The functions of the Mathematics Department within the total framework of the University are varied. Besides the training of undergraduate and graduate majors in the field of Mathematics, the Department offers courses designed to meet the needs of students in business; engineering; physical, social, and biological sciences; and elementary and secondary education.

The student considering mathematics as a career should realize that emphasis in mathematics courses will change as he/she progresses through college and graduate school. The early emphasis on solving problems is later subordinated to the more important tasks of formulating problems in mathematical language and of dealing effectively with mathematical structures and abstract ideas.

It should be stressed that an effective mathematician in any type of employment should be a well-educated person. He/she should have not only the technical background of calculus and differential equations taken by most scientists and engineers, and the more advanced mathematical training required for a major in mathematics, but should also have taken a selection of courses from other disciplines. A student who plans to continue beyond the bachelor's degree in mathematics should also acquire a reading knowledge of at least one and preferably two of the foreign languages in which much of the current literature in mathematics is written, namely, German, Russian, and French. All students should, of course, acquire fluency in the written and oral expression of ideas in English.