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Articles on the Public Perception of Mathematics

  Discovering Mathematics

A series of essays developed by the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics to illustrate the contributions mathematics makes to society.

  Math in Danger in the USA

David R. Garcia, Imphilo Clinic, Manzini, Swaziland, Africa

  Popular Writing about Geometry (from the Geometry Forum)

In our previous incarnation, the Geometry Forum, we commissioned two graduate students, Evelyn Sander and Bob Hesse, to be our roving reporters at the Geometry Center. The Center has archived many fine articles and they are a fine source of expository math writing on the Internet. (They are also available as two spiral bound volumes in hard copy).

  Prizes and Perils of Popularizing

By Keith Devlin; previously published in Focus. A series of vignettes on some of the discipline's leading popularizers.

  Searching for New Mathematics

By Ivars Peterson; previously published in SIAM Review. Peterson points out that "... mathematicians can do more to make their research accessible to a wider audience."

  Soft Mathematics

Keith Devlin describes, in this original article, the blending of mathematics with other disciplines, which is increasingly being adopted in the study of people and their actions.

  Talk of the Nation, Science Friday

An edited version of a National Public Radio program which aired on September 9, 1994. Science Friday host, Ira Flatow, interviewed guests Keith Devlin, Dean of Science at St. Mary's College, and William Dunham, math professor at Muhlenberg College.

  These are Times that Try Mathematicians' Souls

By David Brooks; previously published in The Telegraph (Nashua, NH).

  What the Media Look for in a Math Story

A discussion organized by Richard H. Herman and Kathleen Holmay of the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics and moderated by Carol S. Wood, Wesleyan University, held at the 1996 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Orlando, Florida.

  Why Isn't There a Nobel Prize in Mathematics?

By Peter Ross; previously published in Math Horizons.