Biographical Sketch of Professor Jerrold Grossman

Jerrold Grossman grew up in suburban Washington, DC, received a BS and MS in mathematics at Stanford University, and earned a PhD in mathematics at MIT. He joined the faculty of Oakland University in 1974, where he continues to teach a wide variety of courses in mathematics, statistics, and computer science. He has published about 40 articles in research journals, a majority in graph theory but also in algebraic topology, number theory, and other areas. He is also the author of an undergraduate textbook in discrete mathematics.

For several years he has been heavily involved in the AMC 10/12, serving on the committee that prepares the exam. In particular, he created several of the questions on the 2011 AMC 10 and AMC 12. In his spare time he likes to travel, compete in bridge tournaments, and spend time with his wife Suzanne, who is also a mathematician.

What day of the week is it? (Talk Abstract)

The unfortunate astronomical fact that the earth rotates approximately 365.2425 times on its axis for every one revolution around the sun, coupled with humankind's decision that each week should have 7 days, makes it unavoidable that our calendar is messy. Nevertheless there are some nice algorithms for computing the day of the week on which any particular date falls. The mathematics behind these algorithms is pretty simple, mainly involving modular arithmetic and common sense. Homework exercise before the presentation: Determine exactly how many days old you will be on Friday, September 9, 2011, and use that fact to determine what day of the week you were born on.

Highlights

Awards Ceremony
will be held at Oakland University on September 9th

Jerrold Grossman
Oakland University

- Program

- Booklet

- Direction and Parking

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Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Oakland University

American Mathematical Society

Wolfram Research

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An Activity of the Michigan Section of the Mathematics Association of America