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Janet Beery Ph.D.

Professor
Math & Computer Science

Education

  • Ph.D., Mathematics, Dartmouth College
  • A.M., Mathematics, Dartmouth
  • B.S., Mathematics and English Literature, University of Puget Sound

Professional Background

Janet Beery is a professor of mathematics at the University of Redlands, where she has taught since 1989, the same year she earned the Ph.D. in group theory from Dartmouth College. She has taught nearly every mathematics course offered at her university, including Mathematics Through Its History, a popular interdisciplinary course she created and co-teaches with 2–6 mathematics majors per offering. Dr. Beery writes and speaks widely on the history of mathematics and especially on the mathematics of Thomas Harriot (1560-1621). She is the editor of the MAA online journal, Convergence, on mathematics history and its use in teaching, and is secretary and membership chair for the Association for Women in Mathematics. From 2002 to 2008, she served on the College Board AP Calculus Examination Development Committee. From 2006 to 2008, she also was College Board Advisor for AP Calculus, developing instructional materials for AP Calculus teachers, among other duties.

Experience

  • Teaching Fellow (Instructor), Dartmouth College, 1987-89, 1985-86
  • Instructor, University of Puget Sound, 1986-87
  • Teaching Fellow (Teaching Assistant), Dartmouth College, 1983-85

Affiliations

  • Mathematical Association of America (Special Interest Groups: History of Mathematics)

  • Association for Women in Mathematics

  • Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics

  • British Society for the History of Mathematics

Presentations

  • Navigating Between Triangular Numbers and Trigonometric Tables: How Thomas Harriot Developed His Interpolation Formulas, Claremont Colleges History and Philosophy of Mathematics Seminar, March 2017
  • Mathematical Puzzles and Games, American Association of University Women (AAUW) 8th Grade Girls Mathematics and Science Day, University of Redlands, with E. Doolittle and D. Garcia, February 2017 (since 2000)
  • What's Your Angle? Exploring the History of Your Department One Facet at a Time, American Mathematical Society (AMS) - Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM), Atlanta, Georgia, January 2017
  • Thomas Harriot and the Roanoke Colony, Gunpowder Plot, Sun, Moon, and Mathematics-in-Manuscript, West Coast Meeting of Americas Section of International Study Group on Relations Between History and Pedagogy of Mathematics (HPM), Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, October 2016
  • The Mathematics of Thomas Harriot: Its 400-Year Publication History, AMS-MAA Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM), Seattle, Washington, January 2016
  • Jackie Stedall and the Mathematics of Thomas Harriot, MAA MathFest (MAA Annual Summer Meeting, held jointly with Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics and British Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics), Washington, D.C., August 2015

Publications

Books

Women in Mathematics: Celebrating the Centennial of the Mathematical Association of America, edited with S. Greenwald, J. Jensen-Vallin, and M. Mast, Springer (Vol. 10 in Association for Women in Mathematics series), 2017

Thomas Harriot's Doctrine of Triangular Numbers: the ‘Magisteria Magna', with J. Stedall, European Mathematical Society, 2009

Lengths, Areas, and Volumes, with C. Dolezal, A. Sauk, and L. Shuey, in Historical Modules for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (11-volume set on CD), Mathematical Association of America (MAA), 2005

Negative Numbers, with G. Cochell, C. Dolezal, A. Sauk, and L. Shuey, in Historical Modules for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (11-volume set on CD), MAA, 2005

 

Recent Articles

Who's That Mathematician? Images from the Paul R. Halmos Photograph Collection, with C. Mead, MAA Convergence, January 2012-March 2013 (weekly), DOI: 10.4169/loci003801

Thomas Harriot's Pythagorean Triples: Could He List Them All?, Mathematical Time Capsules, MAA, 2011

The Cannonball Curves of Thomas Harriot, with L. Talman, National Curve Bank: A Math Archive. 2010, http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/harriot/harriot.htm

Lulu Hofmann Bechtolsheim (1902-1989), with B. Pflanz and M. Scherer, Biographies of Women Mathematicians,2010, http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/bechtolsheim.htm

Formulating Figurate Numbers, BSHM Bulletin: Journal of British Society for History of Mathematics, July 2009

Sums of Powers of Positive Integers, MAA Convergence, 2009, DOI: 10.4169/loci003284