The job here can vary from taking previously written programs and using them to solve pre-defined problems to writing programs of one's own in order to solve specified programs. Those with advanced degrees frequently do systems analysis work. A great deal of subject matter in this area deals with determining optimal ways of doing things based on some mathematical model of a situation. Major mathematical tools that enter operations research are calculus, linear algebra, probability, statistics, graph theory, combinatorics, and computer science. The statistician's job has been described as that of helping to design experiments, interpreting the data from observations made, and making the appropriate statistical inferences.
People employed here are either mathematical statisticians or applied statisticians.
The mathematical statistician is a theorist and faces highly mathematical problems. A Ph.D. is frequently required here. The applied statistician is not as mathematically trained as the former. His or her job is to recognize which methods are applicable to specific types of problems. Even here, the person with a B.A. or B.S. will not generally act as a statistician, but rather as a junior member of a statistical team.