Hovering on Morgan Hill
’s periphery is a very good thing called the American Institute
of Mathematics. Now based in Palo Alto in the original Fry’s
Electronics building, AIM plans to move into the old Flying Lady
Restaurant building on Foothill Avenue once a host of details can
be worked out.
Hovering on Morgan Hill’s periphery is a very good thing called the American Institute of Mathematics. Now based in Palo Alto in the original Fry’s Electronics building, AIM plans to move into the old Flying Lady Restaurant building on Foothill Avenue once a host of details can be worked out.
John Fry, who founded and continues to support AIM, has built his controversial golf course on the property, which has ongoing issues with the city over permits and with environmentalists over habitat protection. But, aside from the golf course’s problems, AIM, as a separate institution, should be welcomed to town with open arms.
Fry is totally responsible for the American Institute of Mathematics seeing the light of day. It was his idea, his money (mostly) and his dedication to mathematical research and the preservation of math history that made the thing happen, according to Brian Conrey, AIM’s executive director.
It was Fry’s idea, Conrey said, to organize mathematicians together in workshops so they can attack a problem from different directions, an idea new to the discipline.
Gauging from the response in books, journals and from the success of AIM workshops on a terribly diverse spread of mathematical problems, Fry has also hired good people to direct and run the Institute.
Involving more women in mathematics is also within the scope of AIM’s mission, an endeavor to which Helen Moore, AIM’s associate director, has committed and with some success she says. Moore also encourages young girls to try math and science by helping out at several science and math camps for middle school girls – that’s the age when they start to lose interest in these intellectually and financially lucrative career paths.
But, beyond the intricacies of mathematics, AIM is making a difference in Morgan Hill. Because of Fry’s generosity and Conrey’s interest, Conrey has the freedom to work with local school children on a program called “Math Counts.”
Math Counts introduces Charter School of Morgan Hill students, loosely structured for grades six and seven or so, into the joys and challenges of mathematics, preparing them for regional math competitions between schools by practicing problem solving strategies.
AIM hasn’t forgotten bigger kids and grown ups either. On Tuesday, Nov. 25 – two days before Thanksgiving – AIM will present a talk by Professor John Allen Paulos that can’t fail to amuse, inform and entertain. The author of “A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper” will fill us in on how an understanding of math will help us read and understand, well, the news. Having read the book, we former English and journalism majors can say we will be there early so as not to miss a word.
Proceeds from the Paulos talk (tickets are cheap) and from a reception afterwards – where Conrey says he just might pass the hat – will be added to Fry’s subsidy and allow “Math Counts” to expand into other Morgan Hill schools.
John Allen Paulos at the Morgan Hill Playhouse, Monterey Road at East Fifth Street, 7 p.m. Nov. 25. Tickets at BookSmart, 17415 Monterey Road at West Second Street, 778-6467. $7.50 general admission, $5 students. Details about the talk and the AIM: www.aimath.org
