Applied Mathematics Commons^™

Parables To A Mathematician, Melvin Royer

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Jesus frequently used parables in His ministry, usually short narratives illustrating the outcomes of people’s choices. In John 3:12 and Matthew 13:10-15, He explained that one reason was to be sure that people who genuinely wanted to understand His message would be able to do so. Since most of His audience was familiar with an agrarian economy, Jesus spoke extensively of wheat, fish, trees, wine, debt, tenants, lamps, etc. Many people have speculated on parables Jesus might have used had He lived in a different society. This non-scholarly (but hopefully thought-provoking) talk will propose parables targeted toward groups of mathematicians …

God: One, Daniel Kiteck

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

I see the most mathematically significant verse as Deut. 6:4 where God says He is ONE. (And I don’t believe that it is an accident that the greatest commandment to love God with all we are immediately follows.) What is the concept of “one” in relationship to God? Is God dependent on the concept of “one?” What if “one” is ultimately always a comparison going back to God? God is also commonly viewed as infinite. How is this connected to our understanding of the mathematical continuum? Could this help us see how God is foundational both to discrete and continuous …

The Math Olympian, By Richard Hoshino. A Review, Moriah Magcalas, Kyle Spyksma

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

This presentation will be a review of the novel The Math Olympian written by ACMS member Richard Hoshino.

Mathematics Without Apologies: A Portrait Of A Problematic Vocation By Michael Harris. A Review, Jeremy Case

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

The subtitle of Mathematics without Apologies by Michael Harris is a “Portrait of a Problematic Vocation,”and that problematic vocation involves pure mathematics. What do pure mathematicians do, and why should they do it? Harris critiques the usual answers of truth, beauty, and potential applications as he gives a contemporary revision of G.H. Hardys’ A Mathematicians Apology. Described as a post-post-modern book, Mathematics without Apologies provides a cultural, sociological, philosophical and psychological landscape of the profession and the life of a mathematician. We will explore whether a romantic view of the profession satisfactorily answers the questions and how it might …

The Remarkable Mrs. Somerville, Richard Stout

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

As a woman growing up in the late eighteenth century, Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was denied access to most formal education and getting a university education was completely out of the question. Yet her interests in nature, science, and mathematics, coupled with an intense curiosity and tenacious desire to learn led her to eventually be known and respected by scientists, mathematicians, and intellectuals in both Britain and France. She is one of the important woman in the history of mathematics, even though she did not publish original work. However, she was a talented writer, producing several significant works, including Mechanism of …

Ten Mathematicians Who Recognized God’S Hand In Their Work, Dale L. Mcintyre

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) once observed that

“Whoever is moved by faith to assent to [the Christian religion], is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.” [Hume]

Evidently Humes cynical pronouncement did not apply to Euler, Cauchy, Cantor, and other profound thinkers who believed God had commissioned and equipped them to glorify Him in their pursuit of truth through mathematics And based on their extraordinary achievements the principles of their understanding do not appear …

Home Primes And Foreign Primes, Nicholas Zoller

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Home primes and foreign primes are produced by a simple recipe that blends prime factorizations with recursion. The home prime of a positive integer n is formed by concatenating the prime factors of n in non-decreasing order. If the resulting integer is prime, then we have found the home prime of n. If not, then we repeat the process as many times as needed to obtain a prime. For instance, 35 = 5·7. After concatenation, we have 57 = 3·19, which is followed by 319 = 11·29, which is followed by 1129, which is prime. Thus, the home prime …

Physical Activity In A Theory Of Computing Class, Nancy Lynn Tinkham

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Physical activity breaks, sometimes called brain breaks, are beginning to gain attention among K-12 teachers as a way to keep their students alert and engaged in the classroom. In the Fall 2014 semester, faced with the task of teaching an introductory course in Theory of Computing in a once-a-week, 2 1/2-hour format, I decided to try incorporating physical activity into my own classroom. Time is precious in the college classroom, so any physical activities have to be directly related to the course material. I will describe some physically active exercises that I used in the classroom to teach students about …

Preparing Students To Read A Calculus Textbook, Douglas Phillippy

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Consider the exercise of reading the textbook before class. While most educators agree that this practice leads to better learning, too often students enrolled in a calculus class do not find pre-class reading a valuable use of their time, and their commitment to doing so fades. Why is this? As instructors, we hope that these students will be well-versed in the fundamental concepts of the subject by the time they prepare for their final exam, but as they progress through the course and encounter new concepts, they may not be ready for the technical language of the standard calculus textbook. …

Pressure And Impulse In Student Learning: What I Learned From Teaching Physics, Kim Jongerius

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

In the fall of 2014, a one-semester gap between the departure of one physics professor and the arrival of the next afforded me the opportunity(?) to teach a first-semester, calculus-based physics class. The thirty-year gap between the last (of three) physics courses I had taken myself and this course I was to teach, combined with a two-week notice prior to the start of the semester, placed me in the interesting position of learning alongside my students. Wading through an unfamiliar text, trying to understand publisher-produced lecture slides, learning from and getting frustrated with online homework, entering review sessions fearful of …

Paper Abstracts (2015), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Twentieth Conference of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences

Introduction (2015), Thomas Price, Derek Schuurman, Kevin Vander Meulen

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Twentieth Conference of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences

Table Of Contents (2015), Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

Twentieth Conference of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences

Proceedings Of The Twentieth Conference Of The Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences, Association Of Christians In The Mathematical Sciences

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2015

The proceedings of the twentieth conference of the Associate of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences held at Redeemer University College from May 27-30, 2015.

Insights On The Neyman - Pearson Lemma: Alternative Critical Regions, And Their Power., David E. Wetzell

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

The Neyman-Pearson Lemma is a powerful fundamental lemma in the area of hypothesis testing in Statistics. It gives the best test when testing simple vs. simple hypotheses. In this talk we would like to investigate testing a population mean H0 μ = μ0 vs. H1 μ = μ1 > μ0. As a result of the N-P Lemma, the best test is of the form, “Reject H0 if x>c” , where c is chosen so that the Type I error probability is a. Let n be small. What are some alternative decision rules of size a, what …

Service-Learning Panel, Dave Klanderman, Josh Wilkerson, Maria Zack

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

Many of us have wanted to incorporate service experiences in courses, or are being asked by our institutions to do so. Service-learning is a way of looking at service as being a partner with and leading to learning for our students. But in math, there are not a lot of resources to use! Our panelists will present classroom-tested ideas from several different levels of course, and we will end with a short time for more brainstorming among all participants.

Pedagogical Enhancements To The Desymbol Logic Translator, Darren F. Provine, Nancy Lynn Tinkham

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

DeSymbol is a program that translates first-order predicate logic expressions into English. It is intended to be a practice tool for students who are learning logic for the first time or who are trying to refresh their memories if they need to use symbolic logic for an upper-level course. Students start with an English sentence and translate it by hand into symbolic logic notation; then they can check their work by using DeSymbol to translate their notation back into English. If the English sentence produced by DeSymbol differs significantly from the original English sentence, this helps the student to see …

Mapping Biblical Commandments To An Iterated Prisoner’S Dilemma Framework, Nathan Gossett, Adam Johnson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

In his writings on Game Theory, an d the Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma in particular, Robert Axelrod outlined four properties that are predictors of a successful strategy: Niceness, Reciprocity, Forgiveness, and Understandability. On the topic of Reciprocity, Axelrod makes the claim that not only does The Golden Rule lead to a suboptimal strategy, but that one of the most successful strategies (Tit for Tat) shows that a command of “An eye for an eye” leads to a much more optimal strategy. In this paper, we will discuss the details of Axelrod’s four properties, outline Biblical support for all four, and discuss …

Open Source Software: What Is It, And Why Should We Care?, Karl-Dieter Crisman

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

This paper examines the distinctions in talking about computer software that has implications for both mathematics and moral thought.

Teaching Complex Analysis As A Lab-Type Course With A Focus On Geometric Interpretations Using Mathematics, William M. Kinney

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

I taught complex analysis for the first time in my career during the spring of 2013. I decided to do something “radical” and teach it as a lab-type course with a focus on geometric interpretations using the computer program Mathematica. The students and I met in a computer lab and, during most meetings, we spent a large portion of our time experimenting and exploring using Mathematica to visualize key concepts in complex analysis. Because of this, there was a heavy emphasis on viewing analytic functions as conformal mappings as well as considering associated vector fields and flows. Mathematica was used …

Faith Integration Projects For First-Year Students, Doug Phillippy

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

This talk will consider the use of projects to motivate students to think deeply about how their faith connects with mathematics. This talk will begin by describing what a faith integration project is, including the goals and objectives of such a project. The talk will briefly describe a number of projects written by the speaker, with a more detailed look at one of those projects. The talk will conclude by discussing how these projects are being used to assess how students are doing at articulating a maturing understanding of the connection between faith and mathematics

Philosophy Motivates Undergraduates In Mathematics, Dustin Wilson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

A talk on how elective seminars on the philosophy of mathematics can inspire undergraduate students to pursue and persist in mathematics.

Forming The Analytical Society At Cambridge University, Richard Stout

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

The Analytical Society, an organization begun by students at Cambridge, was founded in 1812. Even though it was entirely student-led, the society was responsible for significant changes in the Cambridge mathematics curriculum and in the way mathematics was perceived in Britain throughout the nineteenth century. Its success was likely due to the outstanding students who formed the group, some of whom went on to become leaders in British science and mathematics for the next fifty years. In this paper we will briefly look at several of those who played important roles in forming and leading the society and we will …

The Unity Of Knowledge And The Faithfulness Of God: The Theology Of Mathematical Physicist John Polkinghorne, Matt Delong

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

In this paper we will give a brief introduction to Polkinghorne's life and work. We will give an introduction to Polkinghorne's approach to philosophy and theology. We will introduce the two most significant influences on Polkinghorne's development as a theologian and philosopher of science. We will then give a necessarily telegraphic review of some of the topics addressed in Polkinghorne's theology, including his thoughts on science and religion, natural theology, evil, providence, prayer, resurrection, the soul and eschatology. We will then conclude with a few short examples of Polkinghorne's thoughts on mathematics.

Leading A Successful Missions Trip In Your Discipline, Tom Nurkkala, Darci Nurkkala

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

The global missions community goes wanting for skilled workers in almost every discipline. However, even students at a Christian institution that emphasizes global engagement remain largely unaware of the impact they can make in missions by leveraging their own academic specialty. In this paper, we draw on our experience leading discipline-specific missions trips as a means to encourage students to reframe their thinking about personal involvement in missions. We discuss the need for students to experience missions firsthand, and the student outcomes we have observed in intercultural awareness and spiritual formation. A key student outcome is an increased willingness to …

Googol-Part Fugue: Another Imagination Of Divine Providence And Game Theory, Gideon Lee

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

The problem of evil presents an intellectual hurdle for some to believe in a good and omnipotent God. The emergence of open theism could be seen as an attempt to make a stronger case for the free will defense. However, in denying divine foreknowledge as traditionally understood, open theism contradicts biblical revelation not only in its direct claims, but also when its logical implications for divine providence are worked out. The open theist Alan Rhoda has sought to explain through game theory how some degree of divine providence is possible under open theism. That explanation is astonishing since the open …

Life Lessons From Leibniz, Andrew J. Simoson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

The tri-centennial of Leibniz’s death is nigh (2016). And 2013 is not too early to begin a special celebration of this man of mathematics. Besides being the co-discoverer of calculus and the implementer of binary numbers, formal logic, and formal languages, all of which foreshadowed the computer age, Leibniz is said to be one of the last to know almost everything that was known about almost anything. Professionally, his occupation was librarian in the princely court of Hanover in oldGermany. Serving under three different princes, the last of whom became George I of England, Leibniz had to continual lyre-invent himself—somewhat …

Al-Khwārizmī: Founder Of Classical Algebra, Calvin Jongsma

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

Adopting a historically defensible definition of “algebra,” we will begin by exploring a few examples of algebra prior toal-Khwarizmi. We will then examine what algebra became through al-Khwarizmi’s work. In conclusion, we will assess thehistorical importance of al-Khwarizmi’s contributions for developments in European algebra.

Expanding Jonathan Edwards’ Typology Program: The Bell Curve As A Type Of Christ, Jason Wilson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

Over two hundred years after his death, an unfinished notebook of Jonathan Edwards’ was published for the first time in1993. Edwards was a father of the Evangelical movement, but because his work on typology was not published until recently, it has received almost no attention. In his notebook, Edwards makes an explicit argument for extending biblical typology to nature in a biblically grounded manner. This study is an attempt to extend that research program into mathematics/statistics.We will consider the following proposition, “The normal distribution (the graph of which is the bell curve) is a biblical type of Christ.” The basic …

Delaware, Dickeson, Assessment And How You Can Help, Greg Crow, Maria Zack

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2013

How much release time should a chair receive? What is the cost per unit for a particular academic program? What is a student credit hour (SCH) anyway and why would anyone care? Why are so many boards enamored of Delaware, Dickeson and Assessment? The answer to these and many related questions will be presented in this talk. Analytics and various“efficiency measures” are becoming increasingly important in higher education and mathematicians and computer scientists are being regularly recruited to help university administrators make meaning from large volumes of data. Come and learn about this trend and how you can be of …