Conference Talks

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Tyler Clark

KYMAA BannerI recently presented at the 2012 Kentucky MAA Annual meeting. It was an excellent conference held on the Bellarmine University campus in Louisville, KY. Back in October, I posted a bit about Beamer. At that time, I had not used Beamer very much. I have had a little more time to try it out though (my advisor also created his first Beamer presentation for this conference). Feel free to take a look at my presentation and give me feedback. You can download it at http://www.tylerclark12.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Continued-Radicals-and-Cantor-Sets.pdf. Continue reading →

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Jean Joseph, New Senior Editor

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Tyler Clark

AMSBlogThe AMS Graduate Student Blog is happy to announce the appointment of Jean Joseph as Senior Editor.

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Should we Trust Numbers that Much?

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Jean Joseph

Taken from http://tinyurl.com/cv2dcxk

Nowadays, if one reads an article from a newspaper or a magazine, it is very likely there will be mention of some statistics, whether about the percentage of Americans that favor a candidate, of students that claim to be satisfied with their investment in getting a college degree, or of many more things about which someone may be puzzled to know some study (or research) has been published. For example, take a look at this paragraph from “Is Mitt Romney Damaged Goods after a Brutal Primary Season.”

Romney’s negatives reached a record high last month with 50 percent of all voters, and 52 percent of registered voters, in a Washington    Post/ABC News poll that reflected a dim view of him as a prospective president. A Gallup “Swing States” survey shows President Obama leading Romney 51 to 42 percent, and among women 52 to 35 percent—a huge gender gap. (The Daily Beast)

 

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Quote of the Day

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Tyler Clark
Math Heart

http://mathematicssas.wordpress.com

You will notice that we have implemented a new quote of the day widget on the right side of the blog. We hope you enjoy the quotes.

If you have a quote you would like displayed, please email thomas.clark973@topper.wku.edu.

Thanks to editor, Jean Joseph for the suggestion!

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ODEs and the meaning of life

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Luke Wolcott

What life lessons can you take away from an introductory ODE class? Does mathematical content implicitly promote a worldview? As a TA or instructor, to what extent is it appropriate to wax philosophical during class?

Recently, a friend sent me this adaptation of a Zen koan, originally about a rhinoceros fan, now about differential equations:

One day, Yanguan called to his assistant, “Bring me the ordinary differential equation.”
The assistant said, “It is broken.”
Yanguan said, “In that case, bring me the ordinary.”

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