OFF ON A TANGENT
A Fortnightly Electronic Newsletter from the Hope College Department of Mathematics
November 15, 2006 Vol. 5, No. 6
http://www.math.hope.edu/newsletter.html


Upcoming Colloquia

In tomorrow's colloquium you will be given an introduction to the actuarial profession and the particular situations for a pension actuary for public plans.  The talk will include a case study on different ways of providing retirement benefits and making meaningful comparisons.


  Join us for Tea Time on Thursdays before colloquia

As part of our colloquium series this year, the mathematics department will host a "tea time" in the Reading Room (VWF 222) at 3:45 pm.  If tea isn't really your cup of tea, have no fear -- we'll provide some other beverages and snacks, too.  So please join us for a little food and fellowship before you go to the colloquia.  It'll be a great time to chat with the speaker, your professors and other students.


Students publish papers

Two Hope students, Dan Lithio and Shova KC, recently had papers published in the Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Journal.

Dan Lithio (with co-author Eric Webb from Case Western Reserve University) completed the paper "Optimizing a Volleyball Serve" during a summer research project here at Hope College past summer.  They worked with Prof. Tim Pennings to model the serve of a volleyball in order to find the serve that would give the receiving team the minimal time to react.

Shova KC (with co-author Anna Madras from Drury University) published the paper titled "Randomly Generated Triangles whose Vertices are Vertices of Regular Polygons."  This paper was written from research that they completed with Prof. Darin Stephenson in the summer of 2005.

The Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Math Journal is an online journal.  The issue that includes Dan's and Shova's papers can be found at http://www.rose-hulman.edu/mathjournal/v7n2.php.

Memorial service planned for Prof. Janet Andersen

Students, staff, and faculty of Hope College are invited to attend a memorial service for Janet Andersen as we approach the anniversary of her death last Thanksgiving.  The service will be held from 11:00 - 11:45 on Tuesday, November 21 in the organ studio of Nykerk Hall.

You are invited to submit written remembrances of Prof. Andersen.  These will be distributed at the service. Please send them to Prof. Carol Simon (simon@hope.edu) by Thursday, November 16.


Book Sale!

There is currently a mathematics book sale going on in the Reading Room (VWF 222).
The books are located in boxes by the windows.  The cost of each book is just 50 cents. 
You may pay for books in the main office.


Problem Solvers of the Fortnight 
Last week we had to find the total length of the zigzag path A1B2A2B2A3B3A4B4 .... in the figure below. 


The triangles Ai+1BiBi+1 are all 30-60-90 degree triangles.  This means that the lengths of segment Ai+1Bi+1 = sqrt(3)/2 times the length of segment Ai+1Bi.  This together with the given information means that the total length of the zigzag path A1B2A2B2A3B3A4B4 .... is



Congratulations to our problem solvers of the fortnight: Forrest Gordon, Kevin Butterfield, Katie Johnson, Elizabeth Yanney and Brett Jager.  The anonymous mathematician was also among those who zig-zagged their way to the answer.

Problem of the Fortnight 
As we head toward Thanksgiving, with thoughts of turkey dinners in our heads, it seems appropriate that the Problem of the Fortnight is a game called "Chomp."  (Please see the letter to Elvis below.)  Chomp is a two-person game that can be played on any size rectangular board as follows.  The first player selects any one of the squares and removes it from the board together with all the squares above and to the right of it.  (If the board is made of chocolate, a move is a bite, a "chomp" that removes the northeast corner of the board.)  The second player in turn selects any of the remaining squares and removes it from the board together with all the squares above and to the right of it.  The game continues in this way until it has to end -- when one player removes the bottom left square, and, by doing so, loses the game.

If the chomp board is a 10 x 10 square, can either player force a win?

Your solution (preferably written on a chocolate bar wrapper) should detail a clear strategy or explain why neither player can force a win.  Drop it in the Problem of the Fortnight slot outside Professor Pearson's office (VWF 212) by 3:00 on Wednesday, November 22.  Please be sure to include your name, your math class(es), as well as the name(s) of your professor(s) -- e.g. Al Gebra, Math 341, Professor E. Quations -- on your solution.  




Got a Math Question?

Ask Elvis ...

... email him at elvis@hope.edu

Dear Friends,

Just like Prof. Bekmetjev's study of Pebbling, mathematicians have studied different types of games for years.  A recent discovery about the game called Chomp is described in the article "Chaotic Chomp" found in Science News Online.  Check it out!

The picture of me resting above was not taken after I ate half a turkey last Thanksgiving, but it is my way of telling you that I have been doing a lot of "sitting around" this past fortnight.  This is because I didn't receive any questions to answer.  My mail box was just full of spam.  Don't hesitate to write me.  This will get me moving again as I do research for your response.  Just drop me a line at elvis@hope.edu.


In a 1990 interview, Paul Halmos (1916-2006) was asked, "What's the best part of being a mathematician?"  He responded, "I'm not a religious man, but it's almost like being in touch with God when you're thinking about mathematics. God is keeping secrets from us, and it's fun to try to learn some of the secrets."