Program for the 2008 Annual Meeting

Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green

March 28 - 29, 2008

Note: All times listed are Central Daylight Time (CDT). Undergraduate student speakers are indicated by (u), graduate student speakers are indicated by (g), and faculty speakers are indicated by (f). This document is also available in MS-Word and PDF formats.

Friday, March 28

2:30-5:30pm Registration MMTH Second Floor Atrium

2:30-5:00pm Refreshments MMTH 228

2:30-5:30pm Book Exhibits MMTH 228

2:30-5:30pm Student Lounge MMTH 227

3:20-3:35pm Contributed Papers
Courtney Kepple, Western Kentucky University (u)
Interesting Properties of Parabolas. MMTH 232

John Spraker, Western Kentucky University (f)
A Talk of Acceptable Duration. MMTH 236

3:40-3:55pm Contributed Papers
Jonathan Butcher, Joe Chambers and Nathan Potratz, Asbury College (u)
Simply Sudoku. MMTH 232

Bettina Richmond, Western Kentucky University (f)
A Total Quasiorder on Finite Topological Spaces. MMTH 236

David K. Neal, Western Kentucky University (f)
Limits of Mean and Variance of a Fibonacci Distribution. MMTH 249

4:00-4:15pm Contributed Papers
Philip Fackler, Christopher Hatfield, and Aaron Iddings, Asbury College (u)
Can Santa Swim? Modeling the Effects of the Melting North Polar Ice Cap on the Coast of Florida. MMTH 232

Mark Robinson, Western Kentucky University (f)
Iterative Methods for Linear and Nonlinear Systems. MMTH 236

David DeSario, Georgetown College (f)
Generalized Solid Angle Theory for Real Polytopes. MMTH 249

4:15-4:30pm Break

4:30-5:25pm Panel Discussion
The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Sciences in Kentucky
Moderator: Mark Robinson, Western Kentucky University
Panelists: Barry Brunson, Mathematics Professor
Claus Ernst, Mathematics Professor
Sam Fedorka, Student
Julia Freeman, Student
Tim Gott, Academy Director
MMTH Auditorium

4:30-4:45pm Contributed Papers
Taylor J. Clements, Murray State University (u)
Boundaries of Complex Polynomials and their Roots. MMTH 232

Bruce Kessler, Western Kentucky University (f)
Mathematical Myth-busting: The “Boiling Water” Myth. MMTH 236

Timothy M. Brauch, University of Louisville (g)
Counting Perfect Matchings. MMTH 249

4:50-5:05pm Contributed Papers
Woody Burchett, Georgetown College (u)
Thinking Inside the Box: Geometric Interpretations of Quadratic Problems in BM 13901. MMTH 232

David Benko, Western Kentucky University (f)
The Pros and Cons of Ebay. MMTH 236

John M. Cochran, University of Louisville (g)
Data Tracking Using Mathematical Imaging. MMTH 249

5:10-5:25pm Contributed Papers
Rachel Stamper, Centre College (u)
Cantor's Contributions to the Study of Infinite Sets. MMTH 232

Rus May, Morehead State University (f)
An expectation in the birthday problem. MMTH 236

Dirk Schlingmann, Eastern Kentucky University (f)
The Mathematics of Music. MMTH 249

5:30-5:45pm Contributed Papers
Sara Haque, Centre College (u)
The completeness tale of the Incompleteness Theorem. MMTH 232

Duk Lee, Asbury College (f)
Why can an angle trisection be done by origami? MMTH 236

Kenny Palmer, Western Kentucky University (f)
Trigonometry of Music. MMTH 249

6:00-7:30pm Banquet Downing University Center, Cupola Room

7:30-8:30pm Invited Address
David Bressoud, Macalester College
The Truth of Proofs
MMTH Auditorium

8:30pm Aftermath MMTH Auditorium Foyer

9:00pm Presentation
MAA movie “Hard Problems”
MMTH Auditorium

Saturday, March 29

7:45-11:00am Registration MMTH Second Floor Atrium

7:45-11:00am Refreshments MMTH 228

8:00-11:20am Book Exhibits MMTH 228

8:00-11:20am Student Lounge MMTH 118

8:00-8:55am Presentation
Statewide Mathematics Placement Testing Project
Presenters: Paul Eakin, University of Kentucky
Steve Newman, Northern Kentucky University
MMTH Auditorium

8:00-8:15am Contributed Papers
Jesse Johnson, Centre College (u)
Cyclotomic Cosets and Finite Fields. MMTH 232

Rob Donnelly, Murray State University (f)
The numbers game and Dynkin diagram classification results. MMTH 236

Lan Nguyen, Western Kentucky University (f)
Something about the fixed point theorem. MMTH 249

D. Jacob Wildstrom, University of Louisville (f)
Relocation problems for limited-mobility service providers. MMTH 250

8:20-8:35am Contributed Papers
Mandy Smith, Centre College (u)
Persistence Barcodes For Digits. MMTH 232

Matthew R. Gilliland, Murray State University (g)
Distributive Lattices structured by the F4 Dynkin diagram. MMTH 236

Andrew Long, Northern Kentucky University (f)
A Computer-Controlled Function Box for Plotting Surfaces. MMTH 249

Wandi Ding, Middle Tennessee State University (f)
Optimal Control on a Hybrid Tick Disease Model. MMTH 250

8:40-8:55am Contributed Papers
Joshua Knox, Morehead State University (u)
Random Graphs for Modeling Online Social Networks. MMTH 232

Robert Amundson, Murray State University (u)
The Lie group GL(n,Q) and Lie algebra gl(n,Q). MMTH 236

Bill Fenton, Bellarmine University (f)
Radical Axes of Apollonian Circles on a Triangle. MMTH 249

Jeffrey Heath, Centre College (f)
Modeling Baseball Using Markov Chains. MMTH 250

9:10-10:00am 2007 Distinguished Teaching Award Address
Chris Christensen, Northern Kentucky University
The Evolution of the Cryptologic Bombe
MMTH Auditorium

10:00-10:20am Break

10:20-11:15am Panel Discussion MMTH Auditorium
Perspectives on Transition Courses
Panelists: David Bressoud, Macalester College
Leanne Faulkner, Kentucky Wesleyan College
Alex McAllister, Centre College
Tom Richmond, Western Kentucky University

10:20-10:35am Contributed Papers
Ryan Walls, Murray State University (u)
An N-gon Knot Invariant. MMTH 232

Andy Martin, Kentucky State University (f)
OoOps! Are We Forgetting to Update the Order of Operations? MMTH 236

Andrew Long, Northern Kentucky University (f)
Optimal Placement of Fixed Solar Panels. MMTH 249

Doug Chatham, Morehead State University (f)
Symmetries of Solutions to the N+k Queens Problem. MMTH 250

10:40-10:55am Contributed Papers
Kelly Christensen, Ted Landis, and Joe Thacker, Asbury College (u)
Good Health is Hard to Find. MMTH 232

Gary Goodaker, West Kentucky Community and Technical College (f)
Using Kentucky Governor’s Cup Mathematics Written Assessments in Elementary Teachers Courses. MMTH 236

Lisa Holden, Northern Kentucky University (f)
Protostar Formation: Describing the Collapse of a Molecular Cloud Core. MMTH 249

Omer Yayenie, Murray State University (f)
A New Generalization of The Fibonacci Sequence & An Extended Binet’s Formula. MMTH 250

11:00-11:15am
Benjamin Clapp, Kayla Menkedick, and Alasdair Wooffitt, Asbury College (u)
International Healthcare Efficiency. MMTH 232 WITHDRAWN

Scott Dillery, Lindsey Wilson College (f)
Moving Away from Developmental Algebra Courses. MMTH 236

Stacy Long, Georgetown College (u)
Cosmology and Einstein's General Relativity. MMTH 249

Marcia Edson, Murray State University (f)
On the Number of Partitions of an Integer in the m-Bonacci Base. MMTH 250

11:30am-12:30pm Invited Address
Louis J. Gross, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Mathematics as a Mechanism for Cohesion in Biology
MMTH Auditorium

12:30-1:30pm Lunch Downing University Center, Cupola Room

1:15-1:45pm Business Meeting Downing University Center, Cupola Room

2:00pm KYMAA Executive Committee Meeting