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Department of Mathematics

Mathematics Major and Minor

A solid background in mathematics provides an excellent foundation for any quantitative discipline as well as many professions — many students go on to professional studies in law, medicine, or business. For more information, see Benefits of Majoring in Mathematics.

To declare a math major or minor, please submit the request online. Instructions can be found here.

MATHEMATICS MAJOR

The Department of Mathematics offers an undergraduate major with a high degree of flexibility. Three tracks are available:

The Standard Track requires at least 32 credit hours in mathematics, including at least 15 credit hours taken at Vanderbilt, as follows.

    1. A calculus sequence: 1300–1301-2300, 1300-1301-2310, or 1300–1301–2500–2501.
    2. Linear algebra and differential equations: 2600 or 2500–2501, and 2610.
    3. At least 15 additional credit hours from 2800 or above.
    4. The remainder of the credit hours must be chosen from 2800 or above.

The Applied Track requires at least 29 credit hours in mathematics, including at least 15 credit hours taken at Vanderbilt and 6 credit hours outside the department, as follows.

  1. A calculus sequence as in the Standard Track.
  2. Linear algebra and differential equations—one of the following:
    • one of 2410, 2600, or 2500–2501, and one of 2420 or 2610; or
    • 2400 and either 2600 or 2500–2501.
  3. At least 12 additional credit hours from 2800 or above, excluding 3000.
  4. The remainder of the credit hours in mathematics must be chosen from 2800 or above.
  5. At least 6 credit hours of advanced, mathematically based science or engineering courses approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. This requirement is automatically fulfilled by students who complete a physics major or a major in the School of Engineering.

The Honors Track requires at least 38 credit hours in mathematics, including at least 15 credit hours taken at Vanderbilt, as follows.

  1. A calculus sequence as in the Standard Track.
  2. Linear algebra and differential equations as in the Standard Track.
  3. At least 21 additional credit hours of advanced course work, including four courses taken from the following three categories, at least one from each category:
    • Algebra: 3300, 4300, 4301.
    • Analysis: 3100, 3110, 6100, 6101.
    • Topology and Geometry: 3200, 3230, 4200, 4201, 4220, 6210.
    • The remainder of the 21 credit hours must be chosen from 2800 or above, excluding 4999.
  4. The remainder of the credit hours must be chosen from 2800 or above.

MATHEMATICS MINOR

A minor in mathematics requires at least 15 credit hours in mathematics, including:

  1. Completion of a calculus sequence: 2300, 2310, or 2500–2501.
  2. Linear algebra and differential equations: as in the Applied Track.
  3. At least 6 credit hours not used to satisfy item 2 from 2800 or above.

Completion of a single-variable calculus sequence (1300–1301) is a prerequisite for the minor, but does not count toward the credit hours of the minor.

The official requirements for a math major or minor are specified in the Mathematics Section of the College of Arts and Science Section of the Undergraduate Catalog.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE REQUIREMENTS

General policy

If you need to deviate from the stated requirements in the catalog, please discuss your situation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS). The DUS will submit a “variance request” to the College of Arts and Science, which oversees the math major and minor (even if you are not an A&S student). When the College approves the variance request, appropriate notes will be made in your online degree audit.

Sometimes a variance request is needed even for situations where you satisfy the catalog requirements (for example, for students taking Math 2400, as described below).

eligibility of Math 2410 or 2420 in Standard and honors Track

The Standard and Honors Tracks of the math major specify ONLY Math 2600 or 2500/2501 for the linear algebra requirement, and ONLY Math 2610 for the differential equations requirement. Once you have declared a math major, you CANNOT satisfy these requirements with Math 2410 or 2420, respectively.

However, you may have taken Math 2410 or 2420 before you declared a math major, because you were not originally planning to major in math. If this is the case, we will permit you to count Math 2410 for the linear algebra requirement or Math 2420 for the differential equations requirement in Standard or Honors Track.

Anyone intending to pursue Standard or Honors Track of the math major should plan to take Math 2600 (or 2500/2501) and 2610, NOT 2410 and 2420.

Non-math courses counting toward applied track

Applied Track requires students to take at least 6 hours of advanced, mathematically-based science or engineering courses approved by the DUS.

If you complete a major in physics, computer science, or any engineering discipline, you automatically satisfy this requirement.

In other cases, you should discuss your situation with the DUS and have them submit a variance request to take care of this. Some courses that the DUS will count towards this requirement include:

  • Chem 2100 (analytical chemistry), 3300, and 3310 (physical chemistry I and II).
  • CS 2212 (discrete structures)
  • Econ 3035, 3750 (econometrics), 4220 (social choice theory), and 4260 (game theory).

However, individual approval from the DUS for your specific situation is still required. You do not automatically qualify by taking at least 6 hours from these courses.

Updated HC, Feb 13, 2024