Introduction to Pig The object of the jeopardy dice game Pig is to be the first player to reach 100 points. Each turn, a player repeatedly rolls a die until either a 1 is rolled or the player holds and scores the sum of the rolls (i.e., the turn...
Many real-world applications can be modeled with directed networks and posed as a Traveling Sales Problem (TSP). However, finding a solution to a TSP is often computationally intractable. This paper proposes a modification to a method developed by...
A chord is a straight line whose endpoints are any two points on a circle. What is the probability that a chord of a circle with radius 1 will have a length greater than SQ3? This simple problem can be quite mystifying, not because one cannot find a...
The traditional "birthday problem" considers the probability of two or more people in a group of N sharing a birthday. This paper generalizes the problem to consider the conditional probability of transitioning from a given distribution of birthdays to...
Singles bars are generally regarded as places where people go to meet other people. But alas, not every person one meets is acceptable as a date. Let us make the following assumptions about the population of singles looking for dates in these...
Pointillism is a painting technique in which the painter does nothing but place dots of paint on the canvas. Up close, a pointillist painting can appear to be completely abstract, a mass of dots. But from afar, the dots can wondrously merge into a...
Introduction Have you ever noticed that at parties, wedding receptions, and class reunions, people tend to hang out with the people whom they already know rather than to mingle with everyone else? Not surprisingly, faculty have this same problem in...
Abstract We present two applications of systems of ordinary differential equations concerning excitation of a structure through resonance and we investigate peak-frequency responses and stabilization by means of a tuned mass damper (TMD). The physics,...
Introduction We explain the underlying mathematics and physics of two medical imaging techniques: • computed tomography (CT), and • Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). The analysis constitutes an interesting application of Fourier...
The first thing I must do is make clear that I am not an emergency evacuation practitioner, but rather a researcher who has done work on emergency evacuation problems.
Introduction When I go to the store to buy something, I usually buy two of whatever it is, whether it is a jar of mayonnaise, a gallon of milk, or a pair of socks. My main motivations are to avoid running out of the item and, over the long run, to cut...
The purpose of this article is to present an example of the usefulness of trigonometry and linear algebra to solve a practical problem. We consider the problem of cutting panels used to form an angular counter such as the one shown in Figure 1.
Introduction The puzzle No. Crunch was made by Binary Arts, which company changed its name to ThinkFun and produced the puzzle under the name TopSpin (but the puzzle is no longer listed at ThinkFun'sWeb site [2009]). The puzzle (Figure 1) contains 20...
Like many mathematicians, I belong to a number of professional societies and subscribe to lots of their journals and other magazines. Here I apply mathematics to the decisions about renewals, continuing the agenda begun in Campbell [2008] of applying...
Nomography, truly a forgotten art, is the graphical representation of mathematical relationshipsor laws (the Greekwordfor law is nomos). These graphs are variously called nomograms (the term used here), nomographs, alignment charts, and abacs. This...
In Moore and Moore [19901, we gave exercises (Exercises 1, 7, and 8) that ask the reader to find the dihedral angle formed by adjacent sides of a right pyramid whose base is a regular polygon-a square, a triangle, and a hexagon, respectively.
Financing describes a method of raising funds or capital. Many people finance an asset and pay for it in installments, as opposed to paying a sum up front. The cost of financing is the interest expense imposed by banks. This cost motivates people to...
Introduction to Pig The object of the jeopardy dice game Pig is to be the first player to reach 100 points. Each turn, a player repeatedly rolls a die until either a 1 is rolled or the player holds and scores the sum of the rolls (i.e., the turn...
Introduction Wood performs many important ecosystem functions in streams, such as encouraging scour of pools and backwater habitat, entrapping leaves and other organic matter, creating overhead cover and habitat complexity for fish, and providing a...