Why Mathematicians run the world!


You know, we're always banging on about stem and whilst...

we frequently talk about the S, the T, and the E what we often forget about is the M! The subject that really underpins them all - mathematics. You see, mathematics allows us to design jet engines. It helps us model and test artificial hearts and even analyze our economy - but hold on! What happens if you actually become a mathematician?

Do you just like get a passport to work in any industry? You know, like a super visa that gets you everywhere? Well, kind of - you see mathematicians utilize their skills in two very specific ways. Applied mathematics and pure mathematics - applied mathematics is one that focuses on analysis and problem solving.

On the other hand pure math is the creation and proof of new theories to explain what we see and do in the world, or even as well as why numbers behave the way they do! Okay, applied first! You might be thinking "Hold on, Henna, aren't I just better off studying the industry I want to work in? Say, aerospace engineering to design those jet engines I mentioned?"

Well, yes, while you'll certainly be using mathematics to design the jet engines, an actual mathematician's role is quite different. Allow me to explain. Let's think of some of the challenges we need to overcome when designing a spacecraft to go to Mars. Think aerodynamics, the amount of thrust, the reserve fuel, or even coolant.

Whilst these all can be figured out individually, component by component, mathematicians come in when we need to analyze how everything works together. I mean... too much weight on one side of the spacecraft and it will literally tear itself apart! A rivet out of place on the exterior could cause changes in the spacecraft's trajectory - this has to be simulated together to really understand what would happen when all these components work together.

That's not even to mention launch windows! We have a few weeks to launch to mars every 26 months. Why? Because of how earth and mars orbit the sun - engineers need serious accuracy to land a spacecraft millions of miles away and it's the mathematicians that really pull their weight here. You get it? Weight? Let's jump over to science - specifically, vaccines.

Bringing a drug to the market requires testing, thousands of trials, understanding genomes, and you might be thinking this is linked to maths - you know, data and statistics? You see, manufacturers in the healthcare system can only vaccinate so many people at a time - so who do you vaccinate? The ones that are at risk first? The essential workers? The people who are most likely to spread it? The young? The old?

I mean, if a virus spreads ten times faster in young people than old and the majority of healthcare workers are young, does it make sense to vaccinate the young first? Well, we don't have to guess! Mathematicians can model how viruses impact our society running thousands of simulations based on historical data statistics and live data to work out the problem Over to the world of tech - we all know how powerful search engines are! They find that meme from 2012 in a fraction of a second all without having to scroll through hundreds of nonsense pages.

Now, what do you think gets these results so quickly? You guessed it - algorithms. Now I know we've all been through this you're after some music and you casually ask your phone to play the country music station. Your phone's response "I'm sorry, I couldn't find country blues in your playlist. Shall I search for this?"

Does this sound familiar? Yep, I thought so. So here the algorithms convert your analog sound into a digital sample and then by looking at the tonality, the peaks, and the troughs, the gaps where you take a breath, it matches us to billions and billions of potential possibilities so really what I'm saying is now is a good time to help mathematicians out! You know, so my voice assistant works better - it'd be great if it just worked.

There are also some which work outside of stem - they work in economics, finance, insurance, the government. Say we want a new space program, yeah, I know I mention space a lot but it's fab! How can we actually ensure the spacecraft in the event something goes wrong? What about planning for future pandemics? How can we limit mass unemployment? What if we need new hospitals - how will the government fund it?

Mathematicians underpin the world in more ways than you can ever imagine! What about the other side of mathematics - pure mathematics? Well, like I mentioned before this is creating new theories and explaining why numbers act the way they do. We don't need new mathematical equations and theories every day, so what are they doing exactly?

Well, mathematicians don't do it because they're finding a point or being practical. They do it because they love it! If someone finds an application for these new theories that's awesome! If not, that's also fab! How is it fab both ways?

Well, put it this way - George Bull, the man who helped establish symbolic logic known as boolean algebra. Big deal, right? Well. yeah, big deal! He's known as the father of the digital age - you've heard about the ones and zeros in computer science.

Well, all those internet search engines, software operating systems, and even Netflix recommendations are based on the principles he established.

Well, when exactly was he born? The 90s? The 50s? No, he was born in 1815 - over two centuries ago, decades before what we considered a computer today even existed!

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