How to Become A Mathematician in India: India has had a long tradition of mathematics that has given the world some great mathematicians who have made many valuable contributions to the field. Ancient mathematicians like Aryabhatta have given the world the value of Pi, a place value system. Other Indian mathematicians have given mathematics the numeral Zero, the modern way of writing numbers, the decimal place value system, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, and many more concepts.
Do you like numbers? Are you passionate about mathematics? You could make a career as a mathematician. If you have it in you, perhaps you could be the next Aryabhatta or Ramanujan. If you are deeply interested in the field or feel inclined towards the subject, find out all about being a mathematician and how to become one in India. First, let us start by exploring who is a mathematician?
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- Who is a Mathematician? What do they do?
- How to Become a Mathematician in India?
- Career and Job Opportunities for Mathematicians
Who is a Mathematician? What do they do?
The definition of a mathematician is an easy one, a mathematician is somebody who is an expert in the field of mathematics. What do they do? They engage in the philosophy and study of mathematics and its theoretical constructs from formulating new theories, researching on existing mathematical fundamentals, to adding to existing theories. But that’s not all that mathematicians do. Mathematicians aren’t just academicians who deal with academic theories that do not find much substantial use in everyday life. And neither is a career in the field as Mathematician is not synonymous with being a teacher or a researcher although that is surely a domain of great scope. The skills of mathematicians can also be applied to real-world problems.
Mathematical theories, algorithms, techniques, often find their application and use in problem-solving for various other fields such as management, engineering, business, sciences and economics.
To give you a better picture and a clearer idea, let us tell you there are two types of mathematics and mathematicians: one is pure mathematics and the other is applied mathematics. Pure mathematics studies and focuses on the philosophy and theoretical constructs of maths while applied mathematics can be applied to any field from physics to robotics, architecture, engineering, computer graphics and computer technology.
How to Become a Mathematician in India?
Becoming a mathematician is a long and arduous journey that requires an in-depth study and immersion into the subject, it begins with the first and foremost requirement:
A bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from a recognised university. For that, you need to have studied mathematics in your 10+2 higher education to get into the course.
After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in the subject, the next step and natural progression for a mathematician is to undertake further study and acquire a Master’s degree in Mathematics. You shall have to sit for an entrance, such as Joint admission tests which are often conducted for M. Sc. courses that can get into premier institutes such as IITs, NITs, and IISc.
The journey goes well beyond this, after a post-graduation, you need to take a full immersion into the field with a doctoral degree in the subject where you undertake a much deeper study and research in the domain of mathematics.
You can choose to pursue applied or pure mathematics at this stage, which shall decide which kind of vocation you shall get into. Theoretical or pure mathematics will lead you to an academic role such as a teacher or researcher in academia. Opting for Applied Mathematics can help you make a career in fields such as scientific research, finance and business, technology and information science etc.
You can enrol yourself in a PhD course for which you need to first clear an entrance exam such as IIT JAM. You can get into government-funded or autonomous-aided research institutes that offer purely research-based opportunities or one of the IITs for applied mathematics opportunities. There are also Joint M.Sc-PhD, M.Sc-M.tech and other dual degrees and courses as well.
Career and Job Opportunities for Mathematicians
Many Higher learning institutions offer opportunities for mathematicians in teaching and research in state and central universities, in purely research-oriented roles.
Outside academia, there are great employment options in government departments such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Aeronautics Limited (NAL) and in big institutions and organisations as well.