A Mathematical Orchard and the End of May Sale

The latest addition to the MAA eBook store is A Mathematical Orchard: Problems and Solutions by Mark I. Krusemeyer, George T. Gilbert, and Loren C. Larson.

A collection of 208 challenging, original problems with carefully worked solutions. In addition to problems from The Wohascum County Problem Book, there are about 80 new problems, many of which involve experimentation and pattern finding.

The problems are intended for undergraduates; although some knowledge of linear or abstract algebra is needed for a few of the problems, most require nothing beyond calculus. In fact, many of the problems should be accessible to high school students. On the other hand, some of the problems require considerable mathematical maturity, and most students will find few of the problems routine.

Over four-fifths of the book is devoted to presenting instructive, clear, and often elegant solutions. For many problems, multiple solutions are given. Appendices list the prerequisites for individual problems and arrange them by topic. This should be helpful to classes on problem solving and to individuals or teams preparing for contests such as the Putnam. The index can help, as well, in finding problems with a specific theme, or in recovering a half-remembered problem.

Get your copy of A Mathematical Orchard: Problems and Solutions in the MAA eBook Store*. 

MAA eBook Store May Sale!

	Use coupon code 1874812752 to receive 10% off your entire purchase in MAA eBook Store.  Offer Expires:  May 31, 2012

*A paperback version of this book will be available shortly in our regular bookstore.

Sample Entries from Sophie's Diary

Read a few entries from the diary (pdf)


Sophie’s Diary: A Mathematical Novel is a work of fiction inspired by French mathematician Sophie Germain. It chronicles the coming of age of a teenager learning mathematics on her own, growing up during the most turbulent years of the French Revolution. The fictionalized diary uses mathematics, intertwined with historically-accurate accounts of the social chaos that reigned in Paris between 1789 and 1794, to describe the learning journey of a remarkable girl that became the first and only woman in history to make a substantial contribution to the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Sophie Germain was born in Paris in 1776. Little is known about her childhood or about her initiation into mathematics. Her first biographers wrote that, as a young woman, she assumed the name of a male student at the École Polytechnique to submit her own work to Lagrange. Yet, no biography has explained how Germain studied mathematics before that time to encourage such boldness. Sophie’s Diary is an attempt to put in perspective how a self-taught girl could have acquired the knowledge to enter the world of Lagrange’s analysis.

Available as an MAA eBook and hardbound

Related: Author Dora Musielak discusses what motivated her to write this story. Article. 

MAA eBook Store May Sale!

	Use coupon code  1874812752  to receive 10% off your entire purchase in MAA eBook Store.  Offer Expires:  May 31, 2012

May Sale in the MAA eBooks Store!

The following titles are on sale now in the MAA eBook Store:

	Randomness and Recurrence by Rodney Nillsen Regular price: $38.00         Sale price: $34.00
	Harmony of the World: 75 Years of Mathematics Magazine Edited by Gerald Alexanderson with the assistance of Peter Ross Regular price: $30.00         Sale price: $25.00
	Sink or Float? Thought Problems in Math and Physics  by Keith Kendig Regular price: $37.50         Sale price: $32.00
	Recent Developments on Introducing a Historical Dimension in Mathematics Education Edited by Victor Katz and Constantinos Tzanakis Regular price: $32.50         Sale price: $29.25

	Use coupon code  1874812752  to receive 10% off your entire purchase.  Offer Expires:  May 31, 2012

Bressoud Reviews MAA's Calculus: Modeling and Application Interactive Textbook

MAA Past President David Bressoud reviewed Calculus: Modeling and Application, 2nd Edition in his May Launchings Column. Bressoud has been using the MAA online textbook to teach Single Variable Calculus at Macalester College. 


"One of the greatest benefits of online textbooks is the ability to embed links to definitions, animations, and software programs. Smith and Moore’s textbook is liberally sprinkled with links to explorations that are available in Maple, Mathcad, and Mathematica. There also are links to WeBWorK, where a library of problems linked to the sections of their book is available. "


Read the full column "Are Textbooks Better Online?"

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Calculus: Modeling and Application, 2nd Edition, by David A. Smith and Lawrence C. Moore of Duke University, responds to advances in technology that permit the integration of text and student activities into a unified whole. In this approach, students can use mathematics to structure their understanding of and investigate questions in the world around them, to formulate problems and find solutions, then to communicate their results to others.

This interactive textbook covers two semesters of single-variable calculus. Its features include use of real-world contexts for motivation, guided discovery learning, hands-on activities (including built-in applets), a problem-solving orientation, encouragement of teamwork, written responses to questions, tools for self-checking of results, intelligent use of technology, and high expectation of students.

Alex Bogomolny Reviews Beautiful Mathematics

The following review was published as an MAA Review in March 2012.


"There is probably no mathematician who has never been surprised by a mathematical statement or has not been delighted in a mathematical argument. For those who know, mathematics has beauty, elegance, mystery, and, of course, surprise. Most mathematicians chose this endeavor after having experienced such a moment of enlightenment. Beautiful Mathematics offers ample opportunity for such an experience to everyone with even a slightest interest in mathematics..."

Read the full review here.


Find out how you can become a reviewer for MAA Reviews by visiting MAA Reviews | Ways You Can Help. 

Beautiful Mathematics is available as an MAA eBook and in the Amazon-Powered MAA Bookstore.