Report for the academic year - Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for advanced study
What is Happening at Discretemath.com! Steven Rudich, Carnegie Mellon University
The Coordination of Table Algorithms with Geometry Leading to the Creation of Continuous
Exponents: John Wallis and the Seventeenth-century Experiments That Led to the Possibility
of Calculus, David Dennis, University of Texas, El Paso
Technically Speaking: Thoughts on Lecturing and Teaching, Steven Rudich
PROMYS and Ross Programs, Glenn Stevens, Boston University, and Daniel Shapiro,
The Ohio State University
The Digital Envelope — A Crash Course in Modem Cryptography, Avi Wigderson
Math and Math Learning in Israel (personal impressions), panel discussion moderated by
Michael Ben-Or, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
The Classroom Stage, Blaga Pauley, California State University, San Bernardino
The computer lab, under the direction of James King of the University of Washington,
was equipped with a variety of computer hardware and software, providing Windows,
Macintosh, and Linux platforms for participants' use. Software and equipment donated
by manufacturers and individual donors included Microsoft Office 2000, Mathematica by
Wolfram Research, Cabri Geometry by Texas Instruments, Geometer's Sketchpad by Key
Curriculum Press, Maple by Waterloo Maple, Y&Y TeX, TeXtures by Blue Sky Research,
and Tl-92 calculators by Texas Instruments. The lab was a valuable resource for educa-
tional and computational work as well as Internet access, and it was in use around the
clock.
On July 20'\ through the generous sponsorship of the Huntsman Foundation, PCMI
hosted a concert by Robert Taub, Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced
Study. PCMI participants and Institute community members attended the piano concert
in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus. Robert Taub and Edward Rothstein of The
New York Times gave a pre-concert discussion to the PCMI participants during the Cross
Program Activity on the day of the concert.
Casual interaction among the participants was also fostered at pizza parties, study ses-
sions, barbecue dinners, and during weekend trips organized by the participants.
Publication Series
This past year saw the publication of Volume 8 in the American Mathematical Society's
Park City Mathematics Series. It is expected that Volume 9, from the Summer Session of
1999, will be published in late 2000. The full series, which comprises nearly all of the
lectures ever given in PCMI's Graduate Summer School, now includes the following
titles:
Vi ilume 1, Geometry arui Quantum Field Theory;
Volume 2, Nonlinear Partial I KfferenUal Equations in Differential Geometry;
Volume 3, Complex Algebraic Geometry;
Volume 4, Gauge Theory and Four Manifolds;
Volume 5, Hyperbolic Equations and Frequency Interactions;
Volume 6, Probability Theory and Applications;
Volume 7, Symplectit Geometry and Topology;
Volume 8, Representation Theory I of ie < rroups.
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