Minute Math - Lecture # 136

Professor Dan Kalman, American University In this talk he will present an assortment of favorite mathematical morsels: short and simple, delightful to the tastebuds, and easy to digest. They are from a collection I have accumulated over the past 30+ years. Sample topics include • A universal solution of the four 9's puzzle • Getting an angle on a regular heptagram • Fraction addition made difficult • Keypad symmetric path numbers • Beholden to Bhaskara: addition identities for sine and cosine • The ghost of Pythagoras discourages Starbucks gluttony Dan Kalman has been writing about and teaching mathematics for 35 years. A graduate of Harvey Mudd College (BS, 1974) and the University of Wisconsin (PhD, 1980) he is a Professor of Mathematics at American University, Washington, DC. He previously held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, and Augustana College, Sioux Falls, among other institutions, and worked for several years as an applied mathematician at the Aerospace Corporation. He also served the MAA in various roles, including as an Associate Executive Director, a member of the MAA Board of Governors, and a section officer. Kalman has been an invited speaker at numerous national and regional mathematics conferences, and has spoken to student clubs and PME chapters many times. His mathematical writing has been recognized with multiple MAA writing awards: Allendoerfer Awards in 1998 and 2002, Polya Awards in 1994 and 2002, Evans Awards in 1997 and 2012, and Ford Awards in 2009 and 2013. His book, Uncommon Mathematical Excursions: Polynomia and Related Realms, received the MAA's Beckenbach Book Prize in 2012. http://www1.american.edu/cas/mathstat/People/kalman/ The MATC Mathematics Club sponsors a lecture series every semester. Speakers come from outside the school to provide us with insight into their research or mathematical curiosities they have discovered. Questions? Contact Jeganathan Sriskandarajah at (608) 243-4316.