Mathematics can be fun - Math Horizons magazine - Brief Article

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Dec 15, 1994

"Fun" and "mathematics" are words not usually used in the same sentence. But Don Albers wants to change that. The publications director of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) hopes to make the subject "a little hipper" with the 20,300-circulation Math Horizons. Aimed at college and high-school students, the one-year-old quarterly routinely includes cartoons, brain teasers and features on "the contemporary uses" of math, such as a story on barcodes. Albers, who oversees the MAA's four scholarly journals, including the 101-year-old American Mathematical Monthly, spoke to Word One about the formula for Math Horizons.

Word One: Why a magazine about mathematics?

Don Albers: It goes back to a four-year-old conversation I had with the executive director of MAA. We were talking about a new journal proposal, and she said, "When are we going to do something for the students? They represent the bread and butter of the people involved in teaching mathematics.

Word One: What is the focus and mission of the title?

Albers: The focus is simple: What are the students interested in? There are profiles of famous mathematicians that reveal aspects of their personalities. Also, we get students involved by using their writing and by having graduates give other students advice about careers. I would like the magazine to reveal math as a dynamic subject for a broader population, not just Ph.D.s. Most people respect math. I want to move them from respect to strong like and then to love.

Word One: Getting board approval for a new title can be hard. How did you do it?

Albers: The first two issues were funded through grants totaling $150,000 from the National Science Foundation, the Exxon Education Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. MAA put up just over $50,000. The response to the two issues was very positive. We're already in the black.

Word One: How do you ensure that Math Horizons has the flavor of a magazine?

Albers: I'm the only mathematician on staff. The rest are English majors with no connection [to journals], so they weren't "contaminated" by scholarly publications.