Well maybe it’s just being a mathematician in the United States that’s great. Not just great, in fact, but the best job in America according to a study by a job search website.
Well I like my job, but I was a bit surprised by this. Then I saw that the methodology is ridiculously arbitrary . Physical exercise is intrinsically bad? I knew there was a reason nobody wanted to be a professional footballer. Apparently meeting the public is also very bad. Yeah, people suck don’t they?
Basically, according to this survey mathematician is the best job available but only because there isn’t full time employment available as the subject in an experiment on sensory deprivation (a job that would actually share many of the downsides of mathematics but would lack the cycles of manic optimism and crushing disappointment).
Oh and $94,160? That’s Zimbabwean dollars, right?
Hat tip to Edge of the American West (who are historians and philosophers amongst other things; pwned!)
Epsilonica 
January 10, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I love this.
Someone wanted to work out what the best job was and rather than actually do a survey or something, they worked out an equation and plugged their opinions into it, and we’re supposed to be surprised that it said ‘mathematician’?
I bet if someone wrote a poem about what would be a good job it would conclude that being a poet was actually pretty great.
January 10, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Andrew, that is pretty amusing but I doubt it was a deliberate plan by a mathematician to put maths at the top. I think it just fell through the cracks because (to the outside observer at least) it is the job that most resembles doing nothing (which this study seems to really value).
Despite the impression you may have got assessing those Mail and Torygraph formulae (awesome work btw) mathematicians aren’t in the habit of hacking out completely arbitrary formulae and claiming they describe reality. Not unless there’s a PR exec with a huge check lurking somewhere in the background.
January 11, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Sorry, off-topic, but I couldn’t see a contact and just wanted to say a quick thanks for the mention of Created in Birmingham on Pharyngula.
Cheers, Chris Unitt (Created in Birmingham)
January 29, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Mattheath, I’ve had trouble finding answers to the question, what happens if you take zero to the power of complex numbers. It’s interesting because 0^(positive real) = 0 and 0^(negative real) = “infinity” or maybe undefined So then, 0^i etc. = ? tx.
March 1, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Just passing by.Btw, your website have great content!
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August 11, 2010 at 2:33 am
i get that it is all great but if u can tell me some advantages and disadvantages of being a mathematician. I would really like that!!
July 22, 2012 at 3:01 pm
i love maths than anything else in this world.. i had a dream of becoming a mathematician…. and just to ensure if my thought was right i came here… thank you very much for the solid info…..
June 1, 2013 at 5:58 pm
what were the disadvantages of being a mathematician
July 23, 2014 at 4:38 pm
maths is a only subject that we learn from childhood