Mathematics and Physics

Mathematics and physics is one of the most demanding and most rewarding of all undergraduate combinations, addressing the two disciplines that together provide the deepest account of how the natural world works. Mathematics provides the language of physical theory, the rigorous framework within which physical laws are formulated and their consequences derived. Physics supplies the content and the questions, asking how matter, energy, space, and time are structured and governed, from the quantum scale to the cosmological.

Studying them together means developing fluency in both the mathematical reasoning and the physical intuition that the most powerful scientific work requires.

At the University of Surrey this three-year programme gives you a deeper understanding of mathematics than a single physics degree would typically include, and applies that understanding to the solution of physics problems at the frontier of the discipline. Whether you think of the degree as applied mathematics or theoretical physics, the combination develops a sophisticated mathematical toolkit, covering areas such as analysis, differential equations, linear algebra, and numerical methods, deployed in the service of understanding classical and quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, and relativity. You will develop both analytical skills and the capacity for careful, sustained reasoning about difficult problems.

Graduates from mathematics and physics programmes are exceptionally well prepared for careers in research, both in academia and in the technology and defence sectors. Roles in finance, data science, actuarial work, software engineering, and scientific computing are also common destinations, as are careers in physics-adjacent industries including photonics, semiconductors, instrumentation, and engineering physics. The rigour and abstraction of the programme is recognised and valued by employers who need people who can think precisely about complex problems.

Further study at postgraduate level in physics, applied mathematics, or a specialist area of physics is a natural next step for those interested in research.