Big data and data science are hot topics in enterprises, but companies often find it hard to find workers with the advanced mathematical skills they need for these disciplines. McKinsey & Co. forecasts that by 2018, the U.S. will face a shortage of “1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.”
Applied mathematics can also help companies solve troublesome problems. For example, two Google engineers recently developed an algorithm that helped developers pinpoint “hot spots,” sections of their code with bugs that need to be fixed.
A number of companies have already started looking for developers with advanced math skills for projects like these. The article concludes, “Hopefully, the message gets out and teenagers start to realize that if they want high-paying jobs with the coolest companies around, they’d better get a lot more interested in math.”
