A Comparison of Textbooks' Presentation of Fractions

In the United States, fractions are an important part of the middle school curriculum, yet many middle school students struggle with fraction concepts. Teachers also have difficulty with the conceptual understanding needed to teach fractions and rely on textbooks when making instructional decisions. This reliance on textbooks, the idea that teaching and learning of fractions is a complex process, and that fraction understanding is the foundation for later topics such as proportionality, algebra, and probability, makes it important to examine the variation in presentation of fraction concepts in U.S. textbooks, especially the difference between traditional and standards‐based curricula. The purpose of this study is to determine if differences exist in the presentation of fractions in conventional and standards‐based textbooks and how these differences align with the recommendations of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Common Core State Standards, and the research on the teaching and learning of fractions.     

Multilevel Monte Carlo in approximate Bayesian computation

In the following article, we consider approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) inference. We introduce a method for numerically approximating ABC posteriors using the multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC). A sequential Monte Carlo version of the approach is developed and it is shown under some assumptions that for a given level of mean square error, this method for ABC has a lower cost than i.i.d. sampling from the most accurate ABC approximation. Several numerical examples are given.     

On the Characterization of Harmonic and Subharmonic Functions via Mean-value Properties

We consider the different characterizations of harmonic and subharmonic functions in terms of their mean values in balls and on spheres. In particular, we prove a converse of an inequality of Beardon’s for subharmonic functions, and extend Rao’s integral inequalities of Harnack type between these two means in general domains.     

Self-Concordant Barriers for Convex Approximations of Structured Convex Sets

We show how to approximate the feasible region of structured convex optimization problems by a family of convex sets with explicitly given and efficient (if the accuracy of the approximation is moderate) self-concordant barriers. This approach extends the reach of the modern theory of interior-point methods, and lays the foundation for new ways to treat structured convex optimization problems with a very large number of constraints. Moreover, our approach provides a strong connection from the theory of self-concordant barriers to the combinatorial optimization literature on solving packing and covering problems.     

All harmonic 2-spheres in the unitary group, completely explicitly

We give a completely explicit formula for all harmonic maps of finite uniton number from a Riemann surface to the unitary group U(n) in any dimension, and so all harmonic maps from the 2-sphere, in terms of freely chosen meromorphic functions on the surface and their derivatives, using only combinations of projections and avoiding the usual ${\bar{\partial}}We give a completely explicit formula for all harmonic maps of finite uniton number from a Riemann surface to the unitary group U(n) in any dimension, and so all harmonic maps from the 2-sphere, in terms of freely chosen meromorphic functions on the surface and their derivatives, using only combinations of projections and avoiding the usual [`(?)]{\bar{\partial}} -problems or loop group factorizations. We interpret our constructions using Segal’s Grassmannian model, giving an explicit factorization of the algebraic loop group, and showing how to obtain harmonic maps into a Grassmannian.     

Asymptotic expansions,L-values and a new quantum modular form

In 2010, Zagier introduced the notion of a quantum modular form. One of his first examples was the “strange” function F(q) of Kontsevich. Here we produce a new example of a quantum modular form by making use of some of Ramanujan’s mock theta functions. Using these functions and their transformation behaviour, we also compute asymptotic expansions similar to expansions of F(q).     

Automorphisms of endomorphism semigroups of reflexive digraphs

A reflexive digraph is a pair (X, ρ), where X is an arbitrary set and ρ is a reflexive binary relation on X. Let End (X, ρ) be the semigroup of endomorphisms of (X, ρ). We determine the group of automorphisms of End (X, ρ) for: digraphs containing an edge not contained in a cycle, digraphs consisting of arbitrary unions of cycles such that cycles of length ≥2 are pairwise disjoint, and some circulant digraphs (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Group extensions and free actions by finite groups on solvmanifolds

The purpose of this paper is to generalize Yalçin's result [Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 352 , 2689–2700 (2000)] from tori to solvmanifolds. As a result, we prove that if (?_p)^r acts freely on a solvmanifold M of dimension n, then r ≤ n (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)