WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Prizes for the year’s best mathematics writing were given on Aug. 2, 2019 in Cincinnati by the Mathematical Association of America at MAA MathFest, the annual meeting of the Mathematical Association of America.
“The Mathematical Association of America is proud of our record for publishing excellent mathematical exposition in our journals and magazines,” said Michael Pearson, executive director of the MAA. “The contributions honored by this year's writing awards are among the best, and we are pleased to recognize the authors for their exemplary work.”
Three mathematicians are recipients of the Carl B. Allendoerfer Awards, which is given to authors for excellent mathematical writing published in the Mathematics Magazine, a journal of the MAA.
- William Dunham, Bryn Mawr College for "The Early (and Peculiar) History of the Möbius Function"
- Jordan Bell, University of Toronto, and Viktor Blåsjö, Utrecht University for “Pietro Mengoli’s 1650 Proof that the Harmonic Series Diverges"
Each year an author is recognized for their excellent writing for an undergraduate audience, published in MAA’s magazine Math Horizons. This year’s recipient of the Trevor Evans Award is Stan Wagon of Macalester College for his article “Resolving the Fuel Economy Singularity.”
This award recognizes exceptional authors who have published in The American Mathematical Monthly, the MAA’s flagship journal. This year’s winners are:
- Adrian Rice, Randolph-Macon College, "Partnership, Partition, and Proof: The Path to the Hardy–Ramanujan Partition Formula”
- Jonathan M. Borwein, University of Newcastle, Australia, and Robert M. Corless, Western University, "Gamma and Factorial in the Monthly"
- Andrew Granville, Université de Montréal, "Using Dynamical Systems to Construct Infinitely Many Primes”
- Kenneth S. Williams, Carleton University, "Everything You Wanted To Know About ax2+by2+cz2+dt2 But Were Afraid To Ask"
This award recognizes the exceptional papers published in The College Mathematics Journal, a journal of the MAA. This year’s winners are:
- Stanley R. Huddy, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Michael A. Jones, Mathematical Reviews, “The Calculus Behind Generic Drug Equivalence”
- Peter McGrath, University of Pennsylvania, “Newton’s Shell Theorem via Archimedes’ Hat Box and Single Variable Calculus”
The Hasse Prize honors authors for a noteworthy expository paper appearing in an Association publication, at least one of whose authors is a younger mathematician, generally under the age of forty. David Treeby, Monash University, is recognized this year for "Further Thoughts on a Paradoxical Tower," in The American Mathematical Monthly.
About MAA
The Mathematical Association of America is the world’s largest community of mathematicians, students, and enthusiasts. We accelerate the understanding of our world through mathematics because mathematics drives society and shapes our lives. Learn more at maa.org.
