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Programming Languages
Many pupils studying A-Level Mathematics will be wondering if it is worth
learning a programming language, and whether this can help with their
studies and their future employment. Most people have now heard of Artificial Categories

Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), and with the proliferation of
11-16
connected devices and ever-faster computer processing, there has been an
explosion of data collection and analysis. AI, analytics, automation, data 16-19
science and robotics are all changing the way we work and that’s why more 19+
and more employers are seeking mathematicians who can program.
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The Importance of Learning To Competitions

Program for Maths Students Environment & Heath

In 2018, an independent review of knowledge exchange in the mathematical I love Maths

sciences was published, and amongst its many findings was the News
recommendation that “All mathematics students should acquire a working
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knowledge of at least one programming language.” In February 2021,
Science & Engineering
according to the Popularity of Programming Language Index, the top five

ranked languages were: 1. PythonTM (30.06%); 2. Java (16.88%); 3. JavaScript Sport & Entertainment

(8.43%); 4. C# (6.69%) and 5. C/C++ (6.5%).

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Python for A-Level Maths, Undergraduate Maths, and Employability - Maths Careers 30/03/2021, 09:01

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March 2021

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Guess the Number Game December 2020

November 2020

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December 2018

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August 2018

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Python for A-Level Maths, Undergraduate Maths, and Employability - Maths Careers 30/03/2021, 09:01

July 2018
Which Programming Language June 2018

Should a Mathematician Learn? April 2018

The obvious question for mathematicians then is “Which programming March 2018
language should I learn for Mathematics?” Luckily, the answer to this question
February 2018
is Python! Readers should also be aware that there are other fantastic
January 2018
specialist mathematical software packages, for example, MapleTM,
November 2017
Mathematica® and MATLAB®, which are all extremely powerful and used by
most universities and some industries around the world. I also want to point October 2017
out that programming can be fun and it is the only means to solving the September 2017
majority of real-world problems!
August 2017

July 2017
How Do I Get Hold of Python? April 2017
There are at least two ways to get started with Python for scientific
March 2017
computation. The first main way, is by downloading Anaconda, a free open-
February 2017
source distribution of Python and R (statistics). Within the Anaconda
Navigator you can launch Spyder (Scientific Python Development January 2017
Environment) or a Jupyter notebook. Within these environments you can use December 2016
Python as a graphing calculator or you can create your own program files.
November 2016
Downloading Anaconda means that you will be saving software on to your
computer and it will take up some memory. The advantage with this method is October 2016

that you do not need the internet to program with Python. September 2016

August 2016
The second main way to get started with Python is by using Google Colab,
which enables you to perform cloud computing using Jupyter notebooks. The July 2016
advantage with this method is that you do not need to download any software
June 2016
on to your computer. There is also the added advantage that you can work
April 2016
collaboratively over the web and save your files in GitHub, which is used by
many employers around the world. Others encounter Python through using a March 2016

Raspberry Pi computer. February 2016

January 2016

December 2015

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Python for A-Level Maths, Undergraduate Maths, and Employability - Maths Careers 30/03/2021, 09:01

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How Do I Learn Python for November 2014

Mathematics? September 2014

June 2014
There are various ways to teach yourself programming including studying A-
Level Computer Science and learning from books and online courses. In order May 2014
to learn Python for Mathematics, I recommend my own workshops “Python for
March 2014
A-Level Mathematics and Beyond.” These national workshops are run twice a
February 2014
year with the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), twice in
January and twice in July. November 2013

August 2013
The itinerary for a workshop is as follows: In the first hour, delegates are
shown how to use Python as a powerful calculator. After a short coffee break, June 2013

delegates are then introduced to symbolic computation with the sympy library.
After lunch, numerical Python with the numpy library and plots with the
matplotlib library are covered. The final session is concerned with
programming using Jupyter notebooks and Google Colab. Delegates are
shown how to: (i) define a function (like adding a button on your calculator); (ii)
construct for and while loops, and (iii) write if, elif, else constructs. I have
written a Jupyter notebook that shows how Python covers the whole of the A-
Level Mathematics syllabus.

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Python for A-Level Maths, Undergraduate Maths, and Employability - Maths Careers 30/03/2021, 09:01

Will I Need Python at

University?
In this technological age, programming is undoubtedly a skill that will be in
high demand at university, not only in Mathematics, but in most other subject
areas at the tertiary level. At Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) we
have been teaching a programming-based Mathematics curriculum for over
twenty years. This has proven to be incredibly popular with our students.
There are over 38,000 students at MMU studying on over 500 courses. Since
the launch of the Student Union teaching awards in 2011, Mathematics has
been shortlisted on seven occasions, winning the award in 2020, 2018 and
2012.

As part of extracurricular activities, each summer I hold a workshop entitled

“Python for Scientific Computation and TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence,”
for undergraduates, postgraduates, technicians and academic staff across the
whole university. TensorFlow is an end-to-end open-source platform for
machine learning, deep learning and AI written in Python. This workshop is
extremely popular and is a great way for undergraduates and others to deepen
their Python knowledge. I have been invited to run it nationally and
internationally in China, Malaysia, Singapore and the USA.

Will Python Help Me With

Employment?
The simple answer is YES. Pretty much any industry that you care to mention
will use some sort of programming, and even if they do not explicitly use
Python, once you have learnt one programming language it is much easier to
pick up another one. There is a web page dedicated to Python Success Stories,
where the reader can find an extensive list classified by application domain.
Data Science is also one of the fastest growing career areas for maths
undergraduates, and this type of role frequently requires skills in Python.

Article by Dr Stephen Lynch SFHEA FIMA, Manchester Metropolitan University

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Python for A-Level Maths, Undergraduate Maths, and Employability - Maths Careers 30/03/2021, 09:01

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“Raspberry Pi Closeup” (CC BY 2.0) by Gijs Peijs

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