Industrial mathematics. (Q2585393)

Summary: The report consists of three major sections. The first discusses mathematical specialists in industry, calls attention to the essentially consultative character of their work, and makes some observations regarding the education, employment and supervision of this type of personnel. The second section deals, not with the work of these specialists, but with the uses to which mathematics is put at the hands of industrial workers in general, the various ways in which it contributes to the economy and effectiveness of research, and the kinds of mathematics that are most used. A number of illustrations are given, together with brief surveys of the utilization of mathematics in four important industries: communications, electrical manufacturing, petroleum and aircraft. The third section is devoted to statistics, which touches industrial life at rather different points, and hence could not conveniently be included in the general discussion. This discussion of the part which Mathematics might play and to a certain extent is playing in industry was prepared for the National Research Council Survey of Industrial Research, a survey undertaken at the request of the National Resources Planning Board. The document which the survey produced has been published as ``Research -- A National Resource, Part II, Industrial Research'' and is available through the Government Printing Office.