Advanced instruction in practical mathematics

ABSTRACT ALL who wattfed the development of industrial research recent decades and those who, during their, had an opportunity of observing work in parernment research departments, must

realizerth t the usual academic syllabus in mathematics Vibes not provide an adequate preparation for a la tyre research worker in Government service or industry. Students, for example, of

engineering (with which we include, for the sake of brevity in this article, physics, chemistry, etc.), biology or economics, do not get, as a rule, a mathematical training sufficiently

advanced to enable them to follow up, and participate in, recent research in their subjects; and the training of students of mathematics is not very suitable for the type of work we have in

mind. The truth is that in recent decades there has grown up a new type of research worker—Dr. N. W. McLachlan has called him the mathematical technologist—and so far British universities

have not provided very much for him. An urgent need thus arises for an institution where students are instructed in advanced mathematical techniques not usually included in university

curricula, yet needed in ‘mathematical technology’ (and mathematical biology or economics for that matter) and where they are introduced to research. The need for such an institution, which

we may call an ‘Institute for Practical Mathematics’, was pointed out in a recent article1 which, evaluating the war-time experience of the Admiralty Computing Service, came to the

conclusion that such an institution is necessary both to teach potential ‘customers’ of the industrial mathematician to state their problems in a suitable way, and also to ensure that the

mathematician will be able to tackle these problems in a practical manner. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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MACHINE LEARNING FROM FIELD THEORY TO THE POINCARÉ CONJECTURE Article 08 April 2024 REFERENCES * Sadler, D. H., and Todd, John, _Nature_, 157, 571 (May 4, 1946). Article  ADS  Google Scholar

  * See, for example, Chapman, S., "_University Training of Mathematicians_", _Math. Gaz._, 30, 61 (1946). Google Scholar  Download references Authors * A. ERDÉLYI View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * JOHN TODD View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND

PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE ERDÉLYI, A., TODD, J. Advanced Instruction in Practical Mathematics. _Nature_ 158, 690–692 (1946).

https://doi.org/10.1038/158690a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 16 November 1946 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158690a0 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be

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