Bachelor of Science in the field of Computational and Applied Mathematics: Programme code SBA21

In the 21st century, we find ourselves living in a complex and modern world that requires thoughtful and well-reasoned analytical, mathematical, and computational tools and methods in order to solve the burning problems and answer the critical questions that we are being faced with. These span a variety of fields including the physical, biological, and social sciences as well as within commerce, business, and finance.

The undergraduate Computational and Applied Mathematics curriculum will teach you these applied mathematical problem-solving skills as well as develop the use of computational methods and the implementation of algorithms on computers as a key component of problem-solving. You will take courses where the focus is on modeling and solving problems from a variety of areas including business, engineering, and science, and using mechanics, optimisation, differential equations, and scientific computing skills in order to achieve the intended outcomes. Through this course, you will also develop skills in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and effective scientific communication.

As an applied mathematician, you will find yourself straddling different fields because you are working on understanding very interdisciplinary problems. As such, being a student who is majoring in applied mathematics places you in a unique position of being enrolled in a semi-flexible curriculum that has a wide and diverse variety of options giving you the opportunity to tailor-make a suite of course choices that are aligned to your own interests, and career aspirations and goals. These courses may be chosen from: physics, chemistry, computer science, biology, astrophysics, geology, philosophy, economics, finance, and accounting. In general, these additional courses should be ones that broaden your skills and have multifaceted value.

Applied mathematicians working in the School as well as in industry are involved in making meaning of and understanding the world that we live in, and working on real-world problems with real consequences for real people living in the real world. Applied Mathematics has thus become a very powerful and practical tool in many disciplines and professions. The specialised task of finding practical solutions to real-life problems by means of mathematical invention and computational expertise is the objective of researchers in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Wits.