Talk:Bachelor of Mathematics


 * "Relatively few institutions award Bachelor of Mathematics degrees, and the distinction between institutions which do award such degrees and those which award B.Sc or B.A. degrees for mathematics is usually one of university bureaucracy, rather than curriculum."

-I personally don't agree. Before I bailed out of my Bachelor of Mathematics (with a specialty in Computer Science) for a Bachelor of Computer Science at University of Waterloo, all I know was that my math was anywhere from 1-3 years ahead of every other school within Ontario's other Universities.--AlphaTwo 21:37, 6 February 2006 (UTC)


 * But the issue is not that Waterloo is better because they give out B.Math degrees: they're better because they just happen to be better. There are schools with good math programs who give out B.Sc. degrees, and schools with not-so-good math programs who give out B.Math degrees.


 * Now, the issue isn't entirely separate: some of why Waterloo's good for math is that they devote a separate faculty to it, and if you have a separate faculty you're a lot likelier to have a unique label on the degree. But I don't think one can make any kind of general statement saying that "B.Math is better than B.Sc. for math" or some such thing. --Saforrest 02:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)


 * You are right, but the current wording makes it sound like that schools that do make a distinction are doing it to make themselves look better (worded in a negative tone.)--AlphaTwo 13:44, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Waterloo is "One of the few schools that has a Faculty of Mathematics, offering over 10 different major studies within Math,"?? that sounds like a line from a admissions book. Try serching google for "faculty of mathematics." It seems there are a lot more then a few. secondly how is that related to the article anyways? --- A Google search with the terms: "B.Math" "Faculty of mathematics" -"department of mathematics" -Waterloo -"Faculty of mathematics and Physics" -uwaterloo does not list any that have a faculty of Mathematics, independent from an affiliation with Science.

Physics is not mathematics. Science is not mathematics. Arts is not mathematics. Mathematics is mathematics. Waterloo is where you can study it. If you have to study science, or arts, or any other such course, you're not studying math. If mathematics is just a department within a larger faculty, it's not a full faculty in it's own right.

NOTE: "Chennai Mathematical Institute" is giving "B Sc Mathematics" degree not "B Math" degree for reference please Visit this page... http://www.cmi.ac.in/admissions/ hmm thats why I have deleted it---mail me at nitin.leo1986@gmail.com

"In practice, this is essentially equivalent to a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree with a specialty in mathematics. Relatively few institutions award Bachelor of Mathematics degrees, and the distinction between those that do and those that award B.Sc or B.A. degrees for mathematics is usually bureaucratic, rather than curriculum related."

This is just silly.

The University of Waterloo was the first place in North America, and one of the first places in the world, to offer a B.Math degree within a Faculty of Mathematics; within the mathematical community, it's widely considered the gold standard by which undergraduate mathematical programs (but *NOT* graduate level mathematics) are to be judged.

At Waterloo, in Math, you study... Math. There are no science courses required, and the only thing remotely resembling an arts course requirement was a basic English literacy requirement. Anyone who can write a simple essay in the English language and be understood passes it; and anyone who had 80% or more in Grade 13 (OAC) English was exempt from writing it.

The core courses are in things like Calculus, Computer Science, Algebra, and Statistics. All math student study basic combinatorics and graph theory, and introductory formal algebra, without any science or arts requirements. Any arts or science courses exist purely as "electives". Math students are *NOT* allowed to take the arts or science versions of the corresponding courses, because they aren't mathematically challenging enough to count for credit towards a mathematics degree.

That's the definitive meaning of a B.Math, the one as understood by the majority of practicing mathematicians, and according to the founding institution that created the degree in the first place. Any other meaning, by any other group of people, simply isn't as authoritative or correct.