# Resources for Students

### Software

• SageMath: Open source replacement for Mathematica, Maple, and Matlab. Based on Python. Can be installed on Mac or Linux machines, or run in the cloud on any machine connected to the internet.
• Maxima: Open source computer algebra system that can be installed on any machine.
• Scilab: Open source replacement for Matlab that can be installed on any machine.
• R: Open source software for statistics and graphics.

### $$\LaTeX$$

• LaTeX: Typesetting for math and science. Anyone planning to teach or study math should know $$\LaTeX$$ (because $$\frac{x^2}{x+2}$$ looks so much better than x^2/(x+2)).
• Dr. Williams' TikZ Page: Some samples of graphics in $$\LaTeX$$

### Free Books and Articles

The pages below contain collections of books on most undergraduate math topics: Books and articles every math student should read:
• Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by A Square (Edwin A. Abbott)
• Second Revised Edition, 1884
• A short, satirical story about a two dimensional world visited by a three dimensional sphere. Very entertaining, and it may help you to understand the concept of higher dimensions.
• A Mathematician's Apology, by G. H. Hardy
• Cambridge University Press, 1940
• Hardy's justification for devoting his life to mathematics.
• The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, by Eugene Wigner
• Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics, vol. 13, No. I, February 1960
• A brief and interesting essay about the role of mathematics in the natural sciences, particularly physics.
Math journals/archives with free online content:
• Harvard Mathematics Review: There's only six issues, but each is filled with articles written by and for undergraduates.
• Rose Hulman Undergraduate Math Journal
• Involve: A math journal that publishes papers with at least one undergraduate author. These may be a little higher level, but a good summary of an article would be a great talk.
• arXiv.org: Open e-print archive with over 100000 articles in physics, 10000 in mathematics, and 1000 in computer science.

### Scholarships

The scholarships below are open to current undergraduates (I haven't included any scholarships that are only available to high school students). If you're interested in applying to any program, check the deadlines and requirements on the site - don't depend on what I have here.

• Prospective 7-12 Secondary Teacher Course Work Scholarships, NCTM
• For: Full time college or university sophomores who plan to teach grade 7-12 mathematics.
• Award: Up to $10,000 • Deadline: Early May • Prospective Middle School Teacher Course Work Scholarships, NCTM • For: Full time college or university sophomores who plan to teach middle school mathematics. • Award: Up to$3,000
• Alice T. Schafer Prize, AWM
• For: Exceptional undergraduate women in mathematics. US citizens only.
• Award: ??
• SMART Scholarship, DoD
• For: Undergraduates in math (or other STEM field) interested in a career with the Department of Defense after graduation. US citizens only.
• Award: Full scholarship, in exchange for a contract with the DoD
• Deadline: Fall, opens in August
• MSRI-UP Summer Program
• For: Undergraduate students who have completed two years of university-level mathematics courses and would like to conduct research in the mathematical sciences. US Citizens and permanent residents only.
• Award: $3100 stipend, lodging, meals and roundtrip travel to Berkeley, CA • Deadline: February • Women in Defense HORIZONS Scholarship • For: Undergraduate women with junior level status (60+ credits) interested in a career in national security or defense. US citizens only. • Award: Varies,$500 - $12,000 • Deadline: July • Liberty Power Bright Horizons Scholarship • For: Undergraduates in STEM fields with an interest in energy or the environment. US Citizens and permanent residents only. • Award:$4,000 - $10,000 • Deadline: July • MAES Scholarship Program for Latinos in Science and Engineering • For: Undergraduates of Hispanic heritage in STEM fields; open to MAES student members only. • Award:$1,000 - \$4,000

### Math Quotes

• Stefan Banach (1892 - 1945)
"Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit."
• George Polya (1887 - 1985)
"Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper."
• Paul Erdős (1913 - 1996)
"The purpose of life is to prove and conjecture."
"God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers."
"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."
• Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas."
"Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself any more."
• David Hilbert (1862 - 1943)
"Mathematics is a game played according to certain simple rules with meaningless marks on paper."
• Felix Klein (1849 - 1925)
"Everyone knows what a curve is, until he has studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions."
• G.H. Hardy (1877 - 1947)
"I am interested in mathematics only as a creative art."
• Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true."
"I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole universe - because, like Spinoza'a God, it won't love us in return."
• Georg Cantor (1845 - 1918)
"In mathematics, the art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it."
• Andre Weil (1906 - 1998)
"God exists since mathematics is consistent, and the Devil exists since we cannot prove it."
• Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)
"Mathematics seems to endow one with something like a new sense."
"A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there." (There is debate on who actually said this)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
"Mathematicians are like Frenchmen. Whatever you say to them, they translate it into their own language, and forthwith it means something entirely different."
• Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)
"But in my opinion, all things in nature occur mathematically."
• Henri Poincare (1854 - 1912)
"Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things."
• St. Augustine (354 - 430)
"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell."
• Marcus du Sautoy (1965 - )
"Mathematics has beauty and romance. It's not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It's an extraordinary place. It's worth spending time there."