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Spring 2013
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Computational Mathematics

Programs

Computational Mathematics (MMath)
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The Master of Mathematics program in Computational Mathematics is administered through the Centre of Computational Mathematics in Industry and Commerce (CCMIC). It is expected that students will normally take twelve months to complete the program.

Admission Requirements

Applications will be made to the CCMIC, according to the usual procedures for the Faculty of Mathematics. The Graduate Program Committee of the CCMIC will review applications and make appropriate recommendations. The CM graduate committee will determine the suitability of each applicant's background for success in this program.

The program is targeted to students with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, statistics, or computer science, or in another program with a strong mathematical component including economics, engineering and any of the physical sciences.

Students with strong backgrounds in some core areas may be granted exemption from the corresponding core courses required by the program; in each such case another course will be substituted for the exempted course so that the total courses required remains the same.

The minimum requirements for admission to the MMath program (Computational Mathematics) normally include: 

  • A 4-year honours bachelor's degree or its equivalent with specialization in some area of the mathematical, statistical and computer sciences. Note: graduates of other quantitative and mathematically oriented programs are also encouraged to apply; this includes, but is not restricted to, graduates of commerce, economics, engineering, finance, and any of the physical sciences. The CM graduate committee will determine the suitability of each applicant’s background for success in this program.
  • An overall B+ (78%) average or its equivalent for undergraduate work.
  • Three letters of reference, normally from academic sources.
  • Proof of competency in English (if applicable), including a TOEFL score of at least 580 (paper based) or 237 (computer based) and 4.0 on the TWE, or 92 (internet based) including a Writing score of 24.

Deadline for applications is March 1 for entry the following September.


Degree Requirements

The degree requirements for the Master of Mathematics in Computional Mathematics include six one-term (0.50 unit weight) graduate level courses and completion of a master's research paper (1.0 unit weight).

Course requirements

Students are required to take six courses from lists A and B below. At least four must be taken from list A. Students are also required to attend a Symposium, which normally takes place the 3rd week in August, to present their research papers. 

List A Core Courses: 

  • CM 730 (CS 687) Introduction to Symbolic Computation
  • CM 740 (CO 602) Fundamentals of Optimization
  • CM 750 (AMATH 741/CS778) Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations
  • one of CM 761 (STAT 840) Computational Inference; CM 762 (STAT 842) Data Visualization; CM 763 (STAT 841) Statistical Learning - Classification; CM 764 (STAT 844) Statistical Learning - Function Estimation
  • CM 770 (AMATH 740/CS 670) Numerical Analysis

List B  (Courses typically held with undergraduate courses):

  • CO 650 Combinatorial Optimization
  • CO 652 Integer Programming
  • CO 663 Convex Optimization and Analysis
  • CO 666 Continuous Optimization
  • CO 671 Semi-definite Optimization
  • CO 681/CS 667 Quantum Information Processing
  • CO 685 The Mathematics of Public-Key Cryptography
  • CO 687 Applied Cryptography
  • CO 778/ACTSC 973 Portfolio Optimization
  • CO 781 Topics in Quantum Information
  • CS 666 Algorithm Design and Analysis
  • CS 673 Medical Image Processing
  • CS 676 Numeric Computation for Financial Modelling
  • CS 682 Computational Techniques in Biological Sequence Analysis
  • CS 683 Computational Techniques in Structural Bioinformatics
  • CS 686 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
  • CS 688 Introduction to Computer Graphics
  • CS 763 Computational Geometry
  • CS 774 Advanced Computational Finance
  • CS 775 Parallel Algorithms in Scientific Computing
  • CS 780 Advanced Symbolic Computation
  • CS 786 Probabilistic Inference and Machine Learning
  • CS 787 Computational Vision
  • CS 867 Advanced Topics in Quantum Information and Computation
  • STAT 846 Mathematical Models in Finance
  • STAT 901 Theory of Probability
  • ACTSC 970 Finance 1
  • AMATH 655 Control Theory
  • AMATH 663 Fluid Mechanics
  • AMATH 731 Applied Functional Analysis
  • AMATH 753 Advanced PDEs
  • AMATH 881 Introduction to Mathematical Oncology
  • AMATH 882 Mathematical Cell Biology
  • any other course at this level approved by the graduate committee.

The courses listed above are regularly offered within the Faculty. Other advanced courses are offered within the Faculty of Mathematics on topics of computational mathematics on a more irregular basis. These courses may be taken with approval of the graduate committee.  Similarly, courses offered outside the Faculty, in Computational Mathematics or in some area of its application may be approved by the graduate committee. At most two of the six courses taken may be courses in which undergraduate students predominate.  

Part-time students

The Master's in Computational Mathematics can also be taken on a part-time basis.  Part-time students will be expected to complete the program in a time period of two to three years.  The minimum duration of study for part-time students is two years.  

Master's Research Paper Requirement 

Students must undertake an independent research project culminating in a research paper. It is intended that the research project will be approximately the equivalent of two full courses and will be conducted under the direction of the student’s research supervisor.

To be successfully completed, the research paper must be unanimously approved by the student's advisory committee, consisting of the student’s research supervisor and one additional reader.

Students must maintain an average of 70% in order to remain in good standing. Formal progress reports will be required in the event that a student wishes or needs to remain in the program longer than one year. 


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