Tyler Jarvis

Applied and Computational Mathematics

I am director of the BYU Applied and Computational Mathematics Emphasis (ACME), a degree focused on developing the mathematical and computational tools needed for modern applications of mathematics.

Textbooks

The textbooks for the ACME program are being published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Volume 1: Mathematical Analysis and Volume 2: Algorithms, Approximation, Optimization can both be ordered directly from SIAM with free shipping!

Volume 1

• MathSciNet review (MR3671795): "Well written", "Rich material", "Thoughfully constructed", "Very valuable"
• Discussion on Nick Higham's blog: "Impressive book", "Beautifully typeset", "Ambitious project"
• Discussion about the opening of Chapter 15 on Reddit (more than 12,700 likes)
• SIAM video about the book.

Volume 2

• "For anyone curious about the math underlying modern computational science, this book offers just about everything you'll need. It's clear, comprehensive, and charming." - Steven Strogatz, Cornell University
• "I have been teaching from Humpherys and Jarvis's notes for this book since 2013, and I love it. This book should be a required reference for mathematicians, statisticians, economists, and data scientists." - Richard W. Evans, University of Chicago

Here is the table of contents for Volume 2.

Lab Materials

The labs for the ACME program are free and open source and are posted on GitHub.

Supplemental Readings

Some readings for ACME students, and anyone else interested, on ethics and other issues.

• The indispensible opposition by Walter Lippmann.
• Data Science Code of Conduct
• Princeton Ethics case studies
• O'Neill Weapons of Math Destruction (requires BYU login to access)
• Loukides, Mason, Patil Ethics and Data Science (free kindle edition)

Resources and Advice for Students

Here are some things I have sketched up to help my students. Feel free to share them with your own students or use the ideas yourself. I'd love to hear your suggestions about how to make these better---tweet them to @tj_jarvis.

• How to read a math book.
• How not to study.
• How to get the most out of class.

Research

• Much of my past research was in the general area of algebraic geometry, but I enjoy exploring almost every subject.
• Many of my research publications are available at the arXiv.org preprint server
• Here are a few of my papers that are not available at arXiv.org:
  • T. Jarvis, Compactification of the universal Picard over the moduli of stable curves. Mathematische Zeitschrift 235, 123-149 (2000).
  • T. Jarvis and J. Tanton, The Hairy Ball Theorem via Sperner's Lemma. American Mathematical Monthly, 111, no. 7, 599-603 (2004).
  • T. Jarvis, Class Size and Teacher Effects on Student Achievement and Dropout Rates in University-Level Calculus. Preprint.

For more about me, look at my curriculum vitae

Talks and Presentations and Popular Writing

• Struggle and Success. Struggle is not weakness--it is how we grow.
• That's How the Light Gets In. (BYU Devotional 9 July 2013). Video (YouTube), Audio (mp3), Text (PDF)
• Advice for New Faculty (given at MAA MathFest) HTML Summary of Slides

Contact information

Department of Mathematics
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602 USA

Telephone: +1 801-420-8195
Email: my last name at

Other Resources You May Find Useful

• LDS and Other Religious Resources
• Advice for New Faculty
• A guide to voting systems in Utah
• Algebraic Geometry Resources
• BYU Math Department Library Catalog (Note: this is not the university math library. For that catalog, go to the Harold B. Lee Library)
• Directions to the BYU Math Department