MAA Math Alert - July 2010

News and Views

International Mathematical Olympiad 2010 Results:The U.S. team placed third and team member Evan O'Dorney earned the second-best individual score at the 51st International Mathematical Olympiad. Full story.

Spotlight on the Archives of American Mathematics: Learn more about the Archives of American Mathematics, the only archival repository in the U.S. dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and records of mathematicians and mathematical organizations, including MAA. Read the complete storyhere.

Perelman Says "Nyet!" to $1 Million Prize: Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman has declined $1 million from the Clay Mathematics Institue for having proved the PoincarÃ© conjecture in 2006. Click here for the story.

New MAA Book Catalog Now Available: Browse the MAA Publications 2010 Fall/Winter Catalog. Look for these new MAA books at MathFest: Mathematics and Sports (Joseph Gallian, editor) and Invitation to Complex Analysis, Second Edition by Ralph P. Boas (Second edition revised by Harold P. Boas). Catalog here.

Plan Your Schedule Now for MathFest 2010: MAA has posted committee schedules, a timetable of events, and abstracts for MathFest and Undergraduate Students talks. Plan your time at MathFest in advance! Click here to plan your trip today.

Not Registered for MathFest 2010? It's not too late, register today! MathFest 2010 will take place in Pittsburgh, PA, from August 5-7 with a great lineup of sessions in store. To learn more and to register for the meeting, visit MathFest 2010.

Pittsburgh has a wonderful array of public art and some spectacular architecture, making it an apt venue for excursions into mathematical art and more.

MAA to Participate in USA Science & Engineering Festival in October: MAA will have a booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival Expo on the National Mall, October 23-24, 2010. Learn more here.

PREP Accepting Proposals for Summer 2011 PREP workshops: MAA's Professional Enhancement Program (PREP) is now requesting proposals to run a PREP workshop in Summer 2011. For more information Click here.

Featured Articles

Wanted: Innovative Thinking: In this month's installment of Devlin's Angle, Keith Devlin argues that the leadership role that the U.S. has been used to, and clearly wants to maintain, is to be found in the growing strategic importance of innovative mathematical thinking. Read the fullcolumn at Devlin's Angle.

Meeting the Challenge of High School Calculus - Overcoming Ignorance: Two studies that are currently underway should help us understand the effects of the movement of calculus into the high schools, but that still leaves many unanswered questions, writes David Bressoud. Read more.

Logarithms: The Early History of a Familiar Function: Kathleen M. Clark recounts the 'great tale' of Napier's and Burgi's parallel development of logarithms and urge you to use it in class. Read article here.

A Disquisition on the Square Root of Three: Robert J. Wisner compares Greek ladder, continued fraction, and Newton's Method approximations, noting that the Greek ladder easily gives both of Archimedes' famous bounds. Read article here.