MATH FOR CHEMISTS

Abstract

MATHEMATICAL methods courses have long been a fixture of physics departments, but they are rare in chemistry departments. Only a handful of chemistry departments offer them. The departments that do offer such classes find that they can put a chemical spin on mathematical tools that enable other chemistry classes to be taught with greater depth. Most chemistry departments, however, send their students to the math department for any extra math training. But math departments “focus so much on the math itself ” that they fail to fully explain how chemistry students can use that math in their work, says Jiwoong Park, a physical chemist at Cornell University who has taught a math methods class. Curt Wittig, a professor of physical chemistry and chemical physics, has taught a math methods course at the University of Southern California for more than 20 years. Incoming students in physical and theoretical chemistry are required to take the class, “unless ...