Mathematics
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Michael Dorff Appointed as Chair of the Department of Mathematics
Dean Grant Jensen of the College of Computational, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences is pleased to announce that BYU has appointed Dr. Michael Dorff as chair of the Department of Mathematics starting July 1, 2025. Dorff will replace Dr. Paul Jenkins, who has served as department chair since 2019.
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Robert Davis appointed as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy
Dean Grant Jensen of the College of Computational, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences is pleased to announce that BYU has appointed Robert Davis as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy starting July 1, 2025. Davis will replace Dr. Kent Gee, who has served as department chair since 2019.
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Understanding the Fastest Route Between Four Points is as Simple as Playing with Soap Bubbles
In BYU Magazine’s new YouTube video series, “A Thing of Beauty,” BYU professors and personalities sharing something they consider beautiful. Mathematics professor and Department Chair Michael Dorff appreciates the “lovely harmony between soap bubbles and mathematics.” Click here to watch Michael Dorff share the beauty of soap bubbles.
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Do the Math!
In Spring of 2018, students took their study of math equations from the orderly classrooms of BYU campus to a much larger classroom: South America.
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Who’s ‘good’ at math? Dan Siebert redefines success in mathematics
“Ask kids in school, Who’s good at mathematics? and they’ll say So-and-so. If you ask them why, they’ll say, Because they always finish first,” explains Dan Siebert.
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Using Math to Understand Your World—And Your Neighbor
Like all math teachers, Professor Kate Johnson of the Mathematics Education Department studies variables. The variables that Johnson examines, however, usually don’t show up on the page.
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Dorff named head of Math Association of America
Michael Dorff takes the reins today as the Math Association of America’s (MAA) president-elect. Read more on BYU News.
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What the Boy Scouts Don’t Understand About Knots
Math professor Mark Hughes specializes in topology.
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BYU Math Students go Abroad to Learn about Jobs
Members of the Applied Math in Europe study abroad recently returned from an international experience involving eight countries and 11 company visits over the course of three weeks.
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Why Number Theorists Tackle Centuries-Old Problems
Dr. Roger Baker’s office whiteboard fills up in twenty minutes with centuries-old problems for which no mathematician has an answer or a proof.
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New BYU Math Professor Pays It Forward to His Students
Dr. Blake Barker loves math and research, which is why he loves mathematical research.
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Math Professor Brings Diverse Teaching Experience and Passion for Research to BYU
New math professor, Dr. Nathan Priddis, brings his teaching experience from Michigan and Germany to the BYU classroom.
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New Math Professor Emphasizes Math’s Application to Life
Dr. Curtis Kent was too focused on his LDS mission to respond when his mother asked him his preference for an undergraduate major. She was trying to fill out applications so he would be ready to go to school following his mission.
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New Math Professor Seeks to Teach Students True Meaning of Success
The BYU Department of Mathematics has a new mathematics professor, and he is no stranger to teaching exceptional individuals like BYU students.
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Mathematics Professor Awarded for Great Research
With about six to seven research projects in his queue each year, Dr. Pace Nielsen in the BYU Department of Mathematics has made waves in the mathematics community. One of his most recent projects was a massive collaboration (unusual in mathematics) with a number of world-class researchers, studying the spacing of prime numbers. They proved there are infinitely many pairs of primes within 246 integers of each other.
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Tyler Jarvis Honored for Making Math Memorable
Tyler J. Jarvis, a professor in the BYU Department of Mathematics, received the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award at this year’s Annual University Conference.
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Department of Mathematics to Celebrate Pi Day with Pie
Pi (π) may be an irrational number, but the celebration of Pi Day has become a tradition to rely on at BYU.
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The Thrill of Discovery
While some may view math as a tedious, required class, mathematics professor Stephen Humphries believes that it is much more than that: Math is discovery.
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