• Question: how many hours of maths do you do daily

    Asked by were522case on 24 Jan 2025.
    • Photo: Paul Terrill

      Paul Terrill answered on 24 Jan 2025:

      For me personally these days, not a huge amount of actual hands on maths. I do a lot of logical thinking that is based around statistical ideas but I wouldn’t really call it ‘doing maths’. Maybe less than an hour most days!

      I do also look at and check other people’s work where they use maths to do statistical analyses. They do a lot more than me!

      Earlier in my career I maybe spent 2 to 3 hours a day doing statistical analyses.

Comments

  • Photo: Edward

    Edward commented on :

    Not as much as I would like. I used to do a lot when I was a junior researcher as I was just focussed on one or two projects and actively writing code, solving equations and developing models. Then, as you progress, you take more leadership duties and less programming/maths tasks as you have junior staff to work on that.
    I do maths and programming every so often as I enjoy it but it is also satisfying to guide others.
    Even if you aren’t doing the maths in university, you still need to check what others are doing so the knowledge is still very useful.