In case you haven’t heard, it’s Math Awareness Month and this year the Mathematics Association of America (MAA) has chosen as the 2012 theme — the Data Deluge that surrounds us all.  Because this Big Data theme obviously involves statistics, …

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Williams Professor Susan Loepp received the national Haimo teaching award of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) from President Paul Zorn at the joint annual mathematics meetings in Boston on Thursday, January 5. The press releases (Williams and MAA) praise Loepp’s …

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In what way is mathematics dangerous?  This past year, the Williams College Gaudino program has been looking at the idea of danger.  Hence my question, in what way is mathematics dangerous? Maybe there is emotional danger, as the media mocks …

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I’d encourage mathematicians to look at Alain Badiou’s Being and Event and Logic of Worlds. Both are full of a lot of ideas. What mathematician cannot be thrilled by the statement in the introduction to Being and Event that “mathematics …

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President Falk rang the bells, canceling classes, and we headed once more up into the mountains for another Mountain Day:  

As Vice-President, I represented the American Mathematical Society at the first joint meeting with the Korean Mathematical Society in Seoul in December, 2009. At a luncheon of society presidents, in excitement over the future of math in Asia, began plans …

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Introductory proof writing is much like English as a Second Language.  Developing written mathematical skills involves wrestling with issues of vocabulary, word choice, grammar, word order, punctuation, native expressions and (after enough experience) eventuates in fluency in the foreign language …

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As I watched Mihai’s legs disappear over the edge of the open door at 13,500 ft, my instructor turned to me and asked “Are you ready?” My mind was racing, going over the waiver I signed and trying to remember …

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Earlier on this blog I wrote “Math departments are full of smart people.  But with the demands (and joys) of research and teaching (and of our personal lives), most people in math departments do not talk to each other about …

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The hot hand is a term used in basketball to describe a player making a series of successful throws at the basket, i.e., getting “hot”. But it seems that we, as humans, are too fast at jumping at the conclusion …

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