Moseman Passes Exam P

Joel Moseman Passes Exam P

Joel Moseman Passes Exam P

Joel Moseman (15') has passed the Society of Actuaries' Probability Exam (Exam P). The exam tests the candidate's knowledge of the fundamental probability tools for quantitatively assessing risk. Exam P is one of the exams required to achieve professional status as an actuary.

Actuaries are professionals who provide expert advice and relevant solutions for business and societal problems that involve economic risk. The actuarial profession is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 careers in the United States.

Congratulations, Joel, and good luck!

For more information about the actuarial Science Program, contact Dr. Christopher Swanson, at cswanson@ashland.edu or visit the website www.beanactuary.com.

Math 450 Senior Seminar Presented "Welcome to Prime Time" on Tuesday, March 31

Alex Lillich presented Welcome to Prime Time at the Senior Seminar held on Tuesday, March 31. Lillich's presentation focused on the prime integers and all the work that is done with them. As many know the prime numbers are still somewhat of a mystery to us and mathematicians are constantly at work to learn more about them. Lillich covered the basics of what a prime number is and started out with proofs of primes. He also discussed how the prime numbers are laid out throughout the number line and how arithmetic progressions can relate to the primes. Another topic that was discussed was twin primes and how they are studied and utilized. He also shared a couple of the more interesting theorems he found and worked out how the proofs of those theorems work. Lillich ended the presentation with some details on the current research done with primes.

Math 450 Senior Seminar Presented "The Monty Hall Problem" on Tuesday, March 24

Sean Burns presented the Monty Hall Problem at the Senior Seminar held on Tuesday, March 24. The Monty Hall Problem has an infamous reputation for its counter intuitive solution. You have a choice between three doors; one contains a car, the others contain goats. After you pick a door the host, Monty Hall, opens a different door revealing a goat. He then offers you a chance to switch doors. Do you switch? The answer is that switching increases your odds of winning. This solution has been so  paradoxical that the problem is arguably more famous than the show, Let's Make a Deal, that it came from. This has inspired several proofs to show just why this is the case. This undying fascination with the Monty Hall Problem has created many variations. One of these is the Progressive Monty Hall Problem, with more doors hiding goats and more chances to switch. Another is a generalization of the Monty Hall Problem with arbitrary numbers of cars, doors, doors that you pick, and doors that Monty reveals.

Drop-In Tutoring Changes Spring 2015

Due to lack of need, the following Math Courses will no longer have a drop-in tutoring session: 

Calc. Mgmt. Life & Soc. Sci. II (M202)

The Calculus II (M206)

Theory of Arith. & Geom. (M217)

Geometry for Middle Grades (M218)

If you find you are in need of a tutor for one of these courses, please see your professor.

The following courses will still have drop-in Tutoring from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. in Kettering 219:

Elementary Statistics (M208) - Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays

Discrete Math II (M224) - Wednesdays

Math 450 Senior Seminar Presents "The Probability of Winning a Point, Game, and Set" on Tuesday, March 17

In a sweaty, heated game of racquetball there seems to be little time to think about the mathematics behind the fast-paced game. However, when one steps back from the life threatening sport of racquetball and looks at the probabilities that are incorporated into the game, it makes the sport that much more interesting. Throughout this talk, we will be looking at some of the research of Tom Brown and Brian Pasko and their discoveries of relations of mathematical probabilities to winning a point, a game, and a set in racquetball. Using geometric series and combinations, it is possible to show a player, whether he is better, worse or equally as good as his opponent, and the probability he has of winning a point, a game, and a set.

Math 450 Senior Seminar Presents

"The Probability of Winning a Point, Game, and Set"

by Jacob Ackerman

Tuesday, March 17, 4:30 p.m.

in Patterson 301

All are Welcome!

Happy Pi Day!

Celebrate National Pi Day this Saturday, March 14. Pi Day was created by physicist Larry Shaw at San Francisco's Exploratorium in 1988. It wasn't until 2009 that the U.S. House of Representatives officially recognized March 14 as National Pi Day.


"Pi, an infinite number with no pattern, has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits beyond its decimal point. This year is especially significant since the date, year and time (3/14/15 at 9:26 a.m. and 53 seconds) corresponds with the first 10 digits of Pi (3.141592653...), an occurrence that only happens once a century" (http://northofboston.wickedlocal.com/article/20150311/NEWS/150319900).

Enjoy Pi Day, Saturday, March 14!

Math 450 Senior Seminar Presented "Ford Circles, Continued Fractions, and Rational Approximation" on Tuesday, March 10

The presentation focused on the material presented by Ian Short in his article "Ford Circles, Continued Fractions, and Rational Approximations," which was published in The American Mathematical Monthly in February 2011. Ford Circles are a geometric representation of the relationship between continued fractions and approximation of real numbers by rational numbers. An introduction to some of these essential concepts were presented before delving into the material Short presented which further illuminated the mathematics behind rational approximation of real numbers. Short proves two major theorems along with a series of lemmas and corollaries. By proving these statements, Charles Michel ultimately showed that several of the key properties of continued fraction expansion and Diophantine approximations can be proven using Ford Circles and rewritten in terms of relationships between tangential Ford Circles, at the Math 450 Senior Seminar that was held on Tuesday, March 10.