Dear Michigan AMC Winners,

To celebrate your outstanding achievements, you, your parents, and your teachers are cordially invited to the MAA-Michigan Awards Ceremony in recognition of the AMC winners, with Brian Conrad, Professor of Mathematics, University of Michigan. The ceremony will start with a short mathematical presentation by Professor Conrad and followed by awards presentations.

Professor Conrad will present a short lecture on The regular 17-gon. Professor Conrad will briefly explain some history related to the problem of constructing regular polygons with straightedge and compass, indicate Gauss' discovery (at age 19) of how such a purely geometric problem can be recast in terms of algebra, and that the algebraic formulation leads to a method to actually build the 17-gon (and also to show impossibility for 7-gon by deeper techniques from pure algebra). The basic moral of the story is that just because a problem has been unsolved for 2000 years doesn't mean a (very) bright young person with a good idea can't solve it. There's also the funny story about a guy who wasted 10 years of his life carrying out Gauss' theoretical ideas for the 257-gon, which serves to show the difference between conceptual understanding and brute force.

The ceremony will be held at the Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, on Tuesday, September 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. Refreshments will be served. The event is supported by American Mathematics Competitions and sponsored by University of Michigan, Wolfram Research, and the Art of Problem Solving Foundation. Please refer to the program (in the green window on the right) for more details.

If you haven't done so, please email and tell me if you will be able to attend the awards ceremony. Siblings are welcome, but send me a note first please.

Remember to bring your cameras if you want to take pictures.