Department of

Applied Mathematics and Statistics

SUNY at Stony Brook






Alan TUCKER

and son Teddy





How to Reach Me

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Math Tower, Room P-138
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-3600, USA
e-mail: atucker@notes.stonybrook.edu
phone (631) 632-8365 (office)
fax (631) 632-8490
Office Hours: Mon 10am-12:45pm, 3pm-4pm; Tues 10am-11:15am, 2pm-4pm
Wed 10am-4pm; Th 2pm-4pm; Fri 10am-4pm




Information on my spring 2008 course, AMS 161

AMS 161, Applied Calculus II, is a second-semester calculus course that uses the same instructional strategies introduced in AMS 151-- limited lecturing and extensive collaborative learning in class along with Internet-based homework assignments generated and graded by computer. This course covers techniques of integration, applications of integration, Taylor series and elements of differential equations.

Information on my spring 2008 course, AMS 301

AMS 301, Finite Mathematical Structures, covers introductory topics in graph theory and combinatorial enumeration. Click on the link to AMS 301 for more information about the course, including course syllabus weekly assignments and past tests.

Information on my spring 2008 class, AMS 303

AMS 303, Graph Theory, is a sequel course to AMS 301 (see above). It goes into the graph theory topics of connectedness, planarity and coloring in greater detail than AMS 301 along with Polya's Enumeration Theorem, network flows, progressively finite games, and elements of cryptanalysis.

Corrections to My Text Applied Combinatorics, 5th ed., John Wiley and Sons

Link to Applied Combinatorics corrections.

Park City Mathematics Standards Study Group

Each summer for the past several years, a group of research mathematicians has met at the Park City Mathematics Institute to discuss issues about school mathematics. Three working papers have been written by this author in collaboration with other mathematicians. The first workshop in 2004 produced a working paper entitled What is Important in School Mathematics . This topic was suggested by state mathematics coordinators (who met the week before our workshop) who felt that the long lists of state mathematics standards had lost track of the core goals of the school mathematics curriculum. The 2005 workshop refined the previous year's work to produce Some Organizing Principles for K-4 Mathematics. This document was the result of extended discussions with NCTM representatives. These discussions also played a significant role in the formulation of the 2006 NCTM Curriculum Focal Points report.
The 2006 PCMI workshop focused on fractions, with primary attention on the preparation for fractions in elementary grades as opposed to the middle grades teaching of fractions. The working paper from this workshop is Preparation for Fractions.

Problems with Standards-based Mathematics Tests

Prof. Tucker has investigated problems in the psychometric methodology underlying the New York Regents Math A graduation test, and more generally in all standards-based mathematics tests. Prof. Tucker was a member of the special 2003 Regents Math A panel. Our panel was given unprecedented access to confidential test data which revealed the serious practical problems that arise in trying to use Item Response Theory to design a demanding standards-based mathematics graduation test. For a copy of our panel's report, go to www.regents.nysed.gov/2003Meetings/October2003/1003brd3.htm. All the recommendations in this report were adopt by the NY Board of Regents. This report documents the problems in the Math A test without explaining the source for these problems. Subsequent analyses after the panel's report was submitted found systemic flaws in the theory of standards-based tests.

Click here for a short version of Tucker's findings about problems with the theory of performance standards, as it was applied to the Math A test.

Click here for for a complete analysis of problems with the Math A test.

VITA of Alan Tucker


James Tucker, August 2007

born Nov 2, 2005


atucker@notes.stonybrook.edu -- Applied Math & Statistics -- SUNY Stony Brook
Last update: August, 2007