Glossary
Mathematician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential mathematician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key mathematician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in mathematician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Algorithm
- Step-by-step method.
- Cryptography
- Math of secure codes.
- Differential equation
- Equation with rates of change.
- LaTeX
- Math typesetting.
- Linear algebra
- Math of vectors and matrices.
- Model
- Math representation.
- NSA
- Large employer of mathematicians.
- Number theory
- Study of integers.
- Numerical analysis
- Computing approximations.
- Optimization
- Finding the best solution.
- Probability
- Math of chance.
- Proof
- Logical demonstration.
- Simulation
- Modeling over time.
- Theorem
- Proven statement.
- Topology
- Study of shapes.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Mathematician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Mathematician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.