What kind of Maths does Actuarial Studies involve?

[Gloamglozer]

No worries.  I was interested in doing B.Com and majoring in Actuarial Studies and since I'm on the same boat as you, I decided to spend a bit of time in the Eco and Com faculty two days ago lol.

[periwinkle]

 Not the kind of maths favoured by pure maths lovers, hence replies like

Don't do actuarial studies.

  but *you* might enjoy it

[Gloamglozer]

Not the kind of maths favoured by pure maths lovers, hence replies like

Don't do actuarial studies.

  but *you* might enjoy it

What do pure maths lovers have against actuarial maths? 

[periwinkle]

 ^^They sort of see it like...lovers of fine wine might see alcopops

    ask humph





   ie: see what he and enwiabe say here, about the prospect of Ahmad doing Actuarial:

    http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,751.30.html

[dcc]

I just mean it'd be more satisfying to do maths straight, then get a job as an actuary afterwards.  That way you don't have to put up with accounting.

[Gloamglozer]

^^They sort of see it like...lovers of fine wine might see alcopops

Ah right.  I see the analogy now lol.

Pure maths sound fun.  But I thought actuarial studies was more risk management and for some reason that makes me think of probability.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Pure maths sound fun.

...I dunno...

[Ahmad]

I've pretty much taken all the maths subjects (from the maths faculty) that actuaries take. It consists of 2 semesters of calculus (although one of which contains linear algebra), probability and statistics. Actuaries also take financial maths and other mathsy subjects which I know very little about.

As you may be aware, I was tossing between actuarial studies and maths, I chose maths and am rather happy with my decision so far. I imagine I'd be rather unhappy doing actuarial studies -- I have no passion for it. I'm sure actuaries learn plenty of difficult maths, and there are many tough problems in actuarial studies but I know it won't feel the same as in pure maths. Actuarial studies is like writing a letter whereas pure maths is closer to creating a poem. But then it's not for everyone.

[Ilovemathsmeth]

What's the difference between pure Maths and the Maths covered in Actuarial Studies??

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Is it similar to Fine Arts vs Graphic Design? Maths for its own sake vs Maths for a purpose.

[kamil9876]

I've seen those analogies to literature like the one Ahmad had at the end of his post but some even more extreme ie: the difference being "writing a poem, versus writing a telephone book"

[periwinkle]

I've seen those analogies to literature like the one Ahmad had at the end of his post but some even more extreme ie: the difference being "writing a poem, versus writing a telephone book"

  lol, that's nailing it, to the Actuarial students

[QuantumJG]

boring maths that drains your life

(yes i am doing this major)

That sounds like engineering too. The engineering I did in first year was basically using computer programs to do the maths. You would usually solve differential equations with approximation formulas. Basically I felt engineering was mutilating maths. Some people though may love doing actuarial studies or engineering. But people who love the theory behind maths may actually hate these.

A maths professor (I went to a lecture on what it is like to be a mathematician) was actually comparing great mathematicians to musicians (classical music, not today's stuff). Listening to it did actually make sense and made me ask myself why I didn't appreciate this kind of music.

Despite my marks in linear algebra I found I loved this kind of maths and really enjoyed the proofs (although proving something for a general matrix was kind of difficult - I want to fix this). Pure maths allows you to see things in a new way, it requires thinking outside of the box and really questioning 'is what you are doing mathematically make sense?'. At the end of the day I was never bored of a linear algebra lecture, but I was always bored with engineering lectures.