Designing with Nature’s Math

By Nick Nakadate I am often asked what inspires my design aesthetic and how images manifest. I’m a big fan of the patterns that occur in nature, and I use math heavily in the technical design that I first learned and used when I worked as an architect. I admittedly take pointers from the Catalan...

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Calculus for Teachers: The Mean Value Theorem

By David Bressoud @dbressoud As of 2024, new Launchings columns appear on the third Tuesday of the month. The inclusion of the Mean Value Theorem in a standard first-year calculus course, especially Advanced Placement Calculus AB, is a curious choice. Students are expected to know the necessary assumptions—the function is continuous on [a,b] and differentiable...

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Mathematics with Heart: A reflection on how compassionate teaching can reduce anxiety and empower students

By Monica Morales-Hernandez As a Mexican woman of color teaching entry-level math courses at a liberal arts institution, I can attest to how vital it is to address math anxiety in students and counteract it by fostering a compassionate learning environment. Math anxiety is a well-documented phenomenon that affects cognitive functioning, often leading to lower...

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Opening the Gate Without Losing the Flock

By Lew Ludwig As we navigate through our third year of integrating generative AI into higher education, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this technology will not quietly fade away like MOOCs (remember those?). Not only are students already using a variety of AI technologies, but employers also expect graduates to possess AI skills. Consequently, students...

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Grad Student Blooper Reel

By Jasmine Camero Whether you're scrolling through social media, listening to chatter in the math department lounge, or talking to an old friend you haven’t seen in a while, you are most likely pointing out the highlights of your life and career. You hardly ever hear anyone gloating about their struggles. Well, this is because...

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In the World of Mathematics Outreach, it’s Always Prime Time

By Keith Devlin @KeithDevlin@fediscience.org, @profkeithdevlin.bsky.social Best wishes to all for 2025, which happens to be the product of the proper divisors of its square root. Last year saw the announcement that a new “largest known prime number” had been discovered; an integer with 41,024,320 digits. Note to popular science writers: Notice that I just avoided...

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How I Found a Home for Wayward Mathematicians

By Kate Ertmann [Kate's Threads, Instagram, Facebook and BlueSky] It really sucks when you feel like you don’t have a community that you can share the greatest (non-human-associated) love of your life with. But if that love is true, you find a proxy to fill that absence of camaraderie. You (I) might pick up a...

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Math Values for the New Year

By Kira Hamman Well, it’s that time again, when the imaginary structure we’ve imposed on the Earth’s rotation around the sun calls on us to observe certain rituals: fireworks, champagne, songs nobody understands. A giant ball dropping in New York City, and various other things dropping in other parts of the country. Maybe a new...

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Meet the President-Elect of the MAA!

By Tim Chartier & Jenna Carpenter Earlier this year, frequent Math Values contributor Tim Chartier sat down with MAA President-Elect Jenna Carpenter to discuss her work increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM and her tips for creating more inclusive and welcoming institutions, departments, and classrooms. TC: You are noted nationally...

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Teaching Math as an Act of Resistance

By Dave Kung During the September Presidential debate, Kamala Harris pulled a surprising judo move. She invited the audience to attend one of her opponent’s rallies. In addition to the people leaving early, clearly a sore spot for her opponent, what I saw at those rallies was a large group of people unquestioningly believing what...

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