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Math Horizons Contents—November 2014

Four hundred years ago John Napier invented the logarithm. Five hundred years ago Albrecht Dürer created some of his most famous engravings. In this issue of Math Horizons we celebrate these anniversaries. Nathan Carter and Dan Kalman tell a humorous story of what life would be like without the logarithm. Annalisa Crannell, Marc Frantz, and Fumiko Futamura investigate the claim of one of Dürer's critics that the perspective in St. Jerome in His Study is all wrong. Also, Colm Mulcahy improves Fitch Cheney's classic five-card trick to work with three cards. Read these articles and more in the November issue of Math HorizonsDavid Richeson, editor

Volume 22, Issue 2

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Squareorama 4

Ezra Brown

Artist Darcy Meeker uses copper to illustrate the perfectly squared square.

Reverse Engineering College Rankings

Tim Chartier and Justin Peachey

Tim Chartier and Justin Peachey use linear algebra to determine how U.S. News & World Report ranks colleges.

Dürer: Disguise, Distance, Disagreements, and Diagonals!

Annalisa Crannell, Marc Frantz, and Fumiko Futamura

Was Albrecht Dürer out of his depth when engraving St. Jerome in His Study?

Math and the Mouse

Liz Bouzarth, John Harris, and Kevin Hutson

Three professors take their students to Walt Disney World to study the mathematics of the theme park.

Career Profile: Greg Coxson, Mathematical Engineer

Ximena Catepillán

A Q&A with a mathematical engineer.

It’s a Wonderful Log

Nathan Carter and Dan Kalman

What if the logarithm had never been invented?

Cryptographic Word Search

Tom Edgar and Andrew Lloyd

A word search within a word search with a cryptographic twist.

THE VIEW FROM HERE: 10 Ways to Spice Up Your Math Club

Katie Wanek

Katie Wanek suggests ways to build a large, energized math club.

DO THE MATH! Three Cards Suffice

Colm Mulcahy

The author shows that Fitch Cheney’s famous five-card magic trick can be performed with only three cards.

THE BOOKSHELF:

Rob Eby reviews Mathematical Card Magic: Fifty-Two New Effects, by Colm Mulcahy; Darren Glass

reviews The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life by Alex Bellos.

THE PLAYGROUND:

The Math Horizons problem section, edited by Gary Gordon

AFTERMATH: When Will I Use This?

Douglas Corey

Douglas Corey gives three answers to this age-old student question.