Book Description
Graduate school marks the first step toward a career in mathematics for young mathematicians. During this period, they make important decisions which will affect the rest of their careers. Here now is a detailed guide to help students navigate graduate school and the years that follow.

In his inimitable and forthright style, Steven Krantz addresses the major issues of graduate school, including choosing a program, passing the qualifying exams, finding an advisor, writing a thesis, and getting that first job. As with his earlier guide, How to Teach Mathematics, he avoids generalities, giving clear advice on how to handle real situations. The book also contains a description of the basic elements of a mathematical education, as well as a glossary and appendices on the structure of a typical department and university and the standard academic ranks.

Steven G. Krantz is an accomplished mathematician and an award-winning author. He has published 130 research articles and 45 books. He has worked in many different types of mathematics departments, supervised both masters and doctoral students, and is currently the Chair of the Mathematics Department at Washington University in St. Louis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

THE Survival Guide for Graduate Students
I'm a graduate student in computer science, working on my PhD. If you're looking for a sort of rulebook that contains all the meta-knowledge one needs to know to survive in the scientific game, this is it.
The book includes helpful information to questions you probably wouldn't dare to ask anyone:
"How do i choose a thesis advisor?",
"What if I can't solve my thesis problem?",
"Am I in competition with the other graduate students?",
"What kind of money can I make as a professor?"
There's also lots of information about life after graduation, especially relevant for those of us who want to pursue an academic career.

The book is written in an easy to follow style, and gets straight to the point. You really feel that the author knows what he's talking about.
I highly recommend it to anyone planning a career in a science related to maths.

A good starting point for graduate school
Dr. Krantz's lucid "Survival" guide is rich in advice for the aspiring mathematician who sees a plum job in academia as the ultimate career goal. With section names such as "How do I work my thesis problem?", and "Why does everyone else appear to be succeeding?" Dr. Krantz's chronological account of Math graduate school and the first few years in the work force does an excellent job of providing step-by-step guidance for us future mathematicians. This advice, and the author himself are at their best when talking about prevalent insecurity issues with which all of us mathematicians deal and showing us how such issues are indeed very commonplace and how the solutions are also commonplace and readily available to you.
Now, that being said, it is also important to remember that this is just a rough guide and that not every section in the book should be followed to the letter. More to the point: Dr. Krantz's advice should be used in addition to, not instead of, grad advisors, faculty in your department, and even more senior grad students. Dr. Krantz's advice can be detrimental in some instances and in others, it's just plain wrong. For instance, his advice that a student should NOT study for general and subject GRE's is particularly questionable; in fact I do believe the opposite to be true. GRE tests follow a well-defined set of rules and question formatting; thus, the question themselves have a finite amount of variation to them, and therefore it is precisely in this type of standardized exam MOST students will benefit from reviewing old material and going through numerous practice tests before taking the real thing.

Overall, this is a very good book, full of wisdom and it is, alas, even entertaining at times. If you're considering a career as a mathematician, you would be doing yourself a favor by buying this book and reading it with an epsilon amount of caution.

College Math Major
I gave this to my son who is a high school junior planning to major in mathematics in college.He thought it was great because it looks beyond just getting into college and taking a bunch of math classes.What does a math major do next?Do you have to teach? What do professors and TA's really do? What does it take to get into grad school and is it worth it?I would recommend this book to anyone contemplating any type of career involving higher level mathematics.

Must have for all graduate students
This is a great book with lots of important information on what it's like to be in academia. I recommend it highly for all graduate students as well as for their advisors.

Very Informative
This book discussed all the relevant details involved in a career as an academic mathematician, and it was a very interesting read with Krantz's humor. ... Read more

Book Description
Ideas from quantum field theory and string theory have hadconsiderable impact on mathematics over the past 20 years.Advances in many different areas have been inspired by insightsfrom physics.

In 1996--97 the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, NJ)organized a special year-long program designed to teachmathematicians the basic physical ideas which underlie themathematical applications. The purpose is eloquently stated in aletter written by Robert MacPherson: "The goal is to create andconvey an understanding, in terms congenial to mathematicians,of some fundamental notions of physics ... [and to] develop thesort of intuition common among physicists for those who are usedto thought processes stemming from geometry and algebra."

These volumes are a written record of the program. They containnotes from several long and many short courses covering variousaspects of quantum field theory and perturbative string theory.The courses were given by leading physicists and the notes werewritten either by the speakers or by mathematicians whoparticipated in the program. The book also includes problems andsolutions worked out by the editors and other leadingparticipants. Interspersed are mathematical texts withbackground material and commentary on some topics covered in thelectures.

These two volumes present the first truly comprehensiveintroduction to this field aimed at a mathematics audience. Theyoffer a unique opportunity for mathematicians and mathematicalphysicists to learn about the beautiful and difficult subjectsof quantum field theory and string theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Amazingly different!
If you are a mathematician and want to know what QFT and string theory (ST) are about, or if you are a string theorist, but want to know more about the mathematics behind the theory, then this book is what you are looking for. This book is totally different than any other standard textbook on QFT or ST. Mathematicians will love the fact that it is written in a language that is (close to) theirs, and physicists will enjoy it (provided they have a more solid background in mathematics than the average practical physicists), because it shows QFT and ST from completely "new" angles.

The book is a collection of lectures given by the various contributors, which fit together perfectly . The first volume has a very good overview of concepts and definitions at the very beginning and serves as a more mathematically oriented introductory treatment of SUSY and QFT with many advanced topics near the end. The second volume starts with an axiomatic approach of CFT and its use in string theory and then quantises strings with the BRST method (on a more mathematical level than usual), which is done superbly.

It's a great reference, a wonderful textbook and a true delicacy in modern mathematical physics. A MUST HAVE for every mathematically inclined physicst or any mathematician with interests in physics! Great value for money...

Lots to learn...
These articles are great. They do well in delineating theconceptual and rigorous frameworksof the subjects.

Included are exercises (and solutions)culminating from the problem sessions held at Quantum Field Theory program at IAS.

Physicists interested in the mathematical aspects of quantum field/string theory would do well to read these volumes as well.

Deserving, in my opinion, more than 5 stars -- many more!!

Definitely for mathematicians only
This book is an excellent compliation of articles written formathematicians who want to understand quantum field theory. It is notsurprising then that the articles are very formal and there is no attemptto give any physical intuition to the subject of quantum field theory. Thisdoes not mean however that aspiring physicists who want to specialize inquantum field theory should ont take a look at the contents. The twovolumes are worth reading, even if every article cannot be read because oftime constraints. All of the articles are written by the some of the majorplayers in the mathematics of quantum field theory.Volume 1 starts offwith a glossary of the terms used by physicists in quantum field theory andis nicely written. The next few hundred pages are devoted to supersymmetryand supermanifolds. A very abstract approach is given to these areas, withthe emphasis not on computation but on the structure of supermanifolds asthey would be studied mathematically. There is an article on classicalfield theory put in these pages, which is written by Pierre Deligne andDaniel Freed, and discussed in the framework of fiber bundles. Thediscussion of topological terms in the classical Lagrangian is especiallywell written. There is an introduction to smooth Deligne cohomology in thisarticle, and this is nice because of the difficulty in findingunderstandable literature on this subject.Part Two of Volume 1 isdevoted to the formal mathematical aspects of quantum field theory. After ashort introduction to canonical quantization, the Wightman approach isdiscussed in an article by David Kazhdan. Most refreshing is that statementof Kazhdan that the Wightman approach does not work for gauge fieldtheories. This article is packed with interesting insights, especially thesection on scattering theory, wherein Kazdan explains how the constructionsin scattering theory have no finite dimensional analogs. The article byWitten on the Dirac operator in finite dimensions is fascinating and a goodintroduction to how powerful concepts from quantum field theory can be usedto prove important results in mathematics. A fairly large collection ofproblems (with solutions) ends Volume 1.The first part of Volume 2 isdevoted entirely to the mathematics of string theory and conformal fieldtheory. The article by D'Hoker stands out as one that is especiallyreadable and informative. D. Gaitsgory has a well written article on vertexalgebras and defines in a very rigorous manner the constructions that occurin the subject. The last part of Volume 2 discusses the dynamics ofquantum field theory and uses as much mathematical rigor as possible. Onegets the impression that it this is the area where it is most difficult toproceed in an entirely rigorous way. Path integrals, not yet definedmathematically and used throughout the discussion. The best article inVolume 2, indeed of the entire two volumes is the one on N = 2 Yang-Millstheory in four dimensions. It is here that the most fascinatingconstructions in all of mathematics find their place.These two volumesare definitely worth having on one's shelf, and the price is veryreasonable considering the expertise of the authors and considering whatone will take away after reading them. ... Read more

Book Description
Supersymmetry has been studied by theoretical physicists since the early 1970s. Nowadays, because of its novelty and significance--in both mathematics and physics--the issues it raises attract the interest of mathematicians.

Written by the well-known mathematician, V. S. Varadarajan, this book presents a cogent and self-contained exposition of the foundations of supersymmetry for the mathematically-minded reader. It begins with a brief introduction to the physical foundations of the theory, in particular, to the classification of relativistic particles and their wave equations, such as those of Dirac and Weyl. It then continues with the development of the theory of supermanifolds, stressing the analogy with the Grothendieck theory of schemes. Here, Varadarajan develops all the super linear algebra needed for the book and establishes the basic theorems: differential and integral calculus in supermanifolds, Frobenius theorem, foundations of the theory of super Lie groups, and so on. A special feature is the in-depth treatment of the theory of spinors in all dimensions and signatures, which is the basis of all supergeometry developments in both physics and mathematics, especially in quantum field theory and supergravity.

The material is suitable for graduate students and mathematicians interested in the mathematical theory of supersymmetry. The book is recommended for independent study.

Titles in this series are copublished with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. ... Read more

Book Description
What does the 2000 U.S. presidential election have in common with selecting a textbook for a calculus course in your department? Was Ralph Nader's influence on the election of George W. Bush greater than the now-famous chads? In Chaotic Elections!, Don Saari analyzes these questions, placing them in the larger context of voting systems in general. His analysis shows that the fundamental problems with the 2000 presidential election are not with the courts, recounts, or defective ballots, but are caused by the very way Americans vote for president.

This expository book shows how mathematics can help to identify and characterize a disturbingly large number of paradoxical situations that result from the choice of a voting procedure. Moreover, rather than being able to dismiss them as anomalies, the likelihood of a dubious election result is surprisingly large. These consequences indicate that election outcomes--whether for president, the site of the next Olympics, the chair of a university department, or a prize winner--can differ from what the voters really wanted. They show that by using an inadequate voting procedure, we can, inadvertently, choose badly. To add to the difficulties, it turns out that the mathematical structures of voting admit several strategic opportunities, which are described.

Finally, mathematics also helps identify positive results: By using mathematical symmetries, we can identify what the phrase "what the voters really want" might mean and obtain a unique voting method that satisfies these conditions.

Saari's book should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand not only what happened in the presidential election of 2000, but also how we can avoid similar problems from appearing anytime any group is making a choice using a voting procedure. Reading this book requires little more than high school mathematics and an interest in how the apparently simple situation of voting can lead to surprising paradoxes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Interesting analysis of biases in voting systems, but with a hidden bias itself
Saari's book, as he states in the title and his introduction, is very mathematical. This does not bother me; my own background in science gives me strong enough math to handle this book, though more purely social-science-oriented people may find the book too heavy on the mathematics to help them.

The book analyzes a number of voting systems, and makes a good case for his point that the procedure of casting and counting votes will often determine the result more than the actual preferences of the voters. And he comes up with some conclusions with which I agree: the weakness of approval voting (though his reasons for disliking it differ from mine) and the insufficiency of Banzhaf's method of calculating power in a weighted voting system, for example.

But he generally makes one assumption which does not adequately reflect reality. This assumption is that an ordinal sequence of preference is an adequate representation of a voter's wishes (and that, in consequence, how much a voter prefers candidate A to candidate B is measured by how many candidates are between them on a list of preferences). In fact, with enough candidates in a race, there are bound to be several that a voter likes almost equally well, others that a voter dislikes equally well, and probably others about whom the voter is indifferent (possibly because he knows nothing about them!) Thus, there may be a huge gap between a voter's opinion of, for example, his fourth and fifth preferences, while he may like the fourth one almost as much as his top preference. As a result, Saari ends up favoring a system, the Borda count, which gives absolutely equal differences between the values assigned to consecutively numbered preferences, with no recognition (at least until the next-to-last page of the book!) of the idea that voters' preferences might not work that way. And consequently he fails to see the great advantage of cumulative voting (if one has enough votes!) compared to a Borda count. This is the one serious weakness in Saari's analysis.

At a couple of points, Saari points out that (in an election with enough candidates) if you want to assure the election of a candidate, you can design the election procedure to yield that result even if the candidate actually has little true support. In a sense, Saari does the same in the question of choosing the best voting system. He obviously favors the Borda count, and thus emphasizes the criteria which will make the Borda count score high (and de-emphasizes, or even declares valueless, criteria like the Condorcet criteria that the Borda count violates); other criteria might point toward other methods. But this methodology is subject to the same objections that he raises to some voting procedures!

An Insightful Look at Voting
Saari has put together a small but useful book on the trickiness inherent in voting and the potential paradoxes that can get minor candidates elected.In races with more than two candidates, the method of vote counting is extremely important, and it is possible that by changing the counting process, you could have any candidate you want winning.Theoretically, an election could be rigged without a single dishonest vote.

The obvious solution is to choose the counting method before the election, not afterwards, but there are perils to watch out for nonetheless.Saari goes into depth about these dangers.

This depth often gets very technical, something Saari is up front about.Less than half the book is really aimed for the lay reader; the remainder is aimed more towards mathematicians.Nonetheless, I recommend this book for everyone interested in the democratic process; even if you can't get into the math, there are still enough important insights to make this book more than worthwhile.

Great on math, weak on policy
First, I'm a physicist, so the math was fine for me, but some people might find it frustrating. However, if you're willing to sink your teeth into it you'll get the important ideas.

Second, Saari's insights into the role of symmetry in three-person elections are beautiful. He shows that even if none of the three (or more) candidates can beat all of the others head-to-head there is still interesting information present. When resolving cyclic ambiguities (George beats Bill, Bill beats Ross, Ross beats George) Saari's mathematical insights may be quite useful.

However, I have to take Saari to task for his criticism of Approval Voting (where you simply indicate yes or no for each candidate). He points out that the Approval winner cannot be predicted based solely on people's preference orders (e.g. I might like Ross better than Bill or George, and Bill better than George). Saari sees this as a defect, because "anybody could win." Approval, however, makes use of different information. Which of those candidates pass your threshold? Vote yes for all that you find acceptable.

Seen in this light, Approval is a perfectly rational policy.

Also, Saari doesn't think too highly of the Condorcet criterion:If one candidate can beat all others in one-on-one contests then that candidate should win.It is true that sometimes no candidate meets that criterion, and in those cases Saari's analysis provides important insights on how to resolve the situation.However, sometimes there is in fact one person who can beat all others one-on-one.In that case, no amount of analysis can change the fact that the Condorcet candidate is preferred over all others, and should win.

Finally, Saari gives short shrift to strategic considerations. If everybody is honest his analysis gives excellent advice on running elections.However, his methods have loopholes that voters and candidates can exploit, trying to get the best outcome even if it means indicating an insincere preference order.

Ultimately, the study of elections has to balance two different approaches: Understanding what the people want based on the info they give, and understanding whether the system gives them incentives to give insincere info. Saari has great insight into the first part, but he doesn't seem as interested in the second part.

Election Math made Accessible: Cures Headaches, too!
This book makes some of Saari's most important research into the mathematics of voting accessible to a general audience for the first time. Personally, I greatly appreciate this book. With very little math background, I have tried in vain for the past year to comprehend some of Saari's research articles, with the assistance of a math professor. The result was very little comprehension, and a lot of headaches. This book has, for the first time, enabled me to understand some of the things I had struggled with in vain for months, and greatly increased my comprehension of many of those things I saw only dimly before. I thank the author for the mercy he has shown towards me, and similarly interested readers of his work.

At this time, Saari seems to be the world's leading researcher in the mathematics of voting and group decision making. While most of the general public, in the US at least, has remained almost entirely ignorant of the paradoxes of voting, mathematicians have recognized and struggled with them for centuries, since they recognized that the widespread rule that 'a plurality shall elect' can result in the election of the voters' least preferred candidate; for example, when there are 3 candidates, the plurality winner may be a candidate who is the last choice of up to two-thirds of the voters. Saari's recently published research papers, which resolve many of these profoundly difficult mind stumpers, and the recent US Presidential election, not to mention the begging and pleading of mathematical simpletons like myself, combined to motivate Saari to write this book.

If you are at all interested in having your vote properly accounted for in everything from selecting your group's next officer, to future national elections, I recommend this book to you. I guarantee that you will learn something worthwhile from it.

Let me add one last personal note for Wisconsin readers. I am briefly cited in this book in regard to the use of an alternative to the plurality voting procedure, called the 'Second Choice' procedure, in state primaries of Wisconsin's 'Progressive Era.' The use of such alternatives in the history of Wisconsin, and other states, proves that such electoral reforms are actually possible, given a sufficiently educated and motivated electorate. Saari has done the analysis, and made it accessible. Now, it is up to us to educate ourselves, and other voters, and then, in the light of our newfound knowledge, to demand more democratic election procedures.

Also recommended: Principles of Electoral Reform ... Read more

Product Description
This is the second volume of a two-volume graduate text in set theory. The first volume covered the basics of modern set theory and was addressed primarily to beginning graduate students. This second volume is intended as a bridge between introductory set theory courses and advanced monographs that cover selected branches of set theory, such as forcing or large cardinals. The authors give short but rigorous introductions to set-theoretic concepts and techniques such as trees, partition calculus, cardinal invariants of the continuum, Martin's Axiom, closed unbounded and stationary sets, the Diamond Principle ($\diamond$), and the use of elementary submodels. Great care has been taken to motivate the concepts and theorems presented.The book is written as a dialogue with the reader. The presentation is interspersed with numerous exercises. The authors wish to entice readers into active participation in discovering the mathematics presented, making the book particularly suitable for self-study. Each topic is presented rigorously and in considerable detail. Carefully planned exercises lead the reader to active mastery of the techniques presented. Suggestions for further reading are given. Volume II can be read independently of Volume I. ... Read more

Book Description
Mathematics education research in undergraduate mathematics hasincreased significantly in the last decade and shows no signs ofabating in the near future. Thus far, this research has oftenbeen associated with innovations in curriculum such as calculusreform, statistics education, and the use of computational andgraphing technology in instruction.

Carefully conducted mathematics education research is somethingfar more fundamental and widely useful than might be implied byits use by the advocates of innovation in undergraduatemathematics education. Most simply, mathematics educationresearch is inquiry by carefully developed research methodsaimed at providing evidence about the nature and relationshipsof many mathematics learning and teaching phenomena. It seeks toclarify the phenomena, illuminate them, explain how they arerelated to other phenomena, and explain how this may be relatedto undergraduate mathematics course organization and teaching.

This book---the collaborative effort of a research mathematician,mathematics education researchers who work in a researchmathematics department and a professional librarian---introducesresearch mathematicians to education research. The work presentsa non-jargon introduction for educational research, surveys themore commonly used research methods, along with their rationalesand assumptions, and provides background and careful discussionsto help research mathematicians read or listen to educationresearch more critically.

This guide is of practical interest to university-based researchmathematicians. It introduces the methodology of quantitativeand qualitative research in education, provides criticalguidelines for assessing the reliability and validity ofmathematics education research, and explains how to use onlinedatabase resources to locate education research. The book willalso be valuable to graduate students in mathematics who areplanning academic careers, and to mathematics department chairsand their deans. ... Read more

Book Description
Every map is a tool, a product of human effort and creativity, that represents some aspects of our world or universe ... [This] course was powered by the belief that by exploring the mathematical ideas involved in creating and analyzing maps, students would see how mathematics could help them to understand and explain their world."

--from the Preface

Portraits of the Earth exemplifies the AMS's mission to bring the power and vitality of mathematical thought to the nonexpert. It is designed to teach students to think logically and to analyze the technical information that they so readily encounter every day.

Maps are exciting, visual tools that we encounter on a daily basis: from street maps to maps of the world accompanying news stories to geologic maps depicting the underground structure of the earth. This book explores the mathematical ideas involved in creating and analyzing maps, a topic that is rarely discussed in undergraduate courses. It is the first modern book to present the famous problem of mapping the earth in a style that is highly readable and mathematically accessible to most students. Feeman's writing is inviting to the novice, yet also interesting to readers with more mathematical experience. Through the visual context of maps and mapmaking, students will see how contemporary mathematics can help them to understand and explain the world.

Topics explored are the shape and size of the earth, basic spherical geometry, and why one can't make a perfect flat map of the planet. The author discusses different attributes that maps can have and determines mathematically how to design maps that have the desired features. The distortions that arise in making world maps are quantitatively analyzed. There is an in-depth discussion on the design of numerous map projections--both historical and contemporary--as well as conformal and equal-area maps. Feeman looks at how basic map designs can be modified to produce maps with any center, and he indicates how to generalize methods to produce maps of arbitrary surfaces of revolution. Also included are end-of-chapter exercises and laboratory projects. Particularly interesting is a chapter that explains how to use Maple® add-on software to make maps from geographic data points.

This book would make an excellent text for a basic undergraduate mathematics or geography course and would be especially appealing to the teacher who is interested in exciting visual applications in the classroom. It would also serve nicely as supplementary reading for a course in calculus, linear algebra, or differential geometry. Prerequisites include a solid grasp of trigonometry and basic calculus. ... Read more

Book Description
"If you are the reader we envision for this book, you have justpassed through the most crucial stage of your career---writingand defending your doctoral thesis in mathematics---only todiscover what lies ahead is, yet again, the most crucial stageof your career: making the choice about what job to take ... Itis the time when you make the adjustment from studying in aresearch institution to earning your keep in industry oracademia ... It is the time when you will or will not publishyour thesis ... when you will decide to leave research behind orto start new mathematics independently ... or when you willstruggle to balance time for students and committees with timein the library ... This book was written largely by people likeyou ... "

---from the Introduction

This "how-to" book addresses all aspects of a youngmathematician's early career development: How do I get goodletters of recommendation? How do I apply for a grant? How do Ido research in a small department that has no one in my field?How do I do anything meaningful if all I can get is a series ofone-year jobs?

These articles paint a broad portrait of current professionaldevelopment issues of interest from the Young Mathematician'sNetwork---from finding jobs to organizing special sessions.There are chapters on applying for positions, working inindustry and in academia, starting and publishing research,writing grant proposals, applying for tenure, and becominginvolved in the academic community. The book offers timely andsound advice offered by recent doctorates through experiencedmathematicians. The material originally appeared in theelectronic pages of Concerns of Young Mathematicians. The bookis devoted exclusively to the early stages of a mathematicalcareer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Advice a "young" mathematician cannot be without
Every graduate program in mathematics should hand every beginning student a copy of this book the moment they enter the program. One month later, they should be given an exam over the material to verify that they read the book. Then, if the student is sensible, they will reread it twelve months before graduation and again right after they accept a tenure-track position. The knowledge that you can obtain from this book is that valuable, and can literally help make your career.
I have been on almost every side of the mathematical fence, having been a full-time college instructor in mathematics for several years, a research programmer at a university and a research scientist at a startup company. I currently own a consulting company and teach mathematics and computers as an adjunct and edit [a journal]. Throughout all of this, I have also maintained a steady stream of professional output of papers and problems. From this perspective, I can say that the information about life in industrial mathematics is absolutely right on. Not for everyone who has spent decades in school, it does present enormous opportunities for challenging work.
If you think that you are following the proper strategy to be granted tenure, then you must read the story "The Tenure Chase Papers" by Dana Mackenzie. Unfortunately, this horror story is not as unusual as it should be. The message is clear, start constructing your tenure application your first day on the job and never assume that college and university officials are above being inept and disingenuous. The advice about building your credentials and cultivating allies is something that you cannot afford to ignore.
The balance of the book deals with how to pursue research while teaching a full load and how to obtain grants. Everyone underestimates the amount of time you really put in teaching a full load and unless you absolutely have no life outside of your work, finding time to conduct research is extremely difficult. The best answer is to simply schedule research time with yourself and consider any failure to keep the commitment on a par with canceling a class.
The bulk of this book was written by young mathematicians with recent experience in entering the job market. Their stories are real and packed with knowledge that no one beginning a mathematical career can afford to ignore. I cannot recommend this book enough to that group. ... Read more

Book Description
Compiled and edited by the directors of the Mathematicians andEducation Reform (MER) Network, this book contains papers byspeakers and participants in MER workshops and special sessionsover the last three years. Like the first volume, which alsogrew out of an MER workshop, this book is organized into twosections, Projects and Issues and Reactions providing a balancebetween descriptions of successful existing projects and morein-depth discussion of problems and issues in mathematicseducation reform. With contributions by some of the majorleaders in this area today, this book is of interest to a broadsegment of the mathematical sciences community. ... Read more

Book Description
This is the latest volume in the CBMS (Conference Board of theMathematical Sciences) Issues in Mathematics Education series,which seeks to stimulate the flow of information amongmathematical scientists, mathematics educators, and mathematicsteachers about innovative efforts to revitalize the teaching ofthe mathematical sciences at all levels. The first part of thisvolume is devoted to detailed descriptions of a wide variety ofeducational projects undertaken by mathematicians. Thesedescriptions focus for the most part on substantial enterpriseswith an investment of several years and systematic review andevaluation. By contrast, the second part of the book centers onideas that could be put into action at a modest level as aspringboard for longer term projects. This book is intended tostimulate and inspire mathematical scientists to pursueeducational work. In addition, those who have already venturedinto educational activities and may be ready for deeperinvolvement will also benefit from this exploration of what canbe done. ... Read more