General – Mathematical Association of America

Featured Resources

Calculus for Teachers: The Fundamental Theorem of Integral Calculus

By David Bressoud @dbressoud As of 2024, new Launchings columns appear on the third Tuesday of the month. The first step is to turn the definite integral into a function. This can be done by turning the upper limit into a variable, Since this is a function, one can seek to differentiate it. This tells...

Playful Math Smelled as Sweet as Pie

By Pup Horst Playful math Smelled As sweet as pie Happy Pi Day, everyone! As mentioned in our call for submissions, Math Values is celebrating this year with Pi-ku poems written by the community. Thank you everyone who sent us your poems! A Pi-ku is a short form poem based on the traditional Haiku; it...

Felix Klein: Visions for Mathematics, Applications, and Education

Robert Fricke once compared Felix Klein to a triptych whose central panel concerns Klein's mathematical research, and whose flanking panels concern his interests in education and his organizational skills. As Tobies explains in her preface, "the goal of this book is to put this triptych into words and enrich it with a human dimension". Mathematically, Klein is...

Algebra the Beautiful

We have all seen the coffee mug, card, or sign which reads “Well, another day has passed and I didn’t use algebra even once!” Such thoughts and attitudes are often expressed by many of those who found algebra to be perplexing and baffling while studying the subject in school. Author G. Arnell Williams demystifies algebra...

An Applied Mathematician’s Apology

This short book – really a long essay – offers an apologia (in the sense of a defense or explanation) of applied mathematics from the author’s perspective. The title mirrors G. H. Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology, perhaps rather ironically since Hardy was no fan of applied mathematics. The author reflects on his career in applied...

A Panoply of Polygons

MAA Press published A Panoply of Polygons by Claudi Alsina and Roger B. Nelsen on January 30, 2023. A few weeks later, on March 20, 2023, David Smith et al caused quite a stir announcing their discovery of an aperiodic monotile. The timing of the publication of Panoply was fortunate in that the book came out just as there is heightened interest in polygonal...

STEM in the Technopolis: The Power of STEM Education in Regional Technology Policy

This volume makes the case that the training of future STEM employees should begin as early as possible, as early as elementary grades. Case studies include industry, government, K-12 school systems and academia stakeholders coming together to collaborate on not only economic growth but also innovations in social inclusion and infrastructure. Improving K-12 students’ belief...

Experiencing Geometry, Physics, and Biology

The present book is the latest in a series of books by Professor Georg Glaeser and his coauthors highlighting geometric wonders for a general audience. Many of the topics have been covered in more detail among numerous earlier books, but they are now attractively illustrated by around three hundred video links (via hyperlink and QR...

Book cover of Experiencing Geometry, Physics, and Biology by Georg Glaeser and Franz Gruber. The cover is a blue gray in a gradient moving from dark to light from top to bottom. A fiddle-fern leaf is on the left side of the book. The title is in white text.

Elementary Functions

The book Elementary Functions by authors Andrei and Ludmila Bourchtein deals with pre-calculus topics related to elementary functions. Unlike many of the other books on the same subject, this one focuses on topics and techniques that were available before the introduction of the concept of limit, while maintaining a level of rigour appropriate for a university mathematics...

The Mathematics of Music and Art

The textbook under review presents the connections between the physical theory of sound, music theory, and mathematics to a general audience. It is based upon an interdisciplinary course co-taught by the author with a musicologist and a physicist. The two topics of music and mathematics are nicely woven throughout the course with each chapter having...

Book cover of "The Mathematics of Music and Art" by Arturo Portnoy, featuring a simple purple background with the title and author’s name in black text, and logos for Synthesis Lectures on Mathematics & Statistics and Springer.

Navigating the Math Major: Charting Your Course

This is a thoughtful guide for students who are math majors (or thinking about it) and for instructors or advisors. The authors consider many different aspects of questions that students might have with particular emphasis on making good choices that incorporate individual interests and special passions, and lead to successful outcomes. The discussion includes variations...

Book cover of "Navigating the Math Major: Charting Your Course," featuring an image of a compass on a map, with the title and authors' names in blue and black text. The cover includes logos for AMS/MAA and MAA Press.

Inverse Problems and Data Assimilation

Inverse problems and the associated questions of data assimilation are of considerable interest in our data-intensive world. This book offers a concise introduction to these subjects from a mathematical perspective. The authors suggest it is most appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in mathematics as well as researchers in the sciences and engineering interested...

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