Yousuf Kerai, Bennington College                                                         
 Al-Samaw'al's Curious Approach to Trigonometry.

The 12th-century mathematician Ibn Yahya al-Maghribi al-Samaw'al, now better known for his algebra, also wrote the extensive treatise Exposure of the Errors of the Astronomers. This fascinating under-studied work, containing criticisms of a number of astronomers, provides an interesting study of debates over the proper practice of medieval astronomy. In particular, al-Samaw'al eschews any form of geometrical approximation, no matter how trivial. One of his objections is to the methods that had been used to determine the geometrically unattainable sine of one degree in Ptolemy's Almagest as well as in later Muslim works. To avoid this apparently unavoidable problem, al-Samaw'al presents an alternate trigonometric table that breaks the circle into 480 rather than 360 parts. We shall present the table as well as one of its uses in al-Samaw'al's work.

Jennifer Maynard, UNC- Asheville                           
Women in Mathematics

Newton, Euler, Laplace, Pythagoras, Galois, Legendre, Pascal, Descartes are but a few names that cross the mind when you talk about great mathematicians.  Yet all of these mathematicians are men...so where are all the great women of mathematics?  This presentation will focus on the life of Sophie Germain and her work on Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Sam Daoud, Western Carolina Uniersity
Claude Shannon: A man who Lived to be a Legend

In the 20th century, a man named Claude Shannon had a major impact on our lives today. His work laid the basis for much of our world as we have come to see it. He is attributed the title of founder of Information Technology, and he made the essential connection between Boolean algebra and circuit switching. Who was Claude Shannon? What did he do? Why did he do it? And what is the significance of his most well known paper “A mathematical theory of communication”? These are questions that we will explore.

Elliot Lunsford, Western Carolina University
Ambassador, Antichrist, Genius: How Gerbert of Aurillac Revived Education in the Middle Ages

 The Dark Ages is one of history's greatest misnomers, for it was anything but the perceived emptiness of intellectual thought and achievement. Alcuin of York in the eighth century taught in Charlemagne's Palace School and preserved the Greco-Roman learning tradition of the seven liberal arts. Later in the tenth century, Gerbert of Aurillac followed in Alcuin’s footsteps at reviving education, but he went a step further by bringing many advancements to continental Europe. 

Gerbert began to lead the education in Europe into the baptismal water, preparing it for the inevitable rebirth of the Renaissance. Although outside stressors burdened most of his life, Gerbert truly marked the medieval period, not as dark, but as a time of great transition and progress.

Phifer Powley, High Point University
The Bernoullis: Three Generations of Mathematicians                     

No other family in history has produced so many quality
mathematicians.  We will look at some contributions from this brilliant family.

Andrew Reynolds, Sam Houston State University                      
Today or Tomorrow?

In this talk, we will discuss the current annual calendar and the mathematics behind it.  We will cover the flaws within the current calendar and possible solutions for them.  We will also discuss the history of the calendar.

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