FOCUS August/September 2003 FOCUS is published by the Mathematical Association of America in FOCUS January, February, March, April, May/June, August/September, October, November, and December. August/September 2003 Editor: Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College; Volume 23 Issue 6 [email protected] Managing Editor: Carol Baxter, MAA [email protected] Inside Senior Writer: Harry Waldman, MAA [email protected] 4Elvis: Optimizing My Opportunities By Tim Pennings Please address advertising inquiries to: Carol Baxter, MAA; [email protected] 5Alder Awards Will Recognize Talented Beginning Teachers President: Ronald L. Graham First Vice-President: Carl C. Cowen, Second 6 One Day as Washington Lobbyists Vice-President: Joseph A. Gallian, Secretary: By Jason L. Haun, Kelly A. Peck, and Richard B. Thompson Martha J. Siegel, Associate Secretary: James J. Tattersall, Treasurer: John W. Kenelly 8MAA Tour of Greece Executive Director: Tina H. Straley Associate Executive Director and Director 10 Mathematics and Art of Publications and Electronic Services: Donald J. Albers By Alexander Bogomolny FOCUS Editorial Board: Rob Bradley; J. Kevin Colligan; Sharon Cutler Ross; Joe 12 Manjul Bhargava Receives Hasse Prize at MathFest Gallian; Jackie Giles; Maeve McCarthy; Colm Mulcahy; Peter Renz; Annie Selden; 13 MAA Writing Prizes Announced at MathFest Hortensia Soto-Johnson; Ravi Vakil. Letters to the editor should be addressed to 14 2003 Award Winners for Distinguished Teaching Fernando Gouvêa, Colby College, Dept. of Mathematics, Waterville, ME 04901, or by email to [email protected]. 16 The Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program Brings Together Talented High School Students Subscription and membership questions should be directed to the MAA Customer By Steven R. Dunbar Service Center, 800-331-1622; e-mail: [email protected]; (301) 617-7800 (outside 17 A Problem-Solving Dynasty U.S. and Canada); fax: (301) 206-9789. By Steve Olson Copyright © 2003 by the Mathematical Association of America (Incorporated). 18 NSF Beat Educational institutions may reproduce articles for their own use, but not for sale, provided that the following citation is used: 19 MAA Election Results Are In “Reprinted with permission of FOCUS, the newsletter of the Mathematical Association 20 Short Takes of America (Incorporated).” Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC 28 What’s the Best Textbook?—Elementary Number Theory and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: By Fernando Q. Gouvêa Send address changes to FOCUS, Mathematical Association of America, P.O. Box 90973, Washington, DC 20090-0973. On the cover: Elvis working on his math paper. Photo courtesy of Tim Pennings. ISSN: 0731-2040; Printed in the United States of America. FOCUS Deadlines November December January Editorial Copy September 16 October 16 November 14 Display Ads September 24 October 29 November 26 2 August/September 2003 FOCUS Jean-Pierre Serre Is First Abel Laureate The first Abel Prize in Mathematics The Abel Prize, which was established was awarded to French mathematician in January 2002 and is awarded annu- Jean-Pierre Serre. At a formal ceremony ally to recognize outstanding achieve- on June 3, King Harald of Norway pre- ment in mathematics, carries a cash sented the award, honoring Serre “for award of 6 million Norwegian kroner, playing a key role in shaping the mod- which comes out to about $800,000. The ern form of many parts of mathemat- prize is named for Niels Henrik Abel, ics, including topology, algebraic geom- who lived in Norway in the early 19th etry, and number theory.” The awards century and is recognized as one of the ceremony was part of a week full of spe- most brilliant mathematicians of his cial events related to mathematics. time. The Abel Prize is administered by Events included the laying of a wreath Jean-Pierre Serre receiving the Abel Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Science and at the monument in honor of Niels King Harald of Norway. Letters, which has appointed an Abel Henrik Abel, the Abel Lecture by Serre Committee consisting of five mathema- (“Prime Numbers, Equations and Modu- ticians to review the nominated candi- lar Forms”), and the Abel symposium, Jean-Pierre Serre, who is Emeritus Pro- dates and submit a recommendation for which included lectures by several math- fessor at the Collège de France, in Paris, a worthy Abel laureate. ematicians, including Barry Mazur and is noted both for his mathematics and Peter Sarnak. A “Math Carnival” was held for his expository skills. He has made For more about the Abel Prize and about at the Universitetsplassen, in Central fundamental contributions to topology, Jean-Pierre Serre, visit the Abel Prize Oslo, with the participation of many chil- number theory, and algebraic geometry. website at http://www.abelprisen.no/ dren aged 10 to 12. Serre was present to He has also written many books and is index_english.html. Among other things, hand out prizes to the winners of math- famous for the clarity and penetration the site includes a well-written exposi- ematical competitions. of his writing. tory account of Serre’s work. About Jean-Pierre Serre By Fernando Q. Gouvêa Most good college and university li- GAGA (“Geométrie Algébrique et dent there. It braries own many volumes of collected Geométrie Analytique”), FAC was then com- papers by various mathematicians, but (“Faisceaux Algébriques Coherents”), mon knowl- few of these volumes ever make it into and “Serre’s Duke paper” (“Sur les edge among private book collections. Buying what is représentations modulaires de degré 2 de the graduate usually an expensive set of books is Gal(Q/Q),” published in the Duke Math- students that something one only does if the works in ematical Journal). The last is particularly Serre’s pres- question are so useful that one knows famous; in it, Serre formulated a far- ence had a they will be opened and read again and reaching conjecture connecting modu- positive effect again. Thus, it is an indication of how lar forms and Galois representations, a on the depart- valuable Serre’s work is to note that all small part of which was the core of Wiles’ ment: his four volumes of his collected works are proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. Serre courses were Jean-Pierre Serre on my shelves—the only living math- calls it his paper pour optimistes. exciting, his ematician whose collected works I have ping-pong was top-notch, and the wine felt I absolutely needed to buy. Next to In addition to his research work, Serre at the Friday afternoon wine-and-cheese them are a volume of summaries of semi- has written many books, some at an ad- parties was noticeably better. nars, a volume of correspondence, and vanced level, others more accessible. His at least eight other books, several of writing is famous for being clean, effi- Asked by a French news magazine which I have studied in detail. cient, and easy to understand. This side whether being a great mathematician of his work was recognized by the AMS required genius, Serre replied that it was Serre’s work focuses mostly on three ar- a few years ago, when it awarded him a above all a question of taste: a taste for eas: topology, algebraic geometry, and Steele prize for exposition. mathematics itself, and good taste in number theory. In all three fields, he has choosing the right mathematical prob- had a formative impact, changing the In addition to his work at the Collège de lems. In fact, the first Abel Laureate has very shape of the subject. Some of his France, Serre was a frequent visitor to both taste and genius. papers are cited so often that they are American universities. He spent a semes- known by nicknames: for example, ter at Harvard while I was a graduate stu- Photos courtesy of: The Abel Prize website: http://www.abelprisen.no/presse/ 3 FOCUS August/September 2003 Elvis: Optimizing My Opportunities As told to Tim Pennings Hi. I’m Elvis. I got my name because as a nursing puppy I gyrated my back legs in a motion similar to my namesake, the King of Rock and Roll. As with Presley, I love the spotlight, from pos- ing for a camera to diving into an eager crowd of high school students. I knew that I was destined for fame, but when I went to live with mathematics professor, Tim Pennings, two years ago, I could see that my opportunities were limited. Nice guy, but not star quality, if you know what I mean. Then one fine day playing fetch at the beach, I had an inspiration: Show him that I have an in- stinctual knack for calculus by choosing the quickest path to the ball. (I have Elvis relaxing at home in between interviews and persona l appearances. trouble with symbolic manipulation, but Photo courtesy of Tim Pennings. max-min problems come naturally to me.) It took him a few weeks to catch on, but when he did we researched and The BBC found out about me and called ward to us giving our talk in various high wrote the paper and I knew that I was for a live on-the-air interview, as did our schools and colleges next fall. Those stu- on my way to the top. own country’s NPR radio. Finally, we had dents are just suckers for my handsome an offer to go to Los Angeles for a spot face. With my smile gracing the front cover on an NBC daytime talk show in August. of the May issue of The College Math- (I was all for it, but my co-author would Tim Pennings is an Associate Professor of ematics Journal, what would come next? rather go camping.) All together we gave Mathematics at Hope College in Holland, Well, first several local papers wrote sto- nine interviews and appeared in 28 news Michigan.