the “cause” of higher voting rates.
Examples of uses for mathematical fields of study
Discreet optimisation – route planning
Route planning problems occur in every aspect of society, for instance in relation to delivery of goods, postal services, bus transportation etc. They’re also seen in vital areas such as planning of home care where every carer receives daily plans of required visits, which must be made in an order which places every visit inside preapproved spaces of time. These problems are of great importance to our society and can be dealt with favourably through mathematical/digital methods which often shows a great improvement in quality.
Discreet optimisation – scheduling
Scheduling of processes play a central part in many production facilities where a particular order of processes is needed to finish production at the fastest, most efficient way. The planning of work assignments is done every where many must collaborate on a larger project, for instance supervising a department in a hospital, the running of DSB’s S-trains etc. Exact and heuristic methods can be utilised to find plans which are markedly better than manually made ones.
Differential equations – enzyme production
In a large tank of nutrients, fungus cells grow and produce an enzyme. During this, the cells flock together and create balls which grow. If the balls become too big, no nutrients will reach the centre, the centre cells will die and the production efficacy decreases. A mathematical model would provide insight and a possibility to prevent this.
Differential equations – Animation in films and computer games
A box falls down a staircase. Instead of animating how it might fall, we calculate (very quickly!) how it will fall according to the laws of physics. Do it fast enough and it will be both easier and look far better.
Statistics – analysis of data
Statistical methods are used in mathematical modelling of systems which are subject to random variations in order to use them in either simulation and prediction of systems or to plan, collect and work data from the system. Examples: Through analysis of air pollution data, we may assess the detriment to our health posed by different pollution compounds. Through analysis of experimental fishing data, one can compare different types of equipment and determine observation of minimum quotas etc. In the study of twins, the relationship between heredity and environment is put to the test by comparing data from identical and fraternal twins. In connection with image analysis, statistical methods are used to solve problems like the elimination of static, pattern recognition, classification and data compression.