Department of Mathematics

You don't see a lot of job vacancies for 'mathematicians', and you may be wondering what opportunities are open to them: do most mathematics students become teachers or accountants? In fact the answer is that mathematics graduates nowadays go into all sorts of careers. They are less likely to be unemployed than graduates from almost all other fields and they also tend to get well-paid jobs.

The main reason for this, simply put, is that the world has become more mathematical in many respects and mathematics graduates are able to move quite easily into occupations in which they can use what they have learned at university.

Mathematics graduates are also in demand because employers generally see them as people who have been trained to think logically. They also feel confident that Maths graduates will be able to handle any mathematics that may appear, as indeed it increasingly does, in all sorts of contexts.

Mathematics is therefore a very good qualification to have when you are job hunting. However, the best reason for studying mathematics at university is that you enjoy it, and the more you enjoy it the more likely you are to become a successful mathematician. Through studying Mathematics at university you will find that it is a fascinating, elegant and ever-expanding discipline, where discoveries continue to be made (often by young mathematicians, male and female).

At King's this subject is explored through a range of modules taught by renowned experts. Indeed, our department is acknowledged to be a leading centre of research, with 65 per cent of research classed as world-leading or internationally excellent in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. In Pure Mathematics we have distinguished research groups in Analysis, Geometry and Number Theory. In Applied Mathematics we have a large and distinguished research group in Theoretical Physics and also leading research groups in Financial Mathematics and in the theory of Disordered Systems.