THE NEWSLETTER OF THE MATHEMA TICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA MAA Election Results Gerald L. Alexanderson of Santa Clara Uni­ on Minorities in Math­ Volume 15, Number 6 versity has been elected the next president of ematics, the report of the MAA, following the term of Kenneth A. which led to the forming Ross. Alexanderson will serve a one-year term of the SUMMA office at In this Issue as president-elect beginning in January 1996, MAA headquarters. She and will take over as president a year later, to has done research in the 5 Project NExT serve a term of two years. area of wavelets and mul­ Fellows tivariate splines, in addi­ On the same ballot, the members of the Asso­ tion to being involved at Gerald L. Alexanderson ciation elected Louise Raphael of Howard Uni­ the NSF as the first pro­ 6 The Double versity and Wade Ellis, Jr. of West Valley gram director of the Cal­ Bubble Conjecture College as first and second vice-president, re­ culus Curriculum Init­ spectively. Both will serve two-year terms iative. beginning January 1996. 12 A Foundation Ellis has served on numer­ in High Gear Alexanderson served the Association as first ous committees of the vice-president in 1984-85, as editor of Math­ MAA, most notably chair­ ematics Magazine, 1986-90, and as secretary ingthe Committee on Two­ 14 1996 Joint from 1990 to the present. He has been a mem­ Year Colleges, and is a Louise Raphael Meetings ber of the Association for forty-one years and former member of the Update has served in various capacities on the Board Mathematical Sciences of Governors for a total of fourteen years. He Education Board. He is is familiar to many MAA members in the sec­ well-known for his work 16 Survey on tions, having given talks to over half of the MAA Electronic on the use of calculators twenty-nine sections. He is coauthor of a vari­ and computers in the class­ Services ety of books on mathematics, including the room, having written Mathematical People volumes coedited with books and manuals in this 22 Employment Donald J. Albers and Constance Reid. area. He has been a mem­ Opportunities Raphael, a member of the Association for ber of the MAA for fifteen Wade Ellis, Jr. twenty-five years, chaired the MAA Task Force years. 31 Meetings Calendar Math Education Programs That Work New MAA Study Provides Pointers to Success Models That Work: Case Studies in Effective (ii) Preparing students to pursue advanced study Undergraduate Mathematics Programs is the in mathematics; title of an MAA project report that has just (iii) Preparing future school mathematics teach­ been completed. The project was sponsored by ers; or the NSF and directed by Alan Tucker, chair of the MAA Education Coordinating Council. The (iv) Attracting and preparing members of institutions visited spanned the spectrum from underrepresented groups in mathematics. The Mathematical two-year colleges to research universities. They The report describes general attitudes and strat­ Association of America have undergraduate mathematics programs that egies as well as particular activities, along with 1529 Eighteenth Street, NW are particularly successful in several ofthe fol­ suggestions for creating and sustaining an en­ Washington. DC 20036 lowing areas: vironment that will foster such attitudes and (i) Attracting and preparing large numbers of activities. The following features, found among mathematics majors; See Education Programs on page 4 FOCUS December 1995 FOCUS Editorial FOCUS is published by The Mathematical Association of America six times a year: The Myth of Scientific Literacy February, April, June, August, October, and December. Some time ago I was one of two research mathematicians in a Editor and Chair of the MAA Newsletter group discussion whose other participants consisted of elemen­ Editorial Committee: Keith J. Devlin, Saint tary and high school mathematics teachers and college math­ Mary's College of California, devlin@ ematics education faculty. The question was raised as to whether stmarys-ca.edu schools should spend as much time as they do on the algorithmic aspects of elementary Associate Editor: Donald J. Albers, MAA arithmetic. The debate grew quite heated, with arguments in favor of higher standards Associate Executive Director and Director of competency in arithmetic ranged against the suggestion that the electronic calculator of Publications and Electronic Services had eliminated any need for arithmetical skills. At some point in the discussion, I was Managing Editor: Harry Waldman, MAA asked to give my view. (Until then I was content to be an innocent observer in what was clearly a long-running battle.) The individual who had just spoken was a high school Production Specialist: Amy Fabbri, teacher who had recounted the story of how she had recently used arithmetic to calculate MAA, [email protected] the amount of sand, gravel, and cement required to lay the base for a concrete driveway Proofreader: Meredith Zimmerman, at her home. This was an example, she claimed, of the importance of everyone having MAA basic arithmetical skills. Copy Editor: Nancy Wilson, Saint Mary's I disagreed. Whenever I had wanted building work done, I said, I had simply employed College of California, nwilson@stmarys­ ca.edu a builder to do the work for me. I never had to make any calculations of the kind that had just been described. Indeed, I found it hard to remember the last time I had found it Letters to the editor should be addressed to: necessary to carry out a nontrivial arithmetic calculation. Or indeed to make explicit use Keith Devlin, Saint Mary's College of of any mathematical knowledge in my everyday life. My opponent-as now she had California, P.O. Box 3517, Moraga, CA 94575; e-mail: [email protected]. become-did not agree, though there were nods of assent from many of the math ed folk sitting around the table. As the debate grew ever more heated, I never did get an oppor­ The FOCUS subscription price to individual tunity to put forward an argument-a different reason-why it might be important to members of the Association is $6.00, included teach arithmetic to young children. in the annual dues. (Annual dues for regular members, exclusive of annual subscription There is a story that often gets told when mathematicians and scientists justify the need prices for MAAjoumals, are $68.00. Student for all school and college students to take mathematics and science courses. It goes like and unemployed members receive a 66 this. percent discount; emeritus members receive a 50 percent discount; new members receive Today's society is more dependent on the products of mathematics and science than ever a 40 percent discount for the first two before. To be able to function effectively in society, a citizen should therefore be suffi­ membership years.) ciently numerate and sufficiently knowledgeable of science to appreciate quantitative Copyright © 1995 by The Mathematical data and make informed judgements about scientific and technological matters. The Association of America (Incorporated). illustrations usually put forward to support this claim range from everyday matters such Educational institutions may reproduce as being able to count your change at the supermarket and checking the cost estimate articles for their own use, but not for sale, provided that the following citation is used: your builder submits for constructing your kitchen extension, to more profound matters "Reprinted with permission of FOCUS, the such as being able to handle scientific data when on a jury, evaluating the relative newsletter of The Mathematical Association benefits and costs to society of nuclear power, the justification-or not-for the use of of America (Incorporated)." animals in experiments and education, and being able to engage in the public debates on Second-class postage paid at Washington, DC Star Wars, the funding of the Supercollider, the teaching of 'creationism' in schools, and and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: so forth. Send address changes to the The Sound familiar? It probably does even if you yourself don't believe it, since the same Mathematical Association of America, P.O. Box 90973, Washington, DC 20090-0973. argument was used when we ourselves, today's mathematics and science educators, E-mail: [email protected],orcalll-800-331- were students. But is this argument valid? 1622 (US and Canada only) (301) 617-7800 Notice that I am not questioning the importance, desirability, or necessity of mathemat­ (outside US and Canada). For advertising information, contact, Amy Fabbri, FOCUS ics and science education for all. The issue I am raising is the reason often given, both Advertising Coordinator, The Mathematical to funding authorities and to the students themselves, to justify such education. Association of America, 1529 Eighteenth Since the FOCUS readership is mathematically literate, I can express the issue by means Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20036, e-mail [email protected], or (202) 387-5200. of an algebraic formula. I am questioning the validity of the antecedent p in a conditional p -> q. I happen to think that q (the importance of mathematics and science education) ISSN: 0731-2040 is valid. But I don't think that p (the well-worn rationale outlined above) is valid. And Printed in the United States as any mathematically literate individual will know, the falsity of p here need have no of America. bearing on the truth or falsity of q. 2 December 1995 FOCUS There is no question that society needs a sues involving science and technology, then short space available to me here, I can't number of people who are highly skilled it is not clear that all trained mathemati­ even scratch the surface of the case Shamos in mathematics and science.