4 ms·

I don't think it's true that "math departments have been closing for a while now"

auggierose 3y ago
It's an impression I had, I don't know any hard data. For example: https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/l7yyir/not_joking_university_of_leicester_to_make/ https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/l7yyir/not_joking_uni... https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/15of64l/rumor_west_virginia_university_is_ending_their/ https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/15of64l/rumor_west_vi...
- Davidzheng 3y ago
  I think it's a very unfair assessment to make from these two examples. I think it's like saying Silicon Valley has been shutting down for a while and providing two examples of startups. I will say from my personal impression as someone in pure math, I disagree with this statement.
  - auggierose 3y ago
    I don't know what "fair" has to do with that. These are two examples that caught my attention, and I might be wrong that this constitutes a trend. If you have data that says otherwise, please share.
    - Davidzheng 3y ago
      I think the funding in pure math is not going down in recent years. Nor are math departments much smaller than they were say ten years ago. Otherwise I'm sure how best to give evidence of math departments not shutting down! Do I list healthy math departments?
      - auggierose 3y ago
        I guess this would be a case of applied math ;-) Joking aside, of course it is not on you to provide evidence. I would probably start with seeing how many universities have pure math departments over a time axis from now back to 2000 or so. It might even be that the total funding increases, but is more centralised in the big universities. So a total funding timeline would also be good.
sdenton4 3y ago
Correct - math departments are doing fine. Not quite as fine as CS departments, which get showered with piles of money and their grad students poached to make money in industry. But so long as other university departments want their students to know some combination of calculus, linear algebra, and statistics, math departments will continue humming along.

It's an impression I had, I don't know any hard data. For example: https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/l7yyir/not_joking_university_of_leicester_to_make/ https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/l7yyir/not_joking_uni... https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/15of64l/rumor_west_virginia_university_is_ending_their/ https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/15of64l/rumor_west_vi...

Davidzheng 3y ago
I think it's a very unfair assessment to make from these two examples. I think it's like saying Silicon Valley has been shutting down for a while and providing two examples of startups. I will say from my personal impression as someone in pure math, I disagree with this statement.
- auggierose 3y ago
  I don't know what "fair" has to do with that. These are two examples that caught my attention, and I might be wrong that this constitutes a trend. If you have data that says otherwise, please share.
  - Davidzheng 3y ago
    I think the funding in pure math is not going down in recent years. Nor are math departments much smaller than they were say ten years ago. Otherwise I'm sure how best to give evidence of math departments not shutting down! Do I list healthy math departments?
    - auggierose 3y ago
      I guess this would be a case of applied math ;-) Joking aside, of course it is not on you to provide evidence. I would probably start with seeing how many universities have pure math departments over a time axis from now back to 2000 or so. It might even be that the total funding increases, but is more centralised in the big universities. So a total funding timeline would also be good.

sdenton4 3y ago

Correct - math departments are doing fine. Not quite as fine as CS departments, which get showered with piles of money and their grad students poached to make money in industry. But so long as other university departments want their students to know some combination of calculus, linear algebra, and statistics, math departments will continue humming along.