Scientific Computing VS Numerical Methods VS Math Methods? A professor mentioned these in conversation as courses I ought to take. Preliminary research suggests that these are different names for the same course. Can you please verify this?
 A: A Numerical Methods course will probably cover methods for the numerical solution of differential equations, but may also cover numerical methods in linear algebra - methods for inverting and multiplying large matrices, for example. The focus will be on the accuracy, efficiency and stability of various algorithms.
Scientific Computing is likely to have a broader subject range, and may include topics such as modelling and simulation, data visualisation and statistical analysis of large data sets.
Mathematical Methods could cover many different areas - a course on mathematical methods for physicists, for example, would be very different from a course on mathematical methods for economists. A Mathematical Methods course is likely to be more theoretical than either of the other two courses, with less emphasis on programming.
Your best approach when comparing these courses is to get a syllabus showing what topics each course covers at your particular institution. Maybe see if there is a standard textbook associated with each course, and then look at that text in your library. Then you can see how much overlap there is between the courses and which one (or which combination)  is the best fit to what you are looking for.
