A Conversation with Steven Strogatz in Math Horizons

MH Strogatz CoverI was excited to receive this month’s issue of Math Horizons, published by the Mathematical Association of America, which features my interview with Steven Strogatz!

Professor Strogatz and I had a lively and wide-ranging conversation about mathematics, teaching, writing, and the state of math education.  He is an engaging, curious, and open person, and I think all of that comes through in the interview.

Our conversation was so wide-ranging, in fact, that the interview occupies four pages in the magazine, the Aftermath editorial section at the end of the issue, and a few pages at the Math Horizons blog!

It was a personal honor, both to interview Professor Strogatz in an official capacity, and to be published in the MAA’s Math Horizons.

You can read a sample of our conversation here.  And get your copy of Math Horizons for the full interview!

12/30/2013 — Happy Derangement Day!

Today we celebrate a Derangement Day!  Usually I call days like today a permutation day because the digits of the day and month can be rearranged to form the year, but there’s something extra special about today’s date:

derangement day

The numbers of the month and day are a derangement of the year:  that is, they are a permutation of the digits of the year in which no digit remains in its original place!

Derangements pop up in some interesting places, and are connected to many rich mathematical ideas.   The question “How many derangements of n objects are there?” is a fun and classic application of the principle of inclusion-exclusion.  Derangements also figure in to some calculations of e and rook polynomials.

So enjoy Derangement Day!  Today, it’s ok to be totally out of order.

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