INDUSTRIA L MA THEM A TICS 259 



sary even in the theoretical treatment of practical problems. This usually 

 means that the type of mathematician who could not do a good engineering 

 job if he turned his hand to it will not get on very well in an industrial career. 



Second, he must be gregarious and sympathetic. If he shuts himself 

 off from his associates, much of his thinking will have no bearing on their 

 needs and that which does will exert less influence than it might. If he 

 does not translate his thoughts into their language, they will miss the 

 significance of much of his work and he will have but a limited clientele. 



Third, he must be cooperative and unselfish. A man cannot be at once 

 consultant and competitor to his associates. Self-seeking attempts to gain 

 credit for his contributions to the industry will inevitably alienate his 

 clientele. There are two reasons for this: In the first place a mathemati- 

 cian's appraisal of mathematical work, even if made from a detached point 

 of view, is heavily weighted on the side of its fundamental scientific sig- 

 nificance, whereas its industrial value should be judged on very different 

 grounds and can best be appraised by the engineer. In the second place, 

 the engineer in charge of a project can give credit without embarrassment 

 for help received; it is to his credit to have known where help was to be had. 

 The same story told by another, and particularly by the consultant himself, 

 has an entirely different flavor. 



Fourth, he must be versatile. Jobs change, and even the same job 

 may give rise to questions which require very different mathematical 

 techniques. 



Fifth, he must be a man of outstanding ability. No one wants the 

 advice of mediocrity. Among industrial mathematicians there is no place 

 for the average man. 



Employment and Supervision 



Perhaps the greatest hazard in hiring mathematicians for industry 

 arises from the fact that the employment ofl&cer is not often a judge of 

 mathematical ability. Paradoxically, however, his mistakes are not 

 usually made in judging mathematical aptitude, since general scholastic 

 rating is an unusually trustworthy index of mathematical ability. But 

 because of a feeling of incompetence bred by his lack of mathematical 

 lore, he spreads the mantle of charity over other characteristics with regard 

 to which he should trust his own judgment. If, for example, the applicant 

 gives an incoherent account of the problems on which he has been working, 

 the interviewer excuses it on the ground of his own lack of mathematical 

 training, an excuse which would be quite adequate if the circumstances 

 demanded that he meet the applicant on the applicant's ground. What he 



