Eve Alexandra Littig Torrence (born 1963)[1] is an American mathematician, a professor emerita of mathematics at Randolph–Macon College,[2] and a former president of mathematics society Pi Mu Epsilon. She is known for her award-winning writing and books in mathematics, for her mathematical origami art,[3] and for her efforts debunking overly broad claims regarding the ubiquity of the golden ratio.[4][5]

Education, career, and service

Torrence was an undergraduate at Tufts University.[2][3] She completed her Ph.D. in 1991 at the University of Virginia; her dissertation, The Coordination of a Hexagonal-Barbilian Plane by a Quadratic Jordan Algebra, was supervised by John Faulkner.[6][7]

She was Claire Booth Luce assistant professor at Trinity Washington University from 1991 to 1994,[8] before joining the Randolph–Macon College faculty in 1994.[3] She earned tenure there in 1999, and became a full professor in 2008.[9] She retired in 2021,[9][10] and was given the Bruce M. Unger Award by Randolph–Macon College on the occasion of her retirement.[9]

She served as president of Pi Mu Epsilon, the US national honor society in mathematics, from 2011 to 2014.[3] The Maryland-District of Columbia-Virginia Section of the Mathematical Association of America gave her their Sister Helen Christensen Service Award in 2019.[11]

Selected works

Torrence won the 2007 Trevor Evans Award of the Mathematical Association of America for a paper she wrote with Adrian Rice on Dodgson condensation:[8]

  • Rice, Adrian; Torrence, Eve (November 2006), "Lewis Carroll's Condensation Method for Evaluating Determinants" (PDF), Math Horizons, 14 (2): 12–15, doi:10.1080/10724117.2006.11974674, JSTOR 25678651, S2CID 125114713

Her books include:

  • Torrence, Bruce F.; Torrence, Eve (1999), The Student's Introduction to Mathematica: A Handbook for Precalculus, Calculus, and Linear Algebra, Cambridge University Press[12]
  • Torrence, Eve (2011), Cut and Assemble Icosahedra: Twelve Models in White and Color, Dover Publications

A sculpture, "Sunshine", by Torrence is displayed in a Randolph–Macon College building lobby; it depicts the compound of five tetrahedra as five interlocked aluminum shapes, inspired by an origami version of the same compound folded by Tom Hull.[10] She also won the "Best in Show" award in a 2015 juried mathematical art exhibit, for her pieces titled "Day" and "Night", mathematical origami using folded cardstock rhombi to make hyperbolic paraboloid surfaces, connected in the pattern of a rhombic dodecahedron:[3]

  • Torrence, Eve (2014), "Making Sunshine: A First Geometric Sculpture", in Greenfield, Gary; Hart, George; Sarhangi, Reza (eds.), Proceedings of Bridges 2014: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture, Phoenix, Arizona: Tessellations Publishing, pp. 461–464, ISBN 978-1-938664-11-3
  • Torrence, Eve (2015), "Day and Night", Mathematical Art Galleries: 2015 bridges conference, The Bridges Organization

References

  1. ↑ Birth year from Library of Congress catalog entry, retrieved 2022-02-15
  2. 1 2 Mathematics faculty, Randolph–Macon College, retrieved 2022-02-15
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Students Explore Connections Between Art and Mathematics, Randolph–Macon College, 16 October 2018, retrieved 2022-02-15
  4. ↑ Johnston, Ian (27 April 2015), "Mathematicians dispute claims that the 'golden ratio' is a natural blueprint for beauty", The Independent
  5. ↑ Balingit, Moriah (10 July 2015), "Did this teen spot an error in a 34-year-old math exhibit at a Boston museum? Not exactly, but he's enjoying the ride", The Washington Post
  6. ↑ Eve Torrence at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  7. ↑ Torrence, Eve Alexandra Littig (1991), The coordination of a hexagonal-barbilian plane by a quadratic jordan algebra (Ph.D. thesis), University of Virginia, doi:10.18130/V3X63B46Q, MR 2687524
  8. 1 2 "Lewis Carroll's Condensation Method for Evaluating Determinants", MAA Writing Awards, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2022-02-15
  9. 1 2 3 2021 Bruce M. Unger Awards, Randolph–Macon College, 21 May 2021, retrieved 2022-02-15
  10. 1 2 Three Professors Hold Last Class to Open Homecoming Weekend, Randolph–Macon College, 11 October 2021, retrieved 2022-02-15
  11. ↑ "Sister Helen Christensen Service Award", Maryland-District of Columbia-Virginia Section, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2022-02-15
  12. ↑ Reviews of The Student's Introduction to Mathematica:
    • Glidden, Peter L. (September 2000), The Mathematics Teacher, 93 (6): 534–535, JSTOR 27971479{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Reed, R. J. (2000), Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series D, 49 (4): 635, JSTOR 2681056{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
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