Maths and philosophy is one of the more eyebrow-raising of the joint schools. It is a substantial undertaking, but worthwhile, being the only subject anyone sensible can really want to study.

Note first that most of the maths you will study is pure, and you can float serenely through without ever being confronted with a differential equation. If you do fancy getting grubby with such things, then the opportunity is there later, but the first year groundwork is not on the MP syllabus.

First year philosophy consists of two three-hour papers examined at the end of the year: Introduction to Philosophy and Frege’s Foundations of Arithmetic, and Elements of Deductive Logic. The Introduction does exactly what is says on the tin: a quick tour of the subject’s highlights, including scepticism, ethics, and personal identity. The Frege is an attempt to reduce all maths to logic, and is rather subtle and difficult to master.

These are taught as is all philosophy: an essay every week or two based on plenty of reading, then a tutorial with a genuine philosopher and a couple of other students, discussing the essays and issues. Oxford philosophy is mostly analytic, consisting of analysis of arguments: given a contentious topic, you will examine the various arguments, their validity, assumptions, consequences, etc. Most important is good note-taking; rereading the entire year’s work weeks before the exam because your original notes were so shoddy is not a merry business. Good notes are thorough but concise.

Later philosophy is much the same. No exams in second year (but some maths), but in third year three or four papers (a term’s work each), comprising Knowledge and Reality, Philosophy of Maths, and paper(s) of your choice (options include particular authors and specific topics).

The other first year paper, logic, is a different beastie, consisting of technical exercises rather than essays. It will look alien and intimidating, but shouldn’t alarm the scientifically minded.

The course is now a three-year BA, but a fourth year MMathPhil is natural and painless, and can consist of either subject or both in any proportion.