The first year of this research-led mathematics and statistics degree equips you with a solid base in pure and applied mathematics as well as in probability and statistics.
Our students can master the numerical techniques and programming skills which are required for business and management. Professional software, such as R, for statistics, MATLAB and Maple is introduced early in the course. You can start to master from the beginning the key calculus-based tools used in statistics. This technical expertise is essential if you want, for example, to be able to measure exposure to financial risk or organise a large scale medical trial. Modern technology means we live in a world of Big Data and statistics gives you powerful tools to extract meaning from large data sets.
The course is taught by world leading researchers who develop and regularly revise our wide range of final year options which include financial mathematical modelling and medical statistics. The course also gives you skills in operational research --- the mathematical techniques underlying management, decision making and logistics. This degree will equip you with high-level skills which employers highly value. Our graduates have excellent career prospects and the possibility to progress to a research degree including funded places on MSc’s in medical and in financial statistics.
We are very proud of the support we offer you and we place an emphasis on developing your oral and written professional communications skills. This greatly enhances your employability. Our optional but highly recommended placement year is a great way to gain commercial experience and opens doors into good jobs.
Projects
Our degrees feature a variety of final year project modules. Recent project topics in this course include:
- Simulation methods for pricing financial products
- Extreme value theory: environmental examples and cautionary tales
- Regression modelling of insulin levels in the earlybird diabetes study
- Model fitting and residual analysis of U.S. box office success
- Stochastic calculus with applications to finance
- A meta-analysis on Alzheimer’s studies and an audit analysis of Torbay Hospital
- Predicting Pre-eclampsia during pregnancy
- Galois theory
Assessment
During this degree we use a variety of assessment methods depending upon the content of the material being taught. This includes both individual and group coursework, in-class tests, computer practicals, projects and reports (including, for example, a first year essay on the social and ethical implications of the mathematics underlying cryptography). Some first year coursework is also designed to get you talking with other students in the course about mathematics.