The median and the mode walked into a bar.
The bartender asks, “Where’s your other friend?”
The median says, “We don’t like him anymore. He’s mean.”
Photo by Nick Chong on Unsplash
What is The Mathematics, Statistics, and Finance Major?
The Math, Statistics, and Finance (MSF) major was the first of its kind in Canada. The major provides students with the mathematical, statistical, and engineering tools they need to be successful in many industries. These include consulting engineering, finance, the public sector, energy, mining, insurance, banking, aerospace, supply chain management, risk management, manufacturing, and more!
Why Choose MSF?
- If you’re interested in economics or finance, this is a great choice. While the courses cover a lot of techniques to analyze and predict economics, they cover plenty of economic and financial theory as well. Knowing this theory is especially helpful if you want to study these subjects in graduate school.
- If you like math and statistics, consider MSF. Of course, you can’t escape math in engineering, but students who are particularly passionate about math tend towards the Engineering Physics and MSF majors. MSF offers math more closely related to data, statistics, and optimization.
- Like many EngSci majors, MSF offers courses and builds skills that are closely related to computer programming. Several MSF courses involve data processing, simulation, and computation. If you want to combine applied math and programming then MSF is the major for you!
- The data and modelling used in MSF can be generalized to many fields, especially in graduate studies. If you know a specific field or problem that involves modelling or data processing, MSF may give you the tools needed to address it.
Courses in Year 1 and Year 2 That Relate to MSF:
Year 1
ESC103: Engineering Mathematics and Computation
ESC103 gives you the basics of computer assisted computation. The lab portion of this course introduces you to MATLAB, one of the most popular programming languages for computation in the world today. MATLAB is also You also cover aspects of linear algebra, which are used heavily in math.
ESC180: Introduction to Computer Programming and ESC190: Computer Algorithms and Data Structures
ESC180 will introduce you to computer programming, an essential tool in computation and data modelling. In ESC190 you’ll use programming to implement algorithms. These are sets of instructions that give you a desired result. Examples of algorithms include searching through data, sorting data, or optimizing some data. Data structures are objects or systems in computers that store data in a useful way. With modern finance being so dependent on data and computers, the skills from these courses are indispensable.
MAT185: Linear Algebra
Linear algebra is used throughout mathematical modelling and statistics. While other courses can give you more applied uses of linear algebra, MAT185 will give you a pure mathematical perspective. This will help you understand these mathematical concepts on a more fundamental level.
Year 2
MAT292 Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs)
In MAT292, you’re introduced to differential equations. As you’ll see in this course, there are only a few types of differential equations we can produce exact answers for using mathematical techniques. We can find an approximate solution for the rest using a computer. Differential equations are extremely important to the finance field. A derivative (the main part of a differential equation) is really just the trend of a function at any point. A trend gives us some hints about what’s going to happen next. On a very simplified level, when we make predictions in finance, we’re analyzing these trends/derivatives to make a prediction.
ECE286 Probability and Statistics
ECE286 is the first statistics course you’ll see in EngSci. The course covers the basics of probability and statistics. You’ll apply the techniques of these courses in MSF to gain powerful analytical and predictive tools.
Interesting Courses in This Major
MIE375 – Financial Engineering
This course will provide you with a strong basis in the fundamentals of Financial Engineering. From the MSF sample courses: “Major topics include interest rate theory, fixed income securities, bond portfolio construction, term structure of interest rates, mean-variance optimization theory, the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), arbitrage pricing theory (APT), forwards and futures, and introduction to option pricing and structured finance.”
CHE374 – Economic Analysis and Decision Making
This course is focused on economic analyses and financial decision making in terms of investment proposals and engineering projects. It also serves as an introduction to microeconomics. From the MSF sample courses, this course covers: “cost estimation; financial and cost accounting; depreciation; inflation; equity, bond and loan financing; after tax cash flow; measures of economic merit in the private and public sectors; sensitivity and risk analysis; single and multi-attribute decisions are all covered in this course.”
Where To Get Some Experience Before Deciding?
UTEFA
University of Toronto Engineering Finance Association (UTEFA) aims to teach students about the financial industry by involving them in investment activities. As of 2021, UTEFA has 60 active members, with over $14,500 in cash and equity. UTEFA hosts weekly meetings where you can learn about Capital Markets, compete in stock pitches, network and learn from experienced industry professionals, and more. You can check out their schedule to see any of their upcoming events.
UTSPAN
University of Toronto Sports Analytics Group (UTSPAN) is a smaller club at U of T that combines many mathematical fields to study and predict the performance of sports teams. The group’s goals are to: connect members who share a passion for the field, organize and conduct research in the field, and connect members to industry leaders in the field. UTSPAN is always working on cool projects, including working with Canada’s national basketball team! If you want to combine programming, math, and sports, you can’t go wrong with this club. Check out UTSPAN’s website to find their contact information and get involved.
Rotman Clubs
The Rotman School of Management, much like our own engineering faculty, has many associated clubs that connect with industry leaders, conduct their own research, and hold community and university events. The clubs cover a variety of topics related to MSF like asset management, venture capital, and finance.
Visit the Skule Clubs and Design Teams pages to find more extracurriculars.
Check out the EngSci majors website here for more info: