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Math Horizons - November 2002

Content Teasers for November 2002

You Can't Go Wrong with Triangles

The multiple-choice test dreams are made of.

Is the SAT I Exam Irrelevant?

Was all your late night cramming for nought?

Tiling with Pi

Canadian-born artist Arlene Stamp is inspired by fractals, and base 2, and pi.

The Devil is in the Culture

Why you should read "The Number Devil" and other musings on mathematical education and culture.

A different perspective from reader Angie Thuy-Anh Mai (added June 2005).

Alfred Bray Kempe's "Proof" of the Four-Color Theorem

An oversight by Kempe sparked a century-long search for the correct proof.

Lewis Carroll's Day-of-the-Week Algorithm

What day of the week was January 27, 1832, Carroll's birth? Quick!

Functioning Meaningfully

Mind your abscissas and your ordinates.

Problem Section

S-71.

Proposed by P. Wagner, Chicago, Illinois. ABCD is a quadrilateral with AD=BC and AB parallel to DC. E is any point on AB and F is any point on CD. Prove that the points of intersection of AF with DE, EC with FB and AC with DB are colinear.

S-72.

Proposed by E. M. Kaye, Vancouver, B.C. Let x and y be any real numbers. Determine the maximum value of a^2 x^6 y^4 - x^8 y^4 - x^6 y^6.

The Final Exam: You know you're a mathematician if...

Dummy View - NOT TO BE DELETED