Loci: Convergence

Loci: Convergence: Where Mathematics, History, and Teaching Interact publishes articles about the history of mathematics and its use in teaching. It is aimed at teachers of mathematics at both the secondary and collegiate levels. Preference is given to topics from grades 8-16 mathematics, with special emphasis on topics from grades 8-14: algebra, combinatorics, synthetic and analytic geometry, trigonometry, probability and statistics, elementary functions, calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.

We invite you to submit for publication in Convergence articles of the following types:

• Expository articles on the history of topics in the grades 8-16 mathematics curriculum ideally would contain interactive components, animations, color graphics, and/or links that take advantage of the online setting, together with ideas for using the material in the class room. We invite you to share your expertise or to take the opportunity to learn more about a topic by writing an article about it!
  • Math historians: Consider sharing with Convergence readers your latest mathematics history research, taking advantage of our online format and making suggestions for grades 8-16 classroom use.
  • Math educators: Share your latest research on the role of mathematics history in mathematics education or your latest history-based instructional materials (see "Classroom activities" below).
• Translations of original sources, accompanied by commentary explaining the work and its context, show Convergence readers how mathematical ideas were developed in various cultures and how knowledge of these developments can be used in teaching the same ideas to today's students.
• Classroom activities, projects, or modules may be designed for a few minutes, days, or weeks of instruction in grades 8-16 classes. Although most will be self-contained articles showing how to use history in the teaching of a particular topic, these products also may serve as companion pieces to articles published in Convergence or other MAA journals, providing instructions and/or tools for using information from those articles in classroom settings. Authors should give potential users as much direction as possible about when and how to use the activity, project, or module (e.g. in which courses? to introduce, develop, and/or review a topic? to replace or supplement traditional instruction? in class and/or homework? how much time for each? individual or group work?) We invite you to share with our readers how you are using the history of mathematics in your classroom!
• Classroom testimonials describe your experiences using a particular teaching aid, article, book, or website in the classroom. They may range from informal to formal evaluation, and the outcome may be adoption, adaption, or rejection.
• Reviews of new and old books, articles, teaching aids, and websites should focus on evaluation of the item's utility in teaching.

We also welcome you to submit items for the following features:

• "Problems from Another Time" highlights historical problems.
• "On This Day" is a listing of two or three historic mathematical events that happened on each date.
• "Today's Quotation" is a quotation about mathematics from a historical figure selected from a searchable database of quotations.
• The "Calendar" is an up-to-date guide to conferences and events around the world that feature or include the history of mathematics and its use in teaching.

Submissions should be sent electronically to Janet Beery or Kathy Clark (see below for e-mail links). Articles sent in LaTeX, Word, pdf, or html formats are welcome, as is a temporary URL for a posted version of your article with all images, applets, etc. in place.

For your final submission of an accepted article, please plan to submit:

• For an article with very little mathematical notation, a Word (or any text) file.
• For an article with much mathematical notation, a LaTeX file (or an html file incorporating MathJax). Please use "backslash" ( ... "backslash" ) in place of \(\$\dots\$\) and "backslash" [ ... "backslash" ] instead of \(\$\$\dots\$\$,\) and arrays rather than tables.
• Any images in separate files in jpg format and any applets, etc. as separate files as well.

If you have an idea for animation or interactivity in an article, but do not know how to produce applets for it, we suggest you contact an expert on your own campus for help. If that fails, please give us very explicit instructions as to what you want so that we can attempt to help you. More detailed instructions for submitting articles can be found at How to Submit an Article to Loci, but please note that, for articles submitted to Convergence, the instructions given here on this page supersede any conflicting instructions given for Loci.

If you would be willing to serve as a referee for articles submitted to Convergence, please let one of the editors know which topics and types of articles you would prefer to review (see below for e-mail links).

Loci editor: Thomas Leathrum, Jacksonville State University

Convergence editors:
   Janet Beery, University of Redlands
   Kathy Clark, Florida State University

Convergence founding editors:
   Victor J. Katz, University of the District of Columbia
   Frank Swetz, Pennsylvania State University