What We Do

MAA Press produced a wide variety of beautiful books in 2022. Our primary emphasis remains the publication of books intended to help faculty deliver on their teaching mission. This includes, of course, extraordinary textbooks; we published six in 2022 alone.

We remain the leading producer of undergraduate textbooks which implement new pedagogies.  Last year, we published two IBL textbooks, the second volume of a primary sources based history of mathematics textbook, an exploration-driven textbook for abstract algebra, and beautifully written new textbooks in both real and complex analysis. We produced volumes on implementing CAS-aided exploration and using interdisciplinary models in upper-division courses. And, finally, we published volumes on building community and reconsidering the structure and delivery of the precalculus-calculus sequence.

We, of course, did not neglect MAA’s missions of delivering exquisite exposition and outreach. There is a beautiful new Dolciani on surprising and little-known properties of polygons and an engaging Spectrum volume on the history of American mathematics. For the general reader, we published an inviting introduction to the mathematics of Hex, a volume of unusual appearances of mathematical ideas in daily life, and an exciting novel full of mathematical monstrosities and mayhem.

Finally, MAA and AMS collaborated to produce a collection of chapters from last year’s Testimonios translated into Spanish. These are available on the websites of both societies.

Scores of MAA member volunteers serve on book Editorial Boards. They pore over the manuscripts and provide thoughtful, detailed criticism and advice that makes a dramatic improvement in the quality of our books. MAA authors are always deeply grateful for this valuable feedback. These editorial volunteers provide an extraordinary service to the Association and the profession.

Here’s our MAA Press Editorial Board engagement, by the numbers:

• Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library Editorial Board Members: 7
• Carus Mathematical Monographs Editorial Board Members: 10
• Classroom Resource Materials Editorial Board Members: 12
• Dolciani Mathematical Expositions Editorial Board Members: 11
• MAA Notes Editorial Board Members: 13
• MAA Textbooks Editorial Board Members: 15
• Problem Books Editorial Board Members: 7

Spectrum Editorial Board Members: 9

In early 2022, I began shadowing Jackie Jensen-Vallin, assembling my Editorial Board, and working on my first issue. Jackie did a tremendous job preparing me to take over as editor of MAA FOCUS in June 2022. The new FOCUS Editorial Board members have all been taking an active role, showing up to monthly meetings and volunteering to assume responsibility for columns, write articles, and review submissions. I am grateful to Steve Kennedy, in particular, for his guidance as my first deputy editor and Matthew Pons for stepping into the deputy editor role upon Steve’s retirement.

Under my editorship, we’ve made an effort to be more deliberate about choosing cover images, and we’ve chosen a new masthead design which will first appear in our February/March 2023 issue. We’ve also launched a new column called the “Art Department” to highlight the work of mathematical artists, especially when an artist’s work is featured on our cover. Edmund Harriss (my board member focused on visual elements of FOCUS), Bev Ruedi (FOCUS’s managing editor and art director), and Carol Baxter have been key to the success of these changes.

In addition, we’ve launched a column called “Puzzle Pieces” (edited by Michael Dorff) and have plans for other new columns as well as new ideas for existing columns, like a revamp of “FOCUS on Diversity” that Alicia Prieto-Langarica will be spearheading. I’ve been privileged to publish many terrific pieces in my first three issues, including articles about MAA publications and MAA’s support of undergraduate research as well as innovative teaching ideas, like bringing 3D printing projects into a calculus course and incorporating philanthropy in a “Math for Liberal Arts” course.

We’ve also been intentionally publishing pieces in FOCUS that connect with the themes–like play, justice, and beauty–in Francis Su’s book Mathematics for Human Flourishing. I look forward to finding new ways to demonstrate in MAA FOCUS how folks in our community are flourishing through their engagement with mathematics.

In 2022, Math Values averaged nearly twelve posts per month, with 90,000 visits to the site. This year was marked by a significant increase in the number of regular blog series. Continuing blog series included:

• Launchings by David Bressoud
• Devlin’s Angle by Keith Devlin
• The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education DUE Point by Audrey Malagon, Jana Talley, and Erin Moss
• Personal stories from Testimonios: Stories of Latinx and Hispanic Mathematicians, edited by Pamela Harris, Alicia Prieto-Langarica, Vanessa Rivera Quiñones, Luis Sordo Vieiera, Rosaura Uscanga, and Andrés R. Vindas Meléndez

New blog series included:

• Living Proof, edited by Allison Henrich, Matthew Pons, Jennifer Bowen, Susan Crook, Anisah Nu’Man, and Sarah Bryant
• Learning Through the Ranks: A Graduate Student Blog, edited by Jasmine Camero
• Dana Center Connections, edited by Dave Kung

There were 157 authors of the 143 blog posts in 2022 (counting repeats), an estimated 36% of whom identify as BIPOC, Asian American, Disabled, or LGBTQ+, and 46% of whom identify as female or non-binary. What’s more, 10% of our authors were students. Continuing a change we made in 2021, five of the posts in 2022 were in Spanish.

Convergence is MAA’s online, peer-reviewed journal for the history of mathematics and its use in teaching. Experiencing mathematics through its historical development humanizes the subject, catches students’ attention through intriguing and inspiring stories, demonstrates the diversity of the discipline, and helps reveal the concepts students need to truly understand what mathematics is and how it works.

Since 2004, Convergence has provided a wide range of resources–including fully-developed lesson plans and explorations of historical topics from the grades 8-16 mathematics curriculum with suggestions for student activities–to help instructors and students reap the benefits of bringing history into the mathematics classroom.

In 2022, we expanded these resources with 15 new articles, including “HoM Toolbox, or Historiography and Methodology for Mathematicians,” the first installment of a series that aims to provide instructors and students new to reading, researching, and writing the history of mathematics with a gentle introduction to the discipline’s basic principles and theoretical approaches. We also added 58 new images of rare mathematical books and objects to our extensive collection of “Mathematical Treasures,” and we re-published an earlier Convergence article that offers exciting techniques for using such images to engage students both in and out of the classroom–but this time, en español!

Only the second article to appear in Spanish translation in any MAA journal, “El Gabinete de Maravillas Matemáticas de Pantas: Imágenes e Historia de las Matemáticas” represents Convergence’s commitment to extending its impact on mathematics teaching and learning to wider audiences.

2022 also saw the creation of a new “Classroom Resources Index,” organized by course and educational level, to improve our readers’ access to articles and resources from throughout Convergence’s publication history. We invite MAA members and supporters to explore these materials here.

During the 2022 calendar year, Math Horizons had 101 submissions, and we accepted 34 of those submissions, while seven are still under consideration. A puzzle from 2021 was featured in an April 2022 blog post on Wolfram. Some of our featured articles included an “escape room” article (“Escape from the MAA Storage Room”), a historical narrative requiring the reader to solve ciphers (“A Cryptologic Dinner Party”), and an investigation of pre-computer factoring techniques (“The Ingenious Physical Factoring Devices of D.N. Lehmer”).

The most downloaded articles were the Calcdoku puzzle, a fold-and-cut Pi and e template, and “Fibonacci Meets the Pharaohs: The Decomposition of Multiplication.” We featured interviews with four podcast teams and the leadership team for Lathisms, and provided career advice from four mathematicians working at national laboratories.

Scatterplot will launch in 2024 as an open-access MAA journal for mathematicians interested in the interface between mathematics and data science. In 2022, we formed a diverse and enthusiastic Editorial Board, with interests that included curriculum development, real-world applications, effective use of emerging technologies, and also broader issues like ethics and equity.

This Editorial Board met several times to define Scatterplot’s aim, scope, and vision. We also began to introduce Scatterplot to the community by having an event at MAA MathFest, preparing promotional materials, and encouraging the Editorial Board to begin soliciting contributions.

The College Mathematics Journal has continued to flourish, receiving 253 submissions in 2022 and receiving help from 87 willing referees. Submissions were received from 12 countries. In 2022, the College Mathematics Journal published 59 articles and classroom capsules; what’s more, Tamara Lakins was selected to be the magazine’s next editor.

In 2022, Mathematics Magazine continued to reach an impressive international audience, publishing articles from 18 countries spread across every major continent. Such is the volume of quality submissions we receive that our October and December editions were full double issues, at 168 pages each.

We effectively published seven issues instead of our usual five, thereby making it possible to offer faster publication to authors whose work had been in our publication queue for some time. We published a total of 63 articles in 2022, spanning all areas of pure and applied mathematics.

In 2023, we look forward to continuing these promising trends, and to building on the progress the magazine has made in the last few years.

In my first year as Editor of the American Mathematical Monthly in 2022, the Editorial Board reviewed 906 submissions. The Board drew from their diverse array of life experiences and mathematical expertise to evaluate submissions from authors in 82 countries across the globe.

This process relied on an assessment of both the mathematical content and the expository presentation of those ideas. Scholars in every corner of the world weighed in on submissions via careful referee reports of manuscripts. These reviews helped the Board in their decision-making process and helped authors shape submissions into better papers. By the time a manuscript is printed on the pages of the journal, at least five colleagues have contributed to advancing the paper on the editorial side.

These figures testify to the reach of the Monthly as the mathematical community expands to include an increasing number of colleagues.