2021-2022 Catalog

Major Requirements

COURSEWORK

The minimum requirements for the major outlined below allow a student great flexibility in designing a course of study to meet their own intellectual and career goals.

Fundamental courses

Calculus 1

4 units

Calculus 2

4 units

MATH 210Discrete Mathematics

4 units

MATH 212Multivariable Calculus

4 units

MATH 214Linear Algebra

4 units

Any student who places out of a Calculus 1 or Calculus 2 class satisfies the corresponding requirement for the Math Major.

Students must receive a grade of C or above in each of MATH 210, MATH 212, and MATH 214 in order to graduate with a Mathematics major. If a student does not receive a grade of C or higher, the department chair will support a Petition for Special Consideration requesting to repeat the course. Only the most recent grade will count towards satisfying the 200-level requirement.

At least two of the required 200-level Mathematics courses (MATH 210, MATH 212 and MATH 214) must be taken at Occidental College except by approval of the chair. Exceptions must be filed by submitting a Petition for Special Consideration.

Advanced Courses

Students must have 24 units of Mathematics courses numbered 310 or above (excluding MATH 400).

Colloquium Requirement

MATH 300Junior Colloquium

2 units

MATH 400Senior Colloquium

2 units

Breadth requirement

Students must take one course from the following approved list of courses (students can petition the department to have a course not on the list count for the breadth requirement): 

CHEM 355Bioinformatics

2 units

COMP 131Fundamentals of Computer Science

4 units

COMP 229Data Structures

4 units

COMP 347Machine Learning

4 units

ECON 272Applied Econometrics

4 units

ECON 305Game Theory

4 units

ECON 306Advanced Econometrics

4 units

PHIL 350/MATH 350Metalogic

4 units

PHYS 110Introductory Mechanics

4 units

PHYS 115General Physics I

4 units

PHYS 117Waves and Thermal Physics

4 units

PHYS 230Introductory Electricity and Magnetism

4 units

PHYS 240Modern Physics

4 units

PHYS 261Simulations in Physics

4 units

PHYS 310Mathematical Methods in Physics

4 units

PHYS 320Analytical Dynamics

4 units

PHYS 350Statistical Physics

4 units

PHYS 361Computational Physics

4 units

PHYS 367Mathematical Methods in Physics II

4 units

The Mathematics department has prepared guidelines for majors considering future study or careers in pure and applied mathematics, education, actuarial science, and computer science. These guidelines are available in the Students section on our website.