Full-time equivalent

Full-time equivalent (FTE) or whole time equivalent (WTE) is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a worker's or student's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization. An FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker or student, while an FTE of 0.5 signals half of a full work or school load.

U.S. Federal Government

In the U.S. Federal Government, FTE is defined by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as the number of total hours worked divided by the maximum number of compensable hours in a full-time schedule as defined by law. For example, if the normal schedule for a quarter is defined as 411.25 hours ( [35 hours per week * (52 weeks per year – 5 weeks regulatory vacation)] / 4), then someone working 100 hours during that quarter represents 100/411.25 = 0.24 FTE. Two employees working in total 400 hours during that same quarterly period represent 0.97 FTE.

FTE

FTE may refer to:

In business and economics

In government and organisations

In science and technology

Applied mathematics

Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that deals with mathematical methods that find use in science, engineering, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical science and specialized knowledge. The term "applied mathematics" also describes the professional specialty in which mathematicians work on practical problems by formulating and studying mathematical models. In the past, practical applications have motivated the development of mathematical theories, which then became the subject of study in pure mathematics where abstract concepts are studied for their own sake. The activity of applied mathematics is thus intimately connected with research in pure mathematics.

History

Historically, applied mathematics consisted principally of applied analysis, most notably differential equations; approximation theory (broadly construed, to include representations, asymptotic methods, variational methods, and numerical analysis); and applied probability. These areas of mathematics related directly to the development of Newtonian physics, and in fact, the distinction between mathematicians and physicists was not sharply drawn before the mid-19th century. This history left a pedagogical legacy in the United States: until the early 20th century, subjects such as classical mechanics were often taught in applied mathematics departments at American universities rather than in physics departments, and fluid mechanics may still be taught in applied mathematics departments.Quantitative finance is now taught in mathematics departments across universities and mathematical finance is considered a full branch of applied mathematics.Engineering and computer science departments have traditionally made use of applied mathematics.