Not everything is smooth and continuous. Discrete mathematics deals with the countable and the separate — networks, arrangements, whole-number structures — the natural language of computers. Applied and computational mathematics then turns all of maths into a tool: methods for actually computing answers, finding the best option, and predicting how systems evolve over time.

The areas to explore

Count the uncountable-looking with combinatorics — arrangements, selections and clever counting arguments. Study networks of dots and lines in graph theory. Learn to compute answers a formula can't give you in numerical analysis. Find the best possible choice with optimization. And explore how systems change, spiral and descend into chaos in dynamical systems.