Dick Davitt of the University of Louisville assures me that our meeting in March will be blessed with pre-Derby warmth. May all of us survive this wintry blast.

As the meeting approaches I trust that many of you are making plans to submit your latest results, your teaching discoveries and your shareable interaction with mathematics and with your students with the rest of us at the Kentucky Section Annual Meeting at the University of Louisville this March. Though our programs have tended to grow fuller over the years, the challenge of accommodating everyone is one that we look forward to accomplishing. The main addresses promise an interesting meeting in themselves. This year we will combine the latest of the University of Louisville's successful Bullitt Lecture series with our Friday evening talk.

Friday night accommodations are challenged this year in Louisville by several conventions being held simultaneously with our meeting. I would urge you to be more than prompt in making your reservations.

Our consistently strong representation of students at our meeting is a tradition worth continuing. My experience as the Bellarmine Student Chapter coordinator suggests that their attendance is a function of the amount of prompting given by the faculty. So encourage your students to attend. Dr. Lisa Elderbrock (Northern Kentucky University) is our new Section Student Chapter coordinator. I am sure she will present a program of interest.

I hope that your year has gone well and that you have been blessed with teachable students. This past semester might well have been my last one in so far as teaching in the classroom is concerned. That realization brought a good deal of sadness as the semester came to a close. Certainly I can think of no better way I could have spent my energies (except perhaps for playing baseball). I look forward to seeing "all you all" at the meeting.

John Oppelt

Holiday Inn Louisville Downtown

120 W. Broadway

Louisville, KY 40204

(502) 582-2241

It is located in downtown Louisville, just off of I-65, approximately 3 miles from the UL Belknap Campus. A map will appear in the Spring Newsletter. The room rates are $55 for single occupancy and $65 for double occupancy. They will hold a block of 80 rooms until March 12 for Friday evening, March 26. Request rates for the Kentucky MAA meeting. The Midwest Trucking Association is holding its annual meeting at the State Fairgrounds in Louisville the weekend of the Section meeting; thus there will be virtually no available hotel rooms in Louisville itself for March 26. From the UL Mathematics Department's experience hosting a large Regional Meeting of the AMS last spring when the Midwest Trucking Association was in town, we can assure you that it is wise to make your room reservation by the March 12 deadline or count on staying in Shelbyville or Elizabethtown.

The Friday evening banquet ($14.00) will be served buffet style and held in the Atrium of the Business School, adjacent to Strickler Hall where the featured talk (joint with UL's annual Bullitt Mathematical Lecture) will be given. It will be catered by Ferd Grisanti's Restaurant. The menu consists of tossed garden salad, vegetable lasagna and chicken tetrazzini, vegetable parmesan, dinner rolls and butter, coffee and iced tea, and

italian cream cake.

The Saturday continental breakfast ($7.00) will be held in a reserved room at the Holiday Inn Downtown. The price reflects the charge for reserving the room and an 18% surcharge. The menu is assorted pastries, chilled juices, coffee (regular and decaf) and tea.

The Saturday luncheon ($7.00) will be held in the dining hall of a building adjacent to the Mathematics Department building. The menu is choice of sandwich (veggie pocket, turkey/cheese or ham/swiss), salad, cookie/brownie, and coffee and iced tea.

Reservations for meals MUST BE MADE by Monday, March 22, 1999. Thus, if you do not preregister, you must make meal reservations via Dick Davitt if you plan on eating with us. Questions concerning local arrangements should be directed to Dick Davitt at UL's Mathematics Dept., (502) 852-6826 or rmdavi01@athena.louisville.edu

On Friday afternoon, Dan Curtin from Northern Kentucky University and Dick Davitt from the University of Louisville will present a short course on the history of mathematics. They will offer a variety of specific ways that the history of mathematics can be introduced into any mathematics classroom. Professors Curtin and Davitt will have more than a half dozen modes which they have successfully used in their courses and will also have bibliographical and other source information as well as sample course syllabi for persons interested in offering a history of mathematics course. Also, slides from courses taught abroad will be shown.

On Friday evening, Peter Winkler, the Head of the Fundamental Mathematics Research Department at Bell Labs (Lucent Technologies), will give the invited address, "Probability and Intuition". Dr. Winkler is the author of over 100 research papers and holds patents in cryptology, holography, telephony, and marine navigation. His talk focuses on the following idea.

Mathematics often is thought of as an aid to decision-making: an indispensable tool for building bridges, putting satellites in orbit and managing telephone networks. But 99.999% of our life-decisions are made without any computational help, and indeed without any numerical input that a computer would even understand. These decisions involve probability and rely on intuition, an immensely flexible and effective human power. Should I take I-65 to work in the morning? Should I bring an umbrella? Should I quit smoking? Mathematics has a role to play in these "soft" decisions as well, albeit a more indirect one and can be used to refine our intuition, and keep it from playing "April Fool's" jokes on us. In his talk, Dr. Winkler will illustrate some of the traps intuition has set for us, together with some tips which can help keep us from backing the wrong horse.

On Saturday morning, Dan Kalman from Washington DC's American University, will give the invited address, "Viewing Polynomial Roots With Matrix Eyes -- Linear Algebra Methods Applied to some Classic Polynomial Problems". Dr. Kalman joined the mathematics faculty at American University in 1993, following eight years as an applied mathematician in the aerospace industry. He is an Associate Editor of Mathematics Magazine, author of the textbook Elementary Mathematical Models, and recipient of three MAA writing awards: George Polya (1994), Trevor Evans (1997), and Carl B. Allendoerfer (1998).

In the standard linear algebra curriculum, polynomials and roots are used to derive information about matrices. Most prominently, the eigenvalues of a matrix are given by the roots of its characteristic polynomial, and so theorems relating coefficients and roots of polynomials can be translated into theorems relating entries and eigenvalues of a matrix. In his talk, Dr. Kalman will spin two mathematical threads that run in the opposite direction, namely, properties of matrices will be used to derive information about polynomials. One thread leads to a proof that roots of a monic polynomial with integer coefficients are either integral or irrational and several related results, while a second thread provides a unified derivation of the algebraic solutions of cubic and quartic equations, and leads to other interesting properties and questions.

The rest is up to you, hence, a call for papers. There will be sessions for contributed papers (20 minutes in length) on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. New insights, concepts, ideas for courses, teaching innovations, uses of technology, or theorems are all possibilities for you to come and share.

You can e-mail, fax, or mail the form on the facing page. I look forward to seeing you on March 26-27 at the University of Louisville.

Ray Tennant

Beginning with this issue, the KYMAA Section Newsletter is available via email! Those of you who would prefer to receive your newsletter this way should send email to William Harris, KYMAA Newsletter Editor (wharris@georgetowncollege.edu). Please follow these guidelines:

1. Your message should be entitled, "Electronic Newsletter."

2. You should include the email address at which you wish to receive the newsletter in the body of your message.

3. You need to indicate the format you wish to receive. Current options are:

a) Plain text;

b) Microsoft Word 6.0 for Windows attachment;

c) Microsoft Word 6.0 for Macintosh attachment;

d) Corel Word Perfect 5.x for Windows attachment.

If you choose to receive the electronic version of the newsletter, you will no longer receive the "hard" version through regular mail. Only three people responded to our call in the Fall newsletter--we are certain there are more of you out there who are interested in this, so reply today!!

March 26-27, 1999

University of Louisville, Louisville

Name _______________________________________________

School _______________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Phone _______________________________________________

E-mail _______________________________________________

Title of Presentation _______________________________________

Time Preference ( ) Fri. afternoon ( ) Sat. morning ( ) no preference

I am: ( ) faculty ( ) student

Avoid conflict with short course? ( ) Yes ( ) No

Abstract of talk:

This form must be received by Monday, February 15, 1999. Submit to: Ray Tennant, Dept. of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475-3133. Phone: (606) 622-3150. Fax: (606) 622-3051. E-mail submissions are encouraged! Send to: tennant@acs.eku.edu .

March 26-27, 1999

University of Louisville, Louisville

Name _______________________________________________

School _______________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Phone _______________________________________________

E-mail _______________________________________________

Check all that apply.

____ 1. ConferenceRegistration/Dues $13.00

____ 2. Short Course (Friday afternoon) No Charge

____ 3. Friday Banquet $14.00

____ 4. Friday Invited Address No Charge

____ 5. Aftermath (Friday evening) No Charge

____ 6. Saturday Breakfast $7.00

____ 7. Saturday Invited Address No Charge

____ 8. Saturday Business Luncheon $7.00

----------------------

TOTAL ENCLOSED $__________

Deadline for advance registration is Friday, March 12, 1999. Make checks payable to KY Section -- MAA and remit to: Karin Chess, Department of Mathematics, Owensboro Community College, 4800 New Hartford Road, Owensboro, KY 42303.

March 26-27, 1999

University of Louisville, Louisville

Name _______________________________________________

School _______________________________________________

E-mail _______________________________________________

Classification (circle one): Fr So Jr Sr Gr

Check all that apply.

1. I would like to join the group for dinner on Friday evening. ____

2. I could use some help finding a place to sleep ____

3. I will attend the MAA breakfast on Saturday morning, and am

enclosing $7.00 payable to the KY Section MAA. ____

4. I will attend the MAA business lunch on Saturday afternoon, and

am enclosing $7.00 payable to the KY Section MAA. ____

5. I will give a talk on Saturday morning. ____

If you wish to give a talk at the meeting, please indicate this by submitting the Presentation Abstract Form as well. Please note that the abstract form is to be received by Ray Tennant at Eastern Kentucky University by February 15.

Please direct any questions you have to Lisa Elderbrock (elderbrockl@nku.edu).

Mail this form to Lisa Elderbrock, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY 41099. It must be submitted by Friday, March 12, 1998.

Governor (1996-99) Chair (1997-99)

Peter Moore John A. Oppelt

Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci. Department of Mathematics

Northern Kentucky University Bellarmine College

Highland Heights, KY 41099 Newburg Road

(606) 572-5331 Louisville, KY 40205-0671

moorep@nku.edu (502) 452-8237

joppelt@bellarmine.edu

Chair Elect (1997-99) Vice-Chair (1998-2001)

Ray Tennant J. Lyn Miller

Dept. of Math., Stat. and Comp Sci. Department of Mathematics

Eastern Kentucky University Western Kentucky University

Richmond, KY 40475-3133 Bowling Green, KY 42101

(606) 622-3150 (502) 745-6227

tennant@acs.eku.edu lyn.miller@wku.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (1997-2000) Newsletter Editor (1997-2000)

Karin Chess William Harris

Department of Mathematics Dept. of Math, Physics & Comp. Sci.

Owensboro Community College Georgetown College Box 234

4800 New Hartford Road 400 E. College St.

Owensboro, KY 42303 Georgetown, KY 40324

(502) 686-4473 (502) 863-7921

occkec@pop.uky.edu wharris@georgetowncollege.edu

David Shannon Lisa Elderbrock

Department of Mathematics Dept. of Math. and Comp. Sci.

Transylvania University Northern Kentucky University

Lexington, KY 40508-1797 Highland Heights, KY 41099

(606) 233-8185 (606) 572-6452

dshannon@transy.edu elderbrockl@nku.edu

Richard Davitt

Department of Mathematics

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY 40292

(502) 852-6826

rmdavi01@athena.louisville.edu