How Low Can the Popular Vote Go?

Editor's Note: This post is a reprint from 2020 that is highly relevant to the current moment. Math Values is actively seeking submissions related to the 2024 election - submit ideas or drafts to blogs@maa.org.  By: Tim Chartier, Patrick Danielson, Jonad Pulaj, and Ben Yokoyama Internet ads, emails, phone calls, yard signs and TV analysts...

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The Shifting Sands of Algebra

By Keith Devlin @KeithDevlin@fediscience.org, @profkeithdevlin.bsky.social My August post about the growth (and changing nature) of algebra generated some feedback. For the most part, those who objected to one or more statements seemed to be motivated by an assumption of what the word “algebra” means (or should be taken to mean). That certainly seems to be...

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The Personal Price of Professional Success

By Dave Kung [LinkedIn] Around the time my daughter Ellie turned 10, she and her friends started dipping their toes into the enticing water that is cursing. A discussion over dinner led to our house rule: It’s fine to swear – as long as you know when not to. The same word or phrase can...

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Tricks & Tips for Writing a Successful NSF DUE Grant

By Suzanne Dorée, Doug Ensley, April Strom At the MAA MathFest2024 in Indianapolis, a panel of seasoned grant proposal writers and NSF program officers offered advice on planning and preparing proposals for grants from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE), particularly for the program called “Improving Undergraduate STEM Education,” or IUSE,...

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How to Learn Mathematics

By David Bressoud @dbressoud As of 2024, new Launchings columns appear on the third Tuesday of the month. This is a review of David Bessis’s Mathematica: A secret world of intuition and curiosity, translated from the French by Kevin Frey and published this year by Yale University Press. It was originally written for MAA Reviews,...

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WEBSIGMAA: A Revitalization Effort

  By Shanda Hood, Joe Fields, Bernd Sing, and Brian Walton What values do MAA members hold in common? If we were to ask “what are our most important values?” the set of answers would likely be in one-to-one correspondence with the set of members. The intersection of our set of values, though, is hopefully...

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The Temperature of the Room

By Lew Ludwig So, have you had that conversation with your students yet? You know, the one where you discuss your AI policy and explain the reasons behind it? It's a chat more and more educators are having. Gone are the days when banning AI outright seemed feasible; crafting "AI-proof" assignments now feels like a...

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Finding my people: One mathematician’s reflection on MAA MathFest 2024

By Anastasiia Minenkova Most of my graduate years were during the Covid-19 pandemic. I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness. The isolation and lack of social interaction took a toll on my mental health. I missed the simple joys of meeting other people, sharing ideas, and being a part of a community. Once everything went...

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What is the Most Valuable Benefit You Got from Becoming a Mathematician?

By Keith Devlin @KeithDevlin@fediscience.org, @profkeithdevlin.bsky.social Having a media presence, I often get asked for a quotable answer to that question. I usually answer, “It taught me never to be sure I’m right.” Mathematics is unforgiving. If you made an error in your solution or your proof, you have only two choices. Correct the error or...

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Winging It in the AI Apocalypse

By Matt Jackson Generative AI emerged with the suddenness of a large earthquake and with implications that shook our foundation. AI tools surfaced as simultaneously powerful and destabilizing, with inherent ethical and existential questions. I work in Technology and Innovation at a small liberal arts college, and am among the staff tasked with learning and, soon,...

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