Mathematics & Statistics

Mathematics is the study of structures and phenomena that arise in science, theory, and daily life. Statistics yields remarkable insight into the data that pervade modern life.

At Amherst College, the study of mathematics and statistics covers a wide range of pure and applied topics. The ideas of mathematics and statistics are not only beautiful and valuable in themselves but also relevant to many other disciplines, including biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, environmental studies and physics, as well as many of the social sciences.

Our introductory course offerings include Calculus, Linear Algebra and Applied Statistics. For students interested in mathematics as a liberal art, we also have courses such as Number Theory, Mathematical Modeling and Discrete Mathematics. In these courses, suitable for majors and non-majors alike, students learn the power of applications and enjoy the satisfaction of constructing rigorous proofs. For students who wish to inquire more deeply into the subject, a major in mathematics or statistics offers a full range of courses, together with the possibility of doing a senior honors thesis in either major.

Group portrait of the Mathematics and Statistics staff fall of 2019 at Amherst College

The Latest

February 5, 2020

Amherst Math Students Win Prizes at Joint Math Meetings

Three Amherst students won Outstanding Poster Presentation for posters on their research that they presented at the Joint Math Meetings in Denver in January 2020:

Andrew Rosevear `22

“Graph de Rham Cohomology and the Automorphism Group”

Advisor: Ivan Contreras (Amherst)

Andrea Boscovic `21

“Online Algorithms for Allocating Products to Users”

Research conducted at Research in Industrial Products for Students (RIPS) at IPAM, UCLA

Andrew Tawfeek `21E

“Enumeration of Forman Equivalence Classes of Discrete Morse Functions”

Advisor: Ivan Contreras (Amherst)

Another Amherst student, Shashank Sule `20, gave a talk on his research, "Sobolev Orthogonal Polynomials on the Sierpinski Gasket." In addition, Lisa Cenek `21 won Honorable Mention for her poster, "Chorded Pancyclic Properties in Claw-Free Graphs," based on research conducted at the Lafayette Math REU.

Congratulations to all of these students on their successful mathematics research!

January 9, 2019

Prof Amanda Folsom Gives Invited Address at Joint Math Meetings

At the Joint Math Meetings in January 2019, held in Baltimore, Prof Amanda Folsom was a featured speaker, talking on "Symmetry, Almost." She highlighted advances over the past decade involving mock modular forms.

December 31, 2018

Prof Rob Benedetto Published New Book

Prof Rob Benedetto has a forthcoming book on non-archimedean dynamics at the graduate level, published by the AMS: Dynamics in One Non-Archimedean Variable. The theory of complex dynamics in one variable, initiated by Fatou and Julia in the early twentieth century, concerns the iteration of a rational function acting on the Riemann sphere. Building on foundational investigations of p-adic dynamics in the late twentieth century, dynamics in one non-archimedean variable is the analogous theory over non-archimedean fields rather than over the complex numbers. It is also an essential component of the number-theoretic study of arithmetic dynamics.

November 15, 2018

Statistics and Data Science Fellows

Statistics and Data Science (SDS) Fellows act as teaching assistants and also carry out research projects, for example, support for the sports analytics program, Institutional Research, or other parts of the college. Now in its fourth year, the SDS Fellows program is supported through the David and Jeanette Rosenblum Fund for Statistics Fellows, established by David Rosenblum ’92.

February 8, 2018

Prof Amanda Folsom's Book Wins PROSE Award

Prof Amanda Folsom, along with co-authors Kathrin Bringmann, Ken Ono, and Larry Rolen, has won the 2018 PROSE Award for Mathematics for their new book Harmonic Maass Forms and Mock Modular Forms, published by the American Mathematical Society.

October 5, 2018

StatFest at Amherst College

Amherst College recently hosted StatFest, a national conference that encourages underrepresented students to pursue statistics and data science careers. This year’s conference included 150 attendees, including 80 undergraduates, from 90 institutions around the country. It was also live-streamed to Purdue University in Indiana and Pomona College in California. Find out more in the story, At StatFest, Diversity is the Greatest Value.

April 23, 2018

Amherst team places 1st in Modeling Contest

The Amherst College team with Ariella Goldberg '19, Shashank Sule '20, and Obinna Ukogu '18 won 1st place among 11 teams at the SCUDEM (differential equations modeling) competition that took place at Springfield College on April 20th, after working the previous week on developing their model. Their work also received the outstanding award. Congratulations!

December 5, 2017

Statistics Professor Nick Horton Selected Fellow of the AAAS

Professor Nicholas Horton has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of his “distinguished research contributions to statistical and data sciences, creativity in statistics education and professional service developing curriculum guidelines for statistical education and computing.”

December 5, 2017

Math Major Hui Xu Recognized for Excellence in Mathematics by AWM

Math major Hui Xu '18 won honorable mention for the 2018 Alice T. Schafer Prize, a national award by the Association for Women in Mathematics for excellence in mathematics by undergraduate women. She was nominated by Prof Amanda Folsom. Hui will be honored at the Joint Meetings in San Diego at the AWM Reception and Awards Presentation in January.

February 1, 2016

2016 AMS Steele Prize for Exposition

The AMS Leroy P. Steele Prize for Exposition was awarded to three mathematicians: David Cox (Amherst College), John Little (College of the Holy Cross), and Donal O'Shea (New College of Florida) "for their book Ideals, Varieties, and Algorithms, which has made algebraic geometry and computational commutative algebra accessible not just to mathematicians but to students and researchers in many fields."

Department Highlights

The Math Major

Students engage in many aspects of modern mathematics, ranging from the beauty and insight of proofs in an abstract setting to the power and excitement of using mathematics in concrete applications.

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The Statistics Major

Students develop the capacity to “think with data” through integrated and repeated exposure to statistical methods, mathematical and computational foundations, modeling and statistical practice.

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Summer Opportunities

Students have numerous opportunities to take part in summer research, internships and teaching. Check out our list of REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates).

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Alumni

Majors go on to graduate school in mathematics, statistics and related fields; to teaching positions; to actuarial positions; and to many other careers. Learn what some of our alumni are doing now.

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