Those of us working in applied mathematics are well aware that our field has many important uses in the real world. But if we are put on the spot during a conversation and asked to give some examples it can be difficult to conjure up a convincing list.
One response is to point people to The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics. Its 186 articles contains a large number of examples of how applied mathematics is put to work in fields such as sport, engineering, economics, physics, biology, computer science, and finance.
Another way to convince people of the value of applied mathematics is to get them to watch the 1-minute SIAM video below. It was constructed from interviews conducted at a variety of SIAM conferences and comprises snippets of 25 mathematicians saying what they use mathematics for.
Well done to Karthika Swamy Cohen and Michelle Montgomery at SIAM, Adam Bauser and his team at Bauser Media Group, and Sonja Stark at PilotGirl Productions, for producing this great advertisement for applied mathematics!
Nick Higham 