Mathematics Commons^™

Polygonal Chains Cannot Lock In 4d, Roxana Cocan, Joseph O'Rourke

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

We prove that, in all dimensions d ≥ 4, every simple open polygonal chain and every tree may be straightened, and every simple closed polygonal chain may be convexified. These reconfigurations can be achieved by algorithms that use polynomial time in the number of vertices, and result in a polynomial number of “moves.” These results contrast to those known for d = 2, where trees can “lock,” and for d = 3, where open and closed chains can lock.

Computational Geometry Column 42, Joseph S. B. Mitchell, Joseph O'Rourke

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

A compendium of thirty previously published open problems in computational geometry is presented.

Mathematics Memory Verses: Weekly Devotionals For Math Class, Mark Colgan

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Each Monday during the semester I start class with a short devotional on a verse that relates in some way to mathematics. After three weeks I choose one of the three at random for students to write out on their quiz for a possible bonus point. This encourages students to practice memorizing Scripture and it gives us the opportunity to discuss biblical principles that relate to some of the topics we are studying in the course.

I would like to share some of the Bible verses and weekly devotionals I have used in my mathematics classes. These can be organized …

Parables For Mathematicians: With Good News For Curved Beings, Ashley Reiter Ahlin

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Because we often lack the language for talking about such deep matters, the things of God can be hard to understand or talk about. The things that we do see and know were made by the same God of whom we speak. Thus, they are reflections of His nature, purposes, and ways and can help us to think and take about Him. This presentation expresses a parable using the language of math.

Three Problems From Number Theory, Robert Brabenec

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

This paper discusses the experiences of Wheaton College mathematics and computer science department colloquium as they explored open-ended problems.

Theism & Mathematical Realism, John Byl

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

This paper examines connections between theism and mathematical realism. Mathematical realism, which offers the best account of mathematics, strongly supports theism. Theism, in turn, supports mathematical realism. Theism readily explains the intricate relations between mathematics, matter, and mind. The attributes of the biblical God provide justification for classical mathematics.

What Mathematical Paradoxes Teach Us About Paradoxes In Christianity, Paul Bialek

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

In Christian academic circles, we talk about the integration of our faith and learning. That is, we seek to discover and develop connections between our Christian faith and our particular discipline. This is notoriously difficult when the discipline is mathematics. I have found that asking myself these three questions has helped me to integrate my Christian faith with mathematics, although they could be applied to any discipline: (1) How does the fact that I am a Christian affect the way I view mathematics? (2) How does the fact that I am a mathematician affect the way I view Christianity? (3) …

Why Natural Selection Can't Design Anything, William A. Dembski

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

In The Fifth Miracle Paul Davies suggests that any laws capable of explaining the origin of life must be radically different from scientific laws known to date? The problem, as he sees it, with currently known scientific laws, like the laws of chemistry and physics, is that they cannot explain the key feature of life that needs to be explained. That feature is specified complexity. Life is both complex and specified. The basic institution here is straightforward. Davies rightly notes, laws (that is, necessities of nature) can explain specification but not complexity. Once life (or more generally some self-replicator) …

The Soviet Concept Of The Correlation Of Forces, James Bradley

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

This paper takes a look at the Soviet Union’s accumulation of nuclear weapons during the Cold War and what mathematical strategy they employed to make their choices.

Mathematics As Worship, David J. Stucki

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

In keeping with the mission of this organization to explore the relationship of faith to our discipline, I would like to take this opportunity to investigate the relationship, if any, between mathematics and worship. There have been throughout history, at least since Pythagoras, connections made between the mathematical and the theological. Many of these such efforts have followed the Pythagorean cult in deifying number, thus making mathematics the object of worship. Othes have effectively situated theology in subservience to mathematical reason. However, these are not the only alternatives.

Once we admit the possibility of a connection between mathematics and theology, …

On Periodic Points On Maps Of Trees And The Expansive Property, Fred Worth

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

In this paper, we consider the expansive property (A homeomorphism, f, of a metric space, X, onto itself is called expansive if there is a positive number, ε, such that if x and y are distinct points of X, then there exists an integer, n = n(x,y), such that d(f n(x), f n(y)) > ε. It should be noted that n may be negative.) and how it relates to shift homeomorphisms of a tree with a single, surjective bonding map. We also consider some results regarding the periodicity of points in self-maps of trees.

Thml: Theological Markup Language For The Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Harry Plantinga

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

This document describes the Theological Markup Language (ThML), an XML markup language for theological texts. ThML was developed for use in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL), but it is hoped that the language will serve as a royalty-free format for theological texts in other applications. Key design goals are that the language should be (1) rich enough to represent information needed for digital libraries and for theological study involving multiple, related texts, including cross-reference, synchronization, indexing, and scripture references, (2) based on XML and usable with World Wide Web tools, (3) automatically convertible to other common formats, and (4) …

Gravitational Acceleration In Hades, Andrew Simoson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Does acceleration due to gravity increase or decrease upon descending from Earth’s surface? The answer—as we show—depends on one’s model for Earth’s density. For our Earth, gravity increases before it collapses to zero at Earth center.

Introduction (2001), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Thirteenth ACMS Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Schedule (2001), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Thirteenth ACMS Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Table Of Contents (2001), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2001

Thirteenth ACMS Conference on Mathematics from a Christian Perspective

Computational Geometry Column 41, Joseph O'Rourke

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

The recent result that n congruent balls in R^d have at most 4 distinct geometric permutations is described.

Branching Exponent Heterogeneity And Wall Shear Stress Distribution In Vascular Trees, Kelly Lynn Karau, Gary S. Krenz, Christopher A. Dawson

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

A bifurcating arterial system with Poiseuille flow can function at minimum cost and with uniform wall shear stress if the branching exponent (z) = 3 [where z is defined by (D ₁)^z = (D ₂)^z + (D ₃)^z; D ₁ is the parent vessel diameter and D ₂ and D ₃ are the two daughter vessel diameters at a bifurcation]. Because wall shear stress is a physiologically transducible force, shear stress-dependent control over vessel diameter would appear to provide a means for preserving this optimal structure through maintenance …

No-Nonsense Guide To Csab/Csac Accreditation, Pete Sanderson

Mathematics Faculty Scholarship

CSAB/CSAC provides professional accreditation of computer science bachelor's degree programs in the United States. As of October 2000, 159 institutions held this accreditation. By our count, over 80% of the accredited programs were offered by departments which also offer graduate programs in computer science. This means that few small colleges are represented. Our intent in this work is to give the small college audience an up-to-date guide to the recently-revised CSAB/CSAC accreditation standards. The guide is not comprehensive; we emphasize those issues we believe to be of greatest interest to small colleges and address them from the perspective we have …

Jkarelrobot: A Case Study In Supporting Levels Of Cognitive Development In The Computer Science Curriculum, Duane Buck, David J. Stucki

Mathematics Faculty Scholarship

We introduce a new software tool, JKarelRobot, for supporting an Inside/Out pedagogy in introductory programming courses. Extending the original conception of "Karel the Robot", with Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as a guiding principle, we have provided a mechanism for designing exercises that are cognitively appropriate to the developmental levels of our students. JKarelRobot is platform independent (written in Java) and language/paradigm independent, supporting Pascal, Java, and Lisp style environments.

On The Nonembeddability And Crossing Numbers Of Some Toroidal Graphs On The Klein Bottle, Adrian Riskin

Mathematics

We show that toroidal polyhedral maps with four or more disjoint homotopic noncontractiblecircuits are not embeddable on the projective plane and that toroidal polyhedral maps with -veor more disjoint homotopic noncontractible circuits are not embeddable on the Klein bottle. Wealso show that the Klein bottle crossing numbers ofCm×Cn(m6n) form=3;4;5;6 are 1,2,4,and 6, respectively, and give upper bounds for all other values ofn. These crossing numbersdispla yat ypical behavior in that the value depends onl yonminstead of on bothmandnas isthe case for the plane and projective plane.

Joachim Castella: Studien Zur Thematik "Kalkül Und Kreativität", Rudolf Kaehr

Rudolf Kaehr

Utopie der Zeichen – Zeichen der Utopie Vilém Flusser und Gotthard Günther als Komplement einer neuen Medienphilosophie Medientheorie als Theoriemedium Prolegomena einer allgemeinenMedientheorie Philosophie des LMR Joachim Castella 2000/2001

Rush Hour® And Dijkstra’S Algorithm, Mark Stamp, Brad Engel, Mcintosh Ewell, Victor Morrow

Faculty Publications, Computer Science

The game of Rush Hour® includes a 6 × 6 grid and game pieces representing cars and trucks. The object of the puzzle is to move a special car out of a gridlocked “traffic jam.” In this note we apply Dijkstra’s algorithm and a breadth-first search to solve any Rush Hour configuration.

[Introduction To] Basic Java Programming: A Laboratory Approach, Lewis Barnett

Bookshelf

For first- and second-year undergraduates, an introduction to programming with Java, an object-oriented programming language that is a popular choice for Web applications. Kent and Barnett (U. of Richmond) introduce algorithms and problem-solving approaches that are important to programming general.

Optimal Token Allocations In Solitaire Knock 'M Down, Arthur Benjamin, Matthew T. Fluet, Mark L. Huber

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

In the game Knock ’m Down, tokens are placed in N bins. At each step of the game, a bin is chosen at random according to a fixed probability distribution. If a token remains in that bin, it is removed. When all the tokens have been removed, the player is done. In the solitaire version of this game, the goal is to minimize the expected number of moves needed to remove all the tokens. Here we present necessary conditions on the number of tokens needed for each bin in an optimal solution, leading to an asymptotic solution. MR Subject Classifications: …

Wholes And Parts In General Systems Methodology, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reconstructability analysis (RA) decomposes wholes, namely data in the form either of set-theoretic relations or multivariate probability distributions, into parts, namely relations or distributions involving subsets of variables. Data is modeled and compressed by variablebased decomposition, by more general state-based decomposition, or by the use of latent variables. Models, which specify the interdependencies among the variables, are selected to minimize error and complexity.

Modal Rules Are Co-Implications, Alexander Kurz

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

In [13], it was shown that modal logic for coalgebras dualises—concerning definability— equational logic for algebras. This paper establishes that, similarly, modal rules dualise implications:It is shown that a class of coalgebras is definable by modal rules iff it is closed under H (images) and Σ (disjoint unions). As a corollary the expressive power of rules of infinitary modal logic on Kripke frames is characterised.

Efficient Algorithms For Graphs With Few P-4’S, Luitpold Babel, Ton Kloks, Jan Kratochvíl, Dieter Kratsch, Kaiko Müller, Stephan Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We show that a large variety of NP-complete problems can be solved efficiently for graphs with 'few' P₄'s. We consider domination problems (domination, total domination, independent domination. connected domination and dominating clique), the Steiner tree problem, the vertex ranking problem, the pathwidth problem, the path cover number problem, the hamiltonian circuit problem, the list coloring problem and the precoloring extension problem. We show that all these problems can be solved in linear time for the class of (q,q - 4)-graphs, for every fixed q. These are graphs for which no set of at most q. vertices induces more …