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By Professor Cheryl Praeger, WA Scientist of the Year 2009

As the vital role of technology in modern society increases, the mathematical sciences are becoming indispensable. Many disciplines such as physics and economics have always relied on a foundation of mathematics, but now virtually every area of our lives depends on the mathematical sciences – from healthcare to telecommunications, from understanding climate change, to making secure financial transactions.

Mathematics is more than just important. It is a critical skill that every Australian should have in order to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.

To face future challenges, Australia, and in particular my state of Western Australia with its resources boom, needs people who not only have a broad mathematical understanding, but who are highly skilled in science and mathematics.  It has been found that mathematics is the only science subject whose study in high school consistently enhances performance across all science disciplines ¹ .  An important reason is that a mathematical training promotes clear logical thinking.

We need to ensure a strong mathematical education for our young people to underpin their other skills, whether in science, medicine, engineering or technology.  This requires a new educational focus on nurturing mathematically talented young people to ensure they realise their potential.

To achieve this we must address a current serious shortfall of well-qualified mathematics teachers in schools. The most recent study of staffing in schools revealed that the highest rates of unfilled vacancies are in mathematics, with 10% of secondary principals reporting at least one unfilled teacher vacancy ² .  Perhaps more seriously many mathematics teachers have studied a less than ideal level of mathematics at university.

In addition to the shortage of mathematics teachers, demand by Australian employers for mathematics and statistics graduates continues to outstrip the supply ³ . Both the CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Statistics have grave concern about their ability to recruit graduates simply to cover retirement replacement let alone growth.

This demand for high mathematical skills comes at a time of desperate shortage of well-trained mathematicians and statisticians in Australia. The percentage of Australian students graduating with a mathematics or statistics major is 0.4 per cent, less than half the OECD average of 1 per cent.

Australia needs to at least double the number of mathematics and statistics graduates it produces to properly equip itself for the future.

Support at all levels is required. I was especially delighted that, in awarding me 2009 Western Australian Scientist of the Year, the Western Australian Science Awards recognised the central role of the mathematical sciences.

The mathematical sciences have been described as a “hidden achiever”, perhaps due to the universal nature of mathematics.  Mathematical research rarely focuses on solutions to a single applied area but rather tries to develop generic, but still complete, solutions to wide classes of problems.  Even when a single critical application is addressed, the mathematician is keenly aware of the generality and fundamental nature of her or his contributions. For example, the mathematician founder of the modern computer, Alan Turing, stated in his 1945 proposal to build an electronic computer:

“There will be positively no internal alterations to be made even if we wish suddenly to switch from calculating the energy levels of the neon atom to the enumeration of groups of order 720.”

Turing was illustrating that the same fundamentals of mathematics can apply to vastly different problems, giving applications from physics (the neon atom) and my own mathematical discipline of group theory. This illustration resonates strongly with me personally since many of the computer algorithms I design and analyse are implemented in the two major international computer algebra systems MAGMA (based in Sydney) and GAP (originating in Germany and now based in Scotland) so that they are available for all users of these computer systems. Among the 3000 or so research publications citing use of MAGMA ⁴ in the research, are dozens of papers on cryptography, computer science, communications theory, biology, chemistry, economics and physics, alongside   hundreds of papers in 19 distinct mathematical disciplines.

The generality and power of mathematics may unwittingly contribute to the invisibility of the mathematical sciences to the community at large. Even though the application of mathematics and statistics provides tangible benefits to all areas of life, those areas, and those sectors of the economy, each have their own names: modelling climate change, secure communications, imaging, defence research, the Human Genome project. The list is endless, and most do not clearly identify themselves as involving a high level of mathematics.

The community at large does not see mathematics and statistics as critical to the vast majority of technologies in use every day. Neither do our high school students who are migrating to easier options from senior mathematics courses ⁵ .

The massive drift from senior mathematics in high schools must be addressed if the universities are to be able to produce anything approaching the required number of graduates in quantitative disciplines.

The UK recently turned its performance in mathematical sciences and education around in a remarkable way by combining aggressive teacher recruitment with substantial inducements, regulation of teacher education numbers to match demand from schools, an impressive careers program supported by the government and professional societies, and the designation of mathematics as part of the strategically important subjects program. If the UK can do this, so can Australia.

I invite and welcome our political leaders – the Prime Minister and his parliamentary colleagues – to join in reinforcing the importance of mathematics to the future well being of Australia and Australians ⁶ .  This will inspire students and their parents to appreciate both the importance of the mathematical sciences and the many exciting career options that depend upon developing good mathematical skills.

1.     Sadler & Tai, Science, 317, 457-8, 2007. “Only high school mathematics carries significant cross-subject benefit.”
2. Staff in Australian Schools 2007 .
3.     Official government estimates predict an annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent in demand for mathematics and statistics graduates between 2006 and 2013.
4. Published research citing MAGMA
5. A National Strategy for Mathematical Sciences in Australia . 2009 [PDF file 666kb]
6.     Briefing notes would be prepared by the mathematical sciences community, as noted in - A National Strategy for Mathematical Sciences in Australia . 2009 [PDF file 666kb]