Mathematical Association of America

Allegheny Mountain Section

Spring 2020 Meeting
3-4 April, 2020
Grove City College

Local Organizers

Eric D. Bancroft

Email:   edbancroft@gcc.edu

Phone:   724-458-3844

Meeting Information

Meeting Schedule

Invited Speakers

Carol Schumacher (Kenyon College) 4:00PM-5:00PM, 3 April 2020 (Technological Learning Center (TLC) Auditorium) Talk Title: All Tangled Up Abstract: Toys have inspired a lot of interesting mathematics. The SpirographTM helps children create lovely curves by rolling a small circle around the inside or the outside of a larger circle. These curves are called hypotrochoids and epitrochoids and are special cases of mathematical curves called roulettes. A roulette is created by following a point attached to one curve as that curve “rolls” along another curve. Another children’s toy, the TangleTM, inspired some students and me to investigate roulettes that we get by rolling a circle around the inside of a “tangle curve,” which is made up of quarter circles. The resulting roulettes we named “tangloids.” In this talk, we will look at many pretty pictures and animations of these curves and discuss some of their interesting properties. As a bonus, I will discuss the nature of generalization, which is very important in mathematics. Bio: Carol Schumacher is Professor of Mathematics at Kenyon College and has served three terms as department chair. She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin. Schumacher is the recipient of Kenyon’s Trustee Teaching Award and of the Ohio Section MAA’s Distinguished Teaching Award. She is the author of Closer and Closer: Introducing Real Analysis and Chapter Zero: Fundamental Notions of Abstract Mathematics, 2E. She loves teaching pretty much anything, but especially loves Calculus I and Calculus III, the transitions to proof course, the real analysis sequence. And she has recently gotten into teaching applied differential equations and dynamics. Schumacher is active in the Mathematical Association of America. She was co-chair of the 2015 CUPM Curriculum Guide to Majors in the Mathematical Sciences and is MAA VP. She has addressed Project NExT fellows at their summer workshop and has been involved with workshops that help faculty incorporate inquiry into their classrooms.




Tom Edgar (Pacific Lutheran University) 9:00AM-10:00AM, 4 April 2020 (HAL, Sticht Lecture Hall) Talk Title: Find a Problem that Sustains You Abstract: How do you stay engaged with mathematics once you aren't required to be engaged? I'll take you on my own personal journey of encountering a problem as an undergraduate that has sustained me as a math enthusiast for the past twenty years to my current role as an undergraduate mentor. Along the way, we'll discuss a variety of intriguing and accessible mathematical structures, some classical theorems that many undergraduates won't see in the standard curricula, and some newer, related results proved primarily by teams of undergraduates over the past seven years. I'll also mention my strategies for finding such a problem, with an emphasis on the people involved and the role of time. The problems we will investigate have intrigued me and other professional mathematicians but have also provided positive mathematical experiences for those who haven't chosen to pursue mathematics as a profession. Bio: Tom Edgar is an associate professor of mathematics at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where he has lived for the past decade. He received his undergraduate degree from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, a Masters degree from Colorado State University, and his PhD from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He is the recipient of the distinguished teaching award from the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematics Association of America, and he will serve as the editor of Math Horizons, the undergraduate magazine of the MAA, during the calendar years 2020-2024. He enjoys exploring integer sequences, combinatorial number theory, representation theory, and visual mathematics, especially with students in the classroom or via undergraduate research.




Samuel Hansen (University of Michigan) 11:45AM-12:45PM, 4 April 2020 (HAL, Sticht Lecture Hall) Talk Title: Can you tell me a story? - Why and How we should tell more stories in mathematics Abstract: Mathematics has a well known problem, many people just do not like it. Some may say this is simply because some people are mathematical and some are not, but we know that is not really true. The fact is mathematics is failing to engage a wide swath of the population in our discipline and we have to do something to fix this if we ever hope to show people just how awesome it is. This talk will argue there is one simple way to accomplish this task: TELL MORE STORIES! Stories are the way we understand the world. They are how we best connect with new ideas and people who are not ourselves. In this talk Samuel Hansen will discuss why stories are just the thing to help us engage people, especially self-proclaimed non-mathematical ones, with our beloved discipline. Then Samuel will discuss how to use different narrative structures to effectively tell mathematical stories, using examples from their mathematical podcast Relatively Prime. Bio: Samuel Hansen is the Mathematics & Statistics Librarian at the University of Michigan. They received their MLIS from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and MS in Mathematics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Samuel is also the producer and host behind the mathematics podcast Relatively Prime: Stories in the Mathematical Domain, and has produced many other mathematics podcasts through the years including Strongly Connected Components and Math/Maths. Samuel has dedicated many years to telling the stories of mathematics in many different form ranging from podcasts to writing on The Aperiodical and Second-Rate Minds to a video series on the mathematical history of Nottingham to their current research which investigates what citation patterns and aging can tell us about the nature of mathematical research.




Section NExT Workshop: Contact: Kim Roth or John Tolle Registration: Not available Time: Occurs Saturday, 4 April 2020 (lunch: 1:00PM-1:45PM and workshop to follow) Speaker: Carolyn Cuff, Westminster College Abstract: Randomization and bootstrapping are forms of resampling and relatively new to introductory statistics. Research has shown that teaching the concepts helps students understand the inference process. Come and learn about resampling, why it helps students understand inferential statistics, and work through two classroom ready modules. Jobs panelists Sarah Veney Sarah Veney currently works as a Client Relationship Specialist at Management Science Associates Inc., a data management company in Pittsburgh, PA. She graduated last spring from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA with a mathematics major and a classical studies minor. Sarah also completed a senior project titled “Hall’s Theorem: A Look at Partial Converses of Lagrange’s Theorem”. During her time at Allegheny, she served as secretary of Dimensions math club for three years, and enjoyed history of mathematics, number theory, and abstract algebra. Erica Knoll Erica Knoll is an actuarial analyst at Erie Insurance. She graduated from Allegheny College in 2016 with a major in Mathematics and minor in Economics. Her experience in actuarial includes roles in commercial pricing, personal pricing, and reserving. Christy Crute Christy Crute is a former corporate executive who used her Ph.D. in Operations Research to lead global Information Departments in large corporations such as General Electric and Ingersoll Rand. Crute has spoken at numerous conferences on the use of technology to improve business margins through process improvement. Crute, a professor of Business Analytics, currently serves as the Executive Director of Graduate and Online Programs at Grove City College. Crute’s research is now focused on promoting student research, particularly in the field of analytics. Registration and Payment Registration has been suspended due to cancellation of the conference. Preregistration prior to Thursday 28 March On-site registration at meeting MAA Member $30 $35 non-MAA Member $35 $40 Students $0 $0 Conference meals information Click here for the information about the meals provided by the conference. Lodging Information Click here for information about the hotels. Driving Directions I-79 to Exit 113 for Grove City Take Rt. 208 East into Grove City to the first traffic light. Turn right onto Main St. (Rt. 58). Turn left onto S. Madison Ave and turn into one of the parking lots. I-80 to Exit 24 for Grove City/Sandy Lake Take Rt. 173 South into Grove City. Follow Rt. 173 as it winds through town. Turn left onto East Pine St. Turn right onto S. Madison Ave and turn into one of the parking lots. Parking and Campus Map Parking is free and available in any of the lots throughout campus and no permit is needed on Friday afternoon through the weekend. The most convenient lots are marked on the map along with locations of all of the different events for the meeting. **Click here for a campus and campus parking map. Local Attractions: Downtown Grove City- https://www.oldetowngrovecity.com/, including multiple coffee shops and restaurants Grove City Premium Outlets- https://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/grove-city Wendell August Forge- https://www.wendellaugust.com/, America’s oldest and largest forge, crafting hand-wrought ornamental metalware and giftware since 1923 Keystone Safari- https://www.keystonesafari.net/, open Saturdays and Sundays in April, weather permitting McConnells Mill State Park- https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/McConnellsMillStatePark/Pages/default.aspx Moraine State Park- https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/MoraineStatePark/Pages/default.aspx Other things to do in Mercer County: https://www.visitmercercountypa.com/ Allegheny Mountain Section of the MAA This website is maintained by Tom Cuchta of Fairmont State University, Department of Computer Science and Mathematics. This page was last modified on 12 March 2020 at 09:28:13 Eastern Time Zone USA MAA Online Disclaimer