Math Horizons - September 2008

The proportionality principle again comes into play as you seek the million dollar suitcase.

Borda Meets Pascal
Marie K. Jameson, Gregory Minton, and Michael E. Orrison

What is Pascal's triangle doing connected to this classic voting procedure?

Ideas for keeping the energy and enthusiasm of your club's mathematical endeavours strong, long after its founders have graduated.

Two months after introducing a new game, the Crazy Al Casino is broke and is forced to go out of business. How can this game favor the player even though its component parts favor the casino?

Most units of measure are arbitrary in some sense. The creation of the meter however was deliberate. The French Royal Academy of Sciences  charged a commission of renown scientists (including de Borda, Laplace, Legendre, Lavoisier, and Condorcet) to invent the metric system  dictated by universal principles of nature rather than by human prejudice or historical accident.

Matrix--sure its a cool name for a movie, but is there any mathematical connection? You might be delightfully surprised.

Students review Chaotic Elections! A Mathematician Looks at Voting by Donal G. Saari and The Presidential Election Game by Stephen J. Brams.

Professional Master's programs are relatively new to math and science. Graduates receive broad mathematical training accompanied by real world applications and experience; they then apply their analytical skills to a variety of rewarding (and lucrative) professions.

If you know that a surprise is coming, can you really be surprised? Or said another way, just how unlikely does an event have to be for it be a surprise?

MathNerds.com is a volunteer organization that helps thousands of students with mathematics through inquiry-based learning.

In exchange for admission to the Crown Casino, you receive a $5 betting coupon. Like most gamblers, you want the greatest expected return on your coupon. So why is it that you should place the bet with the highest probability of losing?