Convergence is pleased to present the three winning papers from the 2010 Student Paper Contest sponsored by the History of Mathematics Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America (HOM SIGMAA).  The winning papers were selected by a team of judges headed by HOM SIGMAA Program Coordinator Amy Shell-Gellasch.  HOM SIGMAA has sponsored the Student Paper Contest and Shell-Gellasch has organized it since 2004.

Winners received books from Johns Hopkins University Press and the MAA, along with a one-year MAA membership.  All seven finalists in the contest received a one-year membership to the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics (CSHPM).

The Heart is a Dust Board:  Abu’l Wafa Al-Buzjani, Dissection, Construction, and the Dialog Between Art and Mathematics in Medieval Islamic Culture, by Jennifer Nielsen, University of Missouri–Kansas City (faculty advisor:  Richard Delaware, UMKC)

The Use of Similarity in Old Babylonian Mathematics, by Palmer Rampell, Phillips Academy and Harvard University (faculty advisor:  Donald Barry, Phillips Academy)

The Fermat Problem, by Stefanie Streck, Pacific Lutheran University (faculty advisors:  Amy Shell-Gellasch and Jessica Sklar, PLU)

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