Consider areas in Mathematics such as Percolation Theory, Reliability Engineering, Reliability Theory, Theoretical Physics, Theoretical Computer Science, Algebraic Geometry — do I write the names with a capital letter or with small letters?
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3You can do either one, but be consistent. (And proper names like Banach in Banach spaces should be capitalized regardless.) – Peter Shor Aug 08 '16 at 17:01
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I'd say with small letters (as Wikipedia does, unless proper names are involved), but note that sometimes these are names of university departments or groups, and then you'd use capitals. – Řídící Aug 08 '16 at 17:02
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1Also see Should “Applied Cryptography” be capitalized? Is it a proper noun? and Should the area in which you received your master's degree be capitalized? among others. – choster Aug 08 '16 at 17:12
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Capitalising mathematical nouns are puzzling because you need to know whether some noun is a proper noun such as Hilbert or Banach. Also, some institutional names, degree names and course names are capitalised even though the nouns generally not.
1. Area names with proper nouns such as author names or people names with capital
Bayesian theory, Boolean algebra, Banach spaces, Hilbert spaces -- where the first word is actually a proper name of a person so hence capital
and in comparison the following are not proper nouns
percolation theory, algebraic geometry, theoretical physics -- small letter because no name in the names
2. Degree names in capital
Master degree is a proper noun so hence it should be capitalised, instructed in Should the area in which you received your master's degree be capitalized?, so Master of Science in Operations Research or Master of Science in Philosophy are all capitalised.
3. Official names of courses are capitalised such as Linear Algebra Course I
Example demonstrated with cryptography courses in Should "Applied Cryptography" be capitalized? Is it a proper noun?
