<p>From what I’ve seen, the majors that demand the most problem solving are all in the design industry(such as graphic design, industrial design, and architecture). Now I know that problem solving occurs in most to all majors, but it seems that this component of solving puzzles is exclusive to the design industry. Are there any other fields where problem solving is so heavily involved?</p>
<p>Any kind of science, if you’re doing research. Just taking science classes gives you a huge amount of info to memorize- when you do research, you put all of that information to use and (hopefully) discover something new.</p>
<p>Math. All it really is is one big puzzle. </p>
<p>I don’t really agree with design majors needing that much problem solving skills either. Especially compared to the sciences.</p>
<p>Try Mathematics. That’s the most obvious one.</p>
<p>There’s also Computer Science, and any kind of engineering. Basically, STEM majors.</p>
<p>Most majors involve a great deal of problem-solving. The question is what sort of problems you’d like to solve. How can I write a computer program that does ___? What political intervention might solve x, y and z economic problems? How can I reconcile two conflicting themes in a piece of literature? What’s an effective training plan for a particular athlete?</p>
<p>I was a math major in college but the most “problem-solving intensive” classes I had were programming classes. Problem-solving in math is… overrated. In the words of one of my machine learning professors: He’d rather teach statistics to computer science majors than hire math majors. Computer science majors can think on their feet, whereas math majors shut down when they encounter a problem whose solution they didn’t see in class.</p>
<p>My second favorite problem-solving class was an upper-level sociology class. It forced me to synthesize a large amount of information, which felt a bit like “open-ended problem solving.” (Is there a hidden variable that explains many seemingly unrelated social phenomenons?)</p>
<p>I agree that math and computer science have a fair amount of problem-solving, although I can’t really speak for how much they have in relation to other disciplines.</p>
<p>@barium: That’s interesting what you said about math versus CS in problem-solving. I’ve only been at my school for a year, but where I am it sort of seems the other way around–it seems like that math majors are more versatile, and the CS majors get stuck more quickly on math/tricky problems that they didn’t see in class. In my experience, a lot of people enter CS thinking that they’re just going to learn how to program and manipulate the operating system, and get put off by the amount of theory and math. Maybe it varies from school to school, or maybe I just haven’t seen enough to really tell. Maybe part of it is because I’ve been taking higher-level math courses and lower-level CS courses too.</p>
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It is true that there are many CS majors who don’t particularly like math. But those wouldn’t be the ones who volunteer to learn a fair bit of math for a machine learning project 
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<p>I think both you and my professor made valid observations that need not contradict each other. I do agree with my professor that math majors think very much in terms of things they have learned: there are the calculus problems and the linear algebra problems and the geometry problems. If you give a tricky calculus problem to a math major and a computer science major, the math major is probably going to solve it first. But if you give them a math problem that’s nothing like anything they have seen before - not calculus, not algebra, not geometry - math majors tend to be quite helpless while computer science majors seem more willing to brainstorm ideas. In the end the CS major might “only” come up with an algorithm to compute an approximate solution, but that’s still much better than no solution at all.</p>
<p>computational math major here. do I win?</p>
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haha every major has their pride and superieurity of some kind. my computational math profs always talk about how many cs majors dont like to do math at all</p>
<p>op seems to be in a design school so no science i guess</p>
<p>Economics (and econometrics in particular - economic statistics, for those of you unfamiliar with the term) involves a great deal of problem solving. Essentially for any research problem you want to solve, you have to isolate the independent variable in order to assess the impact on the dependent variable, and once computed, you see what weight each variable has in affecting the total equation (and if it is statistically significant or not). Then it is up to you to interpret the quantitative data and its implications, another form of problem solving. Majors that are more qualitatively/writing focused have their own forms of problem solving (but those tend to be based off style, persuasion, argument etc. rather than actual content).</p>
<p>I should have specified, the type of problem solving im interested in is the kind that involves creative enginuity and experimentation, not drafting research papers. If I could liken it to something most people are familiar with, i’d say im interested in something closer to the type of problem solving in jigsaw puzzles, or games like tetris or legend of zelda - basically a career that involves putting an object together from smaller components. Im interested in majors where you do projects more than you write research papers.</p>
<p>While science and math has its share of problem solving in school, from what i’ve researched, you cant get jobs that apply directly to what you studied unless you get a Phd and even then its about as competetive as law school (I would be interested in that too if that industry didnt have the problems it does).</p>
<p>“I don’t really agree with design majors needing that much problem solving skills either. Especially compared to the sciences.”</p>
<p>Are you familiar with the field? In general, designing involves creating objects and predicting how people will interact with objects in various scenarios. Design problems involve studying how objects function in relation to other objects, thinking about
what sort of problems people could encounter using an object, how to maximize the functionality of an object, maximize interest with it while minimizing confusion and the learning curve with using with the object.</p>
<p>From what I’ve investigated with science and math, these majors are just more quantitative but the sort of problems that are solved are similar to philosophical problems (discovering things) moreso than making things. structural Engineering and some other types of engineering are the closest quantative fields that seems similar to the type of problem solving I have in mind, but other than that I dont really see too many science majors that fit the bill.</p>
<p>“op seems to be in a design school so no science i guess”</p>
<p>Not in a design school, but it seems like the closest thing I’d be interested in - thus the username.</p>
<p>actually, scientific research can be exactly as you’ve described, just like a jigsaw puzzle where you put together pieces. I guess it’s kind of hard to see that when there’s so much technical background required to even understand what’s going on, but that’s exactly what they do. the most consistently successful scientists, the ones finding the interesting major discoveries, are going to be those who are the most creative, innovative, and smart. of course you’re not going to be doing much ‘problem solving’ if you’re just out of college with a BA working as a technician in a lab. but when you finally make it up there, your career depends entirely on your ability and creativity.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the engineering fields, but I’d guess it’s pretty much the same. Although their types of problems probably have more direct answers. </p>
<p>Economics too - statistics, everything else falalalena said, they all have their own specific paths to great deals of problem solving.</p>
<p>Depending on what you go into I would say sciences and engineering and CS have a good deal of problem solving.</p>
<p>To say something that hasn’t been said yet Genetics can have a lot of problem solving in it. I’m in a genetics course right now and there is a very problem solving element to the class. Of course there is also a good deal of memorization and concepts.</p>
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<p>Physics, computer science, and any kind of engineering all fit this description. Please take this time to admit you don’t know enough about computer science, physics, or engineering to express valid opinions on them. Thank you! :-D</p>
<p>^ To be fair, his ignorance of those three subjects is no less profound than the general ignorance of Design expressed in this thread - particularly the notion that high level problem solving is somehow exclusive to quant majors and that design doesnt have that same level of problem solving. Im not trying to start something with the guy who said the latter, im just pointing out that no one called him out on his ignorance of the subject either. </p>
<p>Also, if he were knowledgable about those fields he wouldnt have started the thread in the first place. Plus he said he was interested in engineering, he never mentioned computer science, and he seems to want a major where he’ll get a job in the field he studied in school (which is completely unusual for physics even with a phd) so yeah…</p>
<p>I started out wanting to major in industrial design. My uncles a graphic designer. At one point in my life, all my friends were artsy fartsy design majors who liked watching Godard during the weekends. Im pretty familiar with design. All the problem solving they face is rooted in the sciences. The design part is just applying a certain aesthetic to it. You know how the aeron chair was designed? Stumpf consulted engineers and doctors. Its necessary. The design of advertisements is rooted in the social sciences. I personally believe that the problems they face are solved with math and science. The design part is just smoothing lines and what not to make things pretty. </p>
<p>In my opinion.</p>
<p>I think OP is confusing majors and careers. One career area that might to fit into your idea of problem solving involving creative engenuity and experimentation is cryptology. check this out [Cryptologic</a> Access Summer Intern Program for Undergraduates at the National Security Agency (NSA)](<a href=“http://www.nsa.gov/careers/opportunities_4_u/students/undergraduate/cap.shtml]Cryptologic”>National Security Agency Careers | Apply Now)
Note the major fields specified: Physics, Computer Science, Math, Electrical and Computer Engineering. Extremely project-based fields, that are NOT graphic design/industrial design/architecture. I’d argue that the main difference between the science/engineering/math fields and the architecture/design field is the speed in which you can get started in your career. You tend to do seriously creative/experimental projects a lot earlier in engineering fields than with architectural design, and are required to undergo a much longer training/schooling process with the latter (vs. you can potentially get a pretty nice projects-based engineering job right out of undergrad). Just something to consider</p>
<p>I consider the smoothing lines part the “art” not necessarily the design. It seems that the tc considers this part the design as well judging by his response to you. Also, people do find prettier objects easier to use than ugly ones - so the art factors into the design as well in the end.</p>