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The American Mathematical Monthly
Academic mathematics journal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The American Mathematical Monthly is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an expository journal intended for a wide audience of mathematicians, from undergraduate students to research professionals. Articles are chosen on the basis of their broad interest and reviewed and edited for quality of exposition as well as content. The editor-in-chief is Vadim Ponomarenko (San Diego State University).
The journal gives the Lester R. Ford Award annually to "authors of articles of expository excellence" published in the journal.[1]
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Editors-in-chief
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The following persons are or have been editor-in-chief:
- 2025–present: Vadim Ponomarenko
- 2022–2024: Della Dumbaugh
- 2017–2021: Susan Colley
- 2012–2016: Scott T. Chapman
- 2007–2011: Daniel J. Velleman
- 2002–2006: Bruce Palka
- 1997–2001: Roger A. Horn
- 1992–1996: John H. Ewing
- 1987–1991: Herbert S. Wilf
- 1982–1986: Paul Richard Halmos
- 1978–1981: Ralph Philip Boas, Jr.
- 1977–1978: Alex Rosenberg and Ralph Philip Boas Jr.
- 1974–1976: Alex Rosenberg
- 1969–1973: Harley Flanders
- 1967–1968: Robert Abraham Rosenbaum
- 1962–1966: Frederick Arthur Ficken
- 1957–1961: Ralph Duncan James
- 1952–1956: Carl Barnett Allendoerfer
- 1947–1951: Carroll Vincent Newsom
- 1942–1946: Lester Randolph Ford
- 1937–1941: Elton James Moulton
- 1932–1936: Walter Buckingham Carver
- 1927–1931: William Henry Bussey
- 1923–1926: Walter Burton Ford
- 1922: Albert Arnold Bennett
- 1919–1921: Raymond Clare Archibald
- 1918: Robert Daniel Carmichael
- 1916–1917: Herbert Ellsworth Slaught
- 1914–1915: Board of editors: C.H. Ashton, R.P. Baker, W.C. Brenke, W.H. Bussey, W.DeW. Cairns, Florian Cajori, R.D. Carmichael, D.R. Curtiss, I.M. DeLong, B.F. Finkel, E.R. Hedrick, L.C. Karpinski, G.A. Miller, W.H. Roever, H.E. Slaught
- 1913: Herbert Ellsworth Slaught
- 1909–1912: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, Herbert Ellsworth Slaught, George Abram Miller
- 1907–1908: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, Herbert Ellsworth Slaught
- 1905–1906: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, Leonard Eugene Dickson, Oliver Edmunds Glenn
- 1904: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, Leonard Eugene Dickson, Saul Epsteen
- 1903: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, Leonard Eugene Dickson
- 1894–1902: Benjamin Franklin Finkel, John Marvin Colaw
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Problem section
Ever since its founding in 1894 the American Mathematical Monthly has invited readers to propose and solve challenging mathematical problems for publication in its Problems and Solutions section. As of 2025 more than 12,000 problem proposals have appeared.
Section timeline
- 1894 Issue 1 - Several major subsections by subject, each with solutions first, then proposals.
- 1894 Issue 4 - Two major subsections, one for solutions followed by one for proposals, with each divided by subject.
- 1915 Issue 2 - Subsection order was changed to proposals first, then solutions.
- 1916 Issue 1 - First issue as the official journal of the new Mathematical Association of America.
- 1918 Issue 1 - For the first time, problems are no longer categorized by subject.
- 1919 Issue 3 - First issue to include proposal reference with solution. [month, year] was used until 1920, at which point the modern [year, page] format was introduced.
- 1932 Issue 8 - Elementary Problems subsection begins.
- 1969 Issue 6, 1971 Issue 9, 1974 Issue 5, 1978 Issue 10 - Problem proposals without published solutions are listed.
- 1992 Issue 1 - Elementary Problems subsection ends.
- 1994 Issue 1 - The custom of publishing seven new problem proposals per issue begins. Excluding special issues that omit the section, as of 2025 only three exceptions have occurred, each consisting of an issue with six proposals followed in the same year by one with eight, thus preserving the mean (2007 Issues 2 and 9, 2011 Issues 3 and 4, and 2015 Issues 7 and 9). Editor Richard Bumby evidently experimented before settling on seven in 1994, for each issue in 1992 had nine new proposals and each issue in 1993 had eight new proposals. As the chart below suggests, Bumby's ultimate choice of seven appears to be permanent.
Problem editors
*University of Maine Problems Group
**University of Waterloo Problems Group
†San Francisco Bay Area Problems Group
Timeline
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Solutions 1894-1940
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The table below lists solutions based on the following premise: something was published that justifies excluding the problem proposal from a list of unsolved problems.
For example, Calculus 360 ("solution" 1918 no. 4) is a question whose answer has no truth value and is thus "unsolvable" in a certain sense, so a mere reply to the question qualifies as a solution in the table.
In 1918 no. 5 a "note" on Calculus 435 also counts as a solution because the author refers to a paper then concludes: "To solve [problem 435] we need only put alpha = 0 in the first of the integrals mentioned." (However, since 435 has a solution in the previous issue, this note was omitted from the table.)
The "note" on 3064 in 1925 No. 1 counts as a solution because it points out that no solution exists to the problem as stated. Same for 3110 in 1925 No. 8 and 2706 in 1926 No. 2. (the presence of "Also solved by" is sometimes a tipoff to this scenario).
The only year in which the Monthly was true to its name was 1894, when 12 issues were published. Single issues for July-August and September-October appeared in 1895, and in 1896 June-July and August-September were each single issues, launching the modern format (the modern issue-numbering scheme from 1 to 10 did not begin until 1913 however).
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References
External links
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