A Fortnightly Electronic Newsletter from the Hope
College Department of Mathematics
September 10, 2003
Vol. 2, No. 1
First colloquium of the year is set for
tomorrow
What is a quadrature? What is a lune? What do these have to
do with squaring a circle? Find answers to these questions and
find out what kind of fun the students in the History of Mathematics
course are having at tomorrow's colloquium. The colloquium,
"Hippocrates' Quadrature of the Lune," will be presented by Professor
John Stoughton and is scheduled for Thursday, September 11, at 4:00
p.m. in VanderWerf 104.
The Problem of the Fortnight makes its
debut
Although the Puzzler on "Car Talk" is still on vacation, the Problem of
the Fortnight is here to take its place! The problem for this,
the nineteenth fortnight of the year, is:
A merchant had a 40-pound weight that broke into 4 pieces. When the
pieces were weighed, it was found that each piece was a whole number of
pounds and that the four pieces could be used to weigh every integral
weight between 1 and 40 pounds. What are the weights of the
pieces? (Weighing means using a balance scale having two pans,
with weights being put on either pan.)
Drop your solutions in the "Problem of the Fortnight" tray outside Dr.
Pearson's office (VWF 212) by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September
17. A complete solution should include the combinations used to
weigh each of the integral weights from 1 to 40 pounds. Authors
of correct solutions will receive a prize, and the person who submits
the best solution will be awarded a "blue ribbon" prize. In addition to
the fortnightly prizes, a "grand prize" will be awarded to the person
who submits the most correct solutions over the course of the fall
semester.
Surfing the Web
Need a break from your studies? Can't get the merchant's weights
problem out of your mind? Check out http://www.cut-the-knot.org/
for some fun mathematical diversions -- play a game, work a puzzle, or
read 43 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem, including one by President
James Garfield! You will find a plethora of mathematical
activities at this site, many of which include cool java applets.
Elvis makes headlines all
summer
Tim Pennings and his canine companion Elvis have been making headlines
and featured as cover stories all summer long. Last school year,
Professor Pennings wrote a paper describing how Elvis seemed to take
the optimal path (similar to those determined using calculus) to fetch
a ball thrown in Lake Michigan. His paper appeared last May in
the College Mathematics Journal
along with a picture of Elvis on the
cover. Since then, Elvis has had his picture has been on the
cover of the News from Hope
and the Mathematical Association's
newsletter Focus.
Newspaper and magazine articles as well as
radio interviews and articles on the Web about Elvis have also appeared
all over the world. Elvis was even invited to appear on a
nationally syndicated talk show.
The mathematics department
welcomes three new faculty members this year
Airat
Bekmetjev
Mike Catalano
Mark Pearson
There are some new faces around the mathematics department this
year. Joining us are Airat Bekmetjev, Mike Catalano, and Mark
Pearson.
Airat Bekmetjev joins us from Gettysburg College, where
he held a visiting position last year. When Professor Bekmetjev
isn't working on probabilistic methods in discrete mathematics, he
enjoys reading, mountain skiing and weight lifting. Were he a
number, he would be the number 7 because, he says, "it plays an
important role in my life." Professor Bekmetjev received his
Diploma with Honors from Moscow State University and his Ph.D. from
Arizona State University.
Mike Catalano is on sabbatical from South Dakota Wesleyan University
and comes to the Hope Mathematics Department as an NSF/AIRE Fellow this
year. Professor Catalano did his graduate work in algebraic
topology and more recently has become interested in problems involving
graph theory and combinatorics. In his spare time he enjoys
"doing the guitar/folk-singing thing," playing tuba, camping, reading
and playing chess. Professor Catalano received his B.A. from St.
Olaf College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of
Minnesota.
Mark Pearson joins us this year after teaching at Northwestern
University and finishing his graduate work there last spring.
When he isn't engaged in teaching or working on problems related to his
research in algebraic topology, Professor Pearson enjoys music, sports
and reading. A native of Minnesota and resident of Chicago for
the past eight years, Professor Pearson is looking forward to a Cubs
vs. Twins World Series this year. Professor Pearson received his
B.A. from St. Olaf College, his M.A. from the University of Chicago,
and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
The mathematics department is looking
for quotes from students
The mathematics department is in the process of creating an admissions
brochure targeted towards high school students interested in
mathematics. We need YOU to provide us with student
comments. This is your opportunity to tell us what you think
about the Hope College mathematics department. Please send your
comments to jandersen@hope.edu. Thanks!
Time to start thinking about the
Michigan Autumn Take Home Challenge
The 2003 Michigan Autumn Take Home Challenge (or MATH Challenge) will
take place on the morning of Saturday, November 1 this year.
Teams of two or three students take a three-hour exam consisting of ten
interesting problems dealing with topics and concepts found in the
undergraduate mathematics curriculum. Each team takes the exam at
their home campus under the supervision of a faculty advisor.
Each year 20-30 teams compete in this competition with teams from Hope
regularly placing in the top three. Last year, two of our teams
tied for third behind Alma and Tri-State University.
Contact Prof. Cinzori for more details.
Two undergraduate mathematics
conferences are slated for this fall
There are two opportunities this fall for students to participate
in conferences.
The Pew Undergraduate Research
Symposium for the Physical Sciences and
Mathematics is scheduled for Friday to Sunday, November 12 to 14
at the
University of Chicago. This conference is for students who want
to give 15 minute talks or poster presentation. This is a great
opportunity for you to present your work from summer research or
independent
studies. See Prof. Andersen for more details.
The Michigan Undergraduate
Mathematics Conference
will be held on Saturday, October 25 at the Grand Rapids campus of GVSU
(the deadline for registration is October 17). This is another
great opportunity for students to give 15 minute talks about their
summer research or independent studies.
In addition, this is an excellent venue for students to obtain
information about graduate schools and career
opportunities. The keynote speaker is Dr. Suzanne Lenhart (Univ.
of Tennessee). For more details contact Prof. Andersen or go to http://www.gvsu.edu/math/mumc.html
.
