Math in the Media

140 Pages·2012·42.94 MB·English

ISSN 0002-9920

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Growth of Algebras Microlocal Calculus The Coxeter Legacy Mathematical Surveys and A C page 1386
and Gelfand-Kirillov Monographs, Volume 155; 2009; 502 e
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INSTITUTE FOR PURE AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS
Los Angeles, California
Materials for a Sustainable
Energy Future
September 9 – December 13, 2013
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Martin Bazant (MIT), Giulia Galli (UC Davis), Graeme Henkelman
(University of Texas at Austin), Keith Promislow (Michigan State University), Matthias Scheffler
(Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
Scientific Overview
A secure and sustainable energy future that is not based on a fossil-fuel based infrastructure requires
the design of new materials for efficient energy conversion, transport, and storage. Indeed, materials
development is a rate limiting step in many potential new energy conversion strategies, impacting the
efficiency of photovoltaic solar cells, the storage capacity and power density of batteries for
automobile applications, the synthesis of liquid fuels, and the catalysis and durability of energy
conversion in fuel cells. A key bottleneck in this historic transition is the wide range of length scales
present in the morphology and time scales in the transport phenomena. Serious progress in the
development of new materials requires predicative modeling which surmounts the particle-continuum
divide. Recent developments in macro-micro modeling, incorporating machine and manifold learning,
combined with new classes of continuum models and increases in computational resources, provide
a new framework with which to develop a fundamental understanding of complex materials. This
program is part of the international initiative "Mathematics of Planet Earth."

Workshop Schedule

• Materials for a Sustainable Energy Future Tutorials. September 9 - 13, 2013
• Workshop I: Solar Cells. September 23 - 27, 2013
• Workshop II: Fuels from Sunlight. October 14 - 18, 2013
• Workshop III: Batteries and Fuel Cells. November 4 - 8, 2013
• Workshop IV: Energy Conservation and Waste Heat Recovery. November 18 - 22, 2013
• Culminating Workshop at Lake Arrowhead (by invitation only). December 8 - 13, 2013
Participation
This program will bring together researchers from mathematics, physics, materials science,
engineering, chemistry, biology, computer sciences, and other sciences with the goal to understand
the mathematical structure of continuum models governing material properties as well as the
electronic, atomic, and molecular structure of such new materials.

Full and partial support for long-term participants is available. We are especially interested in
applicants who intend to participate in the entire program, but will consider applications for shorter
periods. Funding is available to participants at all academic levels, though recent PhDs, graduate
students, and researchers in the early stages of their careers are especially encouraged to apply.
Encouraging the careers of women and minority mathematicians and scientists is an important
component of IPAM's mission and we welcome their applications. More information and an application
is available online.
www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/mse2013
IPAM is an NSF funded institute
AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY
Math in the Media
www.ams.org/mathmedia
coverage of today’s applications of mathematics and other math news
“Is That Painting “Puzzle Me This” “Fish Virus Spreads
Real? Ask a Chronicle of Higher in Great Lakes”
Mathematician” Education National Public
Christian Science Radio
“Added Dimensions
Monitor
to Grain Growth” “Team Cracks
“Journeys to the Nature Century-Old Math
Distant Fields of Puzzle”
“Students Learn to
Prime” Associated Press
Rhythmic Beat of
The New York Times
Rap” “The Geometry
“He’s Too Good NCTimes.com of Music”
at Math” Time
“The Science of
Slate Magazine
Steadying a Wobbly “The Monty Hall
“Sensor Sensibility” Table” Problem”
Science News National Public abcnews.com
Radio
“Into the Fold” “The Prosecutor’s
Smithsonian “Muslim Tile Pat- Fallacy”
terns Show Math The New York Times
“Fast Routing in
Prowess”
Road Networks “By the NUMB3RS”
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with Transit Nodes” The Baltimore Sun
Science “Art: Of Doilies
and Disease”
Discover
See the current Math in the Media and explore
the archive at www.ams.org/mathmedia
DIDYOU KNOW
that Elsevier:
Has opened
access to over
155,000 archived
mathematics
articles
Is continuing The archives of the primary mathematics journals are
to lower now freely available, from 4 years after publication back
its journal to Volume 1, Issue 1 (or the first issue available),
list prices which means back to early 1960s for several titles.
We are striving to reach prices at or below Continues to
US$11 per article (equivalent to 50-60 cents per normal support and
typeset page on average), placing us below most expand initiatives
university presses, some societies and all other for the
commercial competitors. mathematics
For 2013, this has resulted in further price-decreases. community
Is a founding
partner of We cherish our collaborations and relationships within the
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providing partnerships to continuously improve our services and drive
developing innovation and developments that are unique to the
countries with mathematics community.
access
All of the Elsevier mathematics journals are
included in Access to Research for Development and
Innovation(ARDI), one of the research programs under
the Research4Life umbrella. This ensures that
mathematicians in developing countries benefit
from free or low-cost access to our titles.
For more information:
www.elsevier.com/mathematics
Mathematics
Notices
of the American Mathematical Society
November 2012
Communications
1435
1423 Fall 2011 Departmental
Profile Report
Richard Cleary, James W.
Maxwell, and Colleen Rose
1432 WHAT IS...Essential
Dimension?
Zinovy Reichstein
1443 Science Lives—Video
Portraits of Great
1386 1392
Mathematicians
Allyn Jackson
1445 Doceamus: Applications The month of November provides an eclectic offering. We
Wanted: NSF Graduate
have an article about a college professor returning to teach
Research Fellowships
in high school. There is a piece about the method of Stein in
Meredith Berthelson and
statistical analysis. And an offering about hidden symmetries.
Jennifer Slimowitz Pearl
Finally, we have a memorial for Fields Medalist Daniel Quillen.
1447 Scripta Manent: The Open —Steven G. Krantz, Editor
Textbook Revolution
Steven E. Barkan Features
1449 Mathematical Sciences in
1386 Forbidden Symmetries
the FY 2013 Budget
Samuel M. Rankin III
Frank A. Farris
Commentary
1392 Daniel Quillen
1383 Opinion: Improving the
Refereeing Process: A Eric Friedlander and Daniel Grayson, Coordinating
Simple Proposal
Editors
Brian Osserman
1408 Adventures in Teaching: A Professor
1384 Letters to the Editor
Goes to High School to Learn about
1435 Galileo’s Muse:
Renaissance Mathematics Teaching Math
and the Arts—A Book
Review Darryl Yong
Reviewed by Anthony
Phillips
1416 Archimedes, Gauss, and Stein
Jim Pitman and Nathan Ross
NNoottiicceess Departments
About the Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1390
ooff t thhee A Ammeerriiccaann M Maatthheemmaattiiccaall S Soocciieettyy
Mathematics People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1452
EDITOR: Steven G. Krantz
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: 2012 Simons Investigators Named; Yun Awarded 2012 SASTRA
Krishnaswami Alladi, David Bailey, Jonathan Borwein, Ramanujan Prize; Willwacher Awarded Lichnerowicz Prize; MAA
Susanne C. Brenner, Bill Casselman (Graphics Editor),
Robert J. Daverman, Susan Friedlander, Robion Kirby, Awards Presented; Martin Named Jefferson Fellow; Haldane, Kane, and
Rafe Mazzeo, Harold Parks, Lisette de Pillis, Peter Zhang Receive 2012 Dirac Medal; Camacho Receives SACNAS Award;
Sarnak, Mark Saul, Edward Spitznagel
d’Alembert and Decerf Prizes Awarded; Singh Awarded Inaugural
SENIOR WRITER and DEPUTY EDITOR: Leelavati Prize; PECASE Awards Announced; China Girls Mathematical
Allyn Jackson
Olympiad; Prizes of the European Mathematical Society; Pi Mu Epsilon
MANAGING EDITOR: Sandra Frost
Student Paper Presentation Awards.
CONTRIBUTING WRITER: Elaine Kehoe
Mathematics Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1459
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Randi D. Ruden
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PRODUCTION: Kyle Antonevich, Anna Hattoy, Fund, Call for Nominations for IMU Prizes, Jefferson Science Fellows
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Program, NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, AMS Congressional
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Zinni NRC-Ford Foundation Fellowships, AWM Essay Contest, AMS Depart-
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Solve the differential equation.
dr
t ln t + r = 7tet
dt
7et + C
r = (cid:19)
ln t
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AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY
AMS Centennial
Research Fellowship
Program
This program
provides research
support for
outstanding
mathematical
scientists who have
held a doctoral
degree between three
and twelve years

Learn more about qualifi cations for this program
www.ams.org/centfellow
Application deadline: December 1, 2012
Opinion
Improving the Refereeing counteracting to some extent the present march towards
irrelevance of published versions of papers.
Process: A Simple Proposal
Switching to this system would also open the door to
further experimentation. For instance, the second referee
would not have to be anonymous, since he or she would
We’ve all experienced the sinking feeling of opening a
not be evaluating the quality of the paper. This would allow
journal’s reply to our paper submission only to see a
real credit for improvements due to the referee (in contrast
rejection. Many, perhaps most, of us have had the misfor-
to the currently ubiquitous thanking of the “anonymous
tune to experience this in its most unpleasant and least
referee”) and, depending on how it was implemented,
defensible form: when the reply comes six months to a
could put more pressure on referees not to simply rubber-
year or more after the submission and the referee report
stamp the paper.
is so perfunctory it’s clear that no effort was made to
Despite the present rapid pace of change in math-
read past the introduction. I’ve certainly been through
ematical publishing, I believe that the peer-review process
this a number of times myself, with twists ranging from
continues to play an important role in our profession.
the comic (as when a referee stated that he or she had
Unfortunately, in its present incarnation, it also causes
mistaken the paper in question for a different one) to the
a lot of collateral damage, much of it unnecessary. While
tragic (as when some referees have clearly fundamentally
the above proposal is no panacea, it offers a practical ap-
misunderstood the main results). I’ve heard even more
proach to addressing one of the most serious problems
absurd and frustrating stories from friends. It’s hard not
with the process. I hope that editorial boards will seriously
to suspect that in some cases, referees take a negative
consider adopting it.
report as the path of least resistance to avoid the hard
work of a thorough refereeing job. In theory, an editor
—Brian Osserman
may recognize a shoddy report and seek out a better one,
University of California, Davis
but in practice this rarely happens.
[email protected]
Some journals have taken an important step in the
right direction by soliciting quick expert opinions prior
to sending out a paper to referee, but more could be done
and without very much difficulty. My simple proposal is
to completely separate out the evaluation of the quality of
the results and techniques—which can usually be carried
out quite quickly and for the vast majority of papers is
the sole factor determining ultimate acceptance or rejec-
tion—from the more painstaking process of attempting to
verify correctness. Thus, a journal would first solicit one
or more quick expert opinions on a paper and then make
a binding decision on whether the paper is good enough
to accept, assuming the mathematics is correct. Only in
the case of a positive decision would the paper be sent
out for a thorough refereeing for correctness.
Evidently, the great advantage of this system is that in
principle rejections would always occur quickly, except
in rare cases of unsalvageable mathematical errors. Also
appealing is that it would be relatively easy to implement.
Although it would create a modest amount of additional
work for journals not already soliciting expert opinions,
the benefits could be substantial not only to authors but
to journals as well. As with the current expert opinion sys-
tem, editors would be free to select more prominent and
senior mathematicians for the evaluation of the impor-
tance of a paper while choosing younger mathematicians
with more time for careful reading to evaluate correctness.
One could easily imagine that the first journals to adver-
tise the adoption of this system would see an increase in
the quality of papers submitted, and once the system is
adopted more widely, the average delay between the public
posting of a paper and its publication would decrease,
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti912
NOVEMBER 2012 NOTICES OF THE AMS 1383
Letters to the Editor
The Standards 2.0 surprised when several senior math- standards, mandating publishing
I did a double take when I read the ematicians in my area expressed the errata or corrigenda for significant
second sentence of Solomon Garfun- opinion that publishing an erratum results whose proofs turn out to fall
kel’s “What’s a Math Educator to Do?” in the above circumstances should through or to be substantially incom-
(Notices, August 2012, p. 909): “I truly not be regarded as mandatory and plete. The AMS should lead the way
think that the Common Core State that acknowledging the mistake, in here, starting with its own journals.
Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) private communications or at one’s
are a disaster.” webpage, may be sufficient. I had —Ilya Kapovich
As I read on, it turns out that he always thought that publishing an University of Illinois
“was actually on the writing team for erratum, if a published proof of your at Urbana-Champaign
CCSSM,” will retrain teachers, will “be significant result falls through, is a [email protected]
involved with the implementation basic tenet of professional ethics for
of CCSSM,” “will work with assess- a research mathematician. The AMS (Received July 28, 2012 )
ment consortia,” “will sit on advisory ethical guidelines, adopted by the
Not a Fond Farewell
boards for curriculum projects,” etc. AMS Council in 2005, say as much.
Between 1991 and 2001, I attended While the number of published math- In response to the adoption of a
various open houses at my local ematical papers, and presumably the fellows program, I am letting my
membership in the AMS lapse, as I do
public school system. Every nauseat- number of serious errors in them,
not wish to be a member of an orga-
ing mathematics doorstop was bal- has been rapidly increasing in recent
nization that is not egalitarian. The
lyhooed as “meeting the Standards.” years, the number of published er-
program will politicize the AMS and
Therefore, I am appalled by Gar- rata, particularly in pure mathemat-
have ramifications for hiring, promo-
funkel’s clam concerning “the 1989 ics, has not necessarily kept pace. At
tion, and tenure. It is only a matter of
Standards of the National Council the same time, the tolerance among
time before cries of discrimination
of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the mathematical community for al-
arise, and fellows are anointed solely
which were never given a fair chance lowing incorrect published proofs to
to achieve diversity. Adoption of this
to succeed.” At a recent conference, remain standing without published
program is the most foolish thing
I heard a similar lame excuse from errata or corrigenda appears to have
the AMS has done since I have been
someone who has been a leading pro- been quietly increasing. After several
a member.
moter of the Standards since 1989. MathSciNet searches, I observed that
It is not at all surprising that the applied math and physics journals
—E. Frank Cornelius, Ph.D., JD
latest promotion in mathematics were more apt than pure math jour-
University of Detroit Mercy
education is being peddled by many nals to publish errata, and that AMS
[email protected]
of the same people who are respon- journals have a fairly problematic
sible for the Standards and “reform record here. From 2000 to 2011,
(Received December 20, 2011)
math” disaster of the past twenty- Communications in Mathematical
three years. The hierarchy of the AMS Physics published 2778 articles and
must speak up and expose those who 41 errata. For the same period Trans- AMS Fellows
continue to play such key roles in actions of the AMS published 2966
I am declining the invitation to be an
the continuing pseudo-education of articles and 12 errata, and Proceed- AMS Fellow, and I urge others to do
American students. ings of the AMS published 5688 ar- the same. The many harmful effects
ticles and 27 errata. By comparison,
of this type of program were well ex-
—Domenico Rosa Inventiones Mathematicae published plained in the August 2006 Notices by
Retired Professor 817 articles and 19 errata. On the AMS past president David Eisenbud,
Post University other hand, the Journal of the London who wrote, “A Fellows program goes
Waterbury, CT Mathematical Society had even more against one of the things that makes
[email protected] startling statistics: 1191 articles and mathematics special and wonderful:
only 2 errata. I am not sure what ex- its uniquely egalitarian culture.”
(Received July 28, 2012) actly to make of this data. Neverthe-
less, I am certain that mathematical —Neal Koblitz
Standards for Publishing Errata papers are refereed less carefully University of Washington, Seattle
At a recent mathematical confer- these days than in the past and that, [email protected]
ence I had several conversations with with the increasing pace of the num-
other researchers on the uncomfort- ber of papers published annually, (Received September 4, 2012 )
able topic of publishing errata for the number of serious errors in
math articles where proofs of some them is increasing fast as well. It is
of the main results turned out to imperative for mathematics as a
be incomplete or incorrect. I was profession to set higher and tougher
1384 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 59, NUMBER 10