Plimpton 322 is an ancient Babylonian tablet that has been only now deciphered after a great deal of effort. It turns out, it is a remarkably accurate trigonometric table! This breaks the record for both the oldest and the most accurate ancient table of its kind. Some of the difficulty in deciphering the old mathematical […]
Another famous mathematician has died, but in many ways this is a less tragic story than the last death we announced on this blog. Cathleen Morawetz, who was a president of the American Mathematical Society and professor at NYU, died this past weekend at the age of 94. Her contributions to the mathematical study of […]
Maryam Mirzakhani, the Stanford mathematician who was the first woman to win a Fields Medal when it was awarded to her just three years ago at ICM 2014, has died of cancer. This is a tragedy for the world of mathematics as well as for her family and friends. For more information, see this news […]
In an article in the latest College of Charleston magazine, Professor Garrett Mitchener tells us about his fascinating area of research that combines mathematics and linguistics!
Check out the Math Department’s 2017 newsletter!
Congratulations to the following CofC Math students, alumni and faculty: Students: Each year, a student who recently took calculus at CofC is awarded a $100 prize in the Harrison Randolph Calculus Contest. This year, it was Bach Nguyen who won the prize based on his answers to the test that was administered on April 14th. […]
April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, and there are some great resources celebrating it. This National Science Foundation blog page has been posting articles all month long spotlighting work done by researchers through NSF funding. Recent graduate Tyler Perini (B.S. in Applied Mathematics, ’16) was just awarded a grant from the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, a great […]
Check out this fantastic interview with Sylvia Serfaty that recently appeared in Wired Magazine. It has great quotes like these: We do a disservice to the profession by giving this image of little geniuses and prodigies. These Hollywood movies about scientists can be somewhat counterproductive, too. They are telling children that there are geniuses out […]
Like math? Like film/TV? Like Pizza? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then come join us for the CofC Mathematical Short Film Festival on Friday, Feb. 10th from 6 to 8pm. The event is hosted by the Department of Mathematics and will take place in RSS 235. Quality pizza and refreshments will […]
The Harrison Randolph calculus exam is a written test of challenging problems using material covered in Math 120. The student who performs the best will be given the Harrison Randolph Calculus Award at the Honor Ceremony in May and receive a check for $100. Any student who took Math 120 in Summer 2015, Fall 2015, […]