THE MATH DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER

Math-CS Bifurcates!

Left to Right: Afsoun Crunk, Chris Leong, Fernanda Karp, Jeffra Bussmann

Although most faculty offices remained the same, the new Math Department office is in MacQuarrie Hall 308. We havehired an excellent staff. Fernanda Karp, a recent B.S. Applied and Computational Math graduate, became the OfficeManager. She is also currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Economics. Afsoun Crunk, who has a Master’s in math,is our Administrative Support Coordinator. Afsoun also teaches a class for the department. Our student assistant,Jeffra Bussmann, also has a B.S. in Mathematics from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo andis a graduate student in library science. Chris Leong, special assistant to the Math Ed group, is a Liberal Studies majorwith a minor in Mathematics Education at SJSU. What an amazing staff!

DAN GOLDSTON, ALMOST FAMOUSRead about Prof. Goldston’s brush with fame on page 2.

MATH

GRAD STUDENT

WINS 2004OUTSTANDING

THESIS AWARD

Every year, each college nominates agraduate thesis for consideration by theGraduate Studies and Research Commit-tee. Letters of recommendation is sent bythe department as well as the college com-mittee. The two students with the highestranking scores are chosen to receive theaward. This year, our very own JamesKittock is one of the recipients of thisaward which will be presented at theuniversity’s commencement ceremonies inMay.

The Mathematics Department Facultywould like to congratulate James on hisoutstanding achievement. He is an excel-lent teacher and a wonderful student. AsTim Hsu puts it, “he’s a great student anda great guy; basically I just had to stayout of his way for him to do excellent work.”We certainly appreciate him and we wishhim well in his future.

More on Kittock on page 5.

San Jose State University Spring 2004www.math.sjsu.edu Volume 0, Null Issue

FINALLY, no more endless discus-sions on C, C+, C++, C+++, Java, Mo-cha, Latte, whatever. With a depart-ment that large, the separation of theMathematics and Computer ScienceDepartment was inevitable and it hap-pened on July 1, 2002. The time hascome. The faculty and programs hadgrown too large and complex to be man-aged comfortably within one depart-ment. The split was amicable and nec-essary. Without the distraction of theissues relating to computer science edu-cation, we are now able to focus on thechallenges relating to mathematics andmathematics education.

Roger Alperin was the first Chair of the

new Math Department. The planningand implementation of the details of thesplit would have been impossible with-out the help of some faculty and thestaff of the former Math-CS department.They did a remarkable job, and therehave been very few glitches. EloiseHamann is now our interim chair as

Prof. Alperin goes on leave to do someresearch.

We have been engaged in building abetter department for the students, forus and for the rest of the university com-munity. We meet once a month to dis-cuss different issues like curriculum, thebudget, personnel matters, recruitment.In addition to these meetings, email dis-cussions are always ongoing. We aredevelolping methods to improve ourcourses, enrich our program, enhancethe academic experience of our studentsand make our classes and degree pro-grams more relevant and accessible. Weare considering a bridge course on theart of proofs. We also underwent an

external review conducted by Prof.Sheldon Axler from San Francisco StateUniversity.

It was a good year for the MathematicsColloquium. Amy Rocha, our collo-quium coordinator, lined up some first-rate speakers. The Graph Theory andEdgar Seminars met every week.CAMCOS (Center for Applied Math-ematics and Computer Science) hassome very interesting projects for ourstudent teams. The Math Ed group isvery active in training up and comingelementary and secondary teachers aswell as procuring grants to support theseprograms. By B. Cayco and J. Day

MATH DEPARTMENT FINDS NEW HOME

Alperin Hamann

www.math.sjsu.edu/newsletter/nlspring04.pdf

April, come shewill. Notes from the chair

By Eloise Hamann

April is math awareness month. Unlike the restof the world where time for things is becomingcompressed, mathematics has expanded itsawareness period from a week to a month. TheMath Club held contests in the hallways ofMacQuarrie giving prizes for solvingbrainteasers. They are still working on the onewhere one replaces the letters in a/bc + d/ef +g/hi = 1 with the 9 digits 1,…,9 using each digitexactly once, so the equation holds. The Clubalso brought their challenge to the campus’s firstsneak preview to lure admitted students to at-tend SJSU in April. Brad Jackson and RichardPfiefer added to the festivities of the day withtheir talented juggling alongside posters depict-ing the relation between math and juggling. Theyentertained students with free juggling lessons.A juggling act with torches aflame is assurancethat Brad will be a good permanent chair. Thecampus trees are in full leaf in April and thanksto ex-president Caret, visitors describe the cam-pus as beautiful.

Scholarship applications were due in April. AnHonors Convocation was held in April. The firstnew course proposal since math regained itsunique identity was born in April. The EdgarSeminar and the Graph Theory Seminar contin-ued in April. The first hot day on the campushappened in April. Garden roses appeared indepartment office vases in April. The facultycame back to a new copy machine in April;Fernanda Karp, our office manager and momwith a young daughter, dubbed the machine,Buzz Lightyear. Fernanda conquered the de-mons who challenged her punctuality in April.The fall schedule was finalized in April and thecampus relaxes a bit over wide-ranging budgetspeculation and fear. April, 2005, come she will.

MY 30 MINUTES OF FAME By Dan Goldston

I’ve only had 3 or 4 really good mathematical ideas in the last twentyyears, so when the latest one occurred after more than a decade I feltboth elated and lucky. The idea was both simple and obvious, andwas entirely convincing. What I didn’t know then that I know now isthat the idea was wrong - mathematically false as formulated, con-fused in its intent, and ultimately futile even when repaired. But be-fore I knew these things I had received the small-time fame that isaccorded people who achieve something in a respectable field of littleinterest to the general public, and the even smaller-time fame of mistaken fame. 15 minutes of fameand 15 minutes of negative fame. But fame unlike merit is a non-negative additive functions, hencethe title of this article.

But before the problem was found I had enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame - articles in the local newspa-per and scientific journals, letters from the Chancellor of the California State College System and thePresident of SJSU, congratulations from other professors, neighbors and my daughter Aiko’s kinder-garten teacher, her classmates’ parents, contact from old friends from high school, interviews over thephone with reporters, and a spot on Canadian radio. Not to mention proud parents and surprised in-laws. We all know that good work is its own reward, and external validation and approval is meaning-less and often unmerited. I agree with this view, and can attest to the unmerited aspects of fame, butI have to admit that it is also a lot of fun and does make you feel better about yourself. Your neighborsnow know that you are not only the guy who left the garbage bins outside the house for 3 days, andnever seems to be working, but also the guy who was in the newspaper. Or at least I can think theyare thinking that.

But with fame comes also the annoyance of celebrity. In the math world this consists mainly of ama-teurs and individuals with sanity issues who write you and visit you with the hope that you canconvince the rest of the world that they too deserve some recognition. There is not much of interest toreport here on this subject - one learns quickly that there probably are no unknown Ramanujanslurking around these days.

What does it feel like to get recognition for your work and then find out it is wrong? At first there is thatwell known sinking feeling, like when you realize you just locked your car keys in the car, or showedup for a test an hour late. But after that it isn’t so bad - for me anyway. You have to understand themistake and see what can be done. In my case I was relieved to find that everything wrong started withthe November breakthrough, while the four years of work leading up to that point was on solid ground.Thanks to the work of other mathematicians who had jumped in to study the method once it wasannounced everything had been greatly simplified and was now much easier to understand. It turnedout that all the hard problems I had been working to solve before the November idea now were solved,and our method was complete. The only question left to resolve was whether anything could be sal-vaged from the new idea, and after three months I found the answer and made use of a mathematician’smost important tool: the trash bin. As for our method without the new idea, we get a result twice asgood as any other individual method up to now. As for fame - well, I miss not getting a pay raise, andhave been made to regret claims I made to my wife with regard to this last item, and I miss not beingon the Daily Show for which I was contacted but nothing came of it. The general public seems veryforgiving of the ultimate significance of mathematical work. Prove the twin prime conjecture or proveevery even number is the sum of two even number or two odd numbers - its great if it says so in thepaper.

But what if I had never had that moment of false inspiration, and none of this had happened? Wouldn’tthat have been better? I don’t think so. For myself I ended up learning a lot, and I think the suddeninterest of other mathematicians helped clarify things so that the field moved forward a little bit. AlsoI had never had any experience with reporters and media, so I didn’t know how quickly things wouldbe reported. But next time, if there is a next time, it is going to take a lot more than a convincing ideato make me a believer.

And how does one deal with the loss of fame and the return to obscurity. Nobody calls and nobodycares what you are doing. In my case it was not problem: my family got a puppy.

WANTED: Will pay top dollar for a complete set oftwin primes. Call 3 5 7 9 11 13 17 19 . Ask forDan.

FREE apples, slightly bruised. Call Isaac N.

Wanted: Books with wide margins...P. Fermat

New or Used GPS system needed to keep fromgoing around in circles. Mobius

For sale: Klein hats for the zero volume head.http://www.kleinbottle.com/

2 www.math.sjsu.edu Spring 2004

New Book by Julie Sliva

The number of special needs students in regular classrooms keeps rising. At the same time as more ofthese special needs students are being included, mathematics requirements are being increased. NCTM(National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) standards emphasize development of algebraic under-standing in early elementary grades.

This book is designed to open windows of understanding, which will help teachers better recognize andcompensate for the difficulties that special education students may encounter when learning mathemat-ics. The author discusses general characteristics of learning disabled students as they relate to planningmathematics instruction. She also discusses instructional techniques and suggests modifications for fa-cilitating these students’ learning. Many of these techniques and strategies are designed to address spe-

cific difficulties or weaknesses; however, it must be emphasized that these techniques are useful across the classroom and may benefitall of the students, and particularly those who may not be diagnosed as learning disabled but do have difficulty in math.

Other books by Sliva:

Charles, R., Garofola, F, Lambdin, D, & Sliva, J.A. (in press) Problem-Solving Experiences/Making Sense of Mathematics, ThirdGrade. . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Learning.. .Charles, R., Lester, F., Lambdin, D., & Sliva, J.A.(in press). Problem Solving Experiences: Making Sense of Mathematics, Fourth Grade. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PearsonLearning.

Charles, R., Lester, F.,Lambdin, D., & Sliva, J.A. (in press). Problem Solving Experiences: Making Sense of Mathematics, Fifth Grade. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PearsonLearning.

Prof. Charles is a former member of our faculty and is now “retired”.

NEW FACULTY

FERDIE RIVERA

I am currently an Assistant Professor inour department. I earned the PhD in math-ematics education and cultural studies atthe Ohio State University, and then I didpostdoctoral work in development re-search at the Center for Development Re-search, University of Bonn in Germany. Ilove the certainty of mathematics and thenear certainty of science, but I am apostmodernist at heart. My basic principlein life is against fascist life!, a view Ishare with my favorite French philosopherMichel Foucault.

My basic research interest is mathemati-cal thinking. A sample of what I do is asfollows: Currently, I study the progres-sive evolution of mathematical thoughtamong high school students with a focuson how mediation by technological toolsand learners in the public space of the mathclassroom enable them to meaningfullyconstruct mathematical ideas. With Joanne

Becker, we study generalization schemes of high school students and prospectiveelementary teachers. With Barbara Pence, we are in the process of characterizinglevels of empirical justification among prospective elementary teachers. I am hopingthat by next year, I can begin to investigate if elementary school children as early as1st grade can solve linear equations by means within their cognitive level. Results ofthe work that I mentioned above are published in the Journal of Professional Studies,the annual Proceedings of the International Psychology of Mathematics Education,and in the forthcoming 2005 NCTM Yearbook, all peer-reviewed.

I am a yogist, but not necessarily a contortionist I run at least 2 miles three or fourtimes a week in the early mornings. I am still trying to convince myself if I can sparethe time to join a 26-mile run in Honolulu, Hawaii in December this year. I probablycould if I have a running dog to work out with and if I could raise $3000 to benefitAIDS research here in San Francisco. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted!

STEVE CRUNK

I started out as a musician. After earn-ing a B.S. in music education, I taughthigh school band, orchestra, chorusand general music to grades 1- 12. Atage 25 I decided to study math, andattended a California Community Col-lege, taking courses beginning with highschool algebra and geometry. I contin-ued to take math courses and was ad-mitted to the masters program in math-ematics at California State University,Northridge. I went on to earn a Ph.D.in statistics from the Wharton Schoolof the University of Pennsylvania. Af-ter taking my first faculty teaching po-sition on the east coast, I returned toCalifornia as soon as a position wasavailable at San Jose State.

Aside from teaching math and statis-tics courses, I have been involved in avariety of statistical consulting activitiesover the past several years. I haveworked for a variety of companies and government agencies analyzing data on everything fromdefending New York City in an age discrimination lawsuit to examining failure rates of artificialhips produced by a European manufacturer, from analyzing white lead content in paint in a NewYork housing project to preventing General Motors from opening a Cadillac dealership in closeproximity to a client dealership, from analyzing data on drug samples in a patent infringement suitto providing analysis for Public Television in order to arbitrate compensation for copyrightedmaterials, from analyzing over twenty years of professional baseball data in terms of the changein probability of a team winning a game based on an individuals performance in any given battingsituation to examining the movement of water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere for a meteorolo-gist at the NASA Ames Research Center. These are but a few examples of the many projects inwhich I have participated as a statistician.

TIM HSU TRISHA BERGTHOLD

My name is Trisha Bergthold. Ihave been an assistant professorin the San Jose State Mathemat-ics Department since 2001. I wasborn and raised in Los Gatos, andwent to Leigh High School. Afterobtaining a B.S. in mathematicsat Santa Clara University, I earnedan M.S. in mathematics at theUniversity of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in math-ematics at the University of Okla-homa in Norman. I have taughtcourses in developmental math-ematics, precalculus, calculus forengineers, calculus for businessmajors, math for critical thinking,and mathematics for elementary school teachers. My research area is un-dergraduate mathematics curriculum and pedagogy. In particular, my re-search focuses on the learning of calculus concepts and mathematical prepa-ration of future teachers.

One of my hobbies is needlepoint. This is a hobby I share with my mom.We both belong to the American Needlepoint Guild and have designedneedlepoint Christmas ornaments and taught classes. I design my needle-point Christmas ornaments using mathematical properties of geometric sym-metry as well as principles of curve stitching.

Another of my hobbies is gardening, with special emphasis on roses, al-though I’m definitely a novice at this. I have recently joined the Santa ClaraRose Society, of which my dad is a recent past president. Currently mygarden has about 60 rose bushes, but by the end of this spring, there will beabout 75.

I do volunteer work for the Boy Scouts of America with my husband. He andI are adult leaders for a Venturing Crew in Cupertino. Venturing is BSA’sco-ed, high-adventure program for 14-20 year-olds. Our crew has goneindoor rock climbing, camped at Mt. Lassen, hiked Mt. Whitney, canoed theSacramento River, and snow-camped at Yosemite in the past year or two.

POSITIONS

Jane Day is now Chair of the Education Committee for the International LinearAlgebra Society (ILAS).

Susan McClory , President, Southwest Association for Developmental Education(SWADE), October, 2002 – November, 2003. Membership Chair, SWADE, 2003-2004.

Susan McClory. Program Co-chair, 2005 annual conference of the National Associa-tion for Developmental Education (NADE). to be held in Albuquerque, NM , March,2005.

Mohammed Saleem, Liason to the Mathematical Association of America.

www.math.sjsu.edu 3Spring 2004

I was born in Morgantown, WV andgrew up in Bangor, ME. My fathertaught math at Bangor CommunityCollege — I’m in the family busi-ness. I went to college at MIT, ma-joring in math and music and got myPh.D. in math from Princeton in1995. After that, I held apostdoctoral position at the Univer-sity of Michigan from 1995-1998and a visiting position at PomonaCollege from 1998-2001 beforecoming to SJSU as an assistant pro-fessor in Fall 2001.

I’ve taught a variety of classes sincecoming here, ranging from abstractalgebra to our mathematics for gen-eral education class, the latter be-

ing quite a challenge, but fun. I’ve also supervised two master’s thesis students(Amy Vu and James Kittock) and served as the director of the Center for AppliedMathematics and Computer Science (CAMCOS), the SJSU math department’sstudent research program. As for my own research, I’ve worked in several areasof algebra and combinatorics; most recently, I’ve written papers in group theoryand combinatorics.

FACULTY ACTIVITIES

PPPPPUBLICATIONSUBLICATIONSUBLICATIONSUBLICATIONSUBLICATIONS

Alperin, R., Alperin, R., Alperin, R., Alperin, R., Alperin, R., MathematicalOrigami: Another View ofAlhazen’s Optical Prob-lem, in Origami3: Science,Mathematics and Educa-tion, (Asilomar, CA, 2001),A. K. Peters, Natick, MA,2002.

Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R. , 2002, Uni-form Exponential Growthof Polycyclic Groups,Geom. Dedicata.

Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R., with B. Farband G. Noskov, 2002, Astrong Schottky lemma fornonpositively curved sin-gular spaces, Geom.Dedicata.

Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R.Alperin, R. with G. NoskovUniform Growth,2002,Actions on Trees and GL

2,

Computational and statis-tical group theory,Contemp. Math.

Becker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.R. Data for par-ents. Eight-week courseto be published by theUniversity of Arizonathrough the MAPPS Na-tional Science Foundationprogram.

Becker, J.R.Becker, J.R.Becker, J.R.Becker, J.R.Becker, J.R., 2003, Gen-der and mathematics: Anissue for the 21st cen-tury. Teaching ChildrenMathematics.

Becker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.R. & Pence,Pence,Pence,Pence,Pence,B.JB.JB.JB.JB.J., 2003, Classroomcoaching: A criticalcomponent of profes-sional development. In

A. Peter-Koop, V.Santos-Wagner, C.Breen & A. Begg (Eds.).Collaboration in teachereducation.

Becker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.RBecker, J.R. & Perl, T.,2003, The mathematicseducation community’sresponse to a diverseand changing studentpopulation. In G.M.A.Stanic & J. Kilpatrick(Eds.). A history ofschool mathematics, 2.

Bergthold, T.Bergthold, T.Bergthold, T.Bergthold, T.Bergthold, T., 2004,“Curve Stitching: LinkingLinear and QuadraticFunctions. MathematicsTeacher.

Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. et. al.,“Spatial and TemporalStatistical Analysis of theRunaway Greenhouse Ef-fect, Part II”. TechnicalReport for Dr. MauraRabbette of the NASA/Ames Research Center,2003.

Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. Crunk, Steven M. et. al.,2002, “Spatial and Tem-poral Statistical Analysisof the Runaway Green-house Effect, Part I”.Technical Report for Dr.Maura Rabbette of theNASA/Ames ResearchCenter.

Crunk, Steven MCrunk, Steven MCrunk, Steven MCrunk, Steven MCrunk, Steven M., et. al.,2002, “Statistical Analy-sis of a Nonlinear Atmo-spheric Reaction usingNumerical Methods”.Technical Report for Dr.Laura Iracci of the Nasa/Ames Research Center.

Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E., 2003 , Al-gebraic observations on

the Jacobian conjecture,Journal of Algebra.

Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E.Hamann, E., 2003, AQuestion about Differ-ential Ideals Communi-cations in Algebra.

Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T., M. J. Logan, S.Shahriari, and C. Towse,2003, Partitioning theBoolean lattice into aminimal number of chainsof relatively uniformsize, Eur. J. Comb.

Hsu, T. Hsu, T. Hsu, T. Hsu, T. Hsu, T. and D. T. Wise,2003, Ascending HNN ex-tensions of polycyclicgroups are residually fi-nite, J. Pure Appl. Alg.

Hsu, T.Hsu, T.Hsu, T.Hsu, T.Hsu, T. and D. T. Wise2 0 0 2 , S e p a r a t i n gquasiconvex subgroups ofright-angled Artingroups, Math. Z.

Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T.,Hsu, T., M. J. Logan, S.Shahriari, and C. Towse,2002, Partitioning theBoolean lattice into chainsof large minimum size, J.Comb. Thy..

Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R., 2004,“Self-similarity andsymmetries of Pascal’striangles and simplicesmod p.” , FibonacciQuarterly.

Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R. “Lost ho-rizon.” To appear as anote in Coll. Math. J.

Kubelka, R. Kubelka, R. Kubelka, R. Kubelka, R. Kubelka, R. ,2003,“Means and their ends,”Missouri J. Math. Sci ,

Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R.Kubelka, R. “Decom-position of Pascal’s ker-

nels mod ps,” Integers 2,2002.

Rivera, F., Rivera, F., Rivera, F., Rivera, F., Rivera, F., Developingreflective practice inpreservice elementaryteachers: Issues and in-sights. Journal of Profes-sional Studies, to appear.

Rivera, F.Rivera, F.Rivera, F.Rivera, F.Rivera, F. & Becker, J.Becker, J.Becker, J.Becker, J.Becker, J.,2004, A sociocultural ac-count of students collec-tive mathematical under-standing of polynomial in-equalities in instrumentedactivity. To appear in theProceedings XXVIII of theInternational Psychologyof Mathematics Educa-tion.

Rivera, F.D.Rivera, F.D.Rivera, F.D.Rivera, F.D.Rivera, F.D. & Becker,Becker,Becker,Becker,Becker,J.R.J.R.J.R.J.R.J.R., 2003, The effectsof numerical and figuralcues on the inductionprocesses of preserviceelementary teachers. InN.A. Pateman, B.J.Dougherty, & J. Zilliox(Eds.). Proceedings ofthe 2003 Joint Meetingof PME and PMENA.

Rocha, A.Rocha, A.Rocha, A.Rocha, A.Rocha, A. and F. SternF. SternF. SternF. SternF. Stern“The asymmetric n-player gambler’s ruinproblem with equal initialfortunes,” Journal Ad-vances in AppliedMathematics,to appear.

Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C. , 2003, Cal-culus reform and tradi-tional students’ use ofcalculus in an engineer-ing mechanics course. ,Research in CollegiateMathematics Education(CBMS Issues in Math-ematics Education.

Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C.Roddick, C. and Sliva, J.Sliva, J.Sliva, J.Sliva, J.Sliva, J.

A.A.A.A.A. (2002). Developing andmodeling equity practicesin preservice elementarymathematics courses.Communicator.

Roddick, CRoddick, CRoddick, CRoddick, CRoddick, C. and Sliva,Sliva,Sliva,Sliva,Sliva,J.A, J.A, J.A, J.A, J.A, 2002, Preserviceteachers’ understandingof whole number opera-tions. In Mewborn andothers. (Eds.) Proceed-ings of the twenty-fourth conference of theNorth American Chapterfor the Psychology ofMathematics Education.

Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E., D. Bauerand H. J. Broersma,More Progress on ToughGraphs – the Y2K Re-port, Proc. NinthKalamazoo Conferenceon Graph Theory, to ap-pear.

Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E., D. Bauerand T. Niessen, Tough-ness, Minimum Degreeand Spanning CubicSubgraphs, J. GraphTheory, to appear.

Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E., and S. L.Hakimi, ImprovedBounds for the Chro-matic Number of aGraph, J. Graph Theory,to appear.

Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E.Schmeichel, E., and J.J.J.J.J.MitchemMitchemMitchemMitchemMitchem, The Harmoni-ous Chromatic Numberof Deep and Wide Com-plete n-ary Trees, Proc.Ninth Kalamazoo Con-ference on GraphTheory, to appear.

Sliva, J. A.Sliva, J. A.Sliva, J. A.Sliva, J. A.Sliva, J. A. , 2004, Per-spectives on Meeting theNeeds of Special Learn-

ers in the High SchoolMathematics ClassSearching for Solutions:A Guide for Empower-ing the BeginningTeacher of Mathematics.

Sliva, J. ASliva, J. ASliva, J. ASliva, J. ASliva, J. A. & Fay-Zenk,M., 2004, Meeting theChallenge of SpecialNeeds Students in theMiddle School Class-room Searching for So-lutions: A Guide for Em-powering the BeginningTeacher of Mathematics.Reston: VA. NCTM.

Sliva, J.ASliva, J.ASliva, J.ASliva, J.ASliva, J.A., & Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,C.C.C.C.C., 2003, ChangingPreservice TeachersAttitudes and Beliefs to-wards learning math-ematics Journal of Math-ematics Education Lead-ership.

Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A. and Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,CCCCC., 2003, Evaluating un-derstandings amongwhole number opera-tions. Communicator.

Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A.Sliva, J.A. and Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,Roddick,C.,C.,C.,C.,C., 2003, Changingpreservice teachers’ at-titudes and beliefs to-wards learning math-ematics. Journal ofMathematics EducationLeadership.

So, W.So, W.So, W.So, W.So, W., 2004, The highroad to an exponentialformula, Linear Algebraand its Applications.

Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M., 2003, Outermodels and Genericity,Journal of Symbolic Logic.

Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M.Stanley, M., “Cocovering

GGGGG RANTSRANTSRANTSRANTSRANTS

Algebra Institute-English Language De-Algebra Institute-English Language De-Algebra Institute-English Language De-Algebra Institute-English Language De-Algebra Institute-English Language De-velopment 2003-04velopment 2003-04velopment 2003-04velopment 2003-04velopment 2003-04 funded by the CaliforniaMathematics ProjectProject Directors: J. R. Becker and F. RiveraJ. R. Becker and F. RiveraJ. R. Becker and F. RiveraJ. R. Becker and F. RiveraJ. R. Becker and F. RiveraThis institute will focus on developing skills inworking with English language learners in math-ematics through the content of algebraic thinkingfor middle school and high school teachers in theEast Side of San Jose. The project offers 80 hoursof summer institute, 40 hours of follow-up dur-ing the academic year, and 40 hours of in-classactivities.

Coaching Institute 2004Coaching Institute 2004Coaching Institute 2004Coaching Institute 2004Coaching Institute 2004 funded by the Rob-ert Noyce Foundation.Project Director: J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R. Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.This project provides a summer institute forclassroom coaches and a team of teachers whomthey will coach the following academic year. Thecoaches and teachers experience a commonmathematics professional development that helpsset up an effective working relationship based oncommon understandings of goals for good instruc-tion in the mathematics classroom. Coaches andteachers attend follow-up workshops during theacademic year to consolidate the content focusand coaches work with teachers in their class-room throughout the academic year

Enhancing Education Through Technol-Enhancing Education Through Technol-Enhancing Education Through Technol-Enhancing Education Through Technol-Enhancing Education Through Technol-ogy (EETT) Competitive Grantogy (EETT) Competitive Grantogy (EETT) Competitive Grantogy (EETT) Competitive Grantogy (EETT) Competitive Grant , , , , , a Cal DOEGrant (2004-2006)Project Director and Leader for Professional De-velopment: Julie SlivaJulie SlivaJulie SlivaJulie SlivaJulie SlivaThis project is a partnership between GilroySchools, Academic Systems, West Ed, Math Men-tor , Stupski Foundation and SJSU . This grantwill provide professional development for teach-ers with the goal of improving achievement inmiddle school mathematics students.

GE/MESA/Santa Clara Valley Math-GE/MESA/Santa Clara Valley Math-GE/MESA/Santa Clara Valley Math-GE/MESA/Santa Clara Valley Math-GE/MESA/Santa Clara Valley Math-ematics Project Math and Technologyematics Project Math and Technologyematics Project Math and Technologyematics Project Math and Technologyematics Project Math and TechnologyInstituteInstituteInstituteInstituteInstitute (Summers, 2004-2006)Project Director: J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R. Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.This project provides professional developmentopportunities with MESA teachers on the East Sideof San Jose and supports a three week lab schoolfor middle school students. GE employees willbe volunteers in the program

Mathematics Assessment CollaborativeMathematics Assessment CollaborativeMathematics Assessment CollaborativeMathematics Assessment CollaborativeMathematics Assessment Collaborative(continuing) 2003-04 jointly funded by the Rob-ert Noyce Foundation and 28 member school dis-tricts.Project Director: J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R. Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.This project conducts performance assessmentin mathematics in grades 2-10 in the 28 memberdistricts, using items purchased from the Math-ematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS)funded by NSF. Open ended items are rubricscored, entailing extensive training of teachers

for reliable scoring. A 5% sample of papers arerescored by San Jose State University students,resulting in 97%-98% reliability. MARS scoresare analyzed by EDS and correlated with statetest results and reported to districts. Extensiveanalysis of student work is used to develop on-going professional development based on areasof student weakness.

Mathematics Assessment at the HighMathematics Assessment at the HighMathematics Assessment at the HighMathematics Assessment at the HighMathematics Assessment at the HighSchoolSchoolSchoolSchoolSchool (continuing) funded by the CaliforniaPostsecondary Education Commission.Project Director: J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R. Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.This project extends use of the MARS perfor-mance assessments in 4 low performing highschools in the East Side Union High School Dis-trict of San Jose. Professional development withalgebra teachers is based upon careful examina-tion of student deficiencies and needed changesin curriculum and instruction in algebra to im-prove student achievement.

Santa Clara Valley Mathematics ProjectSanta Clara Valley Mathematics ProjectSanta Clara Valley Mathematics ProjectSanta Clara Valley Mathematics ProjectSanta Clara Valley Mathematics Project(continuing) 2003-04 funded by the state Cali-fornia Mathematics ProjectProject Director: J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R.J. R. Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.Becker.This grant provides opportunities for professionaldevelopment for teacher leaders in grades K-9.This project provides a 15-day summer instituteand 5 days of academic year followup. This yearthe focus will be on data analysis. Richard PfieferRichard PfieferRichard PfieferRichard PfieferRichard Pfieferis faculty staff on the project.

4 www.math.sjsu.edu Spring 2004

STUDENT NEWS

My Life So Far By James Kittock

I was born in 1970 in Newport, Rhode Island. I mostlygrew up in Burke, VA, a suburb of Washington, D.C. As a“Navy brat”, I also lived in Norfolk, VA and Pearl Harbor,HI for a few years.

I graduated from James W. Robinson, Jr. Secondary Schoolin Fairfax, VA, where I participated in assorted nerdy ex-tracurricular activities such as our school’s “It’s Academic!”team (a local quiz show for students, similar to “Bay AreaQuiz Kids”) and the county math team (although I was onlyan “alternate”).

I went on to college at Duke University in Durham, NC.After a failed romance with physics, I majored in computerscience. This was a pretty easy transition since I had grownup around computers and learned to program at a tenderage on a portable terminal my dad would bring home fromwork.

While at Duke, I also completed the requirements for adegree in mathematics. At the time, there were no “mi-nors” or “second majors” at Duke, so this is just a footnoteon my transcript. However, a lot of my computer sciencecourses cross-listed as math courses, so a footnote is prob-ably all I deserved! My advisor encouraged me to apply tograduate programs in computer science, so I did. I earneda master’s degree in computer science from Stanford Uni-versity in 1995.

From 1995 to 2001, I worked in the computer industry,mostly in Internet-related research and startups. It’s a longand not-so-interesting story, but the punchline is that I didnot get rich. However, I did gain a lot of knowledge aboutmyself during this time; in particular, I began to developideas about what I would find fulfilling in a career.

Although I had been a T.A. for a couple of courses atStanford, it was actually during my time in industry that Ifirst experimented with teaching in a serious way. In Fall1998, and again in Fall 2000, I taught evening program-ming courses as an adjunct instructor at the College of SanMateo. I enjoyed these experiences and concluded that Iwould one day become a collegeteacher.

My career shift began somewhat unexpectedly in early2001, when the startup I was working at suddenly shutdown. I spent most of that year trying to figure out what todo with myself, and eventually decided it was time to getserious about teaching. After surveying myoptions, both in terms of subjects and schools, I enrolled inthe M.S. mathematics program at SJSU in January 2002.

Several factors influenced my decision to pursue a secondmaster’s degree, this time in mathematics. One very prac-tical reason was that there are generally more jobs in math-ematics than in any other field at community colleges. Amore personal reason was that I felt like I needed to revisitmathematics and grapple with the subject again in a moreserious way than I had in college.

Two and a half years later, I’m quite pleased with my expe-riences at SJSU. I have enjoyed most of the classes I’vetaken, I have had great experiences teaching, and I havefound the faculty to be generally friendly and accessible. Iwas also fortunate to find a thesis advisor, Dr. Tim Hsu,who was able to provide the direction and motivation Ineeded without being overbearing. Whatever talent I mayhave, I attribute much of my success to his mentoring.

My thesis, which I completed this semester after about ayear of intermittently frantic effort, is titled “Theisoperimetric problem in finitely presented groups”. In anutshell, it gives a careful exposition of some key ideasfrom combinatorial and geometric group theory, provides

an application of theseideas, and then reportsresults of experimentswith a computerprogram I wrote thatestimates a property ofa group known as the“Dehn function”. Ichose this topic in partbecause I find abstractalgebra particularly in-teresting; it has a dis-crete nature that fitswell with the computerstuff already in mybrain.

I will be teaching onemore course at SJSU this summer, then I will be moving onto Mission College in Santa Clara, CA, where I recentlyaccepted a position as a full-time mathematics instructor.Teaching community college full-time will be an interest-ing challenge, and I am looking forward to it. Wheneverthe thought of a full teaching load gets me down, I justrepeat to myself the mantra “summers off”! Outside of workand school, I am interested in most aspects of science andculture. I’d like to do some popular science writing andspeaking some day (I grew up on Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos”).

As for hobbies, they seem to come and go, but I have al-ways enjoyed games. I’m a moderately avid poker player,and I’ve recently become interested in competitive Scrabble.

My personal life is entering a new and exciting phase, as Iam now engaged to Leslie Walker, my girlfriend of manyyears. We plan to get married in a secluded location thisAugust. Leslie works as research assistant at Genentech inSouth San Francisco, although she has previously workedas a union organizer, so she keeps me in line (most of thetime).

We are very proud to acknowledge the accomplishments of these graduatestudents who successfully completed the degree requirements for theirMaster’s degree. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.

Mathematical Adventuresfor Students & Amateurs

David F. Hayes and Tatiana Shubin, Editors

How should you encode a message to an extra-terrestrial? What do frogs and powers of 2 havein common? How many faces does the StellaOctangula have? Is a plane figure of constantdiameter a circle, and what has this to do withNASA? 210 = 5 x 6 x 7 = 14 x 15, so just howmany numbers can be the product of both twoand of three consecutive integers? Is there anysuch thing as a truly correct map? What pat-terns are possible in juggling?

What do all of these questions have in common?They, and many others, are answered in thisbook. The authors are distinguished mathema-ticians; some are bright newcomers while oth-ers have been well known in mathematical circles for decades.

This is a partial record of the Bay Area Math Adventures (BAMA), a lectureseries for high school students (and incidentally their teachers, parents, andother interested adults) hosted by San Jose State and Santa Clara Universities inthe San Francisco Bay Area. These lectures are aimed primarily at bright highschool students, the emphasis on bright, and as a result, the mathematics insome cases is far from what one would expect to see in talks at this level. Thereare serious mathematical issues addressed here.

We hope that this book will capture some of the magic of these talks that havefilled auditoriums at the host schools almost monthly for several years. Join thestudents in sharing these mathematical adventures.

Order your copy today fromthe Mathematical Association of America

www.maa.org

Claude CassanoADVISOR: Dr. Linda ValdesTHESIS: Analysis on VectorProduct Spaces

James KittockADVISOR: Dr. Tim HsuTHESIS: The IsoperimetricProblem on Finitely PresentedGroups

Ruchi PratapADVISOR: Dr. Jane DayTHESIS: “Positivity of Eigenval-ues of Words in Two PositiveDefinite Letters.”

Ramanjit SahiADVISOR: Dr. Muhammad SaleemTHESIS: “Digital Signal Processing& Integer Wavelets”Ramanjit is currently pursuing aDoctorate in MathematicalBiology at the University of Texas,Dallas.

Shahin SaadatiADVISOR: Dr. Michael BeesonTHESIS: Computerization of Combi-natorial Identities

Wafa YacoubADVISOR: Dr. Jane DayTHESIS: Algebraic Connectivity ofGraphs and An Application ofGraph Theory to Acyclic Matrices

GRADUATING GRAD STUDENTS

Left to Right: Saadati, Kittock, Yacoub, Cassano

www.math.sjsu.edu 5Spring 2004

DEAN’S SCHOLARS 2004The Dean’s Scholars honored in 2004 earned a GPA or 3.65 or beeter for a full program of

graded courses in Fall 02 & Spring 03 or Spring 03 & Fall 03.

STUDENT NEWS

MATH CLUBMATH CLUBMATH CLUBMATH CLUBMATH CLUB

CLASS OF 2004

Congratulations to

KOUME GOLDSTON

Graduatedfrom

Tracy’s Wag’N’TrainPuppy Kindergarten

May 13, 2004

To commemorate Math Awareness Month, the Math Club preparedsome puzzles and brain teasers and gave out prizes to anyone who solvedthem. They also participated in Admitted Students Day on April 24. Shownhere are Alex Chavez, president of the Math Club and Dr. Wasin So, facultyadvisor to the Math Club.

The main goal of the Math Club is to serve as a gathering place, anacademic and career resource, where all students interested in mathematicscan further their involvement in the subject, as well as meet other peoplewith similar interests, and discover some of the opportunities mathematicshas to offer. It also aims to to promote interest in mathematics and providea broad view of the range of applications in daily life and the working world.

Come join the Math Club. Contact Dr. Wasin So for more details.

6 www.math.sjsu.edu Spring 2004

EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS CONFERENCEat

San Jose State University

EYH is an annual conference held in different parts of the country. The main goalof the conference is to ecourage girls to study mathematics, science and engineering.The San Jose site held its conference on March 14, 2004. More information is availableat http://www.elstad.com/sjsueyh.html

Anthony GarrisonB.A. MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: Teachingor some other mathrelated careerFavorite number: 79Favorite class: GeometryInterests: Christianity anddevotion to Jesus Christ

Miguel HernandezJr.B.A. MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: Teach at ajunior high/high school andcoach soccerFavorite number: 22Favorite Baseball player:Will “The Thrill” Clark,number 22 for the Giants inthe 80’sFavorite class: Linear Al-gebraHobbies: Basketball, base-ball, surfing, rock climbing,white water rafting, camp-ing, soccer

Huong PhamB.S. MathematicsClass of 2003Career Goals: Teach HighSchoolFavorite number: 9Favorite class: Mathemat-ics for Secondary TeachersInterests and Hobbies:Watch movies and spendtime with her kids,Barbara, 6, and Loretta, 3months. Barbara is alreadyable to do arithmeticoperations.Other Talents: Plays thepiano.

Rosalind LeB.A. MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: Teach highschoolFavorite number: 0 be-cause it is neither posi-tive or negativeFavorite class: Linear Al-gebraInterests and Hobbies:Tennis, snowboarding, andriver rafting. Plans to goskydiving in the future.

Glenn SoppB.A. in MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: Teach at amiddle school or secondaryschoolFavorite number: 69 becauseit represents a sub-seventyscore for a round of golf.Favorite math class: ModernGeometry and Transforma-tionsHobbies: Golf and travelingin our trailer.Other talents ot intersts:woodworking, biking,kayaking.

Riddhi PatelB.S. Applied and Compu-tational MathematicsClass of 2003, SummaCum LaudeCurrent Positions:Financial AssistantCareer Goals: Attendgraduate schoolFavorite number: 11Favorite class: AppliedStatisticsInterests and Hobbies:Biking, bowling, reading,swimming, yoga watchingmovies.Other Talents: Indian folkdance, Jazz dance

Truc TranB.A. MathematicsClass of 2004Career Goals: Teach highschoolFavorite number: 3Favorite Math Class:Abstract AlgebraInterests: reading,watching moviesTalents: Badminton

Dustin WallaceB.S. Applied and Computa-tional MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: Work inResearch and Developmentfor NASA or LockheedFavorite number: iFavorite class: DiscreteMathInterests and Hobbies:MusicOther Talents: Plays thepiano, electric organ and islearning to play the trumpetMember: MAA

Laura ScottB.A. in MathematicsClass of 2005Career Goals: a career inthe medical fieldFavorite math class:CalculusSports: Captain of the SJSUwater polo teamMember: Fellowship forChristian AthletesHobby: Creatinve Scrap-booking

Every spring, the Department of Mathematics awards anumber of scholarships and prizes to deserving mathemat-ics majors and graduate students. The purpose of theseawards is to encourage academic excellence by honoringour best students. We are proud of their excellent academicrecords and we encourage them to continue their studiesin mathematics.

The Department of Mathematics Scholarships were firstawarded in 1983. Each year, mathematics faculty mem-bers contribute to this fund to honor academic achieve-ment and encourage further academic studies. The 2003-2004 department of mathematics scholarships are awardedto Nathalie Grima and Nita Barve. Nathalie hopes topursue a career in statistics after she receives her Master’sdegree. She is described as an excellent student with flashesof great brilliance. Nita is interested in applying her math-ematics by working as a team member on governmentprojects. She is described as a quick learner of appliedmathematics.

The Morton Award is being awarded this year for onlythe second time. This award is sponsored by a woman whobegan at SJSU in 1943 in mathematics. She graded papersfor Prof. Myers, the department chair at the time. Shealso got a Master’s degree from this department writingher thesis under Vern Hoggatt. This year’s awards go tofuture teachers, Dashiell Fryer and Rosalind Le. Dashiellhopes to get a Ph.D. to teach at the university level. He isdescribed as talented and impressive. Roasalind Le’s goalis to teach mathematics to children with developmentallearning diabilities. She is described as hard-working, en-thusiastic, and responsible.

The Richard C. Dieckmann Scholarship was firstawarded in 1983. Professor Dieckmann was a highly re-garded member of the mathematics faculty here for manyyears. He endowed a scholarship fund by a gift from his

estate to reward and encourage academic excellence by amath major. The 2003-2004 Richard C. Dieckmann schol-arships are awarded to two deserving students: Siu MingChoy and Kim Dang.

The Kenneth C. Bradshaw Award for OutstandingTeaching Assistant has been given each year since 1993to the most outstanding teacher among the graduate stu-dents. Kenneth C. Bradshaw was a gifted teacher and anAssociate Chair in the Department. As associate chair, hewas best known for the many small, but mighty, steps hetook to improve the quality of life for students. The de-partment faculty endowed this award in his honor, after heretired. This year, we are pleased to give the Kenneth C.Bradshaw Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant toTuanh Gia Nguyen. Tuanh Gia is highly recommendedand is described as very hard working, dedicated and en-thusiastic about teaching.

The Franklin B. Fuller Scholarship fund was establishedin 1977 to honor the memory of a past chair of the math-ematics department. Affectionately known as a “prunepicker” due to his local roots, Professor Fuller also has lo-cal roots in the Department having earned bachelor’s andmaster’s degrees at San Jose State before taking a job withNASA Ames Research Center. He maintained ties with thedepartment throughout his career by teaching here part-time while working for NASA. After retiring from NASAin 1970, Professor Fuller came to teach full-time, and be-came department chair in 1974. Many generous contribu-tions were made to this scholarship fund by his coworkersat NASA as well as his friends in this department. Thisyear’s Franklin B. Fuller Scholarship is awarded toUldarico Muico. Uldarico hopes to pursue a Ph.D. Hiswork is described as rigorous and exceptional.

The Paul F. Byrd Award was first awarded in 1994. Pro-fessor Byrd was a distinguished applied mathematician and

faculty member in the Department of Mathematics for 30years. He is best remembered for his knowledge of ap-plied mathematics, his ability to learn independently, hisability and love for solving monthly problems, his readi-ness and willingness to transmit his knowledge to studentsand colleagues, and his capacity to fight for social justice.His former student, Kent Okasaki was the prime instigatorin establishing the scholarship in honor of his thesis advi-sor using his stock from his HP stock option plan to endowthe scholarship. Professor Byrd’s family and colleagueshave also contributed to the establishment of this annualaward in his memory. This year, we are pleased to presentthis award to Maheen Khan. Maheen wasn’t able to pur-sue mathematics until she came to the U.S. Now she isdescribed as a deep and quiet thinker and an outstandingstudent.

The Hoggatt Award for Outstanding Research Poten-tial is the most distinguished of all of our scholarshipawards. Since 1981, this prize has been awarded each springto a student with the greatest research potential, based onfaculty recommendations. This award is named for VernerE. Hoggatt, a former faculty member founded a mathemati-cal journal called the Fibonacci Quarterly. He supervised arecord number of 39 theses in the department. (39 by theway is 3 times the 7th Fibonacci number.) One of his stu-dents, Marjorie Bicknell-Johnson writes that Vern Hoggattparticularly encouraged young women in mathematics.This, despite the fact that he made her rewrite her first pa-per claiming it sounded as if it were written for the LadiesHome Journal. The Fibonacci Association funds this awardevery year in honor of its founder. This year, the HoggattAward for Outstanding Research Potential is presented toClaude Cassano. Claude hopes to be a college teacherand is described by his recommenders as one the best stu-dent they’ve ever encountered.

By Eloise Hamann

2003-2004 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Solutions to Algebraic Aptitude Assessment (back page)

1. Best cut of beef - prime2. Person addicted to four sided figures – quadratic (quad addict)3. What twins use to eat breakfast cereal – parabolas (pair of bowls)4. Decorations for a formal sweatshirt - sequence5. An impressive, elaborate ceremony - function6. Weapon used by the Three Musketeers - FOIL7. A bad hairstyle – permutation (perm mutation)8. Intellectual’s name for baby book – parenthesis (parent thesis)9. Steve Urkel’s genealogy – square roots10. Former enemies – exponents (ex-opponents)11. Shape of random number generator – cube ( it’s a die)12. Completely competent – variable (very able)13. The correct beverages to sip at Windsor Castle – properties (proper teas)14. A quick way to shun one – expression (express shun)15. How you keep track of a beat – logarithm (log a rhythm)16. How a love-sick mathematician writes – inverse (in verse)17. What the queen uses to keep track of her beverage consumption – T chart

(tea chart)18. An excessive amount of polate minerals – extrapolate (extra polate)

Contributing WritersTrisha Bergthold

Bem CaycoSteve Crunk

Jane DayDan Golston

Eloise HamannTim Hsu

James KittockFerdie Rivera

Contributing PhotographersNita Barve

David BlockusMarilyn Blockus

Bem CaycoFernanda KarpLoc Nguyen

EditorB. Cayco

www.math.sjsu.edu 7Spring 2004

From left to right: Uldarico Muico, Rosalind Le, Claude Cassano, Nita Barve, Nathalie Grima and Kim Dang

H U H ?H U H ?H U H ?H U H ?H U H ?Annonymously and unintenionally contributed

by our students

TTTTTHEHEHEHEHE P P P P PERILSERILSERILSERILSERILS OFOFOFOFOF C C C C CANCELLINGANCELLINGANCELLINGANCELLINGANCELLING

MMMMMISSINGISSINGISSINGISSINGISSING

THETHETHETHETHE

POINTPOINTPOINTPOINTPOINT

ANOTHER YEAR GONE BY

8 www.math.sjsu.edu Spring 2004

variablesquaresintegerscancelingpermutationT-chartlogarithm

extrapolateparenthesismediansquare rootsinversequadraticFOIL

functioncubeprimeexpressionsequenceexponentsparabolasproperties

Algebraic Aptitude Assessment Find the algebraic term that best fits thedescription below.

1. Best cut of beef2. Person addicted to four sided

figures3. What twins use to eat breakfast

cereal4. Decorations for a formal

sweatshirt5. An impressive, elaborate cer-

emony6. Weapon used by the Three

Musketeers7. A bad hairstyle8. Intellectual’s name for baby book9. Steve Urkel’s genealogy10. Former enemies11. Shape of random number genera-

tor12. Completely competent13. The correct beverages to sip at

Windsor Castle14. A quick way to shun one15. How you keep track of a beat16. How a love-sick mathematician

writes17. What the queen uses to keep

track of her beverage consump-tion

18. An excessive amount of polateminerals

The solution is on page 7.

List of possible answers

www.math.sjsu.edu 9Spring 2004

DONATIONSSince the department split, mathematics has not had a commons room. Recently a room hasbeen identified which will provide our department with space we can use for a combinationof purposes. It will provide space for faculty to have lunch, talk mathematics, hold commit-tee meetings, and conduct small seminars. Faculty donations have improved the room, butapproximately $2,000 worth of furniture is needed to make the room comfortable for all ofits uses.

The university library has had to deal with severe declines in financial support. At the sametime the cost of books has increased, further eroding the ability of the library to supportmathematics and other disciplines. The library estimates its purchasing power has beeneroded by 58%. The Department of History has a library endowment which can be used tooffset the erosion. The Department of Art also receives an annual gift of $4,000 to supportan online journal. Mathematics has no current angels. It would take approximately $20,000to recover the buying power the library had in the early 90s. Our department’s goal is raise$5,000 or 25% of this loss through fundraising.

Please consider donating to one of our causes. All possible state dollars will go into instruc-tion next year. Faculty will be struggling with the fallout of the budget cuts, but these areways that morale can be maintained. All donors will be recognized in our next newsletter.

Send form and check to Dept of Mathematics, San Jose State University San Jose, CA 95192-0103- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --Name _____________________ Email or phone number ______________Address_________________________________________________________________

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Alumni Registration

We would like to know how to reach you so we can keep you updatedon the department news and activities. Please fill out and return to

Department of MathematicsSan Jose State UniversitySan Jose, CA 95192-0103

First Name _________________________Last Name _________________________Other names while at SJSU, e.g. Maiden name ___________________________

Degree earned from SJSU ______________________________Year you earned your degree ____________________________

Address _____________________________ _____________________________

Email ___________________________Phone (optional) ___________________________

This form is also available online atwww.math.sjsu.edu/alumni/alumni.pdf

Tell us a little bit about yourself (profession/employment, otherdegrees earned, family, hobbies, other interests)

The Center for Applied Mathematics and ComputerScience (CAMCOS) is a Math Department programwhose goal is to give SJSU students an opportunityto do industrial research in the mathematical sciences.

CAMCOS was started over 20 years ago by Dr. JaneDay, and she and other math/CS faculty had greatsuccess getting companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and GTE to sponsor student researchprojects. In the late 1990’s, however, the math/CSdepartment had to concentrate on other priorities,including dealing with a flood of CS majors, and theprogram became fairly dormant.

Recently, the CAMCOS program has become activeonce again, thanks to the efforts of math/CS facultyincluding Dr. Tim Hsu (the current director ofCAMCOS), Dr. David Hayes, Dr. Roger Alperin, andDr. Day herself. Indeed, every semester since Spring2002, CAMCOS has run two projects in cooperationwith scientists from the NASA Ames Research Cen-ter, with financial support from the Henry WoodwardFund and NASA itself. The research these teamshave done includes:

* Developing an efficient and provably optimal al-gorithm for finding “clusters” and “bursts” in experi-mentally observed data (faculty supervisor: Dr. BradJackson); * Providing a statistical confirmation of a previouslyunverified theory of how the greenhouse effect worksin the Earth’s atmosphere (supervisors: Dr. SteveCrunk and Dr. Wasin So); and * Developing and implementing a novel method forinterpolating data in a manner consistent with a givendifferential equations model (supervisors: Dr. IgorMalyshev, Dr. Anastasiya Pryvarnikova, and Dr.Mohammed Saleem).

Next year, CAMCOS hopes to continue its succesfulcollaboration with NASA-Ames, while at the sametime beginning new projects in areas like mathemati-cal biology/bioinformatics and computer animation.In particular, if you happen to work for a company orresearch institute that might be interested in support-ing a CAMCOS project, please contact Dr. Hsu by e-mail at hsu@math.sjsu.edu or by phone at (408)924-5071.

MATH DEPT REVIVES CAMCOS PROGRAMby Tim Hsu

10 www.math.sjsu.edu Spring 2004

SAN JOSE MATH CIRCLEwww.mathcircles.org

Mathematical circles are weekly gatherings of stu-dents of high school age or younger working on prob-lems involving complex and advanced topics, guidedby mathematicians and educators. The motivationfor this program is increase the interest and enjoy-ment of mathematics among bay area studentsthrough thought-provoking problems and the struc-ture of their solution.

Students in grades 7 through 12 are welcome. Par-ents are also welcome to attend but not participatein the discussions or problem solving — the mathcircles are for the students. (Those who are inter-ested should consult the website for a schedule.)

The San Jose Math Circle meets every Wednesday,usually at San Jose State. About three out of fourmeetings involve learning new problem-solving tech-niques. About one out of four meetings involves at-tending a talk organized by Bay Area MathematicalAdventures (BAMA). A compilation of BAMA talksare availabe from the MAA, see page 5.

For more information, contact Tatiana Shubin atshubin@math.sjsu.edu

HUH?HUH?HUH?HUH?HUH? A Student wrote this on a test.

“Three skew lines viewed from the top.”

Non-Profit OrganizationU. S. POSTAGE

PAIDSan Jose, CA

Permit No. 816

Department of MathematicsSan Jose State UniversitySan Jose, California 95192-0103