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What is a mathematician? What does a mathematician do? At Elmhurst College we believe that a mathematician is a problem solver, an explorer, a describer and verifier of pattern and structure, and a developer of the quantitative language used by the world. Students of mathematics acquire broad skills which prepare them for a variety of vocations. Elmhurst College mathematics alumni include accountants, actuaries, college and university professors, computer programmers, comptrollers of companies, data processing managers, economists, engineers, government workers, independent business owners, independent consultants, industrial mathematicians, insurance company executives, investment managers, junior and senior high school teachers, ministers, physicists, sales managers, and systems analysts.
Problem solving is an integral part of the mathematics curriculum. Our alumni stress that the ability to think rationally and logically is one of the most important skills they received from their college education. They feel that mathematics is the ideal area to gain problem-solving skills since logical reasoning, which is at the heart of problem solving, is used in every mathematics problem.
Throughout our curriculum, we stress that mathematics is the language of the quantitative world. From our College Algebra through our Topics courses, the uses of mathematics and its descriptive power are continually emphasized. This prepares our students for participation in an increasingly quantitative world.
In addition to applying mathematical concepts, our students also study the beauty and structure of mathematical properties. Since nature suggests so many of these properties, our studies frequently yield considerable information about the structure of nature itself.
The mathematics faculty at Elmhurst College is committed
to developing the mathematical maturity of each mathematics major. We employ
a variety of teaching methods and tools to provide an environment in which
each student can rise to his or her own potential. We encourage students
to reach beyond their class work by attending our weekly seminars, by guided
readings of mathematics articles in upper division classes, and by the
development of a senior paper. Ultimately, we aim to prepare our students
to have a sufficiently deep understanding of mathematics to independently
and creatively solve wide-ranging complex problems and to understand the
beautiful interconnections between various mathematical structures.
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Mathematics Department Homepage
Last modified: June 1998 by Jon L. Johnson