Program for the 2006 Annual Meeting

Centre College, Danville

March 31 - April 1, 2006


Note: All times are EST and F= Faculty, G = Graduate Student, U = Undergraduate Student.

There is an MSWord version of:


Friday, March 31

2:00 – 5:30 Registration Olin Hall Foyer
2:00 – 5:30 Book Exhibit Olin Hall Room 128
2:00 – 5:00 Refreshments Olin Hall Room 128
3:00 – 3:20 Contributed Papers
  • Survey of Origami for College Mathematics by Duk Lee, Asbury College (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • Presenting Finite Difference Methods for One Dimensional Boundary Value Problems in an Undergraduate Numerical Methods Course by David L. Coulliette, Asbury College (f) in Olin Hall 123
  • Moving Mountains: Mapping Alpine Species in Colorado by Beth Whittle, Northern Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Imaginary Numbers in Engineering by Kevin Dick, Western Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 129
3:30 – 3:50 Contributed Papers
  • Some "Hard" Problems with Elegant, Elementary Solutions by Phil McCartney, Northern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • Measuring the Boundary of a Polynomino or Polycube by Wiley Williams, University of Louisville (f) in Olin Hall 123
  • Modeling of the AIDS epidemic by Chris Hatfield, Colin McGlothlin, Kelly Christiansen, Asbury College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Combinatorial Graph Games with 3+ Players by Heidi Shaw, Georgetown College (u) in Olin Hall 129
4:00 – 4:20 Contributed Papers
  • Mathematical Applications in Robot Learning by Christine Shannon, Centre College (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • Optimal Investment with A Priori Knowledge by Scott Dillery, Lindsey Wilson College (f) in Olin Hall 123
  • Financial Resource Allocation for HIV/AIDS Treatments by Andrew Schloemer, Mark Speakman, Daniel Zimmerman, Asbury College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge by Andrew Lindsey, Western Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 129
4:30 – 4:50 Contributed Papers
  • Refining the Mathematics Curriculum by Bill Johnston, Alex McAllister, Centre College (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • "Mars Attacks" and Some Classification Problems by Rob Donnelly, Murray State University (f) in Olin Hall 123
  • Pressure Tolerance of Underwater Structures by Trisha Edington, Morehead State University (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • A Stronger Triangle Unequality for the Poincare Plane by Melissa Baker, University of Louisville (g) in Olin Hall 129
5:00 – 5:50 Special Session on The Kentucky Center for Mathematics
  • by Kirsty Fleming, Northern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 123
5:00 – 5:20 Contributed Papers
  • Making the Mathematics for Liberal Arts Course a Real Course in Mathematics by Donald Krug, Northern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • The Search for the Best Bound by Ryan Walls, Murray State University (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Wheelchair Allocation in Airports by William Hartmann, Northern Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 129
5:30 – 5:50 Contributed Papers
  • An Inclination to Find the Height by Robin Blankenship, Morehead State University (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • A Bayesian Approach to Markov Chain Baseball Analysis by Chris Hammons, Georgetown College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Association Schemes, Distance Regular Graphs, and Related Algebras by Bangteng Xu, Eastern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 129
6:00 – 7:30 Banquet in Carnegie Hall, Second Floor
All meal reservations must be made and paid by March 17th.
7:30 – 8:30 Invited Address: in Young Hall, Room 101
MAA's American Mathematics Competitions: Easy Problems, Hard Problems, History, and Outcomes
Steven Dunbar, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The MAA has continuously sponsored a sequence of nationwide high-school level math contests since 1952. The sequence of contests now spans 5 different contests at increasing levels of mathematical sophistication. Students who succeed at the top level on these contests become the team representing the U.S. at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad. I'll survey the history and organization of the contests, along with the outcomes and some notable mathematicians whose early indications of talent came on these contests. Along the way, I'll showcase some of the interesting, easy, and hard mathematical problems that occur on these contests.
8:30 - ??? Aftermath in Young Hall Foyer

Saturday, April 1

7:45 – 10:00 Registration Olin Hall Foyer
7:45 – 10:15 Book Exhibit Olin Hall Room 128
7:45 – 10:15 Refreshments Olin Hall Room 128
8:00 – 8:20 Contributed Papers
  • Open Covers of the Rationals Need not Cover the Reals by Andy Martin, University of Kentucky (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • Extensions Yielding Quasi p-groups by Joe Gastenveld, Northern Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 123
  • Size of Special Elliptic Curve Groups by Joshua Smith, Centre College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Domination in Zero-Divisor Graphs by Nathan Gilbert, Morehead State University (u) in Olin Hall 129
8:30 – 8:50 Contributed Papers
  • The Total Curvature of Thick Knots by Claus Ernst, Western Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • A Simplified IDEA Algorithm by Nick Hoffman, Northern Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 123
  • Mixed Up Numbers by Megan Dailey, Centre College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • A Catalog of Zero-Divisor Graphs by Shane Redmond, Eastern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 129
8:50 – 9:10 Break
9:10 – 9:55 2005 Distinguished Teaching Award Address Young Hall, Room 101
What does dancing have to do with the derivative?
Dora Ahmadi, Morehead State University

The presenter will share the story of her journey in teaching mathematics including highlights that played an impact on shaping her as the teacher she is today.

9:55 – 10:15 Break
10:15 – 10:35 Contributed Papers
  • Quadrilaterals with Geometer's Sketchpad by Leanne Faulkner, Kentucky Wesleyan College (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • World War II Mathematician-Cryptologists by Chris Christensen, Northern Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 123
  • Precipitation Prestidigitation: Math for Irrigation by David Williams, Asbury College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Complexity of the Extremal Set Problem by Mustafa Atici, Western Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 129
  • The Control Panel Problem by Yi Yang and Joe Yeager, Centre College (u) in Olin Hall 122
10:45 – 11:05 Contributed Papers
  • Discrete Fractional Calculus by Ferhan Atici, Western Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 124
  • Rejewski's Catalog by Alex Kuhl, Northern Kentucky University (u) in Olin Hall 123
  • An Algorithm for Determining Optimal Irrigation Configuration Using Circle-Covering Techniques by Timothy Morrill, Lucas Speakman, Jonathan Lewis, Asbury College (u) in Olin Hall 107
  • Generalization of the Exponential Function by Lan Nguyen, Western Kentucky University (f) in Olin Hall 129
  • Technical Trading Strategy Based on Bollinger Bands by Beau Wolinsky, Centre College (u) in Olin Hall 122
11:30-12:30 Invited Address Young Hall, Room 101
PROOFS THAT REALLY COUNT: The Art of Combinatorial Proof
Arthur Benjamin, Harvey Mudd College

Mathematics is the science of patterns, and mathematicians attempt to understand these patterns and discover new ones using various tools. In this talk, we demonstrate that many number patterns, even very complex ones, can be understood by simple counting arguments. You will enjoy the magic of Fibonacci numbers, Lucas numbers, continued fractions, and more. You can count on it! This talk is based on research with Professor Jennifer Quinn and many undergraduates.

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch in Carnegie Hall, Second Floor
1:30 – 2:15 Business Meeting in Carnegie Hall, Second Floor
NOTE: we will vote on: Proposed Amendment to KYMAA Bylaws
2:30 – 3:30 KYMAA Executive Committee Meeting