Geometrical Solution of Quadratic Equations

I received this link from some friend in math department some minutes ago. According to the email, there has been quite a rumble about this talk.
This
http://www.mozaik.info.hu/Homepage/ftp/gondolkozzunk_gorogul/geom.html
or this link if you are not an English speaker: mozaik homepage

Author: Andras Ringler
Head of the Institute of Medical and Biophysics, University of Szeged (Hungary)

While I am not really impressed with this claimed new discovery, this clip is actually nice and quite helpful to draw attention from students in junior high school. I still remembered when I was in the 8th grade and was so excited to learn many “tricks” to solve equations and even more excited trying to explain why it could work and rediscover the real meaning behind the methods.

Nevertheless,  just flash back the way the well-known quadratic formula was formed (or the formula itself is a hint),  you can “discover” a much nicer and intuitive geometrical solution, using similarities (in a right triangle) that dont even have to separate +/- in to cases. Give it a try.

Math In Industry – Claremont Colleges, California

Colleagues:

Please distribute this information to math graduate students and faculty (especially early career faculty) interested in participating in the

GRADUATE STUDENTS MODELING CAMP/MATH PROBLEMS IN INDUSTRY WORKSHOP

The workshop will be held at the Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California over
July 24 – 31, 2009. Information can be found in the attached flyer and at our website
http://ccms@claremont.edu/mini/

These events are similar in goals and scope to those mounted by the RPI/WPI/U. of Delaware group. Please see the SIAM News, May, 2009, Announcement) and by PIMS in Western Canada.

Travel and local expenses are anticipated to be supported by an NSF grant.

Best regards,

Lisette de Pillis, Harvey Mudd College
Ellis Cumberbatch, Claremont Graduate University

Travel advisory for international students, visiting scholars & employees

From UB Newsletter
www.math.buffalo.edu/~phuvu/webpage/docs/travel_advisory_for_internationa.htm

Maple 13

Newest version of Maple is out: Maple 13
As stated by Maplesoft ‘s President and CEO, this version has a huge lot of improvement, inside and outside.
Soon enough, UB will have this product for student, either free or very cheap. It is a good thing to give it a try, especially for students taking MTH306, MTH418/438/538/539 ..
But dont forget, if you are a bit familiar with coding, then Matlab is still number one choice for numerical applied mathematics.

Mathematical Problems in Industry 2009

Dear colleagues:

We wish to remind you of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Workshop on Mathematical Problems in Industry, MPI 2009. We currently have three industrial problems on tap (see “Abstracts” on the Web page), and hope to have another one finalized in the next few weeks.

The workshop will take place at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE from June 15-19, 2009. The workshop is a uniquely productive research experience that exposes participants to new problems, and creates new collaborations and contacts. Please circulate this announcement to colleagues and graduate students in your department.

Description

MPI is a problem-solving workshop that attracts leading applied mathematicians and scientists from universities, industry, and national laboratories. During the 5-day workshop, engineers and scientists from industry interact with academic participants on leading-edge problems of interest in various areas of applied mathematics. There is no registration fee for academic participants.

Travel/Lodging Assistance

Limited travel/lodging assistance is available for junior faculty and postdocs. See our Web site for more details.

Graduate Students

Any graduate student interested in applied mathematics, regardless of level, is encouraged to participate in MPI 2009. Travel and lodging for graduate student participants will be available to as many students as funds allow.

To become familiar with the types of problems presented and the format of these workshops, graduate students interested in participating in MPI 2009 are encouraged to attend the Sixth Annual Graduate Student Mathematical Modeling Camp, June 9-12, 2009, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This is a problem solving camp in which applied mathematicians, with experience solving industrial problems, pose those types of problems and mentor students in their solution. Financial support is available for the student participants and those students will also be supported for
MPI.

We hope to see you at the workshop.

Mississippi Conference on Differential Equations and Computational Simulations

http://www.msstate.edu/dept/math/events/de.conf/de2009/

Mathemagician