A major growth area in the Irish Economy is in the Financial Services sector and already there is a shortage of mathematics graduates for this area. The advantages of a mathematics background are being recognised more now with the advent of the present era and emphasis on software engineering in computer science. This is in contrast to what held previously when the emphasis was on hardware and its development. Computer programs are mathematical expressions. A programming language is a mathematical theory.
Programming is a mathematical activity''.
These are quotations from the computer scientist C.A.R. Hoare who emphasises the importance of error-free programs. A technique that is becoming increasingly important is the use of Formal Methods . These provide a rigorous mathematical basis to software development. Cryptography and Coding Theory are examples of mathematical techniques which are increasingly used for the secure and secret transmission of data over local and international networks - for example error correcting codes are used in CDs. Statistics is concerned with making sense out of data, and statisticians find employment in business, industry, government, science, medicine etc.