You are invited to present a paper at the Spring Meeting. Papers are to be between 15 and 20 minutes in length and may be on research topics or expository in nature and may deal with any topic in mathematics or mathematics education. For example, papers may pertain to your current mathematical scholarly activity, new courses that you have developed, or successful techniques you have found useful in teaching. You may opt to design a presentation directed to the undergraduate and graduate students attending the meeting.

Also, faculty are urged to assist honors students in presenting papers at the meeting. MAA student memberships will be awarded as prizes for the top student papers.

The presenter's name, title, affiliation, title of paper, and abstract should be sent to:

Curtis Cooper
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Central Missouri State University
Warrensburg, MO 64093-5045

Deadline for receipt of abstracts is February 1, 2000. Please use the form at the center of this Newsletter.

The fifth Missouri MAA Collegiate Mathematics Competition will be held Thursday, April 13, 2000 and Friday, April 14, 2000 on the campus of Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, Missouri. Any college or university in the state of Missouri can send up to two official teams of 1-3 undergraduates each to compete in the competition. Unofficial teams will be allowed to compete, depending on the number of available spaces, but will not be eligible for awards. They will also be charged the normal registration fee. A one-person team will only be allowed in the competition if this person is his or her college's only representative in the competition. A completed registration form for each team must be sent one week before the competition begins. Late registration will be accepted only if there is room for the team in the competition. No calculators or computers or reference material can be used during the competition.

The contest will consist of challenging mathematical problems, comparable but not quite as difficult as the Putnam Exam. The Putnam Exam is a national exam sponsored by the MAA and given to outstanding college mathematics students. Previous Putnam Exams can be found in past October issues of the American Mathematical Monthly. The first session will begin on Thursday, April 13 at 7:30 pm and last until 10 pm and will consist of 5 problems for each team to solve. The second session will begin on Friday, April 14 at 8:30 am and will end at 11 am. It will also contain an additional 5 problems. Each problem will be worth 10 points and will be scored by a committee of the MAA Missouri section. The committee consists of the following members: Mangho Ahuja (SEMO), Jim Bruening (SEMO), Hang Chen (CMSU), Curtis Cooper (CMSU), Joseph B. Dence (UMSL), Leon Hall (UMR), and Alvin Tinsley (CMSU). Some partial credit may be earned for substantially correct work toward a solution to the problem.

There will be a registration fee of $25 per team. A complementary continental breakfast will precede the Friday morning competition. Each team member and the faculty sponsor are invited to a Friday luncheon at 12 noon. Each team member is also invited to be a guest at the MAA Missouri Section Banquet on Friday night. At that time, the results of the competition will be announced. A traveling trophy will be awarded to the first place team. In addition, each member of the first place team will receive a plaque. Certificates will also be given to each participant in the competition.

Any questions about the competition can be sent to

Curtis Cooper
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Central Missouri State University
Warrensburg, MO 64093-5045
Phone: (660) 543-8851
FAX: (660) 543-8006
Email: cnc8851@cmsu2.cmsu.edu

Shown holding the traveling first-place trophy are members of last year’s winning team from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Additional pictures from the competition can be accessed on the MAA-Missouri Section webpage at http://www.math-cs.cmsu.edu/~momaa/contest/photos.html.