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Industrial Mathematics

01 July 1941

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256 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL In these two sections mathematics is interpreted broadly to include not only the fundamental subjects, algebra, geometry, analysis, etc., b u t also their manifestations in applied form as mechanics, elasticity, electromagnetic theory, hydrodynamics, etc. Statistics, however, touches industrial activity in a rather different way, and is therefore discussed separately under a third heading, "Industrial Statistics and Statisticians." One observation which will be m a d e in more detail later is worthy of mention here, because of the present and prospective scarcity of suitably trained industrial mathematicians. Though the United States holds a position of outstanding leadership in pure mathematics, there is no school which provides an adequate mathematical training for the student who wishes to use the subject in the field of industrial applications rather than to cultivate it as an end in itself. Both science generally, and its industrial applications in particular, would be advanced if a group of suitable teachers were brought together in an institution where there was also a strong interest in the basic sciences and in engineering. MATHEMATICIANS IN INDUSTRY