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Content Teasers for September 2007
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The Editors A hoax revealed. |
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Laura Taalman What is the minimum number of clues that a Sudoku puzzle can have? How many Sudoku puzzles are there? What is the maximum number of independent clues that a Sudoku puzzle can have? Every variation of Sudoku you can think of comes with its own set of interesting open mathematical questions. |
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Environmental Mathematical Modeling: Grand Canyon Catherine A. Roberts Over 20,000 people take rafting trips down the Colorado River and the demand increases every year. The National Park Service has to balance protecting this natural resource while still allowing access to the public park. Using a mathematical model to simulate rafting traffic, mathematicians have helped Park managers plan in a way that should result in a less crowded river at any one time, even though more than 200 additional people will be allowed to go on river trips each year. |
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Maria Klawe Similar to Tetris, Lumines is a video game of shifting, rotating, and dropping block shapes with the goal of clearing the "rubble". Winning strategies are investigated for an ideal game and techniques are discussed for getting high scores in real-time play. |
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A Conversation with President Maria Herbie Huff Maria Klawe is Harvey Mudd College's fifth president and it first female president. Dr. Klawe holds a bachelors, masters, and PhD in mathematics from the University of Alberta. Her previous jobs include Dean of Engineering at Princeton University and manager at IBM Almaden Research Center. It's a long road from math major to college president and this interview gives some insight into her past philosophies and dreams for the future. |
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Organizational Profile: Association for Women in Mathematics Jennifer Quinn All to often, young women see themselves as lacking mathematical ability, and see mathematics as unfeminine and unattractive. This leads many to turn their backs on mathematics, which in turn cuts them off from a world of opportunities that might otherwise be open to them. The Association for Women in Mathematics want to counteract this image and to replace it with an understanding that mathematics in enjoyable, accessible, and actually "way cool." |
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High Fashion Goes Mathematical Innovative designers Eri Matsui and Jhane Barnes use "cutting edge" mathematics to create exciting couture. |
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On Strong
Shoulders: Words of Wisdom from a Trailblazer When Evelyn Boyd Granville received her PhD from Yale University in 1949, she became the second African-American woman in the U.S. to be awarded a doctorate in mathematics. She has an unshakable confidence that has helped her overcome discrimination based on race and sex and has inspired generations of mathematicians. |
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Lee Kennard and Gwen Spencer Books reviewed this issue are Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart and Complexitites: Women in Mathematics edited by Bettye Anne Case and Anne M. Leggett. |
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Alumnae Profiles: Bryn Mawr College Lisa Traynor Over the last five years, approximately ten percent of the undergraduates at Bryn Mawr have majored in mathematics, roughly ten times the national average. See how graduates Jane Holsapple, Maria Hristova, Jennifer Nissly, Lisa Duffy, Theresa Kim, Meridith Unger, Racheal Thomas, Jessica Ree, Zhenjian He, and Jennifer J. Blechar has put their mathematical degrees to work. |
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Deanna Haunsperger and Stephen Kennedy The Carelton College Summer Mathematics Program was designed as an intense mathematical experience for women finishing their first or second year of college. The four week program provides training, support, and encouragement for these participants to pursue advanced degrees in mathematics. |
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Down With
Bolzano-Weierstrass or Just Rhymin' with Proof "Rap" your mind around this important theorem from analysis. |
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Problem Section Andy Liu and Derek Smith |