Hergert Numbers in Orbit?

OK, Hergert Numbers are not quite in orbit ... yet. But the next best thing is to be sighted at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama which is where we find Terra Stamps of Prairie State College sporting her Hergert Numbers shirt. And since the U.S. doesn't appear to be on the verge of sending much back into space anytime soon, we may have to get the Hergert Numbers trend over to Russia in order to leave the atmosphere. Until then, I think this is pretty cool.

Don't forget that you can now keep up with the latest Hergert Numbers news on either Facebook or Twitter (or both!). Keep those pictures coming!

Have youself a Hergert Numbers Christmas!

Obviously, Becca stayed off Santa's "naughty list" since her request for a Hergert Numbers shirt for Christmas was honored. I'm sure she'll be wearing it proudly throughout the new year. So, look for her to appear in a future blog post, Facebook message or Tweet.

That's right - Hergert Numbers are now on Twitter! You can keep up with the most up-to-date Hergert Numbers news by following us at @HergertNumbers.

Hergert Numbers Widget!

Thanks to the folks at Wolfram|Alpha, there's now a Hergert Numbers widget! You'll see it on down a little on the right side of the page. Try it out by finding the Hergert numbers of your favorite function.

I encourage you to help spread the word by adding it to your own web page. You can do this by going to the Wolfram|Alpha widget gallery.

Hergert Numbers @ Golden Gate Bridge

Last week, Elizabeth Meena was in California for her brother's wedding. Since the Meena's never go anywhere without their Hergert Numbers shirts, she took this opportunity to snap a picture at the Golden Gate Bridge. Elizabeth & her dad had just finished a walk across the bridge and back when the photo was taken. I believe this is the farthest west of all Hergert Numbers photos to date.

If you have any vacation plans for the end of the summer, don't forget to pack your HN shirt and get a photo and I'm always glad to add it to the collection.

New Facebook URL

The Hergert Numbers Facebook page now has a short URL. In order to get such a thing, it requires a few technical tricks, some well-crafted prayers, and a couple eyes of newt.

But in the end, the result was facebook.com/HergertNumbers, so you can help spread the word in a fairly small number of characters!

And the winner is...

... the Hergert Numbers!

OK, not really. But the Hergert Numbers were prominently featured today when the 2011 RVC mathematics awards were presented.

Rachel Slabaugh won the Kyle Mitchell Award and Elizabeth Meena was the recipient of the R. David Gustafson Award. Both of these fine young ladies have made multiple appearances here over the years promoting the Hergert Numbers wherever they go.

In fact, they were the ones who decided to create the t-shirts that have brought the movement to a whole new level. Now, as they leave RVC for bigger and better places, they can continue to spread the word far and wide.

Congratulations to Rachel and Elizabeth!

Hergert Numbers & the Bronze Fonz

No trip to Milwaukee is complete without a visit to the Bronze Fonz.

I don't know how you celebrate Easter, but around the Hergert household we like to load up on as much really fattening Wisconsin-style cuisine as we can stuff into our digestive systems, go to a pop-punk concert, and then hunt down a local landmark for a Hergert Numbers photo op. It just happened that All Time Low and Yellowcard were playing on Good Friday at The Rave in Milwaukee, so we were all set for a weekend of music and gorging ourselves. It would have been a Great Friday had we not missed half of the Yellowcard set, but they weren't going to be playing long anyway. Although we weren't the oldest people in attendance, we were probably the oldest people not dragged there by teeny-boppers anxious to see how many bras Jack would have dangling from his microphone stand by the end of the show.

As for the artery clogging, we started with burgers at Sobelman's Pub & Grill which seats about 80 people and is about the size of a typical family room. They reportedly have the best burgers in Milwaukee (go to milwaukeesbestburgers.com if you're in doubt) and they didn't disappoint. The jumbo shrimp torpedos were a great lead in to Mrs. HN's Sobelman burger (hold the jalapenos) and my Loser burger. Then, Saturday morning, we further increased our chance of heart attacks with breakfast at The Original Pancake House (although not the original Original Pancake House). To top it off, we ate dinner at Kopp's and finished with tiramisu frozen custard. We may not eat again until Memorial Day.

In between, we found time to wander down to the shores of the mighty Milwaukee River to snap a photo with the statue of Arthur Fonzarelli known as The Bronze Fonz before heading back to the Milwaukee Public Museum for a trip through the Mummies of the World exhibit and a matinee of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I on the IMAX screen. I'm sure my review of the mummy exhibit will show up soon on their celebrities page.

Well, that's the latest Hergert Numbers t-shirt sighting. Keep those photos coming and spread the word!

Hergert Numbers @ IMACC 2011

The Hergert Numbers movement took a great leap forward at the 2011 IMACC Conference at the Allerton Park Conference Center in Monticello, IL this past weekend. As you can see in the photo above, 12 of the 118 attendees were from Rock Valley College - the largest group from any single institution. On Friday, I proudly displayed my t-shirt all day and night and into the next morning handing out the HN business cards as fast as possible.

I heard from at least 5 different teachers that they had been using the term when teaching Calculus over the past year. These were faculty from colleges such as Prairie State College, College of DuPage, Southwestern Illinois College, and Elgin Community College. The word is spreading!

On Saturday, I gave my talk titled "What's in a Name?" where I discussed the origin of several different names for mathematical theorems focusing on those that had interesting stories or unusual names. Of course, I threw in the Hergert Numbers a the end for good measure. Among the audience for this presentation was the president-elect of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), so I'm hoping that he'll help us go nationwide. Paul McCombs helped out by wearing his HN t-shirt all day Saturday, including at my talk.

The IMACC Scholarship Fund holds a raffle each year to raise money for scholarships for IL community college students looking to major in mathematics or math education. I donated a t-shirt to the raffle, so it was prominently displayed on the registration table throughout the conference. And if its prominence was compromised, I periodically repositioned it to remain in plain view at all times. The winner of the t-shirt was Terra Stamps of Prairie State College and I'm sure we'll see her showing up in a picture here sooner or later.

In addition, to be sure Hergert Numbers got maximum exposure during the raffle, several people took turns wearing the Hergert Numbers baseball hat as they went up to claim their raffle prize. I believe the hat won at least 8 times during the 15-minute prize giveaway.

Now we need to keep the momentum from the conference going as the school year comes to a close. You can also keep up with the Hergert Numbers by "liking" them on Facebook, so do it today so you don't miss an exciting moment as the word spreads far and wide!

Hergert Numbers origami

I should have posted this a couple weeks ago, but I was busy putting up the Hergert Numbers Facebook page.

The fine work in the above photo is by Michael Kunz, a student in my Calculus class this semester. Michael makes at least one origami figure each day during class to turn in as his "most important thing we learned in class today" minute paper.

So, a couple weeks ago, we were covering Hergert Numbers in class so he made me a couple origami figures with Hergert Numbers on them to represent the most important thing from that day's class.

Besides working on the Facebook page, I was also delayed simply because I kept forgetting to bring them home. Once I finally got them in my house, they sat on the kitchen counter for a couple weeks before I bothered to snap some photos. In other words, basic procrastination made it about three weeks from their creation to appearing here.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the annual conference of the Illinois Mathematics Association of Community Colleges (IMACC) where I'll be giving a talk that will feature a brief promo for the Hergert Numbers at the end.

I'll also be donating a t-shirt to the IMACC Scholarship Fund raffle. I'm sure that will sell a lot of tickets!

Hergert Numbers & the Calculus Dog!

Last night, Dr. Tim Pennings of Hope College in Michigan stopped by Beloit College to give a talk titled "Do Dogs Know Calculus?" where he told the story of Elvis, his 10-year old Welsh Corgi, and his natural tendency to mimic a well-known Calculus exercise while playing fetch in Lake Michigan.

And, of course, the Hergert Numbers were there to see it all! Here's Elizabeth Meena with Tim & Elvis after the presentation. Elizabeth's shirt caught the attention of several audience members. There was some talk of getting Elvis his own Hergert Numbers doggie sweater, but I'm not sure we can get the full definition on there since he's not all that big. I'll have to talk to the folks at Tom Harmer's (the current makers of the t-shirts).

Today, Elvis is off to Madison Area Technical College for another presentation of his fabulous skills. With all of the media attention on the state capitol in Madison these days, we just need to get Elvis to the protests wearing a Hergert Numbers shirt and we'll have national exposure for sure!