MAA Math Alert - May 2008

News and Views

Twelve USAMO Winners Announced
This year, 505 outstanding high school students qualified for the 2008 USA Mathematical Olympiad. On April 29-30, these students tackled a challenging, six-question exam, distributed via the Internet to their schools. See the Winners

MathFest 2008 Registration
Join the MAA at MathFest 2008, July 31- August 2 in Madison, WI.Last year's MathFest enjoyed record attendance, andregistration so far this year suggests that MathFest 2008 will be even bigger! Don't miss out on this opportunity to be a part of the largest summer meeting of mathematicians. Learn More

MathFest Short Course: Game-Theoretic Modeling: Techniques and Applications
Anytime one person’s decision can affect another person, that situation can be modeled by game theory.This cocktail party description hints at how game theory can be considered a collection of tools and techniques for modeling diverse applications.The object of this short course is to study both the mathematical techniques and the range of applications they model. Learn More

MAA Reviews
Looking for something interesting to read or new for the classroom? Check out the MAA’s book review database. Read More

MAA Contributed Paper Sessions, 2009 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Washington, D.C.
The MAA Committee on Contributed Paper Sessions is calling for papers to contributed sessions at the 2009 Joint Mathematics Meetings. Read More

Terence Tao Elected to National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences announced on April 29 the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from nine countries. Terence Tao, a Chinese-Australian mathematician from the University of California, Los Angeles was elected as a foreign associate. Read More

Coming to the Classroom: Mathematical Software for the Blind
Mathematician Elizabeth Jones of Indiana State University, who serves as a consultant for ViewPlus Technologies in Corvallis, OR , has helped create mathematical software for visually impaired students, most of whom attend mainstream classrooms. Read More

Featured Articles

The Mathematical Tourist by Ivars Peterson: The Most Marvelous Theorem
"What makes a theorem great?" To Dan Kalman of American University, a great theorem is one that surprises. "It is simple to understand, answers a natural question, and involves familiar mathematical concepts," he writes in the April Math Horizons. Read More

The Math Factor Podcast by Chaim Goodman-Strauss: The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
Neil Sloane of AT&T Labs shares some his favorite integer sequences from his online encyclopedia. Listen

New From the MAA

Hard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Contest
Hard Problems is about the extraordinary students who represented the United States in 2006 at the world's toughest math competition: the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Read More

The Contest Problem Book VIII: American Mathematics Competitions (AMC 10) 2000-2007
For more than 50 years, the Mathematical Association of America has constructed and administered challenging contests for students in U.S. and Canadian high schools. Read More

The College Geometry Project
From 1965 – 1971, the National Science Foundation funded a group of geometers to produce a series of geometry films at the University of Minnesota . The geometers developed twelve beautiful films over a period of six years. These films are now available on DVD. Read More