The trend toward forcing early specialization on the part of the undergraduate mathematics student is questioned by the author in connection with its effect on inhibiting communication within the mathematics community itself as well as between it and those outside of it. A Mathematics Clinic, developed to broaden the student's scope of…

There are many problems that can be translated into the language of graph theory. Such a problem, discussed in this article is to show that in any group of two or more people, there are at least two people who have the same number of acquaintances in the group. (PK)

Presented are reviews of several microcomputer software programs. Included are reviews of: (1) Microstat (Zenith); (2) MathCAD (MathSoft); (3) Discrete Mathematics (True Basic); (4) CALCULUS (True Basic); (5) Linear-Kit (John Wiley); and (6) Geometry Sensei (Broderbund). (RH)

Arizona State University uses the Computer-Administered Mathematics Examination to identify preservice teachers who need mathematics remediation. Reported are the results of the testing of several groups of students. Some of the students were retested after remediation. (RH)

An environment for investigating vector-valued functions in two- and three-dimensional space using Logo is described. The language is presented, followed by use of the environment. Appended are Logo primitives and procedures. (MNS)

A collection of brief articles on mathematics and teaching mathematics. (FL)

The material presents an alternative method for arranging proofs, which arranges development in levels. The method is described as triggered by recent ideas from computer science and is intended to increase the comprehensibility of mathematical presentations while retaining their rigor. Several examples using this approach are presented.…

Reviews the latest version of "muSimp/muMath-80," discussing the muSimp language and muMath applications. The package comes with a variety of muMath source files (including lessons, five teaching features of ARITH and ALGEBRA files and five teaching the muSimp language) and is capable of handling a wide variety of symbolic mathematics problems.…

The bare minimum mathematical competencies for all college graduates are listed. It is felt too many people know too little mathematics, and ignorance is seen as a form of "functional illiteracy". The ideas presented were generated by a panel established by the Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics. (MP)

Presents results of a study suggesting that prior mathematical ability is a primary influence on performance in an introductory, preprofessional physics course and that it has a secondary influence on the tendency of college students to drop out of the course. (CS)

This article develops an algorithm to find all solutions to the problem, making all sums of a hexagram's nine lines the same. It shows how to exploit the geometric structure of the hexagram and its group of automorphisms. (YP)

Considers definitions of quantiles. Describes median and quartiles. Compares the usefulness of 3 different definitions of quartile using a computer program to simulate 500 quantiles on a sample of a fixed size. Five references are listed. (YP)

Presents examples of 3-by-3 and 4-by-4 magic squares. Proves that the numbers 1 to 10 can not be fitted to the intersections of a pentagram and that the sum of the 4 numbers on each line is always 22. (YP)

Explored are various aspects of drawing graphs on surfaces. The Euler's formula, Kuratowski's theorem and the drawing of graphs in the plane with as few crossings as possible are discussed. Some applications including embedding of graphs and coloring of maps are included. (YP)