MAA Math Alert - October 2012

News and Views

MAA Becomes a MathJax Supporter
The MAA is giving the MathJax project a boost by joining its sponsorship program. MathJax is open-source software for displaying mathematical notations within webpages in a reliable and flexible way.More.

Shapley Co-Awarded Nobel Prize in Economics
Read Lloyd Shapley's early work on deferred acceptance algorithms fromThe American Mathematical Monthly.Article.

Dorff Treats Audience to Good, Clean Fun at MAA Lecture
Photos, full audio, and a recap of a recent Carriage House Lecture by Michael Dorff on soap films and minimal surfaces.More.

Register forthe AMC Contests Today
The 2012 AMC 8 Contest will take place on Tuesday, November 13. The 2013 AMC 10/12 A Contest will take place on Tuesday, February 5. The AMC 10/12 B Contest will take place on Wednesday, February 20. Clickhereto register for any of the three contests online. Encourage your department, college, or university to participate and offer the contests to interested andhigh-achieving students.Encourage schools and teachers in your area to participate in the AMC contests if they are not already doing so.Also, you can help prepare students (for instance in amathcircle or club) by studying past contest problems available inAMC publications.

Announcements

2013 MAA Travel Study Tour to Alaska: July 9-17, 2013
Sitka, Hobart Bay, Juneau, Glacier Bay & More
Experience Alaska's inside passage with the MAA on a small ship with Alaskan Dream Cruises. Get up close to thundering tidewater glaciers and see stunning wilderness through the eyes of expert naturalists, Expedition Leaders, and First Nations interpreters. Cruise from Sitka to legendary Glacier Bay National Park, stop at Juneau, the state capital, and visit out-of-the-way exclusive places like Hobart Bay. Participate in special on-board evening programs designed for MAA travelers concerning the challenges of educating the population spread across the largest state in the Union and teaching about native Alaskanmathematics.Learn more here.

Travel Grant Program for the 2013 Mathematical Congress of the Americas (MCA 2013)
Funding for U.S.-based mathematicians attending MCA 2013 in Guanajuato, Mexico, August 5-9, 2013, is now available. Application deadline is December 31, 2012. Award decisions are expected to be announced by April 1, 2013.Details.

Mathematical Pumpkins!
Did you usemathto carve your pumpkin this year? Send photos toeditor@maa.organd we'll add them to ourgallery. The best photo will be featured on our Halloween MAA FoundMathpage.

Featured Articles

TheMathematicsBehind xkcd: A Conversation with Randall Munroe
The creator of the popular web comic xkcd muses about the merits of pen and paper versus computer coding, tic-tac-toe, and where he sits on the scale of intellectual purity.Article.

NSF Research Fellowship Encourages Applications for MathematicsResearch
Meredith Berthelson talks about NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship Program.Article.

Launchings
David Bressoud delves into the data on Calculus I instruction from MAA's studyCharacteristics of Successful Programs in College Calculus.Article.

Devlin's Angle
Devlin visits Pisa with a special stop at the dedication to Leonardo "Fibonacci," the writer of the bookLiber Abbaci.Article.

NWays to Apply Algebra withThe New York Times
A Brooklyn high school teacher revisits this summer's controversial debate "Is Algebra Necessary?"Article.

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