OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

ADVISING NEWSLETTER

WINTER, 2001 -- Volume 6, Number 2

Become a mathematics tutor

The Academic Skills Center (103 NFH, 370-4215) needs your help! Mathematics tutors are in short supply. If you've had several mathematical sciences courses at OU and want to help your fellow students (while at the same time gaining valuable experience and earning a little spending money, with very flexible hours), give them a call. They also need good math students to serve as Supplemental Instruction leaders. Anyone interested in homework grading for the Department of Mathematics and Statistics should contact Professor Eddie Cheng (348 SEB, echeng@oakland.edu, 370-4024).

And after you graduate

Many opportunities are open to you after you complete your undergraduate major in mathematics or applied statistics. One thing to consider seriously is graduate school. Here at Oakland University we offer several different masters degrees in mathematics and applied statistics, and our new PhD program in the applied mathematical sciences might be appropriate for you. Contact the Coordinator of Graduate Programs, Professor Fiki Shillor (shillor@oakland.edu, Room 554 SEB, 370-3439), for more information, and/or visit the graduate program page on our departmental Web site (http://www.math.oakland.edu).

Early Registration coming

Here's a rundown on the advanced undergraduate courses being offered Fall 2001. Early registration starts in May.

APM 357: Elements of Partial Differential Equations (Andrews, MW 5:30 PM)

If you're interested in applications of mathematics in the physical sciences or engineering, and if you liked APM 257, then you'll like this course.

APM 433: Numerical Methods (ZHang, MW 7:30 PM)

Numerical analysis and scientific computing are important topics for you to know if you plan to seek a job in industry. Check with the instructor for details on course content and necessary background.

APM 463: Graph Theory and Combinatorial Mathematics (E. Cheng, TuTh 7:30 PM)

If you liked discrete mathematics (APM 263), then you'll like this course, which goes into more depth on these topics. Many of the students in the class are graduate students in computer science, but mathematics majors tend to do just as well as, if not better than, these students.

APM 477: Computer Algebra (C. Cheng, TuTh 5:30 PM)

This course explores the mathematics behind the algorithms used by computer algebra packages such as Maple and Mathematica. The course is offered about once every two years.

MOR 346: Stochastic Models in Operations Research (Schochetman, TuTh 7:30 PM)

"Stochastic" means that probabilistic considerations are involved here, and "Operations Research" means the application of mathematical models to solving kinds of problems that occur in industry. A typical problem is how lines at check-out counters behave.

MTH 302: Introduction to Advanced Mathematical Thinking (Spagnuolo, TuTh 3:30 PM)

Many advanced mathematics courses deal with why things are true, not just getting answers to problems. In this course you will become proficient in understanding and writing proofs. It is required for math majors and prerequisite to many advanced courses.

MTH 351: Advanced Calculus I (Cahlon, TuTh 3:30 PM)

This course, required of all math majors, explores calculus from a deeper and more theoretical point of view.

MTH 361: Geometric Structures (Wright, MW 3:30 PM)

The Euclidean geometry you learned in high school is not the only interesting or useful way to model space. This course, required of math majors in STEP (and an elective for other math majors), looks at some of the alternatives.

MTH 372: Number Theory (Turett, TuTh 5:30 PM)

One of the oldest and most fascinating branches of pure mathematics, dealing with things like prime numbers and modular arithmetic, number theory is now at the forefront of applications such as cryptography.

STA 322: Regression Analysis (Khattree, TuTh 7:30 PM)

If you liked STA 226, and especially the time spent studying linear regression and correlation, you should look into this course. All statistics majors must take this course, and it is an elective for math majors. It is recommended that you have seen matrix operations (like multiplicative inverses) before.

STA 426: Statistical Analysis by Graphical and Rank Order Methods (Pan, MW 5:30 PM)

). If you have had at least one statistics course beyond STA 226, then you should look into this course. It deals with those situations in which an assumption of a normal distribution is not valid.

STA 427: Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (Ogunyemi, TuTh 5:30 PM)

This is the first half of a year-long sequence in the theoretical foundations of probability and statistics, required of all statistics majors and an elective for math majors.

In all cases, you can obtain further information by talking to the instructor. It is possible that one or more of these courses will not "make" if we don't get a high enough enrollment, so (1) make sure to preregister, and (2) have backup choices in mind.

If you have a request for future years, make your desires known to us! Also, don't forget that you can do independent studies of topics not regularly offered as courses.

Math conferences

On April 27-28 at Hope College in Holland, Michigan,, the annual meeting of the Michigan Section of the Mathematical Association of America is being held. Students are encouraged to attend (the registration fee is waived), and there will be sessions for student papers, as well as many talks and workshops accessible to undergraduates. Details can be obtained from Professor Grossman or (when it becomes available) on their Web site: http://www.michmaa.org.

Contest results in

Mathematics major David Houston placed third in the state of Michigan and 151st nationally on the Putnam Exam given in December. Oakland's 3-person team, however, did not rank nationally this year, after its 36th place finish last year. The 2000 winning school was Duke University.

Contact information

The Newsletter editor is Professor Jerrold Grossman, the chief undergraduate adviser in the Department, with help from other faculty and staff within the Department. We welcome your comments and suggestions; in fact, we'd welcome your contributions of material, if there's something you'd like to share with your fellow majors (comments, problems, ideas, etc.).

The department's very museful Web Page has the following URL: http://www.math.oakland.edu. Come have a look, and follow some of the fascinating links!

All faculty have e-mail addresses that are the same as their last names (followed by @oakland.edu), with certain exceptions: bjiang, dwsinger, echeng, pshi, schochet, spagnuol, and w2zhang. Phone numbers and office locations can be obtained from the Department office (368 SEB, 370-3430) or the Web.

Come to a math talk!

Every week or two the Department holds a Colloquium, in which a mathematician or statistician (either someone in the Department or a visiting dignitary) presents a talk on recent progress in some area of mathematics or statistics. Colloquium announcements, which describe the subject and the speaker, are posted on the bulletin boards near the departmental office. You may not understand all the details, but you can get a good feeling for what research in the mathematical sciences is all about by dropping in. Free refreshments are served prior to the talks.

Keep the advisers busy

Majors in mathematics or statistics should consult with their advisers at least once a year. Professor Grossman is the chief adviser, and he can be found in Room 346 SEB most of every day, by phone at 370-3443, or via e-mail (grossman@oakland.edu). Sit down with him to review your progress, check the myriad graduation requirements, explore your options after you graduate, or just talk about mathematics. He has some nice give-aways, too, such as a booklet prepared by the Mathematical Association of America spotlighting careers in the mathematical sciences, and copies of recent issues of Math Horizons, a magazine for majors.

Summer opportunities

Each summer at numerous sites around the country, talented mathematics and statistics majors take part in programs, funded by the National Science Foundation, which allow them to do real mathematical research. Room and board are paid for you, and you receive a small stipend in most programs. You should seriously consider participating in one of these programs.

A few of these programs are specifically designed to encourage women in mathematics. There are also some that include course work as well.

For more details, see Professor Grossman or check out this Albion College Web site: http://albion.edu/math/opportun.htm.

Another activity you might consider for the summer is being a tutor in our Summer Mathematics Institute for high school students; see its Web page (http://www.math.oakland.edu/ousmi.html) for details.

A personal look

Each issue of the Newsletter will include a feature on one member of the Department faculty, telling you a little about his/her life and interests, both professional and personal. We are proceeding by seniority at Oakland, and with this issue we come to Professor Steve Wright, who has been at Oakland since 1977. He did his undergraduate work at Western Kentucky University and received a PhD in mathematics from Indiana University.

Dr. Wright's research interests originally focused on operator algebras, structures that come up in advanced linear algebra. Now he also explores differential equations and their applications. He has about 40 publications, including many with departmental colleagues, and he intends to keep pursuing what he calls "these wonderful and interesting subjects."

Professor Wright really enjoys undergraduate teaching, especially his History of Mathematics course (MTH 414), offered every Winter Semester. In Fall 1998 he had an exciting opportunity to teach a special course for the Honors College -- he chose the recent break-through proof of FermatÕs Last Theorem as the topic for that term.

When not working on mathematics or teaching, Dr. Wright is involved with departmental committees, especially related to our graduate programs. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading and cycling.

Steve Wright lives with his wife, Linda, in Rochester Hills. Linda also works at OU, as a program assistant in the Graduate Studies Office. Their daughter Elizabeth will be graduating this spring from Central Michigan University, with a major in broadcasting and cinematic arts.

Math problems to try

Here are three of the problems from this year's Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition. Give them a try.

1. Jose, Luciano, and Placido enjoy playing cards after their performances, and you are invited to deal. They use just nine cards, numbered 2 through 10, and each player is to receive three cards. You hope to hand out the cards so that the following three conditions hold: (A) When Jose and Luciano pick cards randomly from their piles, Luciano most often picks a card higher than Jose; (B) When Luciano and Placido pick cards randomly from their piles, Placido most often picks a card higher than Luciano; (C) When Placido and Jose pick cards randomly from their piles, Jose most often picks a card higher than Placido. Explain why it is impossible to distribute the nine cards so as to satisfy these three conditions, or give an examples of one such distribution.

2. Two parallel lines pass through the points (0,1) and (–1,0). Two other lines are drawn through (1,0) and (0,0), each perpendicular to the first two. The two sets of lines intersect in four points that are the vertices of a square. Find all possible equations for the first two lines.

3. The Olive View Airline in the remote county of Kuklafrania has decided to use the following rule to establish its air routes: If A and B are two distinct cities, then there is to be an air route connecting A with B if either there is no city closer to A than B or there is no city closer to B than A. No further routes will be permitted. Distances between Kuklafranian cities are never equal. Prove that no city will be connected by air routes to more than five other cities.