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I participated in
my last Board of Governors meeting at the Joint
Meetings in San Diego, CA in January 2008.
It has been a pleasure to serve as the Governor of the Wisconsin
Section, and it is hard to believe how fast those three years have gone
by. I plan to continue my involvement in
the MAA at the national level as I am a member of two committees and am
a member
of the Strategic Planning Working Group on Sections.
As I have mentioned before the MAA is
currently undergoing a multi-year strategic planning exercise. Cycle
III
(Meetings, Sections, and STEM-related issues in Mathematics) has begun. In December, I attended the first
meeting
of my working group at the Carriage House at MAA headquarters in
Washington,
DC. I recommend that you stop by the MAA
if you are ever in DC. The facilities
are absolutely beautiful. To
support further programming at the Carriage House, Virginia Halmos
offered a
2-1 match if the MAA could raise 300,000 in two years. President Joe
Gallian
did so in six weeks, and Mrs. Halmos was so impressed, she offered
another
$200,000 for a 1-1 match. So it looks like the Carriage House
programming will
soon be funded through a $1,300,000 endowed fund!
The January 2008
issue of MAA FOCUS has beautiful pictures on page
3 of the "River of Bricks" at the Carriage House. Bricks cost $303
apiece. I would like the Wisconsin
Section to consider buying a brick.
Also, this is a wonderful way for departments to honor retiring
faculty.
Much of the Governor’s
Meeting
was spent on previous strategic planning groups reporting.
The
group on governance presented its final report along with a
number of recommendations about the committee structure of the MAA. It was decided that once all three cycles are
completed a working group will look at all nine reports and examine the
relationships between the many recommendations.
More information can be found at the MAA website – www.maa.org.
The "Found Math"
photos section of the MAA on-line web
site has become incredibly popular. If
you haven’t done so take a look at the webpage at www.maa.org/FoundMath/FMgallery08.html. In addition, the MAA website is much more
dynamic than ever. It’s worth a daily
visit.
Finally, remember
that MathFest is in Madison this summer (July 31
– August 2). I certainly hope we have a
strong Wisconsin presence. I hope to see
many of you there and at the section meeting at MATC in April.
John Koker, Section Governor
topThe 76th Annual Meeting of the MAA/Wisconsin Section will be held at the Madison Area Technical College, April 25-26, 2008. Chair-Elect Andrew Matchett (UW-La Crosse), in collaboration with Site-Coordinator Jeganathan Sriskandarajah (MATC), has planned an exciting program for April 25 and 26. Invited speakers will include Colin Adams (Williams College), Arthur Benjamin (Harvey Mudd College), and Richard Cleary (Bentley College). The meeting also will include the popular mathematics game show, “Face Off” for college students. Thanks to our coordinators of student activities, Ken Price and Steve Szydlik of UW-Oshkosh, for planning and running the show. The preliminary program appears in this Newsletter. I hope you all attend, and encourage your students to attend and perhaps present a paper as well. Student registration is free and a student banquet ticket is only $5. All student speakers will receive a one-year complimentary MAA membership.
The nominee for chair-elect is Robert Wilson of UW-Madison, and you can find a short biography in this newsletter. The election is held at the business meeting, so please attend to take part in this and other important decisions that need to be made.
John Koker’s term as
governor of our
section will expire July 1, 2008. David Scott (Ripon College), and
Jonathan
Kane (UW-Whitewater) are the candidates for the next governor for a
three-year
term. The election is underway and will end March 12, 2008. We
encourage you to
vote if you have not done so.
It
was wonderful to see so many of you in San Diego in January. There were
a
number of items of interest at the Section Officer’s Meeting. Betty Mayfield ,
chair of the MAA Strategic Planning Working Group on Meetings,
mentioned that her group concentrates on two or three topics in small
groups
annually. This year’s topic was about MAA members and students
participation in national meetings. The focus group to which I
was assigned
discussed the following questions:
Our Section’s Executive Committee at its January 25, 2008 meeting has decided to distribute a survey containing these questions at the Section Meeting in Madison. The survey will be available at the registration desk. Please share your thoughts on these matters by completing the survey. Your input is very much appreciated.
Finally, it has been a
privilege and an
honor to serve as your Chair and to have worked with you this year.
Also I
am very fortunate to work with the section executive committee.
Let us also thank Jeganathan Sriskandarajah for his three
years of dedicated service on the Executive Committee. We have had an
excellent
representative of the section under outgoing Governor John Koker who
has done a
superb job. Thanks John for your valuable contributions.
See you all in Madison.
Mohammad
H. Ahmadi, Chair
American Mathematics
Competitions
The AMC 8
competition was held on November 13, 2007.
A total of 1976 Wisconsin students participated in the
competition (down
from 2107). There was one perfect score from Wisconsin, by Laura Xu of
Jefferson Middle School in Madison. The
average score for Wisconsin students was 9.08, compared with the
national
average score of 9.87. This gap has been
narrowing for several consecutive years.
The AMC 10 and 12
contests will be held on February 12 and 27, 2008.
Data will be reported at the Spring Meeting.
MAA-Wisconsin Section
High School Contest
Examination
The Section contest
examination was given on Thursday, December 2008. Of
the 88 schools who ordered the exam, only
81 reported their scores, for a total of 3,464 students.
This continues the downward trend, as last
year there were 85 schools reporting 4,085 scores.
The exam was much more difficult this year
than last year, and writers will aim for middle ground with next year's
contest. The cutoff for the top 1% was a
score of 83 out of 120 and there were no perfect scores this year.
Dr. Laura Schmidt
has continued to head UW-Stout's efforts in running the competition. There was some discussion about changing the
prize from a book to a gift certificate.
Feeling that a gift certificate was too impersonal for this
achievement,
the decision was made to continue with a book as a prize.
Many thanks to the UW-Stout faculty for
coordinating these efforts.
Respectfully
submitted, Kristen Lampe, Carroll College
At the
spring meeting
of MAA Wisconsin section, Project NExT-WI will have lunch followed by a
panel
discussion on Saturday. The topic will
be “Keeping Your Research Alive.” The topic is selected as much of the
new faculty
(recent PhDs) find it difficult to keep up with their research while
teaching 3
or more classes (9 or more credit hours) per semester. The panel will
consist
of faculties who have been successful in doing research while meeting
their
teaching obligations. This will give the participants a chance to learn
from
the experiences of the panel members and help answer some of their
questions
related to this issue.
Project
NExT-WI also
holds annual Fall Workshop (during last week of September or first week
of October)
in
Currently
we have 29
active members in NExT-WI and we are always looking for new members.
There is
no deadline to apply for the membership. One can apply any time during
the
academic year.
Project
NExT-Wisconsin
is open to all full-time faculty members in mathematics departments in
the
Wisconsin Section who are within their first four years of
undergraduate
teaching. You may also be eligible if you have more teaching
experience, but
are new to the Wisconsin Section. To
apply, contact me at
The co-Coordinators, Ken Price and Steve Szydlik, are pleased to report on opportunities for Wisconsin’s undergraduate math students. We especially look forward to this year’s section meeting at Madison Area Technical College (MATC) on April 25-26. Please let students know they can receive a complimentary membership in the MAA by simply giving a talk at this meeting. The banquet cost for students will be held to $5 per ticket. We will try to find low-cost housing options for students who wish to stay for both days. Thanks to the hard work of the organizers of the 2007 meeting, we were able to offer a student retreat room at UW-Eau Claire, and plan to do so again.
We are particularly grateful for all of the past support and interest in the fast-paced math game show “Face Off!” It will return to the MAA section meeting. Students who have taken Calc I or above are eligible to compete for their department in teams of 2-4 players. Contact Ken (pricek@uwosh.edu) or Steve (szydliks@uwosh.edu), or check the web site at http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/szydliks/faceoff.htm for details.
“Face Off!” was a part of MATC’s sixth annual Math Fest (organized by MAA-Wisconsin past chair, J. “Sri” Sriskandarajah), and part of the twenty-second annual Pi Mu Epsilon Regional Undergraduate Math Conference (organized by Rick Poss at St. Norbert College). John Beam (UW-Oshkosh) took a turn as host at MATC, while John Koker, our MAA-Wisconsin governor, hosted the version at St. Norbert College. Our secretary-treasurer, Mark Snavely, helped out with the scoring at the PME meeting. We’re always looking for new categories, good questions, sources for inexpensive prizes, new venues, and other game support, so please contact us if you have ideas or want to help out.
The Wisconsin Mathematics Council’s Annual Green Lake Conference is scheduled for May 1-2, 2008. Anyone interested in any level of mathematics education in Wisconsin is encouraged to attend.
We look forward to student participation in state events and hope you encourage some of your students to attend conferences and to give presentations. Please let us know if you have ideas of ways to make the section more student-friendly. We’re always looking for suggestions!
Respectfully submitted by Ken Price and Steve Szydlik, UW-OshkoshElections
for Governor of the Wisconsin Section of the MAA are being conducted by
the
national office. MAA members should have
received a paper ballot with voting instructions. The
candidates are David Scott of Ripon
College and Jonathan Kane of UW-Whitewater.
If you have any questions, you should contact skennedy@maa.org, or call
800-741-9415.
top
Robert
(Bob) Wilson, UW-Madison
Bob Wilson is Professor of Mathematics at UW-Madison. He has worked both in academia (at Washington and Lee University as well as at UW) and in Silicon Valley industry, where he managed and performed computer system development and also managed and performed government-sponsored research into computer security, computer networking, and artificial intelligence, and as a private consultant to industry. He got his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and his MA and PhD (1969) from UW-Madison, where he stayed for six more years on the faculty before going out to see the world in 1975. He returned to UW-Madison in 1990.
At UW-Madison, Bob has supervised the distance education programs in math and science as well as being a regular member of the math department. Although his original training and PhD research was in pure mathematics (specifically non-associative algebra), his publications, presentations, and consulting work have covered many areas. He has been an invited participant in MAA sponsored national programs planning where mathematics education ought to be going. He has been an award winning teacher at the college level and also is active in programs for K-12 teachers.
While he tries to keep up with some of what is happening in non-associative algebra and certain kinds of combinatorics, his present research is in mathematics education. He would love to be able to decide even what the question is for which the answer is “the culture a student comes from”. It is widely cited that in Japan if you ask someone what it takes to do well in mathematics, the answer is "hard work", but in the US the answer is "a special gift" or something equivalent. Is this related to how US students compare to others in international comparisons?
Noon – 5 pm Registration
Noon – 5 pm Exhibits, MAA Book Sale
1:00 – 1:25* Stephen Szydlik (UW-Oshkosh)
The Problem with the “Junk Food
Problem”
Using a matrix as
a
placeholder for the coefficients in a linear system is perhaps the most
fundamental idea in linear algebra. This simple idea nevertheless leads
to rich
opportunities for data collection and analysis, critical thinking, and
some
surprisingly deep mathematics. In this talk, I will discuss some of the
surprising challenges that can arise when solving a system of linear
equations
using real data. The context, calculating the number of calories in
different
types of foods, was a seemingly straightforward class activity for the
author
that evolved into a deeper exploration of issues in numerical analysis,
including error analysis and stability in linear systems.
1:00 – 1:25 R. Michael Howe (UW-Eau Claire)
The Excellence in Mathematics and
Computer Science
Scholarship program at UW-Eau Claire
In 2002 UW-Eau
Claire
received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to fund
scholarships for talented students majoring in Mathematics and Computer
Science
who also have financial need. I will
discuss some features and results of the program.
1:00 – 1:25* Alex Lavrentiev (UW-Fox)
The Greatest Integer Function
Problems
The greatest
integer function
is usually introduced in a College Algebra course as an example of a
piecewise
defined function, but often there are very few textbook problems
designed to
make students explore the properties of this particular function.
In this talk I
will present a
range of problems, from very basic to rather challenging, that involve
the
greatest integer function and discuss some of its properties.
1:00 – 1:55 Pam Peters (UW-Platteville)
Gaussian Maps for Double Covers of
Smooth Toric
Surfaces
Defining smooth
toric
surfaces and in particular Hirzebruch surfaces using a four vector fan,
I will
explore the Gaussian map.
Using surjectivity
of
multiplication maps on Hirzebruch surfaces, I’ll discuss Gaussian maps
for
double covers of Hirzebruch surfaces and their relationship with
Gaussian maps
on curves on these double covers.
1:30 – 1:55* Kirthi Premadasa (UW-Whitewater)
Making the Epsilon-Delta
definition fun to learn
It is not a secret
that the
epsilon-delta definition in Mathematics
is a concept that university
students worldwide find the hardest to grasp.
A group of academics at the University of Colombo Sri Lanka felt
that if
not for the Greek symbols, the definition would be the most natural
definition
that someone with a clear intuition about limits would eventually
discover.
With this belief, the group prepared a student centered lesson,
carefully
scripted with simple and fun activities to enable students to discover
the
epsilon-delta definition through team working. The activity was also
aimed at
improving the communication and team working skills of students as well
as to
develop inter-personal communication among the students of the
country’s two
main ethnic groups. We present the methods and outcomes of this study.
1:30 – 1:55* Roy Berg (Actuarial industry)
Niels Henrik Abel and the Abel
Awards
A discussion of
the work of
Niels Henrik Abel and the Abel Awards, with an overview of the
actuarial
profession, time permitting.
1:30 – 1:55* Stan Russell (Pima Community College, Tucson, Az)
A Dynamically Embedded Growth Model
A nonlinear
dynamic system
dx/dt=1-y, dy/dt=x-z, dz/dt=ryz{exp(-az)-bz} is presented where x and y
are
environmental states interacting with population growth variable z.
Analysis reveals
regions of
instability where the environmental states begin to oscillate
unboundedly as
the population state undergoes intervals of wild intermittent behavior,
leading
ultimately to extinction.
The foregoing
example is
intended to motivate the following: We note that the
exponential(dx/dt=rx)and
the logistic(dx/dt=rx(1-x)) models, in spite of their simplicity, are
important
both mathematically as well as in application. However, they do not
address the
fact that nothing “really” endures (in time) without major changes if
not
actual extinction. What models can we identify which(i)address this
fact,(ii)
are relatively “simple”, and (iii) exhibit “important” mathematical
features?
2:00 – 2:25* Charlotte Chell (Carthage College)
Quantitative Literacy and
Quantitative
Reasoning: What are they and do they
matter?
What do QL and QR
mean? Is this the newest trend (fad?) in
mathematics education? Is there really
an issue at hand? We will investigate
the scope of the topic, and give examples of what is happening across
the
country.
2:00 – 2:25* Bob Coffman (UW-River Falls)
More on Sylvester's Problem
Choose two points
at random
in a unit circle and draw the chord that passes through them. What is
the
expected value of the distance of the two points relative to the length
of the
chord? We will answer this question and discuss its relevance to
Sylvester's
Problem.
2:00 – 2:25* Mu-Ling Chang (UW-Platteville)
How many zeros are at the end of a
factorial on any
base?
Let n be a
positive integer.
The notation n!, which is called the n factorial, denotes the product
of the
first n positive integers.
In this talk, I
will provide
a method of determining the number of zeros at the end of n! on any
base
without multiplying it out.
2:30 – 2:55 Julie Letellier (UW-Whitewater)
A Furnace Repair,
Scrabble-grams, and “The Biggest Loser”
A
whimsical look at the problems I encountered and developed as well as
other
activities I engaged in during my fall sabbatical.
2:30 – 2:55* Thomas Drucker (UW-Whitewater)
Finding Room for Infinitesimals
One of the
accomplishments of
nineteenth-century analysis was banishing infinitesimals from the
foundations
of the calculus. Abraham Robinson's
introduction of non-standard analysis in the twentieth century might
have
appeared to be a step backwards. This
talk will look at how mathematics changed over the period between 1850
and 1950
to explain why the use of infinitesimals does not involve a return to
superstition.
2:30 – 2:55 James Swenson (UW-Platteville)
The mod-two cohomology of finite
Coxeter groups
Group cohomology
is
interesting to study because it links a variety of mathematical
specialties,
but it's hard to find good example computations. We'll
show how Quillen's theorem can be used
to explicitly compute the mod-two cohomology algebras of the finite
Coxeter
groups.
3:00 – 3:50 Invited Address Richard Cleary (Bentley College)
An Overview of
Benford's Law with Applications to Fraud Detection
Benford's
Law
proposes a distribution of first digits in measurements that span many
orders
of magnitude. Auditors and others with an interest in data integrity
have begun
using Benford's law as part of fraud detection schemes in a variety of
settings. In this presentation we give an overview of Benford's law,
discuss
some situations in which it is used, and present some ways to
incorporate it as
a teaching tool in elementary mathematics and statistics courses.
For
example, we discuss how the Benford's Law output from popular auditing
software
raises interesting statistical questions for the accounting
community.
(This work is being done jointly with Prof. Jay Thibodeau, Bentley
College
Department of Accountancy.)
4:00 – 4:55 Invited Address Colin Adams (Williams College)
Blown Away: What
Knot to Do When Sailing
Being a tale of
adventure on the high seas involving
great risk to the tale teller, and how an understanding of the
mathematical
theory of knots saved his bacon. No nautical or mathematical background
assumed.
5:00 - 6:00 Reception, courtesy of the MATC Math Club
5:30 – 6:30 “Face Off!” The Mathematics Game Show
Organized by Dr. Ken Price and Dr. Steve Szydlik, UW-Oshkosh
6:30 Banquet Art Benjamin (Harvey Mudd College)
The Secrets of
Mental Math (8:00)
Art is a
mathematician who
performs his mixture of math and magic to audiences all over the world,
including the Magic Castle in Hollywood. He has demonstrated and
explained his
calculating talents in his book "Secrets of Mental Math" and on
numerous television and radio programs, including The Today Show, CNN,
and
National Public Radio. He has been featured in Scientific American,
Omni,
Discover, People, Esquire, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and
Reader's
Digest.
top
8:00 – 10:00 Registration
8:00 – 11:00 Exhibits, MAA Book Sale
8:00 – 8:50 Business Meeting
9:00 – 9:50* Linda Uselmann (Edgewood College)
Interesting problems to engage
future teachers in
deep mathematical discussions
I use problems
that mimic or
are taken from actual student (elementary, secondary) responses to
tough
mathematics questions, and use them to engage preservice students in
mathematical discussions. I invite participants to add their own
mathematical
ideas and explanations, share problems that used at other institutions,
and
discuss the approach of using pre-college level student work in a
course for
college students.
9:00 – 9:50* Susan Harrison (UW-Eau Claire)
Online assignments - isolating
their effectiveness
Mathematics
textbooks today
are frequently supplemented with publisher-developed courseware that
provides
the instructor with the capability of utilizing online homework
assignments
with instant feedback. Recent studies investigating the effectiveness
of online
homework included course-targeted tutoring - a combination that proved
successful in increasing levels of student performance. But, one must
ask, “how
much of the students' improvements can be attributed to the online
homework
assignments?” To help isolate the effectiveness of online homework
assignments,
a study was conducted during fall 2007 with four sections of
Intermediate
Algebra students at UW-Eau Claire. The study involved using only one
treatment
variable - the use of online homework, and holding other variables as
constant
as possible. The effectiveness of online homework on student
performance based
on quantitative data, collected from quizzes and tests, and the effect
of using
online homework on student attitudes based on the qualitative data
collected
from surveys will be presented.
9:00 – 9:50* Jinbo Lu (UW-Marshfield)
Energy reduction by averaging on
graphs
A general
principle in
harmonic map theory is that averaging reduces energy, therefore useful
in proving
the existence of harmonic maps. We will make this principle precise in
the case
of underlying space being graphs. This talk is accessible to anyone
with a
basic knowledge in linear algebra and graph theory.
9:00 – 9:25* Laura Schmidt (UW-Stout)
Dealing with Anxiety and Attitudes
Towards
Mathematics
When teaching a
general
education course, we encounter students with various backgrounds and
dispositions. Our main general education
course in mathematics is Introduction to College Math I.
Unfortunately, the
majority
of dispositions are unfavorable and most students enter the class with
negative
attitudes and anxiety. In the spring of
2007, I addressed these issues through a scholarship of teaching and
learning
project. The purpose of my project was
to study the impact of self-reflection, subject relevancy and group
work on
anxiety and attitudes in an algebra classroom. The self-reflection
portion was
implemented using on-line surveys in a course management system. The subject relevancy and group work was
integrated in the course through weekly worksheets and four projects.
During my
presentation, I will discuss the details of the project, challenges
encountered, and results.
9:00 – 9:25 Terry Jo Leiterman (Saint Norbert College)
The Ultimate Class Project . . .
and no grade!
To the students,
the task
sounded impossible. Build a square wheel
bicycle that moves smoothly; one you could pedal all day long if you
wished. With an ah-ha moment, a short loss
of interest, many hours, several mistakes, and no grade, a square wheel
bicycle
was built (and rode!) by a class of twelve Mathematical Modeling
students. In this talk, a teacher who took
a shot at an
idea shares a fortunate success with a pedagogical experiment. A story with objectives, uncertainties,
surprises, and missteps is told. Student
reflections confirm that the goal, and more, was met!
9:30 – 9:55 Terry Jo Leiterman (Saint Norbert College)
The Blakeslet Singularity
J.R.
Blake (1971) constructed the Green's function
for Stokes equations in the presence of a no-slip plane using the
method of
images.
The Stokeslet is
the primary
fundamental solution of Stokes equations and is found as the Green's
function
resulting from a singular point force applied in free space. As an
analog, the
fundamental solution which represents the solution due to a singular
point
force applied in the half space bounded by a no-slip plane is termed,
by these
authors, the Blakeslet. Now, the basis
of singularity theory is to construct solutions to particular boundary
value
problems through the superposition of fundamental solutions chosen in
kind,
strength, and location. A superposition
of Blakeslet singularities can be
constructed to model the motion of a body attached to a no-slip plane sweeping an
upright
cone. The solution is valid in the
asymptotic limit of a slender body. In
this talk, in addition to the underlying properties of the Blakeslet,
the
construction of this solution is discussed.
Further, trajectory and flow properties, including far field
behavior,
are presented.
9:30 – 9:55* Benjamin Collins (UW-Platteville)
Al-Samaw’al and Division of
Polynomials
Present-day
mathematics
students would hesitate to divide 20x6+2x5+58x4+75x3+125x2+196x+94+40x-1+50x-2+90x-3+20x-4
by 2x3+5x+5+10x-1.
Yet eleventh century Islamic mathematician al-Samaw’al ben Yahya
ben
Yahuda al-Maghribi performed this division smoothly, without the
benefit of
modern notation or symbolic representation.
In cases where the polynomials do not divide evenly, al-Samaw’al
was
even able to indicate an infinite series representation for the
quotient. We
will take a look at al-Samaw’al’s method, and see how it might be
introduced in
a College Algebra course to supplement (or replace) current methods of
polynomial division.
10:00 – 10:25* David Milovich (UW-Madison)
Math Night: a university reaching
out to high
schoolers
For several years,
volunteer
math grad students and faculty at UW-Madison have given monthly evening
talks---Math Nights---to high schoolers about interesting yet
accessible math
topics. Local high school teachers
advertise these talks to their students.
While it helps to have a big math department to draw on for
speakers,
Math Nights could be done by colleges of any size; the only important
limiting
factor is enthusiasm.
10:00 – 10:25* Carol Seaman (UW-Oshkosh)
A Look at Teacher Comments on
Written Work in
Mathematics: What Do
Students
Say?
Preservice
teachers at UW
Oshkosh prepare substantial written reports on problem solutions.
Instructors
spend significant time responding to their work with written comments.
In this
talk I will present the results of a study designed to determine how
our
students make use of these comments in learning and communicating
mathematics.
10:00 – 10:50 Panel Discussion L.D Gunawardena (UW-Oshkosh), Moderator
The Role of an
Elementary Statistics Course
10:00 – 10:25* John Beam (UW-Oshkosh)
How to Win a Million Dollars
Exploiting the
conditional nature
of the convergence of the alternating harmonic series, we will turn
fair bets
into an unfair one, guaranteed to pay you at least a million dollars.
10:30 – 10:55* Kathy Tomlinson (UW-River Falls)
Cooperative Guided Reflection for
Optimization
Problem Solving
This is a study of
the ways
student learning is impacted by a cooperative guided reflection
assignment on
optimization problems in Calculus I. The
study contributes to an understanding of how the pedagogical practices
of
writing to learn and cooperative learning effect student growth in
problem
solving. The investigation uses both
quantitative and qualitative methodologies: pre and post surveys of
student
understanding of problem solving concepts and attitudes about problem
solving;
comparison of exam performance on optimization problems between
students who do
the assignment and students in a different section of Calculus I who do
not do
the assignment; and analysis of students’ written work.
10:30 – 10:55* William A. Sargeant (UW-Whitewater)
Prospective Secondary Mathematics
Teachers' Purposes
and Ways of Interacting with Technology when Problem Solving
The purposes for,
and ways in
which, technology was used by four prospective secondary mathematics
teachers
as part of their problem solving efforts during semi-structured
task-based
interviews will be discussed. The
researcher extends a framework (Zbiek, 1998) for analyzing the purposes
for,
and ways of, using technology and the talk will focus on the purpose of
“delegating work” in particular.
10:30 – 10:55* Steve List (UW-River Falls)
Conditional Probability With a
Deck of Cards
This talk examines
several
surprising probabilities encountered when flipping through a deck of
cards.
11:00 – noon Invited Address Art Benjamin (Harvey Mudd College)
Combinatorial Trigonometry (and a
method to DIE for)
What is it? Face Off is a
mathematics quiz show with
questions from the broad realm of mathematics. And we mean broad! Teams of 2-4 students representing their
schools compete to answer these questions. Each team gets a sign with
the face
of a mathematician (For example, your team could play as Descartes,
Gauss,
Hilbert, Noether, or
When is it? Friday, April
20, 5:30-6:30 pm., as part of
the MAA-Wisconsin Section meeting
Sample Questions:
The Off Limits category
contained the following questions.
20 pts. What is limx->pi/2 sin(x)/x?
40 pts. What is limx->2
(x-3)/(x-2)?
60 pts. What is limx->0|x|/x?
80 pts. What is limx->1
(2x-2)/(x-1) ?
The Take a Number category
contained the following questions.
20 pts. How many pips are on a standard die?
40 pts. What prime number is both the sum of two primes and the
difference of
two primes?
60 pts. What two-digit number has a cube root equal to the square root
of the
sum of its digits?
80 pts. What is the smallest non-palindromic number whose square is a
palindrome?
Please contact one of the
organizers if you would like to enter a team. Any student who has taken
or is
enrolled in Calculus I is eligible to join a Face Off team representing
their
school. If a school doesn’t have enough
interested students, contact the organizers anyway – we can combine
interested
students to form hybrid teams. Space
will be limited, so form a team soon and let us know of your interest!
Face Off Organizers:
Dr.
Ken Price (pricek@uwosh.edu,
(920)424-1057),
Dr. Steve Szydlik (szydliks@uwosh.edu,
(920)424-7346),
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/mathematics/mathclub/faceoff.htm
top
MATC’s Truax Campus is located at 3550 Anderson St., near the junction of Hwy. 151 (E. Washington Ave.) and Hwy. 51 (Stoughton Rd.).
From I-90/94, you have your choice of three exits
· Take Exit 132 (Hwy. 51/Stoughton Rd.) south. Turn right on Anderson St. MATC will be on your right.
· At Exit 135A (Hwy. 151/E. Washington Ave.), follow the sign marked 151 South/Madison; turn right on Hwy. 51 (Stoughton Rd.) and left on Anderson St.
· At Exit 138 (Hwy. 30), take Hwy. 30. Follow the sign marked 30 West/Madison; turn right on Hwy. 51 (Stoughton Rd.) and left on Anderson St.
From Hwy 12/18: Exit at Hwy. 51 and go north. One block after crossing Hwy. 151 (E. Washington Ave.), turn left on Anderson Street.
Or visit: http://matcmadison.edu/matc/campuses/madison/ for the map.
Interview
with Rick Tufte by
Ben Collins
I
think the
first question on the minds of your friends in the MAA is: How is your
health?
[In 2003, Rick had surgery that removed most of a non-malignant brain
tumor the
size of a baseball.]
Well, the past month, I have been relatively good. I think I’m slowly getting better, but they say it’s a slow process.
Where
did you
grow up?
My folks moved around quite a bit when I was young. So I lived in several little towns in North Dakota. Primarily Mott, North Dakota.
When
did you
first become interested in mathematics?
I guess in Junior High School. Probably long about grade 8 or so I started having a more serious interest in it. This was primarily because of a teacher who encouraged me, Homer Moeller.
Where
did you
go to undergraduate school?
The University of North Dakota, where I majored in math, with a minor in physics.
And
what
about graduate school?
First I went to University of Missouri, where I got a master’s degree. Later, I got my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I took a few years off. I got my Ph.D. in 1990.
That
was
after you came to UW-Platteville?
Yes.
How
did you
end up here?
Well, I was a T.A. down there in Columbia, when I was sitting at my desk one day. They had a great big room where all the T.A.’s hung out. One day, the chair of the department came in and he said, “Hey, there’s a fellow here from the University of Wisconsin System, on a recruiting trip. If you’re interested, he’s in room such-and-such.” So with that, I went over there, and eventually I ended up at UWP.
So
what was
UWP like back then?
Well, it hasn’t changed a whole lot. The campus is pretty much the same way as it was then. Bjarne Ullsvik was Chancellor then.
You
met
Marilyn here in Platteville?
Yes. We met at the Dairy Days parade. Well, I’d seen her around campus before then, but that’s where we had our first chance, and went out for lunch after the parade.
When
were you
married?
1972.
So
what
courses did you like to teach?
My favorite courses to teach were the courses in the calculus sequence, particularly the first one. That was primarily because of the students. You generally had very eager students there. They were showing up in college for the first time. They didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what should be happening.
Over
the years,
did you find that teaching of mathematics changed?
I’d say the biggest change came when we started using handheld calculators. They really changed the way we taught. Of course, it was kind of a haphazard type of thing. Not everybody in the department used them in the same way. Maybe that’s the only way it can be done.
How
were you
involved with the MAA over the years?
When I first came to Platteville, Norbert Kunzi from UW-Oshkosh came and talked to me and asked me if I’d be interested in running for one of the state offices of the MAA, I forget which one. That’s how it started. Since then, I’ve served as chair and as governor.
What
do you
think is the best part of being a mathematician?
I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do than teach mathematics. I was always primarily interested in teaching.
What
was the
worst part of teaching mathematics?
Probably student complaints that it was too much work. Primarily that occurred in the introductory classes, like College Algebra.
How
would you
describe what you did when you were talking to somebody outside of
mathematics?
Well, you’re familiar with the reaction that you get when you’re at a faculty party and you tell someone you teach mathematics. There first reaction is “Oh, I was never good at math.”
So
what would
you say?
I usually say, “Well, I’m not very good, either. I always found that if I studied enough, it was something that I could understand.”
Editor’s
Note: Rick’s health keeps him from getting out very much.
I’m sure that he would appreciate a note from
any of his friends saying that you saw this article, and letting him
know that
you are thinking of him. Rick’s address
is Rick Tufte, 980 Hillcrest Circle, Platteville, WI 53818
William Walton (Bill)
Hall, Jr., longtime UW-Richland mathematics
professor
and a member of the MAA(WI), died on November 10, 2007 at the age of 82.
A graduate of West
Point Military Academy, and the University of Illinois, Professor Hall
started
his teaching career at UW-Richland in 1968, following a distinguished
military
career that earned him the country's highest non-combat military honor,
the
Legion of Merit. He retired in 1990. He
has given several presentations at the MAA(WI) on four-color map
theorem.
Professor Hall and
his wife Doris continued to reside in Richland Center.
Carroll College
submitted by Kristen Lampe
Kristen Lampe and Linda Uselmann (Edgewood College) had their paper "Pen Pals: Practicing Problem Solving" accepted for publication in NCTM's Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School.
Madison Area Technical College
submitted by J. Sriskandarajah
Spring Math Club Events:
Monday, January 28, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 321
Professor Ranjan Roy, Beloit College, "Fermat, modular arithmetic, and cryptology"
Tuesday, Febuary 19, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 321
Professor Susan Hollingsworth, Edgewood College, "Voting Paradoxes"
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 321
Professor John Frohliger, St. Norbert College, "The Golden Ratio"
Friday, April 18, 2008, 9:00 AM, Mitby Theater
Dale R. Buske, St. Cloud State University, "Lingo...It's Not Just Words"
Friday, April 25, 2008, Noon, Room TBD
Professor Colin Adams, Williams College, "Why Knot?"
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 3:30 PM, Room 321
Professor Norbert Kuenzi, UW-Oshkosh, "The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle"
Further information is available at http://matcmadison.edu/studentlife/clubs/mathclub
UW-Eau Claire
submitted by Simei Tong
Dr. Michael Penkava received a Fulbright award to continue his research at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest during the Spring Semester 2008.
Dr Mohamed
Elgindi and Dr
Michael Howe will host a summer research program (SUREPAM) for
the second consecutive year at the UWEC campus. This program provides
eight
weeks of concentrated mathematics research studies funded by the
National
Science Foundation. It supports ten undergraduate
mathematics majors to collaborate with faculty on a research
project in
pure or applied mathematics. For further information and application
materials,
please visit: www.uwec.edu/surepam.
At the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2008, San Diego, California Dr. Don Reynolds and Dr. Simei Tong were invited to speak at the AMS-MAA Special Session on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in Mathematics. The talk was based on the project “Building the Capacity of a Department of Mathematics to Engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,” funded by a UW System SoTL grant. UWEC undergraduate student Mitch Phillipson gave a presentation titled, “Shortest paths and optimal solutions for evacuation in emergency situations” at the AMS general session.
Also at the Joint Meeting, Christopher DeCleene and Eric Weber won a poster award for “Deformations of Two Dimensional Associative Infinity Algebras”, based on their REU project with fellow student Mitch Phillipson and faculty mentor, Dr. Michael Penkava. Mitch Phillipson also displayed the poster titled “Optimal Evacuations in Emergency Situations” summarizing an on-going faculty/student research project by Mitch Phillipson and Tayan Seltzer under faculty advisors Dr. Simei Tong and Dr. Michael Wick.
At the 2008 Joint Mathematics Meetings, a participant in the 2007 SUREPAM program (Xiaowen Cheng, a student at the Univ. of Minn.-Twin Cities) presented a talk on the work that she did with another student (Jarod Hart, UW-La Crosse) under the direction of UW-Eau Claire faculty member Dr. James Walker. The talk was entitled “Making Pictures of Music.'' A web page describing their work, can be found at http://www.uwec.edu/walkerjs/PicturesOfMusic/ .
Frank Lee Emmert III, a Mathematics and Chemistry major from Superior, presented the paper "On the Computation of Elongational Viscosity-Shear Rate Curves for Polymeric Liquids" at the Second International Conference on Mathematics: Trends and Developments, organized by the Egyptian Mathematical Society, on December 27, 2007 in Cairo, Egypt. This paper was the result of a student-faculty research project with Dr. Mohamed Elgindi.
Dr. Alex Smith was selected as the new Department Chair. He earned his Ph.D. from UC-Berkeley with research in complex manifolds, and has been a member of the faculty of UWEC since 1990.
Mathematics Educator Dr. Kate Masarik joined the department in fall 2007. Kate, a graduate of UC-Boulder taught most recently at San Diego State University before returning to her native state, Wisconsin.
Dr. Susan Harrison joined the UWEC Mathematics Department having served in the Computer Science Department for 24 years. Her specialty is remedial mathematics education.
Dr.
Jessica Kraker
with Douglas M. Hawkins, Subhash
C. Basak, Ramanathan Natarajan, Denise
Mills had the paper “Quantitative Structure-Activity
Relationship
(QSAR) modeling of juvenile hormone activity: Comparison of
validation
procedures” published in the Joural of Chemometrics and
Intelligent
Laboratory Systems, vol. 87, p. 33-42, 2007.
Dr. Simei Tong was invited to attend the August 2007 workshop of the American Institution of Mathematics (AIM), “Fourier Analytic Methods in Convex Geometry,” supported by AIM Research Conference Center in Palo Alto, California.
The second edition of Dr. James S. Walker's award winning textbook on wavelets, A Primer on Wavelets and their Scientific Applications, was published this February. It contains over 300 pages and 200 exercises covering the basic material on wavelets and their applications. For more details, including price and ordering information, please visit the web page http://www.uwec.edu/walkerjs/Primer/ .
UW-Milwaukee
submitted by Jay H. Beder
The 19th annual Marden Lecture in Mathematics will be presented by John H. Hubbard of Cornell University and Université de Provence. The public lecture will be held on Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 4:00pm - 5:00pm, in UWM’s Chemistry Bldg, Room 180, with a reception following the lecture in EMS E495A. The title and abstract are to be announced. Information will be posted as it becomes available at http://www.math.uwm.edu/Events/Marden/mardenlect.html.
The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Marquette University are hosting the 42nd annual Spring Topology and Dynamics Conference at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee on March 13-15. The local organizing committee includes faculty from UWM, Marquette and Alverno College. More information is available at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Math/Events/stdc2008/.
UW-Platteville
submitted by Sheryl Wills
Miyeon Kwon received the College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science Exemplary Professional Development Award. Kevin Haertzen received the Tau Beta Epsilon Excellence in Teaching Award.
UW-Stout
submitted by Steve Deckelman
Laura Schmidt presented her work on “Dealing with Anxiety and Attitudes in an Algebra Class” at the Lilly North Conference on Teaching in October and at the Joint Meetings in San Diego this year. Her work was also published in an article in the Academic Exchange Quarterly Journal and a short PR article in the Dunn County News, and is showcased on the University web page http://www2.uwstout.edu/news/index.asp?event=news.get&ID=1153 . She also gave a presentation on Stout’s Engagement Project during professional development week in which a group of 9 faculty from 6 different disciplines is investigating the questions of whether engagement affects learning.
Joy Becker, Nelu Ghenciu, Matt Horak and Helen Schroeder presented at the conference “Promoting Deep Learning” put on by The Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning. Their talk, “Building the ‘perfect’ course one lesson at a time” was aimed at a general audience and introduced others to the concept of Lesson Study and how it might benefit their departments. The talk was based on their experiences with Lesson Study during the fall semester.
UW-Whitewater
submitted by Mohammad Ahmadi
The search is underway to fill three tenure track positions; one in Mathematics Education and two in Math/Computer Science.
Mohammad Ahamdi, Thomas Drucker, Jonathan Kane, and Tamas Szabo attended AMS/MAA January meeting in San Diego. Drucker spoke in the joint AMS-MAA History of Mathematics session on Kurt Godel’s publications in philosophy of mathematics. Recently, his book ‘Perspectives on the History of Mathematical Logic’ was reprinted by Birkhauser. This book was originally published in1991 in Birkhauser series of Modern Classics. Congratulations is in order for Drucker who became the Treasurer of the Philosophy of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the MAA (POMSIGMAA).
The WI ESEA Teacher Quality Improvement Program awarded a grant, titled “Developing Mathematics Teacher-leaders through Collaborative Teams of Inservice and Preservice teachers,” to UW-Whitewater in partnership with the Whitewater Unified School District. Fe Evangelista (from Math and Computer Science) and Laura Moranchek (from Curriculum and Instruction) are co-investigators of the grant. William Mickelson (from Math and Computer Science) is the internal evaluator.
Jonathan Kane received a grant of $10,000 from the Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee to fund the April, 2008 Purple Comet Math Meet, an on-line team mathematics competition for middle and high school students run by Kane, Titu Andreescu, and Bennette Harris. Information about the contest is available at http://purplecomet.org.
Viterbo University
submitted by Rich Maresh
Larry Krajewski, who has been here at Viterbo since 1971, is retiring this spring. He will be missed! We are engaged in a search at present, not that we can exactly “replace” him.