Carl B. Allendoerfer Awards
The Carl B. Allendoerfer Award, established in 1976, is made to authors of expository articles published in Mathematics Magazine. Carl B. Allendoerfer, a distinguished mathematician at the University of Washington, served as president of the Mathematical Association of America, 1959-60. This is an award of $1,000. Up to two of these awards are given annually at the Summer Meeting of the Association.
Past Recipients
2023
Tien Chih and Demitri Plessas
A Search for Champion Boxers,
Mathematics Magazine, 95:1, 37–48. doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2022.2000819
Steven J. Brams and Peter S. Landweber
Three Persons, Two Cuts: A New Cake-Cutting Algorithm,
Mathematics Magazine, 95:2, 110–122. doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2022.2023300
2022
David J. Hunter and Chisondi Warioba
Segregation Surfaces,
Mathematics Magazine, 94:3, 163–172. doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2021.1908044
Kaity Parsons, Peter Tingley and Emma Zajdela
When to Hold ‘Em,
Mathematics Magazine, 94:3, 201–212. doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2021.1908785
2021
Nancy Ho, James Godzik, Jennifer Jones, Thomas W. Mattman, and Dan Sours
Invisible Knots and Rainbow Rings: Knots Not Determined by Their Determinants
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 93, no. 1, pp. 4-18.
DOI: 10.1080/0025570X.2020.1685320
Jocelyn R. Bell and Frank Wattenberg
The Slippery Duck Theorem
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 91-103.
DOI: 10.1080/0025570X.2020.1708693
2020
Beth Malmskog and Kathryn Haymaker
What (Quilting) Circles Can Be Squared?
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 92, no. 3, June 2019, pp. 173-186.
Juan Arias de Reyna, David Clark, and Noam Elkies
A Modern Solution to the Gion Shrine Problem
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 92, no. 2, March 2019, pp. 110-122.
2019
William Dunham
The Early (and Peculiar) History of the Möbius Function
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 91, no. 2, March 2018, pp. 83-91.
Jordan Bell and Viktor Blåsjö
Pietro Mengoli’s 1650 Proof that the Harmonic Series Diverges
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 91, no. 5, December 2018, pp. 341-347.
2018
Fumiko Futamura and Robert Lehr
A New Perspective on Finding the Viewpoint
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 90, no. 4, October 2017, pp. 267-277.
2017
Brian Conrey, James Gabbard, Katie Grant, Andrew Liu, and Kent Morrison
Intransitive Dice
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 89, no. 2, April 2016, pp. 133-143
Vladimir Pozdnyakov and Michael Steele
Buses, Bullies, and Bijections
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 89, no. 3, June 2016, pp. 167-176
2016
Julia Barnes, Clinton Curry, Elizabeth Russell, and Lisbeth Schaubroeck
Emerging Julia Sets
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 88, no. 2, April 2015
Irl Bivens and Ben Klein
The Median Value of a Continuous Function
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 88, no. 1, February 2015
2015
Daniel Heath
Straightedge and Compass Constructions in Spherical Geometry
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 87, no. 5, December 2014, pp. 350-359.
Andrew Beveridge and Stan Wagon
The Sorting Hat Goes to College
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 87, no. 4, October 2014, pp. 243-251.
2014
Sally Cockburn and Joshua Lesperance
Deranged Socks
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 86, no. 2, April 2013, pp. 97-109.
Susan Marshall and Donald Smith
Feedback, Control, and Distribution of Prime Numbers
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 86, no. 3, June 2013, pp. 189-203.
2013
Khristo N. Boyadzhiev
Close Encounters with the Stirling Numbers of the Second Kind
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 85, no. 4, October 2012, pp. 252-266
Adrian Rice and Ezra Brown
Why Ellipses Are Not Elliptic Curves
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 85, no. 3, June 2012, pp. 163-176
2012
P. Mark Kayll
Integrals Don’t Have Anything to Do with Discrete Math, Do They?
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 84, no. 2, April 2011, pp. 108-119
John A. Adam
Blood Vessel Branching: Beyond the Standard Calculus Problem
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 84, no. 3, April 2011, pp. 196-207
2011
Curtis D. Bennett, Blake Mellor, and Patrick Shanahan
Drawing a Triangle on the Thurston Model of Hyperbolic Space
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 83, no. 2, April 2010, pp. 83-99
Gene Abrams and Jessica Sklar
The Graph Menagerie: Abstract Algebra and the Mad Veterinarian
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 83, no. 3, April 2010, pp. 168-179
2010
Ezra Brown and Keith Mellinger
Kirkman’s Schoolgirls Wearing Hats and Walking Through Fields of Numbers
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 82, no. 1, February 2009, pp. 3-15
David Speyer and Bernd Sturmfels
Tropical Mathematics
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 82, no. 3, June 2009, pp. 163-173
2009
Vesna Stojanoska and Orlin Stoytchev
Touching the Z2 in Three-Dimensional Rotations
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 81, no. 5, December 2008, pp. 345-357
Jeff Suzuki
A Brief History of Impossibility
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 81, no. 1, February 2008, pp. 27-38
2008
Eugene Boman, Richard Brazier, and Derek Seiple
Mom! There’s an Astroid in My Closet!
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 80 (2007), pp. 104-111
Chris Christensen
Polish Mathematicians Finding Patterns in Enigma Messages
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 80 (2007), pp. 247-273
2007
Carl V. Lutzer
Hammer Juggling, Rotational Instability, and Eigenvalues
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 79 (2006), pp. 243-250
Saul Stahl
The Evolution of the Normal Distribution
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 79 (2006), pp. 96-113
2006
Robb T. Koether and John K. Osinach, Jr.
Outwitting the Lying Oracle
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 78 (2005), pp. 98-109
Jeff Suzuki
The Lost Calculus (1637-1670): Tangency and Optimization without Limits
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 78 (2005), pp. 339-353
2005
Roger B. Eggleton and William P. Galvin
Upper Bounds on the Sum of Principal Divisors of an Integer
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 77 (2004), pp. 190-200
2004
Charles I. Delman and Gregory Galperin
A Tale of Three Circles
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 76 (2003), pp. 15-32
2003
Dan Kalman
Doubly Recursive Multivariate Automatic Differentiation
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 75 (2002), pp. 187-202
Ezra Brown
The Many Names of (7,3,1)
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 75 (2002), pp. 83-94
2002
Mark McKinzie and Curtis Tuckey
Higher Trigonometry, Hyperreal Numbers, and Euler’s Analysis of Infinities
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 74 (2001), pp. 339-368
2001
Raphael Falk Jones and Janice L. Pearce
A Postmodern View of Fractions and the Reciprocals of Fermat Primes
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 73 (2000), pp. 83-97
James N. Brawner
Dinner, Dancing, and Tennis, Anyone?
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 73 (2000), pp. 29-36
2000
Donald Teets and Karen Whitehead
The Discovery of Ceres: How Gauss Became Famous
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 72 (1999), pp. 83-91
1999
Victor Klee and John R. Reay
A Surprising but Easily Proved Geometric Decomposition Theorem
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 71 (1998), pp. 3-11
Donald G. Saari and Fabrice Valognes
Geometry, Voting, and Paradoxes
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 71 (1998), pp. 243-259
1998
Dan Kalman, Robert Mena, and Shahriar Shahriari
Variations on an Irrational Theme-Geometry, Dynamics, Algebra
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 70 (1997), pp. 93-104
1997
Colm Mulcahy
Plotting and Scheming with Wavelets
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 69 (1996), pp. 323-343
Lin Tan
The Group of Rational Points on the Unit Circle
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 69 (1996), pp. 163-171
1996
Judith Grabiner
Descartes and Problem-Solving
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 68 (1995), pp. 83-97
Daniel J. Velleman and Gregory S. Call
Permutations and Combination Locks
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 68 (1995), pp. 243-253
1995
Lee Badger
Lazzarini’s Lucky Approximation of pi
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 67 (1994), pp. 83-91
Tristan Needham
The Geometry of Harmonic Functions
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 67 (1994), pp. 92-108
1994
Joan Hutchinson
Coloring Ordinary Maps, Maps of Empires, and Maps of the Moon
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 66 (1993), pp. 211-226
1993
Xun-cheng Huang
From Intermediate Value Theorem to Chaos
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 65 (1992), pp. 91-103
1992
Israel Kleiner
Rigor and Proof in Mathematics: A Historical Perspective
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 64 (1991), pp. 291-314
Gulbank D. Chakerian and David E. Logothetti
Cube Slices, Pictorial Triangles, and Probability
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 64 (1991), pp. 219-241
1991
Ranjan Roy
The Discovery of the Series Formula for π by Leibniz, Gregory, and Nilakantha
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 63 (1990), pp. 291-306
1990
Thomas Archibald
Connectivity and Smoke-Rings: Green’s Second Identity in Its First Fifty Years
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 62 (1989), pp. 219-232
Fan K. Chung, Martin Gardner, and Ronald L. Graham
Steiner Trees on a Checkerboard
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 62 (1989), pp. 83-96
1989
W. B. Raymond Lickorish and Kenneth C. Millett
The New Polynomial Invariants of Knots and Links
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 61 (1988), pp. 3-23
Judith V. Grabiner
The Centrality of Mathematics in the History of Western Thought
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 61 (1988), pp. 220-230
1988
Bart Braden
Pólya’s Geometric Picture of Complex Contour Integrals
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 60 (1987), pp. 321-327
Steven Galovich
Products of Sines and Cosines
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 60 (1987), pp. 105-113
1987
Israel Kleiner
The Evolution of Group Theory: A Brief Survey
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 59 (1986), pp. 195-215
Paul Zorn
The Bieberbach Conjecture
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 59 (1986), pp. 131-148
1986
Bart Braden
Design of an Oscillating Sprinkler
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 58 (1985), pp. 29-38
Saul Stahl
The Other Map Coloring Theorem
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 58 (1985), pp. 131-145
1985
Frederick S. Gass
Constructive Ordinal Notation Systems
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 57 (1984), pp. 131-141
Philip D. Straffin, Jr. and Bernard Grofman
Parliamentary Coalitions: A Tour of Models
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 57 (1984), pp. 259-274
1984
Judith V. Grabiner
The Changing Concept of Change: The Derivative from Fermat to Weierstrass
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 56 (1983), pp. 195-206
1983
Donald O. Koehler
Mathematics and Literature
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 55 (1982), pp. 81-95
Clifford H. Wagner
A Generic Approach to Iterative Methods
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 55 (1982), pp. 259-273
1982
J. Ian Richards
Continued Fractions without Tears
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 54 (1981), pp. 163-171
Marjorie Senechal
Which Tetrahedra Fill Space?
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 54 (1981), pp. 227-243
1981
Stephen B. Maurer
The King Chicken Theorems
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 53 (1980), pp. 67-80
Donald E. Sanderson
Advanced Plane Topology from an Elementary Standpoint
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 53 (1980), pp. 81-89
1980
Victor L. Klee, Jr.
Some Unsolved Problems in Plane Geometry
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 52 (1979), pp. 131-145
Ernst Snapper
The Three Crises in Mathematics: Logicism, Intuitionism, and Formalism
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 52 (1979), pp. 207-216
1979
Bruce C. Berndt
Ramanujan’s Notebooks
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 51 (1978), pp. 147-164
Doris Schattschneider
Tiling the Plane with Congruent Pentagons
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 51 (1978), pp. 29-44
1978
Geoffry C. Shephard and Branko Grünbaum
Tilings by Regular Polygons
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 50 (1977), pp. 227-247
David A. Smith
Human Population Growth: Stability or Explosion?
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 50 (1977), pp. 186-197
1977
Joseph A. Gallian
The Search for Finite Simple Groups
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 49 (1976), pp. 163-180
B.L. van der Waerden
Hamilton’s Discovery of Quaternions
Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 49 (1976), pp. 227-234