Come January, a group of Maple experts will be heading to the American capital, not for the presidential inauguration, but to attend the 2009 Joint Mathematics Meetings. This year’s event marks the 115^th annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the 92^nd meeting of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).  

“The Joint Mathematics Meetings are held for the purpose of advancing mathematical achievement, encouraging research, and to provide the communication necessary to progress in the field. These meetings serve to preserve, supplement, and utilize the results of the research of mathematicians the world over. Keeping abreast of the progress in mathematics results in the furtherance of the interest of mathematical scholarship and research.”-from the official Joint Math Meetings website

This year’s meetings will be held from January 5-8 in Washington, DC, at the Marriott Wardman Park and Omni Shoreham (you can get more information or register here). We always enjoy attending this conference - it’s a fun event for us as we get to catch up with some of our long-term users as well as make new friends. It’s also significant because of our partnership with the MAA.

Since 2005, we have worked with the MAA to create the Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite, an online version of the popular MAA placement tests which have been used by colleges and universities for over 30 years to assess students’ knowledge of math. This partnership takes advantage of the strengths of both organizations: the MAA provides the placement testing content, while Maplesoft is responsible for the product and surrounding infrastructure. The Placement Test Suite is built on top of Maple T.A. (Maplesoft’s web-based system for creating tests, assignments and exercises) and contains tests in 6 subject areas. We will soon be releasing the next version of the Placement Test Suite, which will include algorithmic tests.

Maplesoft will be exhibiting this year at booths #609 and #611. This is your chance to speak one-on-one with our staff, including the Maple Product Manager, and get answers and more information on products such as Maple, the Placement Test Suite, or Maple T.A. We will be offering complimentary evaluations of these and other products, as well as holding draws to win a Mini PC Laptop or an iPod Touch. Please drop by to chat with us, or just to pick up a Maple math cheat shirt!