Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Data and analytics / 15-2021.00

Mathematicians

Conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields. Solve problems in various fields using mathematical methods.

US jobs
2,030
Median wage
$126,710 a year
Job family
Data and analytics

Can agents do the work of mathematicians?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Data and analytics:

  • Task levelPartialOne direct benchmark, near its ceiling. On Spider 2.0-Snow, which asks for multi-step SQL against large business databases, the top agent reaches 96.7% execution accuracy, but the entry names no model. Adjacent spreadsheet tasks agree (83.1% on SpreadsheetBench). No benchmark in our collection tests open-ended analysis, where the right question is itself unclear.
  • Project levelPartialMixed, adjacent evidence. On MLE-bench, 75 offline Kaggle competitions, the best agent wins a medal in 64.4% of competitions. The Remote Labor Index includes data analysis projects; across all its projects, the best agent completed 15.8% to a standard a client would accept.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in data and analytics, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Mentor others on mathematical techniques.
  • Maintain knowledge in the field by reading professional journals, talking with other mathematicians, and attending professional conferences.
  • Develop new principles and new relationships between existing mathematical principles to advance mathematical science.
  • Disseminate research by writing reports, publishing papers, or presenting at professional conferences.
  • Assemble sets of assumptions, and explore the consequences of each set.
  • Perform computations and apply methods of numerical analysis to data.
  • Address the relationships of quantities, magnitudes, and forms through the use of numbers and symbols.
  • Conduct research to extend mathematical knowledge in traditional areas, such as algebra, geometry, probability, and logic.
  • Develop mathematical or statistical models of phenomena to be used for analysis or for computational simulation.
  • Apply mathematical theories and techniques to the solution of practical problems in business, engineering, the sciences, or other fields.
  • Develop computational methods for solving problems that occur in areas of science and engineering or that come from applications in business or industry.
  • Design, analyze, and decipher encryption systems designed to transmit military, political, financial, or law-enforcement-related information in code.
Other job titles for this occupation (17)

Agent-Based Modeler · Computational Mathematician · Computational Scientist · Cryptographer · Cryptographic Vulnerability Analyst · Mathematician · Research Computing Specialist · Research Scientist · Researcher · Algebraist · Applied Mathematician · Cipher Expert · Cryptanalyst · Engineering Mathematician · Game Mathematician · Geometrician · Math Researcher (Mathematics Researcher)