'The Mathematics of Entertainment, the Entertainment of Mathematics' to be presented

Blacksburg, Va., March 13, 2002-- Can mathematics be entertaining? Of course! A program called "The Mathematics of Entertainment, the Entertainment of Mathematics" will show how.

Ezra (Bud) Brown, professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Mathematics, will present the program Wednesday, April 17, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

Card games, juggling, and games of chance are all aspects of entertainment that can be highly mathematical. Brown's presentation will explore such topics as perfect shuffles, random shuffles, and figuring the odds.

"The Mathematics of Entertainment, the Entertainment of Mathematics" is sponsored by the Department of Mathematics in celebration of Math Awareness Month at Virginia Tech. Men and women from high school age on up who have an interest in math and science are welcome to attend.

Brown has been at Virginia Tech since the first Nixon Administration, with time out for sabbatical visits to Munich and to Washington, D.C., where he has spent his summers since 1993. His research has been in number theory, graph theory, and combinatorics. He received the George Polya Awards in 2000 and 2001 from the Mathematical Association of America for his writing.

Brown has received several teaching awards and is currently chair-elect of the Virginia Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence. He enjoys singing and playing jazz piano. His wife, Jo, is teaching him to garden; and he has been known to bake biscuits for his students.

For more information, contact Susan Anderson at 540-231-8041 or anderson@math.vt.edu. If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services, or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Anderson at least one week prior to the event to discuss accommodations.