Maximizing Fun at a Theme Park (UMAP)
A large theme park presents its guests with an interesting and challenging problem: choosing rides to visit and an orde…
Modeling the Organization of a Hockey Tournament (UMAP)
Before this decade, interest in ice hockey moved at glacier speed from Canada and across the United States. Now profess…
Pancakes, Graphs, and the Genome of Plants (UMAP)
In 1975, Jacob Eli Goodman posed the following problem in the American Mathematical Monthly under the pseudonym of Harr…
Playing with Chromatic Kings (UMAP)
Determining winning strategies for the game of Chessboard Trichrome is an open problem appearing in Silverman [1991]. C…
Polynomial Algebra for Error Correction in Transmission of Binary Data (UMAP)
Error-correcting methods are used when some binary message digits (bits, with values 0 or 1) switch value during transm…
Searching the Web with Eigenvectors (UMAP)
How might we measure the importance of a web site? Well, it's important if other important web sites link to it (if tha…
Simulation, the Classroom, and Software (UMAP)
Simulation of systems offers the opportunity for thorough understanding, if accessible computer software is available…
Social Statistics: Mathematics Meets Policy (UMAP)
What percentage of the labor force is unemployed? What percentage of household budgets is devoted to shelter? How rapid…
Tchuka Ruma Solitaire (UMAP)
The solitaire game "Tchuka Ruma" is described as follows in the book
of mathematical diversions by Degrazia [1948, 10…
The Best Way to Knock'm Down (UMAP)
"Knock 'm Down" is a game of dice that is so easy to learn that it is being played in classrooms around the world. Alth…
The Mathematics of Heat Exchangers: Logarithms in Action (UMAP)
A heat exchanger is used to cool a hot liquid or to heat a cold liquid. An example of a heat exchanger in your home is…
The Optimal Positioning of Infielders in Baseball (UMAP)
When asked in the late 19th century to explain his success at the plate, baseball Hall-of-Famer "Wee Willie" Keeler res…
The Ripon Community Printers Student Consultancy Project (UMAP)
The Senior Seminar of the Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science at Ripon College decided to work as a consultancy g…
The Tides They Are A-Changing (UMAP)
The Netherlands is a very flat country: there are no hills in the western part at all, except for a row of dunes that p…
Three Applications of Combinatorics to Problems in Immunology (UMAP)
In this paper we present three examples illustrating the use of combinatorics in computing probabilities relevant to th…
To Punt or Not to Punt (UMAP)
"The Cowboys deserved to lose" [Associated Press 1995]. This terse assessment by John Madden, esteemed sportscaster wit…
Using the Shannon Sampling Theorem to Design Compact Discs (UMAP)
Have you ever wondered how music is stored on a compact disc and then reproduced? Mathematically, the music can be view…
Why the Player Never Wins in the Long Run at LA Blackjack (UMAP)
To get around an old California law that prohibits the game of "21," California card casinos introduced a variation of…
Bounds on a Bug (UMAP)
In the game of Cootie, players race to construct a "cootie bug" by rolling a die to collect component parts. Each cooti…
Chasing a Polar Goose (UMAP)
A goose due east of its nest begins to fly home. It always flies directly toward the nest at constant airspeed b, but a…
Classroom Scheduling Problems: A Discrete Optimization Approach (UMAP)
Every year, colleges and universities face the problem of assigning classrooms to satisfy the needs of courses, faculty…
Combinatorics and Campus Security (UMAP)
One day I received electronic mail from our director of campus security [Gilbraith 1993]: I have a puzzle for you that…
Communication Games and the Canadian Constitution (UMAP)
In Canada, the passing of a constitutional amendment requires a resolution of the Canadian Parliament accompanied by co…
Efficient Signal Transmission (UMAP)
We describe how digital signals can be transmitted by analog carrier signals. This is the method of pulse code modulati…
Error Correction and Compact Discs (UMAP)
In 1878, Thomas Alva Edison obtained the patent for the phonograph, a device to record sound (audio information). The r…
Experiments in Lavatory Dynamics (UMAP)
Until very recently, most Bush toilets were controlled by a mechanism whose workings were filled with differential poet…
Fair Legislative Representation (UMAP)
Political scientists who study comparative government have charted a staggering variety of legislative systems. In desi…
Farmer Klaus and the Mouse (UMAP)
Farmer Klaus and the Mouse [Go√üen and Rubin 1997] is a cooperative board game for children ages 3 and up that has both…
Finding Optimal Piano Fingerings (UMAP)
While preparing to perform a piece of music, a pianist must work out a fingering for the piece. Sometimes, the optimal…
Forecasting Populations (UMAP)
In almost any country in the world, it would be of considerable interest to many quarters in society to know how the hu…
Get Me to the Church on Time--Well, Mostly, Anyway' (UMAP)
There is an old Latin proverb, common in translation in Germany, that "Those who live closest to the church arrive last…
Graphing the Berry Patch (UMAP)
As part of the promotion for its new Berry Berry Kix cereal, General Mills included on the cereal box a game called "Be…
Mathematical Developments in 1994 (UMAP)
The most significant mathematical development in 1994 occurred near the end of the year, when Andrew Wiles (Princeton U…
Mathematical Developments in 1995 (UMAP)
The year 1995 was a relatively quiet one in mathematics. Mathematicians confirmed and celebrated the revised proof by A…
Mathematical Developments in 1996 (UMAP)
After several years of suspense and excitement about the proof of Fermat's last theorem, the achievements in 1996 were…
Mathematical Developments in 1997 (UMAP)
Mathematics in 1997 was marked by the celebration of achievements and by the contemplation of philosophical questions a…