What can you do with a mathematics degree? Well, it’s interesting to consider that numbers are found not just in accounting offices and financial advice firms, but all throughout nature. If you love numbers and the stories they tell, however, a career as a number cruncher, statistician, or mathematician may add up for you.

To get started, you’ll need at least one mathematics degree. Students working towards an associate-level mathematics degree will study real-world applications of math such as accounting and bookkeeping, while bachelor’s-level mathematics degree graduates also acquire experience in probability theory and statistics, actuarial science, mathematical analysis, numerical analysis, mathematical logic, and mathematics methods and practices, including calculus, differential equations, and linear and abstract algebra. To continue on to a graduate-level mathematics degree program, you will need a bachelor’s degree.

Mathematics Degree Related Careers

Your mathematics degree can lead to a career as an accountant, bookkeeping, actuary, auditor, comptroller, or information technology specialist. Typically, the minimum mathematics degree requirement for most statistician jobs is a master’s degree. Mathematicians with advanced degrees often become applied mathematicians, who solve practical problems for businesses and governments, or theoretical mathematicians, who often teach and conduct research at universities.

• Accountant: a financial recordkeeper who measures, monitors, and provides assurance as to the accuracy of an organization’s financial information in order to help executives and investors make decisions about how best use the company’s money. Accountants are also responsible for disclosing the organization’s financial information for tax purposes.
• Comptroller: an accountant who supervises accounting and financial reporting within an organization. A controller oversees bookkeeping and the implementation and monitoring of internal controls.
• Actuary: a finance professional who specializes in analyzing risk. Actuaries develop all types of insurance policies and design pension plans based on statistics, finance, business, and government regulations.
• Statistician: a statistician collects, analyzes, and presents numerical data gathered from opinion polls, testing of new medicines, television viewing surveys, and other studies. About a third of statisticians work for government agencies. Others work in scientific research, the insurance industry, and pharmaceutical research companies.

What’s the Job Outlook?

With meltdown of the financial industry, the employment outlook for mathematicians is actually picking up. The revelation of the shady dealings behind the collapse of the housing and credit markets has fueled a call for a return to testable mathematical modeling as a basis for transactions in the finance industry. If you’re good with numbers, consider the actuary career, which has the best job outlook for mathematics degree holders.

How much does it pay?

As of 2006, the median annual salary for a Mathematician was $87,000; for Statistician, $66,000; and for an Actuary, $83,000.

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